Spots of Time: songs, fantasias and pavanes of the English Renaissance

London, 1624. Through the window of a small house by the Thames, a light shines. In the middle of this cold late-autumn night, voices and laughters resonate through the wooden walls and onto the street. Christopher and Michael took their viols with them, William his flutes, and together with their friends Anthony and John, they sit around the dinner table, singing and accompanying their favourite songs. Many of these are sad at first glance, and some have been inspired by older melodies, but our friends play them with such pleasure, ornamenting the melodies and swapping voices, that it would seem is if they were improvising them on the spot.

Our program Spots of Time reflects on the experiences of that night in London back in 1624 and transposes them in the present. We relive the melodies and harmonies that used to exist in the imagination of musicians from the English Renaissance, and carry them over to a cold late-autumn night by the fjord in Bergen, 400 years later. The feelings shaping the experience in the past are transported by our historical instruments to the intimate setting of the concert. With a singer, recorder flutes, viols and an organetto, our typical 'broken consort' performs works by Dowland, Holborne, Byrd, Bennett and their friends.

The first part of our program revolves around a musical tapestry of melancholy, on the famous theme of Dowland's song 'Flow my Tears', probably the most published work of the 17th century across Europe. Deploying this melody around different pieces and combinations of timbres, our thread then moves onto lighter instrumental pieces and interweaves them with famous love songs. The last part of our program celebrates the joys of spending time with friends, and presents some funny works dedicated amongst others to the virtues of tobacco or the playfulness of friends teasing each other.

Join us for a evening of surprises, tears, and banter connecting past and present with the unique voices and instruments of BergensConsort:

Laetitia Stemp (soprano)
Kateřina Šůsová (recorder flutes)
Julien-Pooya Weihs (viola da gamba)
Randolph Miles (viola da gamba)
Anders Hannevold (organetto)

Saturday 14 December 2024 – 18:00
Tickets: NOK 50/150/250, at the entrance