A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Oriana, The Triumphs of
ORIANA, The Triumphs of. A collection of 25 madrigals in praise of Queen Elizabeth, who figures under the name of Oriana, composed by the most eminent musicians of the time, and published, under the editorship of Thomas Morley, in 1601 [App. p.736 "in 1603 (after Queen Elizabeth's death, as is proved by Arber's Stationers' Register). The book was printed in 1601, but the publication delayed till two years afterwards, probably because the Queen disliked the title of Oriana"], with the title of 'Madrigales. The Triumphes of Oriana, to 5 and 6 voices: composed by diuers seuerall aucthors. Newly published by Thomas Morley, Batcheler of Musick and one of the gentlemen of her Maiesties honorable Chappell.' The composers engaged upon the work were Michael Este, Daniel Norcome, John Mundy, Mus. Bac., John Benet, John Hilton, Mus. Bac., George Marson, Mus. Bac., Richard Carlton, Mus. Bac., John Holmes, Richard Nicolson, Thomas Tomkins, Michael Cavendish, William Cobbold, John Farmer, John Wilbye, Thomas Hunt, Mus. Bac., Thomas Weelkes, John Milton, George Kirbye, Robert Jones, John Lisley, and Edward Johnson, who each contributed one madrigal, and Ellis Gibbons and Morley himself, who each furnished two madrigals. The words,—they cannot be called poetry,—are by an anonymous author or authors, and abound with allusions to the Queen's beauty, virtue, grace, etc. etc. Each madrigal, with a few exceptions, ends with the couplet,
'Then sang the Nymphs and Shepherds of Diana
Long live fair Oriana.'
Various conjectures have been made as to the occasion upon which the work was written, but as they are mere conjectures it is unnecessary to enter upon a consideration of them. The same may be said of the person named in several of the madrigals as a singer and dancer. [See Bonny Boots.] The work was dedicated by Morley to Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, Baron of Effingham, and Lord High Admiral of England, so well known in connection with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The title and form of this collection seem to have been suggested by a set of Italian madrigals called 'Il Trionfo di Dori,' written in praise of a lady who is figured under the name of Doris, each of which ends with the words 'Viva la bella Dori'; the earliest extant edition of which was printed at Antwerp in 1601 (the same year in which 'The Triumphes of Oriana' was published), but which was undoubtedly originally issued at some earlier period, since not only were some of the composers who contributed to it dead before 1601, but one of the madrigals in it—'Ove tra l'herbi e i fiori,' by Giovanni Croce—had been adapted to the English words, 'Hard by a crystal fountain' (afterwards set by Morley for the Oriana collection), and printed in the Second Book of 'Musica Transalpina,' in 1597. 'The Triumphes of Oriana' was about 1814 printed in score by William Hawes, who added to it two madrigals by Thomas Bateson and Francis Pilkington, which were sent too late for insertion in the original publication, the before-named madrigal by Giovanni Croce, and a madrigal by Bateson, written after the death of Elizabeth, entitled 'Oriana's Farewell.'
The Italian work just named is entitled 'Il Trionfo di Dori, descritto da diversi et posti in auisica da altretanti Autori. A Sei Voci.' The madrigals contained in it are 29 in number, the words and music being furnished by as many different authors and composers. The composers were Felice Anerio, Giovanni Matteo Asola, Hippolito Baccusi, Ludovico Balbi, Lelio Bertani, Pietro Andrea Bonini, Paolo Bozi, Giovanni Cavaccio, Orazio Columbano, Gasparo Costa, Giovanni Croce, Giulio Eremita, Giovanni Florio, Giovanni Gabrieli, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, Ruggiero Giovanelli, Leon Leoni, Giovanni de Macque, Luca Marenzio, Tiburtio Massaino, Filippo de Monte, Giovanni Palestina, Costanzo Porta, Alfonso Preti, Hippolito Sabino, Annibal Stabili, Alessandro Striggio, Orazio Vecchi, and Gasparo Zetto. Besides the impression of 1601, another appeared, also at Antwerp, in 1614.