Christmas revels in Renaissance England, the Dufay Collective’s programme on Sunday, was a timely reminder that a simple Christmas can be just as satisfying as one with “all the trimmings”.
Far and away the leading contributor to the evening was Anonymous, meaning that much of the music was folk-based or part of a deep-rooted oral tradition. The quintet, with William Lyons as player-compère and Vivien Ellis as its primary singer, played it generally low-key but was all the more effective for that.
Sweet Jesus is Come to Us, a 16th-century narrative of Christ’s birth and life, set an appropriately wide context at the start, the birth only a preparation for crucial events to come. Miss Ellis, whose unaffected style is quietly riveting, made There is No Rose, with harp, and an unaccompanied This Was the Day When Cruel Herod, deeply moving.
Since so many carols, especially early ones, are dance-based, the Dufay rightly balanced the theological with a splendid array of lively dances, mainly from John Playford’s mid-17th century collection. Bagpipes, dulcian (an early bassoon), violin and hurdy-gurdy provided alfresco colourings here.
Henry VIII even got a look-in (twice), most effectively with Green Groweth the Holly, sung in tandem with William Cornysh’s all-time hit, Ah Robin, a love-song that always tugs at the emotions. The group combined tellingly in the Coventry Carol, but it was the motto piece for the evening, To Drive the Cold Winter Away, that really warmed the cockles.
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