186 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 98. 



favourite with the reigning queen, in whose 

 honour the work is said to liave been composed. 



Sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music, 

 voL iii. p. 406., says the "occasion" of the pub- 

 lication of The Triumphs of Oriana was this : 



" The Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, Earl 

 of Nottingham, was the only person, who, in the last 

 illness of Elizabeth, could prevail on her to go into 

 and remain in her bed ; and with a view to alleviate 

 her concern for the execution of tlie Earl of Essex, he 

 gave for a prize-subject to the poets and musicians of 

 the time, tlie beauty and accomplishments of his royal 

 mistress, and by a lil)eral reward, excited them seve- 

 rally to the composition of this work. This supposi- 

 tion is favoured by the circumstance of its being dedi- 

 cated to the P2arl, and the time of its publication, which 

 was the very year that Essex was beheaded. There is 

 some piece of secret history which we have yet to learn, 

 that would enable us to account for giving the Queen 

 this romantic name ; probably she was fond of it. 

 Camden relates that a Spanish ambassador had libelled 

 her by the name of Amadis Oriana, and for his inso- 

 lence was put under a guard." 



Di-. Biirney, in his sketch of the Life of Thomas 

 Morley {General History of Music, vol. iii. p. 101.), 

 speaking of this work, says . 



" As Italy gave the ton to the rest of Europe, but 

 particularly to England, in all the tine arts, during the 

 reign of Queen Elizabeth, it seems as if the idea of 

 employing all the best composers in the kingdoin to 

 set the songs in The Triumphs of Oriana to music, in 

 honour of our virgin queen, had been suggested to 

 Morley and bis patron, the Earl of Nottingham, by 

 Padre Giovenale, afterwards Bishop of Saluzzo, who 

 employed thirty-seven of the most renowned Italian 

 composers to set Camonetti in honour of the Virgin 

 Mary, published imder the following title : Tempio 

 Armonico della Beatissiina Virpine nostra Signora, fab- 

 bricatole per opera del Reverendo P. Giovenale, A. P. 

 delta Cong relatione deW Oratorio. Prima Parte, a ire voci, 

 Stampata in Roma da Nicola Miitii, 1599, in 4to." 



That by Oriana is meant Queen Elizabeth, 

 there cnn be but little doubt. The appellation 

 surely does not countenance the supposition that 

 there " must be some secret piece of history" in 

 the case. Queen Elizabeth, we all know, was a 

 woman of inordinate vanity. Even at the age of 

 three score and ten she delighted in the names of 

 Cynthia, Diana, and such like ; and Oriana, who 

 was the heroine of the well-known romance Arna- 

 dis de Gaul, and a lovely and virtuous woman to 

 boot, couhl not Axil to gratify her. How D'Espes, 

 the Spanish ambassador, could libel her unuer 

 the double title of Amadis Oriana, it is difficult to 

 imagine ; but so it was, according to Camden 

 (anno 1569). '■'■ Lihellos famosos spargit, in quihus 

 liegirice existimationcm contumeliose alterit sub 

 nomine Amadis Oriunce." 



The pretty sounding tale related by Sir John 

 Hawkins, that the work in question was under- 



taken with a view to alleviate the grief of the 

 queen for the death of the Earl of Essex, and that 

 prizes were given by the Earl of Nottingham for 

 the best composition for that purpose, is entirely 

 without foundation. Sir John Hawkins gives no 

 authority for his statement, and I believe it rests 

 entirely upon conjecture. 



The Triumphs of Oriana (as we have seen) was 

 printed at London in the year 1601. In the same 

 year was published at Antwerp a collection of 

 madrigals with the following title : II Trionfo di 

 Dori, descritto da diversa, et posti in Musica, da 

 altretranti Autori a Sei Voci, In Anversa, Appresso 

 Pietro Phalesio, 1601. From the date of these 

 two collections, it appears almost impossible that 

 either should have been an imitation of the otiier ; 

 and yet, by an extraordinary similarity in point 

 of style, number, variety of composers, and burifieti 

 of the poetry, there can be but little doubt such 

 was the case. The point will be therefore to 

 ascertain if either of these works was printed pre- 

 viously to this date, 1601. I have no doubt that 

 the Orianas is the first and only edition of the 

 work. On the other hand, there is good reason 

 (from a variety of circumstances) to suppose that 

 the copy of II Trionfo di Dori with this date will 

 turn out to be the second edition. 



The poetry (if sucli it can be called) of the 

 Orianas is a paraphrase of // Trionfo di Dori. 

 The Italian burden or conclusion is always — 



" Cantiam Ninfe e Pastori 

 Viva la bella Dori," 



And the English version : '■ 



" Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana, 

 Long live faire Oriana." 



Mr. Oliphant, in his collection of poetry entitled 

 La Musa Madrigalesca, is perhaps not far wrong 

 when he says that the rhymes of the Orianas 

 would " disgrace the veriest tyro in Grub Street ;" 

 but, nevertheless, I have extracted a few speci- 

 mens, premising that thcj' are the best I could 

 find among the " twenty-five" : — 



1. 

 " Hence ! stars, too dim of light ; 

 You dazle but the sight ; 

 You teach to grope by night ; 



See here the shepherd's star, 



Excelling you so far. 

 Then Phoebus wiped his eies, 

 And Zephirus cleer'd the skies. 

 In sweet accented cries, 



Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana, ' 



Long live faire Oriana." 



All creatures now are merry-minded, 

 The sheplierds' daiighters playing, 

 The nimphes are fa-la-la-ing ;, 



Yond bugle was well-winded. 



