David Gruender of the Boston Symphony Orchestra spoke about the era of Elizabethan music during the Renaissance Wednesday Lecture Series. Gruender received his Masters in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and went on to work as a librarian for the Boston Symphony Orchestra after previous engagements with both the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Gruender discusses the evolution of music in the High Renaissance period, a golden age of art when technological advances in printing allowed musicians to experiment and create a wider variety of instrumental and lyrical music. Through the use of songs, Gruender explains the contributions of lutes, poetry and Italian-originated madrigals to the Elizabethan era. He focuses on lutenist and composer John Dowland and his collection of compositions in the first and second “Booke of Ayres.”
This lecture was recorded on February 24, 2016 at the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at UMass Amherst.
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