Slipping !

Apologies to my faithfull reader for the gap in posting. I just didn't have the energy after the last couple of sectional rehearsals. We are getting steamed up yet again for Arklow and the pressure is coming on. T 4 2 and Deeeep Reeever for the open competition and 2 Madrigals for the A team. There has been some comment about the Benet Madrigal "Weep O mine eyes". People wonder when or where such a song would have been sung, it being so dirge like. Research has shown that all madrigals are about sex. That, in fact, was their attraction and what made them so appealing to the popsters of the day. This is more easily understood when you realise that the only alternative to Madrigals was Sacred Music.
So I was somewhat surprised to find out that "Weep O" is one of the very few NOT about sex. Not even by the longest of allegorical longshots. I tried , dammit, but failed. It is, in fact, about an outbreak of Infectious Conjuctivitis which occurred about 1598 in London. Many of the composer's friends were affected and he wrote the piece to raise their spirits. And I hope this does the same for you.