John,

 

We've been doing Madrigal Dinners at South Dakota State since 1987.  Our format is very similar to yours.  We are in costume. We do have a court jester who will poke gentle fun at current campus events and members of our administration who are in attendance.  The repertoire is mostly Renaissance music, but I will often do contemporary pieces that have a Renaissance "feel" and/or English music much like the music listed above from the Haberlen book.

 

Steve Grives

South Dakota State University

steven.grives(a)sdstate.edu

John,

I've attached the program we'll be doing this coming weekend, Nov. 20-21 here at Emporia State. We are in costume. We are using a Paul Brandvik "play" that's very entertaining. The singers are doing all Renaissance music this year for the concert but Henry Purcell's Thou Knowest Lord is our prayer. The brass fanfares (trpt, trb. and hrns) are written by one of our singers who is also a composer/horn player. I've been doing these feasts since 1995. We decorate the ballroom at Emporia State, a superb acoustic venue. I pay an outstanding student/singer with stage chops to be the director/producer each year and I do the Madrigal Singers--an eight-voice ensemble. Below is our program for next weekend.

Terry Barham, Emporia State University (KS) tbarham(a)emporia.edu

Greeting and Seating Towne Cryer

Fanfare the First Ye King and Queen Processional

Fanfare the Second Ye Processional singers, servers and cast

"Masters in This Hall" French Carol

"Thou Knowest Lord" (Prayer) Henry Purcell

Fanfare the Third Ye Wassaile Toaste

"Wassaile Song" Traditional English

Rules of Etiquette Lady Mertonsire

Fanfare the Fourthe Ye Salade & Soup

Royal Decree

Fanfare the Fifthe Ye Boares Head

"Boar's Head Carol" Traditional English

Fanfare the Sixthe Ye Royale Dessert

"Deck the Hall" Traditional English

Ye Royale Masque Mertonsire and the Pirate's Tale

(by Paul Brandvik)

Fanfare the Seventhe

Ye Madrigale Concert

Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting John Farmer

Thus Saith My Cloris Bright John Wilbye

Ah Robyn, Gentle Robyn William Cornysh

All Creatures Now are Merryminded John Bennet

Toss the Pot Anonymous arr. Haberlen

Ye Farwell Jester

Silent Night Franz Gruber

(Please join us in the singing of this carol.)

Recessional by the court, the singers and the servers, cast

&nbsp

 John - I was in the Wichita State University Madrigal Singers in 1970.  We put on a madrigal dinner concert each holiday season.  Therefore, when I needed a fundraiser for my students four years ago, I chose to do a madrigal dinner theatre in Moriarty, New Mexico.  I presented a workshop at the 2009 New Mexico All State on presenting a madrigal dinner theatre.  Below is a list of resources I found helpful when I was planning my madrigal dinners.  I distributed them to teachers at the workshop.  I also had soloists and small ensembles performing during the meal vocal literature from the time of the Renaissance.    These resources may help you.     - Denise

 

Internet Resources

 

•Texas Tech video 2006 Madrigal Dinner

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/news/stories/videos/madrigaldinner.php

 

•Putting on a Madrigal Dinner at the Secondary Level

http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/madrigal.shtml

 

*University of California at Irvine

http://music.arts.uci.edu/madrigal/mu.html

 

•Knight-Shtick Press Madrigal Dinner Scripts

http://www.madrigaldinner.com/contact.html

 

•Medieval and Renaissance Food Clip Art

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food-art/

http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/afeast.htm

 

•Medieval and Renaissance Food: Sources, Recipes, and Articles

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html

 

•How to say/speak  “Wassail” and “Wassailing”

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=wassailing&submit=Submit

 

•Ebay.com

For Renaissance hat, Renaissance pattern, Renaissance dress, pewter goblet,

SCA costume

 

•Theatre House Costumes - Hats-Historical

Best deal for Renaissance Lady, Knight Hood, Shakespeare (Muffin) Hats

 

•Amazon.com

Mannheim Steamroller-A Renaissance Christmas VHS  Anyone who has an interest in the Renaissance period will enjoy this musical video with it's reenactment of a Christmas Renaissance feast. It features performers who entertain the table guests, such as jugglers, dancers, and more, all set to old world carols. The music is breathtakingly beautiful, as anyone who loves Mannheim Steamroller can attest to. This is a magnificent production that gets your students in the spirit of a Renaissance feast!

 

•Free Herald Clipart to assist with production of Renaissance banners

http://www.heraldicclipart.com/catalog/index.html

 

•Secular, Mid-Spring Madrigal site, presented by the DeKalb Choral Guild,Decatur, GA

http://dcguild.home.mindspring.com/Programs/19970419.html

 

 

Madrigal Dinner Music Resources

 

•The Compleet Madrigal Dinner Booke, by Paul Brandvik, Pub. Kjos Music, #C7832

This very informative Madrigal Dinner kit includes a teacher's manual covering 'everything' you ever wanted to know about a Madrigal Dinner. Includes organization, publicity, costuming, music, scripts, make up, staging, lighting, food service, etc. etc. Nineteen pages of repertoire and music sources are divided into categories and form perhaps the finest Madrigal Dinner list ever compiled. The kit also includes two separate and different dinner scripts, plus 24 pages of hitherto unpublished Madrigal Dinner music. 

