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24 June at 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Catch that catch can
Consort of 1 – live-looped Early Music
This programme takes its title from John Playford’s publication of the same name. Playford (1623–1686/7) is probably best known these days for the his collections of country dances published in the many editions of his “Dancing Master”. However he also published divisions for both flute and violin, tutor books for instruments such as the cittern and “Catch the catch can”, again in multiple editions. His shop in the porch of London’s Temple Church was a popular place for musical enthusiasts to meet throughout the years of the Commonwealth, when he was conspicuously avoiding any political activities having been captured by Cromwell’s men during the civil war and politely advised no cease his activities as a war correspondent. The idea of a “Catch” or round is one of the earliest musical forms in history, with one of the first written examples, and most famous, coming from 13thc England (Sumer is a comin’ in). By the 16th century catches, canons and rounds were a staple of musical composition and we’ll hear examples from Henry VIII’s time onwards.
During the commonwealth, when church services had been stripped back by the Puritans and many of the singers from the great cathedral choirs were at something of a lose end, catch clubs became popular meeting places for singers to practice their art in a more secular setting. The catches (or rounds) they sung were often fairly complex, with large vocal ranges, technical passages and tricky leaps and rhythms as well as irregular phrase lengths, designed perhaps to trick the unwary into making an error, especially once the wine and beer started to flow.
Consort of 1 is a project to explore historically informed interpretations of pieces from historical manuscripts, ranging from 15thc chansons and 16thc consorts to Divisions on a ground from the 17thc. The music is given the lightest of modern make-overs with the aid of live looping equipment which records and plays back what happens on stage. Much of this material lends itself well to the layers and cycles that can be produced using the loop station, and most of the musical arrangements are based on the premise of “what might a person from the period when this tune was written have done with this technology, had they had the chance?”
I have set myself a few ground rules: no special effects that alter the sound of the historical instruments, nothing louder than their natural acoustic sounds and every note of every show will be played live on the day – nothing is pre-recorded. My arrangements are a little bit flexible and might come out differently each time they are played.
Although the music and instruments will be briefly introduced and explained between pieces, the emphasis is on the music’s own ability to intrigue, enlighten and entertain. I hope that this show will introduce period music to new audiences as well as giving current fans a new way to experience something familiar.
Lizzie Gutteridge took up playing shawm as a part of the historical re-enactment movement to re-form Waits bands throughout the country, then decided to pursue it further and make it her main occupation. Since 2007 Lizzie has studied with some of the country’s leading Renaissance wind players at Cambridge and Dartington summer schools and at Guildhall. She plays a wide range of other historical instruments, including bagpipes, recorders, curtals and fiddles.
Lizzie now performs up and down the country, in and out of historical costume, as a member of Blondel and The York Waits. Freelance engagements have included the Globe’s “Nell Gwynn”, both on tour and in the West End, “The Knight of the Burning Pestle” at the Wanamaker Theatre, performances in Morocco and London with Passamezzo, and large scale events at Hampton Court and the Tower of London. She also runs and directs the Colchester Waits – one of the largest Renaissance wind bands on the historical music scene and the only shawm band that is open to all comers from a wide range of musical backgrounds and abilities.