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This Easy & Agreeable Instrument: the English Guittar in duet, song, and chamber music.

Watch online here

View the program

Mr Jones webDaniel Swenberg ~ English guittar & archlute,
Andrew Rutherford ~ English guittar,
Leah Nelson ~ Baroque violin,
Marcia Young ~ soprano

The English guittar (2 ts, like the cittern) was wildly popular in Georgian England. Its popularity spread throughout the British Empire and into the United States. Its brilliant flowering was brief, however, disappearing by 1800. Rather than a proper guitar, it was a 6-string instrument strung with brass. The leading composers of Georgian England all offered music for the guittar: Geminiani, J.C. Bach, R. Straube, and James Oswald. This concert offers a survey of some of this delightful and rare chamber music: Scottish and English duets and songs and Italian arias.

Mr. Jones & the Engines of Destruction: In 1605 famed English architect Inigo Jones brought the newly-developed theorbo from Italy into England. At Dover, customs impounded the instrument fearing it was some engine from the popish lands brought to destroy the king. This group emphasizes fun, lascivious, nerdy, and dramatic programs and features rarely heard ensembles for lutes, theorbos, and guittars.

 

1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

In person at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan

Live stream details: You can watch it on your computer in any of two places by clicking on the name you wish: our website or YouTube.

GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes the artists and organizations in New York devoted to early music — playing repertoire from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods.