Tudor me

“Tudor Empire has many virtues: combining the domestic and broader history of the Tudors, treating the entire dynasty’s history both in depth and in dialogue across to the decades, and linking the sixteenth century engagements to the later history of empire. In that last regard, this book offers an excellent first chapter to the history of the English Atlantic and to the later (and more familiar) iteration of the British Empire.”

Folk artist Richard Thompson released this nostalgia-themed album in 1999, hearkening back to the sounds of England's 1960s rock. For this, his fifth album for Capitol, Thompson teamed up with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and "Mock Tudor" had a more straightforward production than his preceding albums on Capitol which had been produced by Mitchell Froom. In this album Thompson draws predominantly on the musical styles of 1960s England - the time and place of his youth. The lyrics have a nostalgic tinge and are rich with allusion to fairy tales and children's books as well as to Shakespeare and T. S. Eliot.

Folk artist Richard Thompson released this nostalgia-themed album in 1999, hearkening back to the sounds of England's 1960s rock. For this, his fifth album for Capitol, Thompson teamed up with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and "Mock Tudor" had a more straightforward production than his preceding albums on Capitol which had been produced by Mitchell Froom. In this album Thompson draws predominantly on the musical styles of 1960s England - the time and place of his youth. The lyrics have a nostalgic tinge and are rich with allusion to fairy tales and children's books as well as to Shakespeare and T. S. Eliot.

Lucy Worsley and David Starkey celebrate the 500th anniversary of Britain's finest surviving Tudor building, Hampton Court. As Henry VIII's pleasure palace, Hampton Court was a showcase for royal magnificence and ceremony - and the most important event of all was the christening of Henry's long-awaited son, Prince Edward, on October 15th, 1537.
Lucy and David explore how Tudor art, architecture and ritual came together for this momentous occasion. Drawing on historical records and with the help of a team of experts, they recreate key elements of the christening ceremony - including a magnificent set piece procession through Hampton Court involving nearly 100 people in full Tudor costume.

A remarkable travel guide compiled from first hand records of Tudor seafarers in the 16th Century. Professor Nandini Das explores Hakluyt's Principle Navigations which records accounts of ventures in search of lucrative spices and dyes. It is a prototype for today's travel guides with advice, warnings, descriptions of remarkable people and a list of vocabulary to converse with foreigners. It became a book that all English seafarers kept on board ship. But the descriptions of encounters with foreigners also lay the foundations for later colonialism and conquest.

For its latest recording on Harmonia Mundi, Stile Antico is joined by the outstanding viol consort Fretwork to explore the wealth of sacred music written not for church performance, but for the court and for the home. Sung entirely in English, this fascinating programme spans two centuries and a vast range of styles, from the austerity of Browne and Taverner to the harmonic daring of Tomkins and Ramsey, and from the smallest works by Campion and Dowland to the great verse anthems of Gibbons and Amner.

This recording presents music for Advent and Christmas from the Tudor and early Stuart periods but does not attempt to be a historical recreation, more an invitation to imagine the sound world of a period rich in musical expression. Pragmatism governed many musical practices of the time, either by the frequent re-working of musical scores or through the flexible use of voices and instruments, and this programme wholly embraces this virtue by employing varied accompaniments and by freely changing between instrumental and choral renditions. In 2018 the eight young voices of Trinity Boys Choir EIGHT and the viol consort L'Armonia Sonora performed much of this music in a Christmas concert in the Tudor Chapel at Ightham Mote in Kent and this environment seemed entirely fitting.