The woods so wild

Description

The first impression given by the English repertoires of the 16th and 17th centuries is one of great originality, apparently preserved from any strange influence. English musicians were not, however, completely isolated from their counterparts on the continent. Numerous contacts were established between them, as evidenced notably by the borrowing and adoption of musical forms of foreign origin - the pavane and the galliard, the madrigal, originating from Italy -; the presence of foreign instrumentalists at the Court of England; the wide dissemination of continental repertoires within the manuscripts and printed editions of the time. However, England seems to have welcomed foreign idioms only with caution. The dominant continental style of imitative writing did not penetrate the territory until the very end of the 16th century; the first innovations of the baroque style were adopted only very gradually during the 17th century. Thus, the English Renaissance, which largely spills over into the 17th century, managed to preserve a unique and remarkably rich style, largely reflected by instrumental music, undoubtedly one of the most accomplished of the time.