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Archiver > ANGLO-ITALIAN > 2008-05 > 1210361873


From: David W Mills <>
Subject: Re: [ANGLO-ITALIAN] Early Italianmusicians
Date: Fri, 09 May 2008 19:38:19 GMT
References: <00d901c8af7f$8048c820$0400000a@yourb27fb1c401><cfe.2ed075d1.3551a982@aol.com><00d901c8af7f$8048c820$0400000a@yourb27fb1c401> <3.0.1.32.20080509085517.01803084@mail.gil.com.au>
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.20080509085517.01803084@mail.gil.com.au>


In message <>
E & R Shanahan <> wrote:

>By a coincidence, I have just been investigating the music during the time
>of the first Queen Elizabeth, and have this information on the sleeve of
>one of my CDs
>

Have you come across Dante Ferrara?

Amazing man! Great with kids and adults ...mind you he has to leave out many
of his songs when performing for kids!


>quote
>The Violin consort seems to have been brought to England for the first time
>in the spring of 1540 when a group of Jewish/Italian string players moved
>to London from Venice to enter the service of Henry VIII. The institution
>they founded proved to be remarkably stable and long lived. Descendants of
>the original six musicians served until the Civil War. In James II's reign
>the group was enlarged to become an orchestral violin band, and, although
>it was disbanded during the Civil War, it was enlarged again in 1660, as
>Charles II's Twenty-four Violins. This endured as a musical organization
>through the 18th and 19th centuries and only finally disappeared from the
>royal household in about 1920.

That is great...never knew that..what is the CD?

>The main function of the violin consort at court seems to have been to
>accompany the daily dancing that apparently followed dinner. Queen
>Elizabeth was an enthusiastic and accomplished dancer, she told a French
>diplomat in 1598 that in her youth she 'danced very well, and composed
>measures and music, and had played them herself and danced them', and
>added that 'she learned in the Italian manner to dance high'.

She also loved the English Country Dances which later went over to the
continent
>
>unquote
>So it seems there is a long history of Italian/English music sharing.

I believe that most English of tunes "Greensleeves" is based on a n Italian
Ground....which is IIRC the bass figure. Musicologists will know more on
that score.

David

PS Pun un intended.



>Eunice in Queensland
>
>>[snip]
>>>
>>>There was great commerce and travel back and forth between Italy and
>England from back in Medieval times and the Renaissance. Many English
>migrated to Italy and vice versa...[snip]
>
>
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