Fretwork is a British

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

viol The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

s, established in 1985. It specialises in English music for viol consort from approximately the time of

William Byrd William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and on the Continental Europe, Continent. He i ...

to that of

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

, but also performs

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

repertoire.

History

The group was formed in 1985 and received financial support from the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

. Its first performance was in the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in 1986. In 1999 the group consisted of Richard Boothby, Richard Campbell, Wendy Gillespie, Julia Hodgson, William Hunt and Susanna Pell. In 2023 the members were listed on the website as Emily Ashton, Emilia Benjamin, Richard Boothby, Joanna Levine, Jonathan Rees and Sam Stadlen. Among those who have performed with the group are the singers Catherine Bott, James Bowman and

Michael Chance Michael Chance CBE (born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, 7 March 1955) is an English countertenor and the founder and Artistic Director of The Grange Festival. Early life Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After grow ...

, the instrumentalists Paul Nicholson and Christopher Wilson, and the Red Byrd vocal ensemble. The group has published a number of editions of music for consort of viols and also a book by David Pinto on the consort and dance music of

William Lawes William Lawes (April 1602 – 24 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 Cathe ...

Recognition

* 1997: French

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), ...

for ''

Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares ''Lachrimæ or seaven teares figured in seaven passionate Pavane, pavans, with divers other pavans, galliards and allemande, allemands, set forth for the lute, viols, or violons, in five parts'' is a collection of instrumental music composed by ...

'' by

John Dowland John Dowland ( – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", " Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", " N ...

* 2009:

Gramophone Award The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. The British awards are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy ...

for 'Purcell: Complete Fantazias' (by

) on

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is a record label that specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group, which is itself owned by Universal M ...

* 2016: Royal Philharmonic Society 'Chamber Music & Song' Award

Recordings

* ''

In Nomine In Nomine is a title given to a large number of pieces of English polyphonic, predominantly instrumental music, first composed during the 16th century. History This "most conspicuous single form in the early development of English consort mus ...

'', 1987 * ''Heart's Ease'', 1988 * ''Armada'', 1988 * ''Cries and Fancies'' by

Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical famil ...

, 1989 * ''Night's Black Bird'' by John Dowland and

, 1989 * ''Goe nightly cares'' by John Dowland and William Byrd, 1990 * '' Lachrimae'' by

, 1990 * ''For ye Violls'' by William Lawes, 1991 * ''Music for Viols'', 1992 * ''A Play of Passion'', 1992 * ''The English Viol'', 1994 (

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

) * ''William Byrd: The Complete Consort Music'' by

, 1994 * ''Henry Purcell: The Fantazias and

s'' by

, 1995 * ''Concord is conquer'd'' by William Lawes, 1995 * ''Matthew Locke: Consort of Fower Parts'' by Matthew Locke, 1996 * ''The Mirrour and Wonder of his Age'' by John Jenkins, 1996 * ''Sit Fast'', 1997 * ''Celestiall Witchcraft'', 1999 * ''Missa 'Mater Christi sanctissima by

John Taverner John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...

, 2000 * ''The Hidden Face'' by

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious music, religious works. Among his best known works are ''The Lamb (Tavener), The Lamb'' (1982), ''The ...

and

, 2001 * ''

Harmonice Musices Odhecaton The ''Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'' (One Hundred Songs of Harmonic Music, also known simply as the ''Odhecaton'') is an anthology of polyphonic secular songs published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1501 in Venice. It is the first book of polyphonic ...

'' compiled by

Ottaviano Petrucci Ottaviano Petrucci ( Fossombrone, 18 June 1466 – Venice, 7 May 1539) was an Italian printer. His '' Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'', a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet music printed from ...

, 2001 * ''

The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's e ...

'' by J.S. Bach, 2002 * ''Above the Starrs'' by

Thomas Tomkins Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mu ...

, 2003 * ''Im Maien'' by

Ludwig Senfl Ludwig Senfl (born around 1486, died between December 2, 1542 and August 10, 1543) was a Swiss composer of the Renaissance, active in Germany. He was the most famous pupil of Heinrich Isaac, was music director to the court of Maximilian I, Holy ...

, 2004 * ''Consort Songs'' by

, 2004 * ''Bach: Alio Modo'' by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

, 2005 * ''Agricola: Chansons'' by Alexander Agricola & Fabrice Fitch, 2006 * '' Birds on Fire: Jewish Music for Viols'', music by Thomas Lupo,

Orlando Gough Orlando Gough ( ; born 1953 in Brighton, Sussex) is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh ...

etc., 2008 * ''English Music for Viols'' (a 5-CD set of previous recordings of works by Purcell, Lawes, Locke & Jenkins), 2008 * ''Purcell Complete Fantazias'' The fantazias & In Nomines by

of 1680, 2009 * ''The Silken Tent'', music by

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

etc., 2009 * ''J. S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations, arranged for six viols by Richard Boothby'' , 2011 * ''The World Encompassed'' music by

, Robert Parsons, Robert White with

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFT ...

, narrator, 2017 * ''Consort Anthems by Orlando Gibbons, with the Magdalena Consort & His Majesties Cornets & Sackbuts'', 2017 * ''John Jenkins Complete four-part consort music'', 2018 * ''If - Music by

with Iestyn Davies'', 2019 * ''In Nomine II - In Nomines by

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestra ...

, Parsons, Ferrabosco and others'', 2019 * ''In Chains of Gold Volume Two'', 2020 * ''An Elizabethan Christmas with Helen Charlston. Music by Byrd, Weelkes, Holborn and others'', 2021 * ''Lamento - German music for alto and viols with Iestyn Davies'', 2021 * '' Matthew Locke - The Flatt Consort'', 2022 * ''Fantasia - The consort music of Thomas Lupo'', 2022 * '' Matthew Locke - The Little Consort'', 2022 * ''Tom & Will - music by

and

Thomas Weelkes Thomas Weelkes (1576 (?) – 1623) was an English composer and organ (music), organist. He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigal (music), madrigals, a ...

with The Kings Singers'', 2023

References

{{Authority control, state=collapsed Instrumental early music groups English classical music groups Musical groups established in 1985 * 1986 establishments in England