Beguiled and Blue: Ayres to the Lute

Four hundred years ago, the death of John Dowland marked the beginning of the end of the lute’s golden age in England. For much of the 16th and early 17th centuries, the lute was central to English musical life, accompanying singers and instrumentalists. By the time of Henry Purcell, however, it had become just one of many instruments used to accompany a voice.

This programme traces the changing styles of song across this period, beginning with Dowland and his contemporaries and the final flowering of the English lute-song tradition. Nicholas Lanier provides a bridge to the more dramatic Baroque style of Purcell, whose songs are also represented here. Together, they reveal how the intimate sound of voice and lute evolved over the course of a century.

Since its formation in 2012, Musicke in the Ayre have enthused audiences across Great Britain and on the Continent in over 180 recitals, each with Din accompanying one to four singers from an evolving squad. They have held residencies at the National Portrait Gallery and the Charterhouse in London, and in Bath at the Museum of Bath Architecture and (currently) St Mary’s Bathwick. They have performed regularly in Frome Festival since 2018; this year’s appearance attracted the following comment: “It was a stunning concert. Beautiful voices and playing.”