THE DUFAY COLLECTIVE
Programmes
Here are a list of current programmes and projects. Not every programme we've ever done is here, but if what is shown here is not quite what you're after then get in touch and we can often provide concert programmes that are tailored to the specific requirements and themes of festivals and concert series.
TO DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY
Christmas Revels 1616
A festive programme from the Dufays presents a cockle-warming concert of Carols, dances and ballads for the Christmas season. The first half of the concert features music from the court of Henry VIII, who delighted in the ‘revels’ and ‘disguisings’ provided as entertainment during the winter season, including his own beautiful composition ‘Grene growith the holy’. 16th and 17th century music from street, tavern and miracle play forms the rest of the show, with heartfelt and foot-tapping Christmas ballads, country dance tunes with voice, fiddle, harps, guitar, flute, dulcian, hurdy gurdy and bagpipes.
4 PERFORMERS
Tracks: Blessed Be That Maid Marie
Wassail Medley
Piva
Ther Is No Rose Of Swych Vertu
A DISTANT MIRROR
Machaut & The Medieval Mind
The fourteenth century was a time of massive upheaval. Plague, economic turmoil, a hundred years of war, climate change, and crippling foreign campaigns all contributed to an era of crisis for the established order.
Musical ideas sprung fresh and new in this challenging terrain; an ars nova combined lithe lyricism with mathematical complexity and central to this was the genius of Guillaume de Machaut. This concert places Machaut’s art in its context, complemented by Trecento songs by Landini, mannerist morsels from the Chantilly Codex and virtuosic instrumentals.
The Dufay Collective & Voice Trio
6 PERFORMERS
AL MANERE MINSTRELSY
Non-Stop Dancing 1400
Europe in the Middle Ages was a melting pot of various cultural influences. This concert is a representation of the music that would have been heard in country and court from the 13th to the 15th centuries, reflecting the shift from French courtly influence in the form of Troubadour songs and dances to a clear national style in vernacular songs from the time of Chaucer. Instrumental music: dansas, ductias and estampies are played on harps, gittern, simfony and flute, and the intoxicating sound of bagpipes evokes the pastoral in the performance of the carole and farandole.
4/6 PERFORMERS
I HAVE SET MY HERT SO HY
Love & Devotion in Medieval England
The later Middle Ages saw an explosion of poetry and song written in the vernacular. This programme immerses the listener in the world of English poetry, with settings of poems by Chaucer and contemporary anonymous authors whose lyrics are to found in the Harley Manuscripts and the Royal Appendix. These poems largely survive without their music, and they are brought back to their original context by being set to surviving and stylistic melodies. Instrumental music on harp, gittern, vielle, rebec, flute, recorders and bagpipes enrich the aural palette, playing instrumental dances and accompanying the songs.
4/6 PERFORMERS
CANCIONERO
Music for the Spanish Court 1470 - 1520
The combined courts of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castille and Aragon produced many musical treasures. The musical establishment was equal to any, with musicians and singers from around Europe welcomed into this lavish and creative environment. This concert represents a selection of the sounds and musical styles heard in the court entertainments and feasts in the late 15th century. Drawing largely from the great courtly song collection, the Cancionero Palacio and other contemporary sources, The Dufay Collective perform courtly songs romantic and bucolic interspersed with dances and instrumental fantasias on shawms, sackbut, vihuela, lute, harp, harpsichord, flute and recorders.
The recording of this programme was nominated for a GRAMMY award.
7 PERFORMERS