Lute Society Updates


1. LUTENIST WANTED, HACKNEY, 6th DECEMBER

Lutenist wanted to play festive music with a Tudor theme during a craft fair at Sutton House in Hackney (built in 1535 and now belonging to the National Trust) on Sunday 6th December – exact time(s) negotiable between 11 am and 4pm. £30 fee plus unlimited mulled wine and mince pies! Please contact: lissa.chapman@btinternet.com

2. FEEDBACK WANTED – THE MEANINGS OF DOWLAND’S SONGS

The link below should take you to Rob McKillop's fledgling 'John Dowland website', where I allowed him to post pdfs of my paraphrases or 'explications' of all the Songs of JD.
http://www.johndowland.co.uk/ and click on 'Songs'.

Clifford Bartlett has been keen to publish these as a booklet, and I have been anxious to get members of the luting community to send me any errata, comments or downright criticism of them (I must have made some howling errors somewhere), but despite pleading with folk, I have had no serious feedback whatsoever! Everyone's too busy - I can understand that, but they need to be checked through thoroughly, and some of my conclusions or theories really should be questioned and challenged! Consider, for example, 'Come heavy Sleep' in book one, or 'Flow my Tears' in book 2, to both of which I have given footnotes relating to the mythological personifications referred to, and ideas from Cabalistic thought, Hermetic philosophy and Neo-Platonism. Am I correct in my conclusions? I think we should be told!

This Dowland text project originally came about as a kind of tribute to Bob Spencer. He always urged his students to explore the texts of lute songs in considerable depth, since they can often be quite 'dense' and opaque to the casual reader, and, in fact, most singers don't really have a clue what some of them are actually about, or referring to! I know - I was one of them


3. CONCERT, THURSDAY 3rd DECEMBER

Music from the courts of Henry VII and VIII, and from the pen of Henry Purcell, performed at the Lovekyn Chapel, Kingston Grammar School [opposite main school building], London Road, Kingston upon Thames KT2 6PYTickets: £8, £6 [concessiom] on the door; refreshments served,
Enquiries, reservations and requests to be left alone should be directed to williamsummers@uwclub.net

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