The City Musick – To Honour the Cittie

The City Musick
To Honour the Cittie
Music for ceremony, festival and feast in London 1550-1650

The Waits were the official civic ensemble for the City of London and the Lord Mayor. Their heyday was in the late 16th and first half of the 17th, when they could boast a highly skilled and versatile membership of multi-instrumentalists and singers who were much in demand for civic processions, celebrations, private music in tavern and household, and were the theatre band for Shakespeare’s company, The King’s Men. This concert provides a glimpse into the busy working life of a wait, with diverse music for civic ceremony, the playhouse, dance hall, tavern, and chapel.