*Elizabethan Madrigal Dinners, by John Haberlen and Stephen Rosolack, pub. Mark Foster/Shawnee  

Scripts, with Music for Singers, Players and Dancers

 

SATB

Auld Lang Syne SATB L. Kesselman HL 48005108

The Wexford Carol SATB D. Warland HL 50486222

Good Ale SATB J. Rutter Oxford 52.025

Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind SATB J. Rutter Oxford

Here we come a-wassailing  SATB J. Rutter Oxford

Banquet Fugue       SATB J. Rutter Hinshaw

The Boar’s Head Carol SATB S. Hatfield HL 48019411

Carol of the Bells SATB M. Leontovich Carl Fischer CM4604

A Day For Dancing SATB L. Pfautsch Lawson Gould 51475

Medieval Carol Fantasy SATB or SAB B. Prin tz Shawnee

Allons, Gay Bergeres SATB E. Crocker HL 08596734

Nova, Nova Ave Fit Ex Eva SATB W. Spencer National WHCO14

E la don don, Verges Maria SATB N. Greenberg AMP No. 8

Dadme Albricias Hijos D’eva SATB N. Greenberg AMP No. 9

Riu Riu Chiu SATB N. Greenberg AMP No. 10

There Is No Rose SATB G. Garcia Walton

Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day SATB J. Gardner Oxford 0830982

A Renaissance Christmas SATB or SAB K. Shaw HL

Audite Nova SATB di Lass0 - found in Concentus Musicus Madrigalia,

pub. Wilhelm Hansen, Musik-Forlag, Copenhagen

Treble

Old Fox Wassail 2-part S. Hatfield HL 48004602

Nova, Nova Ave Fit Ex Eva SSA W. Spencer National WHCO14

The A Cappella Singer SSA ed. H. Clough-Leighter  pub. ECS   #1545

Madrigals for Treble Voices SSA/SSAA D. Malin Warner 64355

Greensleeves 2-prt R. Vaughn Williams  Oxford 82.004

Gaudete! SSAA Cantiones/M. Neam  Banks ECS274

Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day SSA J. Rutter

SAB

Wassail!  Wassail! SAB Mac Huff HL 08742731

Nowell, Nowell The Boar’s Head  SAB Theron Kirk Brilee BL103

Pastime With Good Company SAB Bennett Shawnee D0428

A Celtic Christmas SAB A. Snyder HL 08741558

Masters In This Hall SAB C. Bennett HL 42313070

Sweeter Than the King’s Wine SAB S. Hatfield Boosey 48005047

As Fair As Morn SAB J. Haberlen Mark Foster MF338

How Merrily We Live SAB D. Moore HL 45812017

Follow Me, Sweet Love SAB M. East National CMS-120

Invitation to Madrigals SAB T. Dart Galaxy/ECS 1.5106

 I have enjoyed the discussion of these Madrigal Dinners.  My choir has not done one for years!  I, too, attended Indiana University (1966 - 71),  where Christmas was not complete without this event. Naturally, when I finally had a choir of my own I wanted to put one together. We first held it at a banquet hall, and then after that in the dining room of one of the country clubs in town.  After about year 5, the food just became too expensive to make it doable anymore. The price did include table service, and a very nice meal with a salad, roast beef, yorkshire pudding, a vegetable and plum pudding for dessert. We also had some hot "wassail" for the toast. It seems to me that we didn't want to go over $25 for a ticket, but, of course we are talking 15 - 20 years ago!

 

We have toyed with the idea of bringing this event back.  The music seems much easier to put together than the food!  Since we are a community choir and not affiliated with a school or a church, our options for a venue and food service are perhaps more limited.  I would love to hear what some of you have done for the actual dinner, and how much you charge for your event.  Perhaps someone has a creative approach to serving the meal.  I am wondering if anyone has successfully tried a buffet style meal. Would that destroy the ambiance and the flow of the music?

 

Thanks for your ideas.

 

Paula Roberts

EKOSingers, Edmonton, Alberta

I have done many of these over the years. We have a Jester, Lord & Lady, and several other characters in adition to the singers. We use a mix of music and costumes which suggests Renaissance, but I have used contemporary music with an early feel, and I'm sure the costumes are from mixed eras (to us it's more important to be colorful and elaborate). I have used lutes, recorders and even occasionally a harpsichord (I know, wrong period, but it does have an "ancient" feel for most people). We go for "feel" rather than authenticity.

 

We have a script, and have used many different ones, including Paul Brandvik's wonderful scripts. Last time we used one, in a mix of The Wizard of Oz and the internet, in which Dorothy "Dot" Com tried to find the World Wide Wizard along with her friends, PewterMan, the Seedy Ram, etc. Very funny.

