Dear All, I too watched the Helen Mirren / Jeremy Irons rendition of the latter years of Elizabeth's reign (entitled 'Elizabeth 1' ) when it was screened in the UK last year and found much to enjoy in it, although it's always a disappointment that in present day productions it is considered necessary to commission new music in preference to using the real thing. A word of warning for the unwary - I may have missed it, but I am not aware of this series being launched on DVD yet. There is another production recently screened by the BBC entitled 'the Virgin Queen' - this is available on DVD and could easily be confused with the former, but it has a much younger cast, and in my opinion is rather less convincing, both as history and drama. There is some fine filming, though, in historical buildings. The music for that one is rather folky / celtic - nice enough, but mostly nothing to do with the Elizabethan era, except, if I remember rightly, an unaccompanied vocal rendering of Dowland's 'Come again, sweet love doth now invite.'
To confuse matters still further, the BBC has recently released it's original early 1970's series 'Elizabeth R' on DVD starring Glenda Jackson in the title role and featuring an excellent soundtrack of 16c music by the incomparable David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. Lutes are not a major feature of the production, but there is some incidental lute playing, including a nice rendering of 'la Rossignol' - no credits, unfortunately, but likely to have been performed by players working with David Munrow at the time, which included Robert Spencer, James Tyler and Desmond Dupre. It's dated now of course, but the acting is excellent and the script very carefully researched. It's a piece of history in it's own right too, as alongside a similar series on 'The six wives of Henry VIII' it brought early music into almost every living room across the UK and helped to inspire a widespread popularity for early music at that time. It certainly played a major part in nurturing my own interest in the music of Elizabeth's time. It's rather sad that the newer productions are much less likely to do that. Best wishes, Denys ----- Original Message ----- From: "Caroline Usher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 10:18 PM Subject: [LUTE] HBO Movie Elizabeth I > Did anyone else watch part I of this miniseries "event" starring Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons? Part II is on tonight. What did you think? > > My thoughts: beautifully acted (of course), costumes mouth-watering, the music was very good and the instruments shown historically appropriate - no lutars - but only glancing visuals of the players (boo), the dancing was real Renaissance dancing but so simple as to be boring. (Great Scott, is there not a male dancer in Britain who can kick the tassel???) > > Most of all, I am curious as to who the musical performers were, both onstage and off. The official website has no info save the name of the soundtrack composer. Any of you Brits better informed? > > thanks, > Caroline > **************************************** > Caroline Usher > DCMB Administrative Coordinator > 613-8155, Room B343 LSRC > Mailing address: Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708 > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 268.4.6/323 - Release Date: 24/04/2006 > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 268.4.6/323 - Release Date: 24/04/2006
