Output details

Music in English Domestic Circles

The music collection of Edward Paston (1550-1630) contains over 1,300 pieces in diverse partbooks as well as 500 lute intabulations of the same music. Sequera's research addresses questions of performance practice in this repertoire. The use of high and low clef systems, the different transpositions of a single work, and the presence or absence of text and contrafacta indicate an attitude to practical and adaptable music making within the household (including both sacred and secular repertoires) and suggest a number of hitherto unorthodox performance practices that are explored in Sequera's documented performances.

To illustrate Sequera’s body of research, this portfolio submission comprises (a) live audio recordings of 8 items from different performances based on Sequera's research; and (b) documentation of a concert at the MedRen 2012 Conference (University of Nottingham, 9 July 2012), including a note explaining the research context and the principal editorial and performing decisions made. These include but are not limited to 1) performing solfaing songs such as Christopher Tye’s In Nomine ‘Rachells weepinge’ using the four-syllable system (mi-fa-sol-la) in William Bathe’s ‘A Briefe Introduction to the Skill of Singing, 1596’, which deviates from the old Catholic-based hexachordal system that uses six syllables; 2) the two-part section of Taverner’s Agnus dei III from his Gloria tibi trinitas Mass, an example of single-line playing for an amateur lute player, which also illustrates music compiled for teaching and learning; 3) two versions of William Byrd’s Memento salutis auctor (low and high clefs) illustrating the practice of adjusting clef systems to the performing forces, and 4) the art of divisions or diminutions in England, including a performance of Robert Johnson’s ‘Have you seen but a white lily grow?’ (arrangement from GB-Lbl Add. 15117). Scores and facsimiles for items in both parts of the submission are collected in a single document.