Four reenacted female lute performance scenes (videos)
To reconstruct and showcase multiple realistic settings in which lute playing existed for early modern women I devised four historically informed scenes which range from the most privately intimate to the most socially extroverted of atmospheres:
Video links
The videos themselves can be
accessed via hyperlinks, which are listed below:
Scene 1: https://youtu.be/WL7dnrFRTu8 Solitary lute playing.
Scene 2: https://youtu.be/miWoZTFNIfw
Performing lute music to a small gathering of friends.
Scene 3: https://youtu.be/T45oFd9k8K8
Playing lute music in the evening, in
casual company.
Scene 4: https://youtu.be/sU2Wegh7Qpo
Performing for a suitor.
Scene 1 captures the scenario of a woman playing alone in her
private chamber for the purpose of personal recreation and finding solace. I play
‘Anne Markham’s pavan’, a piece from the female-owned ‘ML lute book’
(GB-London, British Library, Add.38539, f. 28v-29a). It is a complex, detailed
and intimate setting of this piece, and therefore fitting for an introspective
solitary performance. I wear comfortable and warm clothing which also influences
the introspective/inward-focused approach to my lute playing. Scene 2 captures the performative scenario of
playing sprightly music to entertain a small gathering of three friends. I
perform a collection of four ‘Toys’ from Jane Pickeringe’s lute book
(GB-London, British Library, Eg.2046 f. 21/2, 22/3, 24/2, 33v/2 respectively). These
uncomplicated/unpretentious settings of charming folk tunes are highly suitable
for entertaining a casual gathering of friends. I wear a more embellished
outfit, and perform from memory in order to be able to look up pleasingly at my
audience which creates a more extroverted overall performance (an open posture,
engaged facial expression and physical demeanour). The music performed for
Scene 3 was again enacted in the company of a small number of friends, but is
not presented as a ‘performance’, per se, but as part of a casual moment of
shared recreation in the late afternoon. I play two ballad tune settings from
Anne Bayldon’s lute book: ‘Robin is to the greenwood gone’ and ‘Go from my
window’ (US-Washington Folger-Shakespeare Library, Ms.V.b.280 (olim 1610.1), f.
16v-17). Ballad settings are a very typical genre of lute music found within
female-owned sources, and these specific settings were particularly popular in
pedagogical and household lute books, thus, this is musical content that would
have certainly been included in lute performances given by women in the home. There
is a difference in my presentation in comparison with Scene 2 as I am not being
actively listened to or observed, and therefore I do not play from memory. My
demeanour is understated and thoughts more internal – though the atmosphere is
different from entirely solitary playing, and the effect of the presence of
company on my performance is apparent. Scene 4 recreates the scenario of a
young lady performing to impress a sole visiting suitor, and is a performance
given directly and intimately to him. I return to the ML lute book, this time
performing ‘Mrs White’s choice’ and ‘Mary Hoffman’s almain’ (f. 2/1 and f. 2v/1
respectively). These pieces were chosen strategically to impress my suitor:
they are particularly charming, elegant and technically impressive, as well as
being pieces I was assured I could perform particularly well, and I was therefore
at greater liberty to craft and direct the visual elements of the performance
with ease. Dressed in an expensive finely-made silk dress (with voluminous
sleeves demonstrative of the latest fashion) and adorned with a necklace, pearl
bracelet, hairpiece, a candlelit atmosphere, and inviting facial expressions
(music memorised), this approach resulted in the most starkly distinct and contrasting
overall performance result, in comparison with the other three videos.
A different approach was taken for
the performance of each scene. My choices were thoroughly informed by the
surviving literary evidence of lute performance practices of the period, then brought
to life via my own body and lute performance skills. As can be clearly observed,
my natural responses to the different atmospheres created by each of the four scenes
(e.g. changes in my demeanour, musical expression, appearance and use of my
facial expressions) give insight into the complexity and artistry involved in women’s
domestic lute performance practices.