Ruth Leon recommends… Baroque Theorbo – Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Ruth Leon recommendsBaroque Theorbo – Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
This week, April 22nd, saw the 200th birthday of Immanuel Kant, German philosopher and one of the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment. He wasn’t a musician so what should I play you to celebrate his birthday?
It’s a dubious connection but the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – no relation, I assure you – has a wonderful series of videos on the origins of the historic instruments they play. I’ll bring them to you one at a time to space them out but here is their lutenist, Elizabeth Kenny, playing the Baroque Theorbo and explaining how and why it was developed in the 17th century, and what it was used for.
Make that the 300th birthday, not the 200th.
Very informative and entertaining. Don’t miss some hillarious comments on youtube.
This will be a great series. I’m especially looking forward to learning more about the baroque spoons.
The OOE percussionist only has one original of a pair. Do look in your cutlery drawer, just in case you have the other.
It was remarkable, seeing this article. The few instances mentioning historic performance practice and period instruments which I have seen on this site have invariably been snarky and dismissive. True to form, the mention of “baroque spoons” supplants the expected sarcastic comparison of the modern electric bass as being superior to the theorbo. All hail elitism!
As a Life Member of the OAE’s fan club since the 90s, I’m unlikely to make “snarky and dismissive” comments about HIPP. All will become clear when a link to the relevant video is posted here.
The OAE has a baroque spoons video, and very amusing it is. All their videos manage to be fun to watch as well as informative.