The Tudor Fair Blog
Favorite places in England: The Golden Cap
I regularly read Dorset Life on my ipad. It’s a local magazine all about Dorset, which I first picked up on a trip to Bournemouth a few years ago. Completely opposite to men who read Playboy “for the articles,” I freely admit to reading Dorset Life for the pictures. In…
The Week in Books: Every Valley
I’m a big fan of the Messiah. Every year I go to a sing-a-long, and since I’ve been in LA it’s been at the Disney Center. I used to play my parents’ old record of the complete recording (vinyl, before it became trendy) and would study to it. I can…
Old Music Monday: Palestrina, The Sixteen and music for Lent
I’m sitting at home nursing a cold, the last of the three of us to catch it. Being sick with a kid is infinitely worse than being sick on your own. Because when the kid is awake, you’re awake. And not only are you awake, but you’re also keeping them…
Renaissance English History Geekdom
Many of you know that I geek out on Renaissance English History. I still have a “bucket list” to do to get an advanced degree in it, but for now, I do what I can with books and travel. If you haven’t checked out my Renaissance English History Podcast yet,…
The Week in Books: The Lost Art of Dress
I’ve said before that I’ve been clearing out my physical books the past few years; it’s my goal to eventually have my library only on my kindle, because then, when we move, I can just pack all my books in one teeny tiny box. I’m down to about 2-3 shelves, and…
Glastonbury in the winter
I lived for several years in the UK, and it’s still one of my favorite places where I spend much of my time. Some of my dearest friends are in London, along with some of the most special and meaningful spots for me. One of those places is Glastonbury, which…
Old Music Tuesday: Ensemble Cinquincento
If any of you are into early music, and you have sirius radio, there is a wonderful program called The Millennium of Music, on Symphony Hall, channel 76, at 11am eastern/8am pacific on Sunday mornings. I generally catch it in snippets when I’m on my way to walk Hannah at…
Old and New Music Friday: O Magnum Mysterium and Danse Macabre
I’ve talked a lot about the Old Music I love – the English choral evensong tradition, and Renaissance polyphony from the Flemish composers like Gombert, and even the Grandaddy of them all, Palestrina. But what many casual choral enthusiasts don’t realize is that there is a huge upsurge in amazing…
Hildegard of Bingen: another in the line of cool medieval women mystics
In my quest to turn my library completely digital and get rid of all my paper books, I’m finally catching up on some of the books that have been on my shelf for years, and one of those “finally” books is Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age by…
Voces8 and Purcell
Henry Purcell is a Grandaddy in the world of early music. There are a couple of Big Names that most people who are into music, but not early music, have heard of, and Purcell is always one of them. He lived in the late 17th century, and was right on…
Old Music Tuesday: Alamire
I spent the weekend working with the Golden Bridge Choir in Los Angeles; a new choir formed by Suzi Digby (Lady Eatwell, and a choral goddess in the UK) to explore the musical links between the Golden Age of the Tudor/Elizabethan composers and the current choral Renaissance that Southern California…
A brief history of Museums
I’ve been reading The Accidental Masterpiece, on the Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman. Above all else, it seems to be a meditation on how art, or appreciating art, helps us to appreciate our everyday lives; and how our every day lives (and deaths) can be art…