Tristitiae Remedium — Spring Workshop 2026

Join us at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Lincoln MA, on April 18, 2026 for “Tristitiae Remedium: Jacobean music to pass the time and cure sadness” This is a full-day, in-person workshop on the music for voices and viols directed by James Williamson along with coaches Jane Hershey and Emily Walhout, viols, and Elise Groves, voice. Alice Robbins will teach Intro to Viol.

What did our forebears in the Jacobean era play when they sat down to play consorts? In a world where printed music was a luxury good, working musicians would borrow copies of the newest pieces and copy them out into manuscript part books that contained a huge variety of different kinds of music. One such set, now in the Drexel collection at the New York Public Library, preserves a wide range of pieces from most of the polyphonic genres of the era: sacred music (both liturgical and not) in English and Latin, madrigals by English and Italian composers, and a number of fantasias by Lupo and Byrd. Some of the pieces are quite old fashioned (there is lots of Tallis) and some is quite up to date, such as madrigals by Weelkes and Wilbye.

We will play and sing pieces from this collection, getting a taste for many of different genres represented and gaining an appreciation for how interconnected vocal and instrumental styles were in the Jacobean era. Singers are welcomed, including viol players who like to sing!

Register online.

The deadline to register is April 4! Late registrants will be accepted only if space is available. If you have  any questions about the workshop, please contact our secretary.

You may also register on paper using the flyer.