Shakespeare in the Gardens 2022

Players from ICO are pleased to be presenting small ensemble works from the Elizabethan period as part of Brisbane City Council’s Skakespeare Festival.

Program

Sextet

We are starting with a collection of six dances from the Elizabethan era. The Galliard is a dance from the Elizabethan court, it involved a lot of high kicking for the men, and was considered an opportunity for men to show off to their partners. We are playing 5 Galliards by Anthony Holborne (1545 to 1602) – a composer of consort music during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was held in the highest regard as a composer by contemporaries. We will finish the dance sequence with a Tourdion by Pierre Attaingnant (1494 to 1551). Attaingnant was a French music publisher who is credited with revolutionising the printing of music and paving the way for affordable printing in large quantities. A Tourdion is a drinking song; the original version of this song was for 4 voice parts, all singing different lyrics at the same time.

After the 6 dances we’ll play the Chaconne from Purcell’s Fairy Queen suite. Purcell (1659 to 1695) is regarded as one of the greatest English composers. His Fairy Queen opera was first performed in 1692, and is very loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We are playing the Chaconne from the Fairy Queen Suite

• 6 dances by Holborne and Attaingnant
• Chaconne from the Fairy Queen Suite by Purcell

Flute solo – Ailsa Harris

Although this piece was written a century after Shakespeare, the Fantaisie was a popular form of music during the 16th and 17th centuries. Also called a Fantasy or Fancy, in it’s solo form it is a usually a composition free in form and inspiration.

• Fantaisie no. 10 in F sharp minor by Telemann

Ensemble

Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621) was a prolific German composer. His most significant collections of works are the Musae Sioniae (published in nine parts from 1605–10), consisting of more than 1,200 settings of chorales.

We are performing 3 dances by Praetorius. In Shakespeare’s time a ballet simply meant a dance. And a courante, or corrente in Italian, was a court dance for couples and was very fashionable in aristocratic European ballrooms.

• Ballet no 21, 
• Ballet no 28, 
• Courante

Wind quartet

We are playing 2 more pieces by Praetorius, and an anonymous folk tune that is sometimes thought to have been attributed to Praetorius. The Light of Love is in the courante style. Packington’s Pound is an English ballad that dates from the last quarter of the 16th century. The “pound” refers to a pond that Packington had built near his house which was ordered removed when it was found to encroach on a public highway. We finish with Branle de la torche by Praetorisu. A branle was danced in a circle, and dancers change partners as they progressed around the circle. 

• The Light of Love – Praetorius
• Packington’s Pound – Anon
• Branle de la torche – Praetorius

Duet

Bryan Kelly is a 20th century English composer who wrote The Globe Theatre Suite as a series of pieces in the style of Shakespearean music.

Gary and Ailsa will play 3 pieces from the Globe Theatre Suite by Bryan Kelly:

• Fanfare
• Bransle
• Air

Ensemble

Our last bracket of music is by John Dowland (1562 to 1626), an English composer of the Elizabethan era. He received a bachelor of music degree from the ancient University of Oxford in 1588, and spent most of his adult life employed by various European courts.

An Almand or Allemande is another dance form from Shakespeare’s time. The dancers form a line of couples, extend their paired hands forward, and parade back and forth the length of the ballroom. Flow my Tears is Dowland’s most famous song, and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his name “Jo: dolandi de LachrimaeJ”. And we’ll finish as we started with a Galliard. 

• Mrs Nichol’s Almand
• Flow my Tears
• King of Denmark’s Galliard

Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra

Emma Clinton – violin

Eliza Cordery – flute

Morgan Cotton – violin and viola

Cassandra D’Arcy – mandolin and viola

Ryan Evans – clarinet

Ailsa Harris – flute and piccolo

Gary Hunt – keyboard

Janine Kesting – percussion

Ann Lane – violin

Julie Lu – viola

Alessandro Moraes – cello

Liz Ridley – violin

Alastair Rothwell – cello

Colleen Rowe – clarinet