Early Music Consort
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Early Music Consort of London was a British
music ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...
in the late 1960s and 1970s which specialised in
historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...
of
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
and
Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...
. It was founded in 1967 by music academics
Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically info ...
and
David Munrow David John Munrow (12 August 194215 May 1976) was a British musician and early music historian. Early life and education Munrow was born in Birmingham where both his parents taught at the University of Birmingham. His mother, Hilda Ivy (né ...
and produced many highly influential recordings. The group disbanded in 1976 following Munrow's suicide.


History

The formation of the Early Music Consort of London in the late 1960s has been credited with popularising the genre of
Early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...
in UK and being main instigator of the British
Early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...
of the late 20th century. Munrow was inspired by the ''Alte Musik'' movement that had already gained popularity in Germany, and sought to foster an interest in music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras among British audiences. Munrow collaborated with Christopher Hogwood, with whom he had studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge University in setting up a new specialist music group, initially called the Early Music Consort, but changed to The Early Music Consort of London, prior to their tour of America. It was essentially a small, versatile group optimised for touring purposes, but capable of being augmented by larger forces for recording purposes. The group's original line-up consisted of Munrow, a wind instrumentalist who played many different instruments; Hogwood playing keyboard, harp and percussion;
Mary Remnant Mary Teresa Elizabeth Remnant (13 January 1935 – 15 May 2020), was an English musician, scholar, musicologist and medievalist. She was a leading figure in the Early music revival in the United Kingdom. Background She was the only daughter of ...
on
fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
,
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
and
tabor Tabor may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Tábor, a town in the South Bohemian Region ** Tábor District, the surrounding district * Tábor, a village and part of Velké Heraltice in the Moravian-Silesian Region Israel * Mount Tabor, Galilee ...
; Oliver Brookes on
viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
; Robert Spencer on
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
; and the
countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...
James Bowman. Later, another multi instrumentalist James Tyler replaced Robert Spencer and Mary Remnant left. A number of other singers also worked with the group such as the tenor
Martyn Hill Martyn Hill (b. 14 Sept 1944) is a British tenor. Life and career Hill was born in Rochester, Kent on September 14, 1944. He studied at King's College, Cambridge, followed by the Royal College of Music. He pursued further vocal training with Audr ...
.


Selected discography

The Early Music Consort of London produced many influential collections of early music, typical of which was ''
The Art of the Netherlands ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' issued as a three-record set in 1976. A track from their 1976 recording, ''Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' — "The Fairie Round" from ''Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Aeirs'' — was selected by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
for inclusion on the
Voyager Golden Record The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for ...
, a pair of
phonograph record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
s that were sent into space aboard the
Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...
and
Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on a ...
space probes in 1977. The piece, written for recorder consort by the English Tudor composer
Anthony Holborne Anthony ''AntonyHolborne ''Holburne(c. 1545 – 29 November 1602) was a composer of music for lute, cittern, and instrumental consort during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Life An "Anthony Holburne" entered Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1562, ...
, was chosen by a committee chaired by
Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
as a significant example of Western music and a representation of human culture.The sheet music used contained an error in the bass part which created a most uncharacteristic unresolved cadence. Munrow played the bass sordune on the recording. *''Ecco la primavera - Florentine Music of the 14th Cent'' (1969) *''Music of the Crusades'' (1971) *''The Triumphs of Maximilian I'' (1970) *'' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' (1970) *''Music for Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain'' (1972) *'' The Art of Courtly Love'' (1973) *''
Praetorius Praetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany. In 16th and 17th century Germany it became a fashion for educated people named " Schulze," " Schultheiß," or " Richter" (which means "judge"), to Latini ...
- Dances and Motets'' (1973) *''Music of Guillaume Dufay: Missa "Se La Face Ay Pale"'' (1974) *''Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (1976) *''Monteverdi's Contemporaries'' (1976) *''Music of the Gothic Era'' (1976) *''Greensleeves to a Ground'' (1976) *''Festival of Early Music - Music from 14th Century Florence, Music of the Crusades & The Triumphs of Maximilian'' (1976) *''
Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
: Birthday Odes for Queen Mary'' (1976) *''
The Art of the Netherlands ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1976)


References


External links


The Early Music Consort Of London
at
Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
.com
The Early Music Consort Of London
at
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
.com
"The Fairie Round" from ''Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short aeirs'', 1599" by David Munrow/Early Music Consort of London
{{Authority control British early music ensembles Musical groups established in 1967 1967 establishments in the United Kingdom Early music consorts Baroque music groups