Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Fancy on an Anonymous Catch - (2011)
for organ
As with the other fancies in this small collection of organ fantasias, the theme is drawn from The Catch Club or Merry Companions being a Choice Collection of the most Diverting Catches for three and Four voices Compos'd by the late Mr. Henry Purcell, Dr. Blow & c. The text for this round [ 1 ] reads: "Here dwells a pretty Maid whose Name is Sis, / you may come in and Kiss; / her hole estate is seventeen Pence a year; / Yet you may kiss her, / if you come but near." The intended double-entendre explains for me both the reason a citation of the author is absent in the collection, and also that the gentlemen -- Purcell, Blow, Clarke and their contemporaries -- had their bawdy fun with some of the catches as published.
After a set of gestures to introduce the theme, it is stated in the upper voice, a ground bass provided beneath it for several periods. The second voice enters at the pickup to measure thirteen, and then is taken up by the pedal.
Some episodes break the repetitions of the theme, these based on the major/minor relationship found at the end cadence of the catch in distinction to its general tonality.
The entire work is here,
, an MP3 file [ circa 2' 30" ]
The score for Fancy on an Anonymous Catch is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this organ score.
NOTES
[ 1 ] The simple round is as follows:
