Talk: Medieval English Song (Words and Music)
Winterbourne Medieval Barn
We are delighted to welcome Prof Ad Putter of Bristol University to The Barn for a fascinating talk on Medieval English Song - both words and music - enlivened with some actual singing from the speaker himself!
This talk will transport us back to medieval England, to see and hear the English songs from the Middle Ages that survive with music. Professor Ad Putter will discuss and showcase the manuscripts in which these songs survive and will bring the poetry back to life in sung performance. There will be practical tips on how to pronounce the words in the original Middle English language, and we will also look at a medieval English lyric that was written with Welsh spellings.
Prof Putter is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Bristol, where he directs the Centre for Medieval Studies. His many books include The Hatmakers of Medieval and Tudor London (2023, open access) and The Works of the Gawain Poet, which he edited for Penguin Classics (2014). His forthcoming book, Medieval Love Letters, is in press with Cambridge University Press. He sings as tenor with the Cardiff-based choir The Elizabeth Singers. His singing of Middle English romances, accompanied by Frances Eustace on the harp and the rebec, can be heard on the double CD Performing Middle English Romance (Chaucer Studio, 2014).
Doors and bar open from 6.30pm. Seating is unreserved. Free parking on site. Tickets £7.50 available on the door or on Ticketsource.co.uk
This talk is also available live-streamed on zoom. Book on Ticketsource.co.uk. A link will be sent out at least one hour beforehand.
