The Matter of Song in Early Modern England: Texts in and of the Air

England was alive with song in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and we continue to experience songs from the period not only as readers, but also as audience members, and, in some cases, as singers. When a reader encounters a song in a sonnet sequence, a romance, and even a masque or a play, however, the tendency is to engage with it as poem rather than as musical performance. This book considers the implications of reading song not just as lyric text, but as a musical phenomenon that is the product of the singing body. It also illuminates the variety of ways in which women were engaging with song and with musical culture in early modern England. The book is published with a companion recording featuring fourteen pieces performed by soprano (the author) and lute (Lucas Harris).