elizabethan songs? i doubt they had "Half Dollar" back then.

February 26, 2006 5:15 PM

[reallyoldsong filter] I'm looking for songs from the Elizabethan period - both lyrics and renditions.

My younger brother was told to make a presentation on the Elizabethan period, and he's almost done. He's having a problem with the last leg of the assignment. He has to find a ballad or lullaby from that era. Not only that, he has to present lyrics AND an audio file of a rendition of that song for the presentation.

We've found a few sites like this one, so finding lyrics isn't the problem. The problem is finding the audio examples.

Does anyone know any sites offhand that would help?

posted by damnjezebel to media & arts (7 comments total)

LayMusic.org has a bunch--look for the ones composed by John Dowland, in particular. There are Midi files, at any rate.
posted by Jeanne at 5:21 PM on February 26, 2006

iTunes. Just search for "Elizabethan".
posted by iviken at 5:26 PM on February 26, 2006

I think that what you're looking for are madrigals. Also try searching iTunes for madrigals.
posted by jdroth at 5:56 PM on February 26, 2006

The Deller Consort has a bunch of Elizabethan tunes on various CDs. Much of The Baltimore Consort's repertoire is Elizabethan. The Cambridge Singers did a release of Olde English Madrigals, as did The Kings' Singers. Some tracks may be available for download at Amazon or elsewhere.

For free-ish stuff, eMusic has The Three Ravens; a John Dowland album; a Treasury of Medieval Music of which some is earlier, but there's a reasonable selection of Elizabethan stuff on it. (NAYY. eMusic is cheap if you want to join, but you get 25 free downloads for signing up. no spam, afaict. )
posted by jlkr at 6:10 PM on February 26, 2006

"Shakespeare's Songbook" is really cool, and it comes with a CD!
posted by grumblebee at 3:43 AM on February 27, 2006

Elizabethan Music mp3 and listening available.
posted by adamvasco at 5:08 AM on February 27, 2006

Emusic has (or had), the following albums:
1588: Music from the Time of the Spanish Armada
A Songbook For Isabella
A Treasury of Medieval Music
Bawdy Songs of D'Urfey
Fortune My Foe: Songs of John Dowland
Josquin Des Prez And Heinrich Isaac: Music Of The Renaissance
Music from the Time of Richard III
Pleasures and Follies of Love: Music of Hart, Johnson, Dowland, Purcell, Lanier, Blow, Anne Boleyn and more
Royal Composers
Stuart Age Music - Tunes From Troubled Times
The Triumphs Of Maximilian

and

Brightest Heaven of Invention: Flemish Polyphony of the High Renaissance, by Regis, Josquin des Prez, Brumel, Dufay and more, which is delighful, but has no lyrics.
posted by orthogonality at 6:33 AM on February 27, 2006