 

Lee Barrow

 

 

John,

We recently presented our thirty-fourth annual Madrigal Feaste here at Ashland University.  I inherited a format that seems to work well logistically, allows the presence of some quality repertoire, and satisfies the needs of the campus and surrounding communities.  I have altered it over the years, of course.  Ours is not a strictly Elizabethan, serious, historically pure re-creation.  Purists would probably hate this show, but as I said, it serves the situation well, in my opinion. 

The Royal Court is the 17-member Chamber Singers.  They are in Renaissance period costume re-creations, constructed by our resident costume designer and her students.  We try to rotate in replacements every year.  A King and Queen are chosen from among them.  The Queen leads the music at the table.  There is an overarching script that unifies the evening in a light-hearted manner.  The King and Queen have most of the lines, and we try to give every court member at least one line.  This script is revised every year, with major revision every 3 or 4 years.  We have a Jester who leads a theatrical troupe of six players chosen by the Jester and myself each year.  They interrupt the action periodically, perform a fifteen-to-twenty-minute play, and improvise entertainment during dinner and dessert.  They are a critical part of the show, serving as a foil to the royal court and the serious music throughout.  We also have a Butler (more usually called the Steward) and two serving wenches who serve the head table and have incidental roles throughout the evening.  A trumpet trio plays fanfares to quiet the crowd and “announce” the next event.  Our in-house (award-winning – really!) catering service takes care of the food and related matters.  We present this show five evenings.  Four almost always sell out, and on opening night students are able to buy tickets for less the half the normal price (just to get them in the door). 

Basically here is what we did this year:

Diverse Musical Selections by The King’s Musicians (a different instrumental ensemble each evening plays 25 minutes of appropriate music while audience members are being seated.  The instruments are all modern.  Being in this show gives these chamber ensembles an opportunity to perform before a good-sized yet friendly crowd.)
   
Fanfare Number One Announcing the procession of the Lords and Ladies to the Great Hall
Deck the halls                                arr. Shaw-Parker

Fanfare Number Two
    Announcing the procession of the wassail bowl and the toasts
    Gloucestershire Wassail                        English Traditional
(We sing the refrain and the butler stanza, but then we have the tradition of students creating their own stanzas for this song, commenting on campus things and recognizing the King, Queen, Wenches, Trumpets, Servers, me, the catering boss, etc.  This can get to be a lot, but the wassail is being poured by servers during the song, so it does kill some time!)

 

Toasts are then presented from the head table, some serious, some humorous.  Usually one is anachronistic.

Fanfare Number Three Announcing the Royal Reading of the Rules of the Table (These are  a combination of tradition and humor, read by the Butler.  The players have a comment for each rule.)

Fanfare Number Four
    Announcing the Boar’s Head
    The Boar’s Head Carol                        English Traditional
All are invited to join in the refrain (I print the music for the audience to join in; some actually sing!)

The Prayer Before The Feaste, sung by the Court:
    Lord, for thy tender mercies’ sake                        John Hilton

The Feaste (served in courses, family style at tables of ten by members of the larger choir.  I tell them this is their fundraiser, and although they are not enthusiastic about it, they realize it beats selling nuts or fruit, etc.)
   
Fanfare Number Five
    Announcing the end of dinner and beginning of the entertainment

The Madrigals (almost always of the late Renaissance; each year I include at least three languages, vary the styles, etc.  We always end with a “fun” one.  And I print the translations – sometimes sanitized for general consumption!)

    Hark, all ye lovely saints                    Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)
    Nun fanget an ein guts Liedlein (sung in German)        Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)   

    Il est bel et bon (sung in French)                  Pierre Passereau (fl. c. 1509-1547)
    O Care, thou wilt despatch me                Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)
    Chi salira per me (sung in Italian)                 Giaches de Wert (1535-1596)
    El Grillo (sung in Italian)                         Josquin Des Prez (c.1440-1521)

Theatrical Entertainment by the Players (an original play written by a theatre student, the Jester.  I give length, cast size, and decency requirements for this “fractured fairy tale”)
    Love is Blind                               
   
Fanfare Number Six   Announcing the arrival of the flaming figgy pudding.
    We wish you a merry Christmas                            traditional


Celebration of the Season (traditional and very new Christmas carol settings and choral pieces)

    A Virgin unspotted                        William Billings (1746-1800)
    Joy Shall Be Yours in the Morning                Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953)
    The holly and the ivy                    arr. Reginald Jacques (1894-1969)
    Bring a torch, Jeanette Isabella                arr. Steven Chatman (b. 1950)
    Nativity                                James Lavino (b. 1973)
    Gaudete                                Steven Sametz (b. 1954)
The Little Drummer Boy                        

Silent Night                            Franz Grüber, descant: R. Blackley
    The Chamber Singers will sing the first stanza in German.
    The audience may then join in singing this beloved carol in English.

I hope this sharing is helpful to you and to others, John.

Ron Blackley