Cavalier song is a Jacobean and Carolinian genre of song, a later equivalent to Elizabethan

lute song The term lute song is given to a music style from the late 16th century to early 17th century, late Renaissance to early Baroque, that was predominantly in England and France. Lute songs were generally in strophic form or verse repeating with a ...

. Many of the surviving examples were part of a large scale lavish court entertainment, the

Stuart Masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

. The genre is not as widely heard as the lute song, partly due to modern sources for the songs, such as large ''Musica Britannica'' volumes being impractical for playing and singing from If playing from the original notation the lute or keyboard player needs to be able to perform from

unfigured bass Unfigured bass, less commonly known as under-figured bass, is a kind of musical notation used during the Baroque music era in Western Classical music (ca. 1600–1750) in which a basso continuo performer playing a chordal instrument (e.g., harpsi ...

. The period has been neglected by musicologists for some years, because when the songs are played through on the piano they lack substance, and their true worth only emerges through a communicative performance. However, some songs such as

Henry Lawes Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes. Life Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Mus ...

's ''The Lark'',

William Lawes William Lawes (April 160224 September 1645) was an English composer and musician. Life and career Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, ...

' ''Gather ye Rosebuds'', various songs by Thomas Brewer and

Nicholas Lanier Nicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere (baptised 10 September 1588 – buried 24 February 1666) was an English composer and musician; the first to hold the title of Master of the King's Music from 1625 to 1666, an honour given to musicians of great ...

's ''The Marigold'' have found their way into singing anthologies. Much of this repertoire was recorded and performed by the ''Consort of Musicke'' under Antony Rooley.

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060907102146/http://engphil.astate.edu/EIRC/ is Explorations in Renaissance Culture, a scholarly journal with articles about the texts employed. * Lawes, Henry (edited Ian Spink), (2000), ''Cavalier Songwriter'', Oxford University Press. * ''Cavalier Songs: 1625-1660'', Ian Spink, Musica Britannica Vol. 3. *Sabol, Andrew J. (editor), (1959), ''Songs and dances from the Stuart Masque. An edition of sixty-three items of music for the English court masque from 1604 to 1641'', Brown University Press. *Sabol, Andrew J. (editor), (1982), ''Four hundred songs and dances from the Stuart Masque'', Brown University Press. {{music-genre-stub 16th-century music genres 17th-century music genres Song forms 17th century in England 16th century in Scotland 17th century in Scotland

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