Collected Vocal Music, Part 4

Most of Lawes's surviving music for masques and entertainments exists in his autographs, Ob MS Mus. Sch. b. 2 and Lbl Add. MS 31,432. This edition contains all of Lawes's surviving music for Ben Jonson's The King's Entertainment at Welbeck (1633), three court masques (with symphonies for the vocal pieces: Shirley, The Triumph of Peace [1634], Davenant, The Triumphs of the Prince d'Amour [1636], and Davenant, Britannia Triumphans [1638]), and a school masque, Shirley, The Triumph of Beauty (ca. 1640-44). Music for the entertainment and masques includes solo songs (most are declamatory songs with chorus), dialogues, partsongs, one brief duet, two trios, and choruses. Several masque items have instrumental symphonies, probably for strings and thoroughbass. The symphonies are brief, light preludes in binary form. All are tuneful and rhythmically active. They have little thematic relationship with the vocal music.