They play 'renaissance-style'. If you don't know about renaissance, imagine a cool cultural period between the 14th and 17th century with magnificent advances in science and art. So what is this style?
"the King's Noyse plays in a manner almost certainly followed by Renaissance fiddlers, playing from memory or improvising on standardized bass lines such as thosepassamezzi - Italian folk dances of the 16th and early 17th centuries. [wikipedia]
of the passamezzi. This is very similar to the jamming of today's jazz or country groups playing upon the bass, rhythm, and harmonic changes of a standard tune, without a page of sheet music to be seen." [allmusic]
How super is the explanation and this style.
Let's get into the music.
Tarantella is a folk dance in a fast tempo. It comes from Italy and is popular at weddings.The artist of the paintings in the video is Gerrit Dou - a Dutch painter from the 17th century.
This music must interest you. If not, ask your self why? What ails your spirit from joining in.
Moving on to the next 'Noyse':
Giovanni Maria Trabaci, the composer of the piece above, lived in the 16th-17th century. He was a prolific composer but seems to have only a few photos (paintings) on the internet.
You are listening to the Galliard: a spirited dance for two people as you can make out from the photo in the video.
Giovanni Bassano lived in the 16th-17th century and composed this final piece for this post. The video informs us that the music has been played on authentic instruments. It means it has been played on instruments belonging to 'that' era.
It's a treasure trove of melodies - these fine recordings. Violin that pleases the ear and rhythms to dance to. All belonging to a time when you had no computers and had to use imagination to pass time and live in the moment. Classical music fills us with emotions that connect us to a life not lived, but for which our soul aches.
