@passamezzo.bsky.social
Musician, historian & mother. FRHistS. FSA. Early music specialist & historical consultant for film, TV, radio & theatre. Early Modernist. Passamezzo. Greensleeves Project. Occasional lecturer in Renaissance art & music at the Courtauld Institute.
Something for #BritishPieWeek
#GreenSleeves and Pudding-Pies,
#Playford's #DancingMaster, 1686.
Pudding #pies were popular street food and they are often mentioned in #ballads and street cries.
Woodcut from a set of #CriesofLondon in the Pepys Library.
#earlymusic #earlymodern #pieweek
My friend
the climatologist
tells me
what worries him
is the climate.
My friend
the epidemiologist
tells me
what worries them
are infections.
My friend
the historian
tells me
what worries her
are the people
who aren’t worried.
A man working a plow in a field - carried by a small elephant. This detail is from Sebastian Münster's Cosmographiae uniuersalis, vol. 6, 1550.
In 1550, one Elephant Power (EP) was the equivalent of 10 Horse Power (HP).
05.03.2026 07:10 — 👍 145 🔁 36 💬 6 📌 4
Maltese Bransle: A #sixteenthcentury #dance from Arbeau's #Orchesography, 1589
Image: Turkish men and women in Codice de Trajes, c1547
National Library of Spain
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpKY...
#earlymusic #earlymodern #earlydance #renaissance #16thCentury #16thC #earlymusicensemble #earlymodernsky
Yesterday's office
02.03.2026 15:24 — 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Today's #marginalmusicians are playing #recorder for dancers.
Also illuminated initial, of Florentine #composer & #organist #AndreadaFirenze.
#Squarcialupi Codex, #14thCentury.
Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana: I-Fl MS Mediceo Palatino 87
#ManuscriptMonday #MarginaliaMonday #earlymusic #medieval
I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to
28.02.2026 16:09 — 👍 13113 🔁 5306 💬 88 📌 184
Really looking forward to giving the EDC Annual Lecture tomorrow.
I'll be talking about the #greensleevesproject
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-greens...
#earlymodern #earlymodernsky #earlymusic #historicaldance #materialculture #tudor #tudors #textiles
A putto is sitting on an early modern type case, a box made for the different types during the hand-press era. One needed to pick up each type for a letter or symbol etc. and compose each word, text, and page. The putto blows also soap bubbles: in each bubble is a letter, and the word formed is VANITAS, meaning "vanity". This detail was published in a German speaking newspaper, "Monatliche Nachrichten einicher Merkwürdigkeiten" in 1751. VD18 90722892.
A putto blowing soap bubbles, sitting on a type case full of type, and the letters in the bubbles read as: VANITAS (vanity).
A beautiful reflection of human writing and publishing, #skystorians
1/2
Rijksmuseum!!! They have a lot of English and French materials, in addition to Dutch!
I also wrote a blog post about this a few years ago. I’ve tried to keep it updated!
sarahabendall.com/2020/03/11/e...
medieval monkey playing pipe and tabor
Medieval manuscript with fox playing pipe and tabor
Today's #marginalmusicians (a #monkey and a #fox) are playing #pipeandtabor.
From Pierre Michault, Doctrinal du temps présent et Danse aux aveugles, 1475-80
BNF Français 1654
#marginaliamonday #manuscriptmonday #earlymusic #illuminatedmanuscript #iconography #musicalanimals
Magnolia blossom in London
It's magnolia time of year again :)
22.02.2026 13:56 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
#throwbackthursday
Playing #17thcentury music at the #nationalgallery for a #valentinesday late event a few years ago
#earlymusic
A song for #shrovetuesday
A #17thCentury setting of #Psalm 127, described as being suitable for Shrove-Tuesday or a wedding.
From La scala santa, 1670.
Emily Atkinson: #soprano
Robin Jeffrey: #lute
Alison Kinder: bass #viol
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OJ3...
#earlymusic #otd #onthisday
Yes!
16.02.2026 21:45 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Today's marginal #musician is a #skeleton playing the #lute.
From Pierre Michault, Doctrinal du temps présent et Danse aux aveugles, 1475-80.
BNF Français 1654
#marginaliamonday #manuscriptmonday #earlymusic
Something for today:
A #17thcentury #carol for #valentinesday.
From A Cabinet of Choice Jewels, 1688
#earlymodern #onthisday #otd
#ThrowbackThursday
#GeorgePeele's Arraygnment of Paris
In the #PaintedHall at the #OldRoyalNavalCollege, Greenwich in 2003
With #theLionspart & Renaissance Footnotes
#earlymusic #earlymodern #musicianlife #tudor #tudors #elizabethandrama #earlymusicensemble #troy #classicalmythology
Today's #marginalmusicians are #muses, playing music in honour of Albrecht V of Bavaria.
Detail from #CiprianodelRore's motet Mirabar solito in an #illuminated #choirbook, c1559
Munich, BSB Mus. Ms. B I
#earlymusic #earlymodern #16thCentury #renaissance #manuscriptmonday #marginaliamonday #lute
Grid of 9 early modern owls from the Newberry asking "Which SuperbOwl are you today?
Which Superb Owl Are You Today?
Every #SuperbOwl is from @newberrylibrary.bsky.social!
Good Morrow Valentine.
Three #SeventeenthCentury #Songs and a #Dance for #ValentinesDay.
#earlymusic #sheetmusic #ballads #17thCentury #earlymodern #Valentine #broadsideballads
www.rondopublishing.co.uk/product/good...
#ThrowbackThursday:
Playing for #Tudor dancing at the #BritishMuseum about 15 years ago
#earlymusic #musicianlife #musicianslife #tudors #historicalinterpretation #heritage #heritageinterpretation #historicaldance #earlydance
Looking forward to playing for Colchester #EarlyMusic on 1 March.
The King's Delight: #Music, words & #song from #Restoration Britain.
Do join us!
#earlymodern #charlesii #17thCentury #plague #greatfireoflondon #earlymusicensemble
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/passamezzo...
2 February is #Candlemas, and the traditional end of #Christmas, so here is a song for today: our recording of a #17thCentury #ballad #carol for Candlemas-Day.
From A Cabinet of Choice Jewels, 1688
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGNY...
#earlymusic #earlymodern #seasonal #earlymodernsky
It's #Candlemas today, so the #marginalmusician is a detail from a page showing the Presentation at the Temple in a #15thCentury #bookofhours. A creature (half man, half something else?) playing the #trumpet.
BNF NAL 3110
#earlymusic #MarginaliaMonday #ManuscriptMonday
Recorded for The Historical Dance Society for their CD 'Dances of the French Courts: 16th century Dance, Music and Songs from France'
thehistoricaldancesociety1.bandcamp.com/album/dances...
We've combined 3 settings of a popular #16thCentury melody in this recording
Alison Kinder: bass #viol
Richard de Winter: #tenor
Robin Jeffrey: #lute
Lynda Sayce: lute
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xW7...
#earlymusic #earlymodern #earlymusicensemble #galliard #lagamba #divisions #trattadodeglosas
#throwbackthursday
Playing at Kirby Hall in 2005
#earlymusic #musicianlife #earlymusicensemble #musicianslife
A little stop motion video I made of an almanac in the University of Rochester collection to try and give viewers an idea of how it functions 😊
(Video of RCL cod. a.1, a late 14th century folding almanac from England, likely Oxford)
Today's #marginalmusician is a monstrous creature playing the #lute.
From La #DanseMacabre, c1500-1510
BNF Français 995
#earlymusic #manuscriptmonday #marginaliamonday #earlymodern #illuminatedmanuscript #lutenist #sixteenthcentury
