The Royall Consort

The Royall Consort of King Charles I was at the cutting edge of 17th century music, and today it lives again with Academy of Ancient Music.

King Charles I was a connoisseur of the visual arts, but he had exquisite taste in music, too, and the brilliant young composer and courtier William Lawes flooded the Stuart court with some of Britain’s – and Europe’s – most innovative (and ravishing) sounds. Today Academy of Ancient Music celebrates an era of cavaliers and courtly dances, playing music by Lawes and his contemporaries from home and abroad. Elegant seduction, playful conversation and the looming shadow of civil war all find a voice, as the instruments of the Renaissance meet a flamboyant upstart called the violin. This is musical time travel: a whole evening in a vanished age, recreated through music. It’s witty, it’s elegant, and it touches the heart.

Programme

William Lawes Royal Consort in D minor
Samuel Scheidt Royal Consort in D minor
Samuel Scheidt Paduan Cantus IV, Galliard Battaglia, Conzon ‘Nachbar Roland’
Thomas Baltzar Prelude & ‘John come kiss me now’
Dario Castello Sonata XIII
Dario Castello Sonata XIV
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger Toccata for Two Theorbos
Christopher Simpson Ground in G major for Two Bass Viols
William Lawes Royal Consort in D major
John Jenkins Newark Siege

Performers

Academy of Ancient Music