Elisa is the fayrest Quene

In 1558 the hopes and dreams of the English people for a better society, after the ravages of the reign of Queen Mary, were intertwined with their aspirations for the new Tudor monarch, Elizabeth. Over the next forty-five years she was to prove herself one of the most able of the Tudors, securing both international respect and the affection of her subjects. Elizabeth I lived and ruled at a time when England was experiencing the beginning of its growh from provincial nation into world empire. The programme recorded here aims to illuminate a small part of the rich tapestry that was Elizabethan music-making, namely the music of the cornetts, sackbuts, the solo voice, and the Queen's own instruments, the lute and the keyboard. The disc takes its title from a song by Edward Johnson who is represented alongside such other well known composers as William Byrd, John Dowland, Antony Holborne, John Bull and John Wilbye. Dances by the enterprising composer-publishers Pierre Attaignant and Claude Gervaise fit naturally within the programme, as does a pair of dances by Augustine Bassano, member of a numberous Italian immigrant family which left its mark on the court's musical life for over a century.

Track List

[1]	Various	Suite of five Galliards	[7.51]
[2]	Edward Johnson	Elisa is the fayrest Quene, Verse 1	[1.08]
[3]	Edward Johnson	Come againe, sweet Nature's treasure	[1.50]
[4]	Edward Johnson	Elisa is the fayrest Quene, Verse 2	[1.10]
[5]	William Byrd	Fantasia ('A Lesson of Voluntarie')	[2.41]
[6]	John Dowland	Come again, sweet love doth now invite	[3.55]
[7]	Robert Parsons	In nomine	[4.51]
[8]	John Dowland	Come away, come, sweet love	[4.11]
[9]	John Coprario	Fantasia	[4.12]
[10]	Francis Cutting	Divisions on 'Walsingham'	[3.12]
[11]	Antony Holborne	Pavan	[3.47]
[12]	Antony Holborne	Galliard. Lullabie	[3.42]
[13]	Antony Holborne	Almaine. The Honey-Suckle	[2.52]
[14]	John Bull	Chromatic Pavan	[3.19]
[15]	John Bull	Chromatic Galliard	[3.46]
[16]	Augustine Bassano	Pavana	[3.21]
[17]	Augustine Bassano	Galiarda	[3.13]
[18]	John Wilbye	Sweet Love, if thou wilt gaine	[3.08]
[19]	Various	Suite of Almands	[2.39]

Recordings