Hark! Shepherd Swains: Christmas Music from Shakespeare’s Time
| Orlando Gibbons | Behold, I bring you glad tidings |
| Anon (c.1600) | Sweet was the song the virgin sang |
| John Amner | O ye little flock |
| Edward Blankes | Fantasia for 5 viols |
| Martin Peerson | Upon my lap my Sovereign sits |
| George Jeffreys | Hark! shepherd swains |
| William Byrd | O God that guides the cheerful sun |
| Thomas Tallis | Hodie nobis coelorum rex / Gloria in excelsis Deo |
| Thomas Ravenscroft | Remember, O thou man (The Christmas Carol) |
| Robert Johnson | ’Tis late and cold (The Mad Lover) |
| Ravenscroft | There were three ravens sat on a tree |
| Edward Johnson | A Knell |
| Ravenscroft | When are you fair maids (The Painters’ Song) |
| Richard Dering | The City Cries |
| Ravenscroft | Maides to bed (A Belman’s Song) |
- Claire Tomlin soprano
- Psalmody
- The John Jenkins Consort
- with children from Holmwood House School
- directed by Peter Holman
In our Christmas concert this year we contrast festive anthems, carols and other sacred music for voices and viols by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, John Amner, Martin Peerson and George Jeffreys with seasonal secular music bringing Shakespeare’s England vividly to life, including arrangements of popular songs by Thomas Ravenscroft and Richard Dering’s extraordinary ‘Cries of London’, evoking the bustling street life of the capital around 1600.
There will be another contribution by the children of Holmwood House in Colchester, following their successful appearance in Handel’s Messiah in the 2014 Festival. The concert is in a warm venue and is suitable for all the family.