The Early Music Consort of London

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Early Music Consort of London was a British ensemble of the late 1960s and the 1970s that specialised in historically informed performances of medieval and Renaissance music. The group was founded in 1967 by the musicologists David Munrow and Christopher Hogwood, who had studied together at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Munrow took inspiration from the Alte Musik movement in Germany and wanted to arouse interest in early music in England too.

Music and breakthrough

The group was small and versatile, designed for touring but able to be expanded for recordings. In the original line-up Munrow played many different wind instruments, and Hogwood keyboard, harp and percussion. Others included Mary Remnant on fiddle, Oliver Brookes on viola da gamba, Robert Spencer on lute and countertenor James Bowman. The group made influential recordings, such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Music of the Crusades (1971), The Art of Courtly Love (1973) and The Art of the Netherlands (1976).

Influence

A recording from 1976, The Fairie Round by Anthony Holborne, was chosen by NASA for the Voyager Golden Record, which went into space in 1977 with the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes. Munrow played the bass sordune on it. The group ceased in 1976 after the death of Munrow. Its name is regarded as one of the drivers of the British early-music revival in the late twentieth century.

Listening