Perpetual Night – St John’s Smith Square – London

Robert Johnson – Care-charming sleep (1614)
William Lawes – Whiles I standing lake(1651)
John Coperario – Go, happy man (1613)
Martin Peerson – O precious time (1620)
William Lawes – Music, the master of thy art is dead (c. 1638 -1648)
Nicholas Lanier – No more shall meads be deck’d with flowers (1669)
Robert Ramsey – Go, perjured man
Matthew Locke – Pavane en Ut
John Banister – Give me my lute (1679)
Robert Ramsey – Howl not, you ghost furies, while I sing
William Lawes – Britannia Triumphans, Final of King’s masque (1638)
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Matthew Locke – Sarabande (1656)
William Webb – Powerful Morpheus
John Hilton – The Judgment of Paris : Rise princely Shepherd
James Hart – Adieu to the pleasures (1675)
John Banister – Amintas, that true hearted swain (1676)
John Blow – Loving above Himself (1700)
Henry Purcell – When Orpheus Sang/Let Phillis (1689)
John Jackson – Phillis, Oh! Turn That Face Away (1676)
John Blow – Epilogue : Sing sing Ye Muses (1700)

Starting from the universe of Consorts Songs & English Virginalists, while the virtuoso spirit of the Renaissance still stretches on the first years of the seventeenth century, it appeared to us that the world of music that follows Dowland and precedes Blow and Purcell was a world little know, but very fascinating.

The political instability of the Kingdom of England in these first decades (monarchy, execution of Charles I, protectorate of Cromwell, then restoration) and the perpetual tensions between Catholics and Protestants necessarily have repercussions on the artistic life: the musicians evolve depending on which regime, which religion they support, and new genres are emerging and disappearing, new mixtures and new flavors are appearing.

It was during this period that the English accompanied monody was born, where the beauty of counterpoint and its dissonances gave a new place to a freedom of declamation, modeled on Italian Caccini & Monteverdi research. The poetic universe is largely derived from the pastoral, while making a more important part of a real dramatic inspiration. Melancholy remains an omnipresent ingredient and a specific English signature.

In the style of a beautiful anthology, these songs retrace the art of singing in the English way, where France and its delicacy are never far away, where Italian extravagances are envied and imitated. From William Lawes’s grand narratives to the seduction of John Blow’s melodies, it is the whole English sound universe that is shaping before our eyes and which will build over the years the inspiration of the young Henry Purcell.