Elisa La Marca - The Queenes Maskes: A Varietie of Lute Music from the Early English Court (2025)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 194 Mb | Total time: 53:14 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Arcana | # A 572 | Recorded: 2022
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 194 Mb | Total time: 53:14 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Arcana | # A 572 | Recorded: 2022
Throughout its Golden Age, England cultivated the masque, an elite entertainment featuring dialogue, song, and dance. As part of these spectacles, courtiers—and at times even the queen herself—often graced the dance floor. But it was hired professionals who provided the musical heart of these productions. Lutenists in particular were especially adept at creating music for any occasion. The dances, variations on popular songs, and fantasias they composed are full of versatility and virtuosity. This recording features lute works by the foremost composers of the Elizabethan-Jacobean era, with music by Dowland, Holborne, Bacheler, Ferrabosco, and other contemporaries who participated in The Queenes Maskes.