QuintEssential : Elisa is the fayrest Quene

In 1558 the hopes and dreams of the English people for a better society, after the ravages of the reign of Queen Mary, were intertwined with their aspirations for the new Tudor monarch, Elizabeth. Over the next forty-five years she was to prove herself one of the most able of the Tudors, securing both international respect and the affection of her subjects. Elizabeth I lived and ruled at a time when England was experiencing the beginning of its growh from provincial nation into world empire. The programme recorded here aims to illuminate a small part of the rich tapestry that was Elizabethan music-making, namely the music of the cornetts, sackbuts, the solo voice, and the Queen's own instruments, the lute and the keyboard. The disc takes its title from a song by Edward Johnson who is represented alongside such other well known composers as William Byrd, John Dowland, Antony Holborne, John Bull and John Wilbye. Dances by the enterprising composer-publishers Pierre Attaignant and Claude Gervaise fit naturally within the programme, as does a pair of dances by Augustine Bassano, member of a numberous Italian immigrant family which left its mark on the court's musical life for over a century.

Elisa is the fayrest Quene: Track List

[1] Various Suite of five Galliards [7.51]

[2] Edward Johnson Elisa is the fayrest Quene, Verse 1 [1.08]

[3] Edward Johnson Come againe, sweet Nature's treasure [1.50]
[4] Edward Johnson Elisa is the fayrest Quene, Verse 2 [1.10]

[5] William Byrd Fantasia ('A Lesson of Voluntarie') [2.41]

[6] John Dowland Come again, sweet love doth now invite [3.55]

[7] Robert Parsons In nomine [4.51]

[8] John Dowland Come away, come, sweet love [4.11]

[9] John Coprario Fantasia [4.12]

[10] Francis Cutting Divisions on 'Walsingham' [3.12]

[11] Antony Holborne Pavan [3.47]

[12] Antony Holborne Galliard. Lullabie [3.42]

[13] Antony Holborne Almaine. The Honey-Suckle [2.52]

[14] John Bull Chromatic Pavan [3.19]

[15] John Bull Chromatic Galliard [3.46]

[16] Augustine Bassano Pavana [3.21]

[17] Augustine Bassano Galiarda [3.13]

[18] John Wilbye Sweet Love, if thou wilt gaine [3.08]

[19] Various Suite of Almands [2.39]

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