Music from the First Folio--October 26 and 27, 2023 (at two different locations)
Posted by Collectio Musicorum at 8:56 PM
Four hundred years ago, in 1623, a book was
published in London that changed the course of history. Shakespeare’s First Folio, published seven
years after his death, contains many plays that would have been lost if this
book never appeared.
In this, the quadricentennial anniversary of what
has been called the world’s “most influential book,” Collectio Musicorum will
perform music from the First Folio, from plays that were first published there
and which would have been lost forever if this book had never appeared.
Songs and dances from As You Like It, Macbeth,
The Tempest, and other plays are on the program. The performers include Chad Kranak, Alex
Longnecker, Christopher Preston Thompson, singers; Christopher Morrongiello,
lute; Patricia Neely, viola da gamba; Jeff Dailey, recorder.
The concert will feature some music from manuscripts in the Drexel Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which is right across the street. Joseph Drexel donated his rare collection of 17th century English Music to the precursor of the NYPL in the 19th century. New York City is indeed a rich resource for the study of Shakespeare. There are more copies of the First Folio here (6 in the NYPL, 2 in the Morgan Library) than in London (which only has 5).
The concert will take place on Friday, October 27th at 8 PM at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, 152 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023. It is easily accessible to the #1 subway. Admission is free.
Highlights from the concert will be performed on
Thursday, October 26th at St. Malachy’s Chapel, 239 West 49th
Street in Manhattan at 1:15. This concert is also free.
