A singer's guide to the solo secular vocal literature of mid-seventeenth-century England

Abstract

This study has offered an overview of the performance issues relevant to singers of the solo secular declamatory songs of mid-seventeenth-century England. This expansive repertoire has been largely unpublished in the twentieth century. Evidence suggests that the full expressive potential of these songs may only be realized in performance, through the application of performance and interpretive techniques commonly understood by performers of mid-seventeenth-century England. These techniques include the application of significant ornamental embellishments in an early seventeenth-century Italian style, and a rhetorical approach to the dramatic interpretation and presentation of the songs in a declamatory style.