Consort song

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The consort song is an English genre of songs of the 16th and 17th centuries that developed from the air and the madrigal of the Elizabethan period . It was composed in simple, folksong-like ways for a four- or five-part consort , usually from viols , and a high- pitched voice . The term first appeared in William Leighton's collection The Teares and Lamentatacions of a Sorrowfull Soule , published in 1614, with consort songs by John Bull , William Byrd , John Dowland , Martin Peerson, and other contemporary composers. Byrd is considered the most important representative of the genre.

literature

  • Philip Brett: The English Consort Song, 1570-1625 . In: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association Vol. 88 (1961-1962), pp. 73-88