Broken consort
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A broken consort (also called Morley consort or English consort) is an instrumental ensemble that developed in Europe during the Renaissance. It originally referred to ensembles featuring instruments from more than one family of instruments, as for example a group featuring both string and wind instruments. (A consort consisting entirely of instruments of the same family, on the other hand, was referred to as a "whole consort.")
As constituted during the time of Queen Elizabeth I, it typically featured three plucked string instruments (lute, cittern, and bandore), two bowed instruments (treble and bass viols), and a recorder or transverse flute. Such a consort became quite popular during the Elizabethan era and often accompanied vocal songs.
There are several surviving compositions specifically for the consort, called a Morley consort because of the publication: First Book of Consort Lessons by Thomas Morley (1599). There are other consort compositions by Philip Rosseter and some vocal music accompanied by the specific consort such as Sir William Leighton's The Teares and Lamentatacions of a Sorrowfull Soule (1614) and the Psalms of David in Metre (1599) by Richard Allison.
Sidney Beck made the first modern editions of this music and had a professional consort in New York state. Julian Bream was a pioneer in reviving the consort. James Tyler (professor of music) did much to popularise the playing of these consorts by getting music students at the University of Southern California to play all six instruments. The Baltimore Consort, an American ensemble, specializes in the performance of music for broken consort.
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[edit] Bibliography
- The First Book of Consort Lessons, Collected by Thomas Morley 1599 & 1611, Reconstructed and Edited by Sidney Beck (CF Peters Corporation, New York, 1959).
- Philip Rosseter, Lessons for Consort (1609).
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