Division-Musick
Photo: Simon Ryder
The art of 'dividing' upon a ground bass, or playing 'divisions', was the equivalent of our modern jazz tradition in the Elizabethan period and throughout the seventeenth century in England. Skilled musicians, both amateur and professional, would improvise upon a fixed repeated harmonic sequence (the 'ground'), often with astonishing inventiveness and virtuosity. This programme explores some of the many composed, and therefore surviving, examples of this art along with sets of variations on popular tunes of the day. Lute solos alongside divisions played on treble, tenor and bass viols accompanied by lute improvisations make for a rich palette of aural colours and a vibrant and virtuosic recreation of sixteenth and seventeenth century music making in England.
The Lion and the Unicorn
At
the turn of the 17th century the lute was the undisputed king of
instruments, and John Dowland its greatest English champion, until
gentleman-composer and soldier Captain Tobias Hume threw down the
gauntlet and claimed the viol to be its equal. The
Lion and the Unicorn
explores the tussle for pre-eminence between the two instruments
through the words and music of Dowland, who challenged Hume's
assertion, and of Hume himself. Jacob Heringman, lute, and Susanna
Pell, viol, are joined by actors Simon Pell and Thomas Frere to bring
these colourful and complex personalities to life. The result is a
highly entertaining evening, profound, beautiful, and often
humorous, containing some of the finest music and poetry of the late
Elizabethan and early Jacobean period.
'The audience loved it.' Hexham Courant
'The audience loved it.' Hexham Courant