Musicians In Ordinary Podcast

Louise Hung plays Orlando Gibbons' Galiardo Fantasia of Foure Parts from 'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. Audio production by Matthew Antal. 

'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613 probably as part of the celebrations for a royal wedding. MIO's Artistic Director John Edwards talks to keyboardist Louise Hung about pitch and temperament - how early keyboa...

Louise Hung plays John Bull's Pavana and Orlando Gibbons' Galiardo and The Queenes Command from 'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. Audio production by Matthew Antal. 

'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613 probably as part of the celebrations for a royal wedding. MIO's Artistic Director John Edwards talks to Prof. Deanne Williams about the plays by Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fle...

Louise Hung plays William Byrd's Earl of Salisbury’s Pavan and Galiardo Secundo from 'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. Audio production by Matthew Antal. 

'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. As the chief counsellor in the last years of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and the first years of James I’s, Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury was at the centre of a web of po...

Louise Hung plays William Byrd's Preludium and Galiardo Mrs. Mary Brownlo from 'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. Audio production by Matthew Antal. Virginal made by Matthew Redsell after an instrument by Joh...

'Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls (in England at least), composed by three famous masters: William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons' was probably printed in 1613. MIO's Artistic Director John Edwards talks to harpsichordist Louise Hung about the terminology of plucked string keyboard instruments in the Elizabethan and Jacobean period,...

Deanne Williams is professor in English at York University, a Fellow of the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies and a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. She was dramaturge for our production of Comus, has written extensively on girl performers in the Early Modern Period and dedicates a chapter to Milton’s character of The Lady...

Director Heather Davies and theorbo player and artistic director John Edwards chat about the music in John Milton's masque Comus and especially about the dance music of masques in general, and the dances of William Lawes which we used in our production. Visit https://musiciansinordinary.ca/episodes to click through the series and download mp3s to add to your music playlist.

Director Heather Davies and theorbo player and artistic director John Edwards chat about the music in John Milton's masque Comus and especially about the original songs by Henry Lawes. Visit https://musiciansinordinary.ca/episodes to click through the series and download mp3s to add to your music playlist.

Actor Bethany Jillard chats about  playing the part of The Lady, a role first played by Alice Egerton, the teenaged daughter of  the Earl of Bridgewater, and the similarities and differences between preparing for this role from John Milton's Comus and her experience playing Shakespeare’s women.  Visit https://musiciansinordinary.ca/episodes to click through the series and download mp3s to add to y...

Director Heather Davies discusses the special challenges of the masque form, Milton’s verse and the rehearsal process in the time of covid with John Edwards. Visit https://musiciansinordinary.ca/episodes to click through the series and download mp3s to add to your music playlist. Heather Davies was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. She’s trained as a dancer, singer, actor...

The second Corant in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  The saraband was a fast vigourous dance when first introduced to the dance suite from the guitar repertoire. We used the Set in...

The second Corant in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  
Another Corant from the suite we used for the dances of the Egerton children in our performance of John Milton's masque Comus....

The third Alman in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  
We used Lawes' Royal Consort Set 9, a dance suite heavy in Almans, the favourite dance of court masque, as the dances for the Ege...

The first Corant in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  
We used Lawes' Royal Consort Set 9 as the dances for the Egerton children  for our performance of John Milton's masque Comus. An...

The second Alman in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  We used Lawes' Royal Consort Set 9 as the dances for the Egerton children  for our performance of John Milton's masque Comus. The...

The first Alman in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  We used Lawes' Royal Consort Set 9 as the dances for the Egerton children  for our performance of John Milton's masque Comus. The...

A Pavan in F from Royal Consorts Set 9 by by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  The stately Pavan was used as an entrance dance in the 16th and 17th century and we used this as an 'overture' for our performance of John...

Two Morris Dances from William Lawes' Royal Consorts (Sets No. 5 & 6 in D maj.) that we used for the 'Country Dances &c' in our performance of John Milton's Comus. Visit https://musiciansinordinary.ca/episodes to click through the series and download mp3s to add to your music playlist.  The Musicians In Ordinary string band is led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Fel...

The Antic dances of a masque were performed by professional dancers using preposterous gestures in the guise of some sort of subhuman species such as witches, apes or, in the case of John Milton's Comus, the entourage of the god of revelry 'a rout of monsters like men and women but headed like wild beasts their apparel glistering'. An orphaned piece labelled 'Antic' by William Lawes (1602-1645) ex...

A Pavan by William Lawes (1602-1645) is played by The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Christopher Verrette, 1st vln. with Patricia Ahern, 2nd vln. Felix Deak and Laura Jones, violas da gamba and John Edwards, theorbo.  This pavan quotes John Dowland's 'Lachrimae' theme, which had become a musical emblem for melancholy, at the beginning and alludes to Dowland's earlier pavan throughout. Ch...

John Milton's Comus (Bridgewater manuscript version), with the original songs set by Henry Lawes and dance music by William Lawes, directed by Heather Davies, performed by Roger Honeywell - Attendant Spirit, Paul Hopkins - Comus, Bethany Jillard - The Lady, Tracy Ryan - Elder Brother, Beryl Bain - Second Brother, and Tahirih Vejdani - Sabrina, with The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Chri...

John Milton's Comus (Bridgewater manuscript version), with the original songs set by Henry Lawes and dance music by William Lawes, directed by Heather Davies, performed by Roger Honeywell - Attendant Spirit, Paul Hopkins - Comus, Bethany Jillard - The Lady, Tracy Ryan - Elder Brother, Beryl Bain - Second Brother and Tahirih Vejdani - Sabrina, with The Musicians In Ordinary string band led by Chris...