Les Witches

The Dancing Master (first edition: The English Dancing Master) is a dancing manual containing the music and instructions for English Country Dances. It was published in several editions by John Playford and his successors from 1651 until c1728. The first edition contained 105 dances with single line melodies; subsequent editions introduced new songs and dances, while dropping others, and the work eventually encompassed three volumes. Dances from The Dancing Master were re-published in arrangements by Cecil Sharp in the early 20th century, and in these reconstructed forms remain popular among dancers today.

Les Witches - Konge af Danmark - l'Europe musicale à la cour de Christian IV (2010) {Alpha 163}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 358 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
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© 2010 Alpha / Outhere | Alpha 163
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Chamber Music

As an enlightened king during the first half of the 17th century, Christian IV gave Denmark an unprecedented splendour. Added to diplomatic and military ambitions was a rich artistic life, especially in music. The Copenhagen court was rich with singers and instrumentalists, and therefore became an important place of passage for the European composers. In order to discover this astonishing activity and the unfairly neglected composers, the Witches invite us to listen to their recording. Not only for the sentimental memories, but also for the sheer pleasure of combining instrumentation of the Witches plus the unique tone of the Compenius organ, installed in the chapel of the Frederiksborg Castle by Christian IV in 1617.

The circumstances of the composition of Purcell’s only opera, Dido and Æneas, are unclear. First performed in the 1680s, it received few performances in the composer’s lifetime, before disappearing until its revival at the very end of the nineteenth century. This miniature, poetic, dramatic, delightfully melodic, and containing some unforgettably beautiful vocal pieces (Dido’s “Lament”, the Witches’ songs…) has enjoyed great success ever since.

Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is one of the very few 17th-century works to have entered the operatic "canon" and developed a modern performance tradition before the late 20th century's early-music revival. For listeners who had grown fond of this opera in its "traditional" form, the period-instrument recordings of recent years have provided some odd surprises: an all-female cast (excepting Aeneas); a baritone Sorceress; singing in a style closer to a Restoration playhouse than Covent Garden.