Continuing with the series of posts dedicated to musical rounds, this next one is a round that had interesting chromaticism used for great mood-setting given the subject matter.

There isn’t a lot of biographical information about composer, John Church (1675-1741). It is believed he was born in Windsor, but not much else can be found about him. The few known works attributed to him vary in content from secular canons (such as Poor Owen), to political and provoking works (such as The Sham Monarch of Spain), and various spiritual choral works.

Poor Owen (also published as Poor Tabby²) is a canon written for three voices in a minor tonality (C minor, below). The canon is secular in lyrical content, although it is not clear if Church wrote the lyrics along with the music. The round starts with a descending chromatic line which creates an interesting sombre start to the piece. When the second and third voices join, then the harmony begins to develop further forming a type of V7-i in Bb minor, and then arriving back into Abm briefly only to resolve Db major. The composer does not shy away from using tritone intervals in passing to create tension. Lyrically, for example, Swan’s Wine’s ends up overlapping to “swine” just when the dissonance between the Eb and A natural pass by each other.

Poor Owen, for a while did lie,
despised by all that walked by,

Often they were heard to cry,
“Swan’s wine’s dry,”

One standing by said, “Let’s try,”
then one and all went to Cobweb Hall.

Where they drank their wine in bowls
to gratify their thirsty souls.

The project To Your Rude Health by the Iuchair Ensemble and the University of Glasgow have compiled this and many other rounds catches on their website. The following score below is the transcription of Poor Owen:

I tried playing the three voices on the piano to get a feel for the movement and the different harmonies that emerge from the composition. The composition really comes alive in the polyphony generated by the round and it was a good exercise for sight reading and look at voice leading.

References: 
1. To Your Rude Health. [online] Available at: https://www.toyourrudehealth.arts.gla.ac.uk/ [Accessed 2021].

‌2. Rimbault, E. (1865). The rounds, catches, and canons of England : a collection of specimens of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, adapted to modern use. London: Cramer, Wood, & Co.
 

Recording:
The Merry Companions (2011). Poor Owen. Virginia: Sono Luminus.