Elizabeth I of England not only enjoyed and patronized music, but also performed competently on the virginals and the lute. She was said to dance "six or seven galliards in a morning" as part of her "ordinarie exercise," well before Jazzercise and the like were invented. There are a lot of Elizabeth-themed albums, but this one might be called state-of-the-art, at least in terms of the research that underlies it. The program is billed as a collection of "Music for Elizabeth," but in fact that's only one of three categories ...
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Elizabeth I of England not only enjoyed and patronized music, but also performed competently on the virginals and the lute. She was said to dance "six or seven galliards in a morning" as part of her "ordinarie exercise," well before Jazzercise and the like were invented. There are a lot of Elizabeth-themed albums, but this one might be called state-of-the-art, at least in terms of the research that underlies it. The program is billed as a collection of "Music for Elizabeth," but in fact that's only one of three categories represented. The other two are, first, music pertaining to major events of Elizabeth's reign -- either military or related to the Queen's long and active love life -- and, second, "music which Elizabeth likely heard or is known to have heard." In all these categories there are unusual pieces as well as well-known works to which scholarship has given a fresh twist. Among the latter group is Dowland's Can She Excuse?, a setting of a text probably by Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, and...
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