Musica Britannica

[Greg Lindahl]

Someone mentioned Musica Britannica a while back. My library
doesn't have these volumes catalogued separately, so I had never
noticed them before. I see a bunch of good stuff, mostly for 2 or more
voices, but most of it is focused on a very narrow period in time, so
it's quite nice for us. Oh, and it's amazing how hard the lyra viol
solos look! If you only do solo voice, then volume 6 is useful; they
all have 4 parts, but are intended to be sung with 1-4 voices, and
allegedly were actually performed that way in period, and were very
widely sold, so you could consider them "popular" music, even if it's
not what you think of when you think of "bardic" music.

Gregory Blount

vol 4 Medieval Carols

vol 6 Ayres for 4 voices (John Downland)
         many suitable for one voice, or one voice and one instrument

vol 9 Jacobean Consort Music
         mostly post 1600

vol 15 Music of Scotland 1500-1700
         only 2 solos, which are post-period, rest are 2+ parts

vol 18 Music at the Court of Henry VIII
         all 2, 3, 4, 5+ part pieces

vol 36 Early Tudor Songs and Carols
         half-dozen solos, mostly 2-3 voices

vol 53-54 Collected English Lutenist Partsongs

vol 55 Elizabethan Keyboard Music

vol 62 Four-part Fantasias (Alfonso Ferrabosco [the Younger])