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Danse Macabre - the 1600s and Chaos
A discursive tour of some unusual and strikingly beautiful 1600s vocal works - Danyel and Purcell as well as Webb, Banister, Blow and Lawes
Add to my Calendar 04-06-2025 19:00 04-06-2025 21:00 36 Danse Macabre - the 1600s and Chaos The 'Danse Macabre' was part of a wider constellation of allegories that acknowledged the darkness of a life that ended in death within the joy of music. Dancing manias that ended in broken bones and death; reminders that under all the pomp and richly-clothed power lurked the bare bones of skeletons. As the 1600s slipped into chaos and war, this foreshadowing became ever more acute and entwined with the strangeness and dissonance of the early English Baroque.Our programme includes pieces by John Danyel and Henry Purcell as well as less well-known works by William Webb, John Banister, John Blow and astonishingly beautiful vocal work by Henry Lawes’ brother William Lawes who, though assigned away from the front-line to keep him from danger, was “casually shot” by a Parliamentarian at Rowton Heath, near Chester, in 1645. Neither of Lawes' pieces are well-known but one of them, 'O let me still and silent lie' only appears in his brother’s original autograph manuscript in the British Library detailing three hundred songs, few of which are either known or performed now. All details at https://wondrousmachine.co.uk Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret, London DD/MM/YYYYDetails
Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret
9a St Thomas Street
Southwark
London
SE1 9RY
England
Tickets
Prices: £18.50
Book Tickets
Programme
Henry Purcell – Here the Deities Approve, Z.339 no.3
Henry Purcell – Music for a While
William Webb – Pow'rful Morpheus
William Lawes – She Weepeth Sore in the Night
William Lawes – O, let me still and silent lie
John Danyel – Grief, keep within
John Danyel – Drop not
John Danyel – Have all our passions
John Blow – Poor Celadon (Amphion Anglicus)
John Banister – Amintas
Henry Purcell – O solitude, my sweetest choice, Z.406
Performers
Andrew Rennie – tenor
Sam Brown – Lute / vihuela / baroque guitar
Programme Note
The 'Danse Macabre' was part of a wider constellation of allegories that acknowledged the darkness of a life that ended in death within the joy of music. Dancing manias that ended in broken bones and death; reminders that under all the pomp and richly-clothed power lurked the bare bones of skeletons. As the 1600s slipped into chaos and war, this foreshadowing became ever more acute and entwined with the strangeness and dissonance of the early English Baroque.
Our programme includes pieces by John Danyel and Henry Purcell as well as less well-known works by William Webb, John Banister, John Blow and astonishingly beautiful vocal work by Henry Lawes’ brother William Lawes who, though assigned away from the front-line to keep him from danger, was “casually shot” by a Parliamentarian at Rowton Heath, near Chester, in 1645. Neither of Lawes' pieces are well-known but one of them, 'O let me still and silent lie' only appears in his brother’s original autograph manuscript in the British Library detailing three hundred songs, few of which are either known or performed now.
All details at https://wondrousmachine.co.uk
