© Chelys Viol Consort
© Chelys Viol Consort
(Sun 12 Oct 2025 3.00pm Little Missenden Church)
Ibrahim Aziz, Jenny Bullock, Kate Conway, Alison Kinder, Timothy Lin, Sam Stadlen viols
Orlando Gibbons Fantasia a2 no6; Fantasia a2 two trebles; Fantasia a3 no7; Fantasias a3 with ‘dooble bass’ nos1 and 4; Fantasias a4 ‘for the great dooble bass’ nos1 and 2;
Fantasias a6 nos1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9; Pavan a4 ‘Lord Salisbury’; In Nomine a5 no2; Galliard a6
Programme Notes will be available here and free at concert
Orlando Gibbons is the bridge between Tudor and Stuart English music. He first joined the Chapel Royal in the year James I came to the throne and died just two months after Charles I’s accession, by which time he’d risen to become organist at Westminster Abbey. In his relatively short life he wrote prolifically for the voice (anthems and madrigals), keyboard and, of course, string consorts. He died 400 years ago this year.
Just over 40 pieces of instrumental consort music by Gibbons survive, mostly with the title Fantasia or Fantasy. But despite so many pieces labelled ‘fantasias’ in this programme, there’s amazing variety among them. Gibbons’ music embodies several decades of stylistic approach – at times echoing harmonies which could have come from Byrd, but at others clearly foreshadowing the final great flowering of the viol consort in the works of Purcell and Matthew Locke. This is some of the greatest consort music ever written, so come along and indulge in it!
You can see the Chelys Consort in excerpts from a number of the pieces to be played at Little Missenden here (though we will not have the chamber organ).
Described by Gramophone as having released “unquestionably the most beautiful recording of [Dowland’s] Lachrimae”, Chelys have gained a reputation for their faithful yet fresh interpretations of the consort repertoire. They take their name from an ancient Greek word which referred to a bowed lyre.
The members of the consort are among the UK’s leading exponents of the viol, particularly as a consort instrument, and their consort viols are strung entirely in gut (not strings overwound with metal), which lends them a particularly distinctive sound.
“The haunting sound of gut strings has rarely been captured with such beguiling fidelity, nor the unique tonal proclivities of a viol consort so exquisitely voiced” The Strad
Online booking is managed by TicketSource. This event may be booked from the Tickets link on this page but, when booking for multiple events, it may be more convenient to use our Little Missenden Festival page on TicketSource.
Sun 12 Oct 2025 3.00pm
Little Missenden Church
£30, £22, £12
Online booking is managed by TicketSource. This event may be booked from the Tickets link on this page but, when booking for multiple events, it may be more convenient to use our Little Missenden Festival page on TicketSource.