Chacone by Verdier - Clive Titmuss & Susan Adams, lute & harpsichord

Verdier’s “Chaconne” appears in “Musick’s Handmaid”, a volume of works for harpsichord or spinet (a smaller house instrument) first published by John Playford in London in 1663. Subtitled “Lessons and instruction for the virginalls” it contains works for keyboard by Henry Purcell, Blow, Motley and others, and it proved so popular that it was re-issued twice before 1700. This Chaconne is not attributed in the original but has since been found by researcher Thurston Dart to be by a French composer named Verdier. In the form of a rondeau, it has a theme, occasionally repeated, and variations on its harmonies. We found this book to have a number of pieces well-suited to arrangement for harpsichord and lute and you will find among our videos another piece from the same book with similar treatment: Mortlack’s Ground by John Blow.
Audio is by Chaianne Ellis at SoulTech Audio, video is by Clive Titmuss and video editing is by Susan Adams. Special thanks to production assistant Andrew Nikodym. Please leave us a comment because we love to hear from you!
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