Early Music is an amazing resource if you are interested in music from the past.
Created by Jon Sayles, a computer technologies expert, as a hobby, Early Music is dedicated to reproducing and sharing music from the Baroque and English Renaissance time period, specifically the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, featuring composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and others.
The music on the site is free to download and listen, and even distribute, for free.
The music is played on the guitar and recorded by Jon Sayles. Much of the flavor of Renaissance music is the magic of duets, trios, and small groups playing intersecting melodies and accompaniments. To create these, Jon Sayles may work with other guitarists, but he also records each part by himself and then digitally blends them together to create the different parts in a single song.
There are hundreds of Early Music songs to choose from, though some highlights include:
- From England: The Witches Dance, See my own sweet jewel, Browning, Ricercare
- From France: Allon Gay Gay, Se je perdu, Si ascendero
- From Spain: Ignacio, Recercada, Riu Riu, Chu
- From Germany: Ich weiss nit, Ballet, Die Katzenpfote
- From Italy: Saltarello, O’ Rosetta, Cantate Domino
Sayles loves this style of early music so much, he wants to spread the word as well as encourage more people to return to this fabulous music style. Sayles offers sheet music to those who ask, and encourages distributing and sharing of his music.
If you want to step back in time to music of your ancestors past, download some wonderful ancient tunes from Early Music into your portable MP3 player, and take a walk through a historical garden.
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