Paradise Lost

Last month, Fretwork undertook a project called ‘Paradise Lost’, funded by the Continuo Foundation and Arts Council England. We performed a sequence of viol music by Matthew Locke, Leonora Duarte, Henri Du Mont and John Milton (father of the famous Milton), interspersed with readings from John Milton (the younger!) and Spinoza.

The inclusion of Leonora Duarte’s Sinfonias was important as this is the only pre-20th Century music for viol consort by a female composer that survives. Duarte was of Jewish descent, a ‘converso', part of a wealthy diamond merchant family, and had contact with the cultural elite of Europe and England, including Constantijn Huygens and William Cavendish. The Duarte house was a cultural salon, where many musicians, artists, politicians and merchants met. Her seven Sinfonias in five parts are characterful pieces which show a real musical technique and imagination, and in this video you can hear us playing the fourth of these pieces.