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Upcoming
programs and events presented by
Wind
in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
and
others
---------------------------------------------
Wind
in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
will perform
The
Music of Life in Tudor England
at
The Reid Center
1004 N A St, Richmond, IN 47374
Wednesday, May 21 2025
12
noon – 1pm.
Free and open to the public
The music in this program portrays the fun and frolics of rennaissance life in court and countryside, the joys and sorrows of love interwoven with the intricacies of dance, entertainment via the Shakespearian theatre and we finish with a section on occupations for men and women ranging from piracy to laundry!
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RECENT PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
Wind
in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
music for
Pastimes,
Pleasures and Pursuits in Tudor England
at
Kirkmont
Presbyterian Church
3377 Shakertown Rd, Beavercreek, OH
45434
3pm
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Free
The program includes music by King Henry VIII, Anthony Holborne, William Byrd, John Dowland and others, as well as dance tune from Thoinot Arbeau’s dance instruction book Orchesography and John Playford’s The English Dancing Master. Wind in the Woods will have the usual assortment of period instruments – recorders, viola da gambas, lute, crumhorns and percussion as well as the beautiful voice of Sarvani Nicolosi. Our music will reflect the life and activities of its time, such as games like pell-mell and barley break, dancing and theatre going, as well as work performed by men and women at different levels of society, like washerwomen, milkmaids, street vendors and characters such as William Kemp (a comic actor) Brave Lord Willoughby (a soldier and diplomat) and Captain Gregory Piper, who attempted to earn a living as a pirate, but died in poverty. Intermingled are songs about that other very human pursuit called love!
More Program Notes
September 30th 2024
I
recently have been thinking about the wealth of historical and
societal information packed into many Elizabethan songs –
especially in the song “Jack and Jone.” For instance we are told
that this happy hardworking country couple will “lash out at a
country feast their silver penny with the best.” This set me
a-googling “silver penny.” Silver! That sounds quite valuable but
it turns out that around 1544 Henry VIII (who wrote our opening song,
“Pastime with Good Company”) was running short of money and he
lowered the standard of coinage to one-third silver and two-thirds
copper. Thus, Henry became known as “Old Coppernose” as the thin
layer of silver on the high-relief part of Henry’s image was rubbed
off .) Perhaps though by the time of Elizabeth I the silver penny had
a bit more purchasing power, as Elizabeth I was upping the value of
coins using the silver and gold obtained by plundering Spanish ships.
That makes a nice connection to another piece in the progam –
“Captain Digorie Piper’s Galliard” mentioned above. He was
licensed by the Queen to raid Spanish ships, but didn’t want to
brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic. Instead he stayed in the
English Channel and harrassed other foreign ships that came along.
You can hear the rest of that story in the narrative to our
concert!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_penny_(1485%E2%80%931603)
Margaret Erin
Wind
in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
music for
Pastimes,
Pleasures and Pursuits in Tudor England
at
High Street
Methodist Church
230 E High St., Springfield, Ohio
45505
3pm
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Free –
Donations Welcome.
Reception to follow
A
JOURNEY THROUGH CHRISTMAS PAST
Dessert
Reception
4pm
Saturday,
December 16 2023
Kirkmont Church
3377
Shakertown Rd, Beavercreek, oh 45434
FREE
Wind in the Woods concert this year includes music from the 12th Century to late 18th Century. As well as travelling through time, the program carries us to many lands, including England, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, and the Basque country and to the areas now known as Belgium, Holland and Germany. Our Christmas flight of fancy even takes us to Canada (The Huron Carol) and concludes with music by the American composer William Billings. If you would like to hear Christmas music that is less often performed as well as traditional and more familiar sounds then join us for this unique tapestry of medieval, rennaissance, traditional and baroque music. Below you can read more about William Billings, courtesy of Wikipedia.
William Billings was born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay. At the age of 14, the death of his father stopped Billings' formal schooling. In order to help support his family, young Billings trained as a tanner. He possibly received musical instruction from John Barry, one of the choir members at the New South Church, but for the most part he was self-taught.[2] Billings had an unusual appearance and a strong addiction to snuff.[3] His contemporary wrote that Billings "was a singular man, of moderate size, short of one leg, with one eye, without any address & with an uncommon negligence of person. Still, he spake & sung & thought as a man above the common abilities."[4] Billings' wife died on March 26, 1795, leaving him with six children under the age of 18.[5] He died in poverty in Boston on September 26, 1800. His funeral was announced in the Columbian Centinel: "Died- Mr. William Billings, the celebrated music composer. His funeral will be tomorrow at 4 o'clock, PM from the house of Mrs. Amos Penniman, in Chamber-street, West-Boston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Billings