{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.032816773017319965, 'fraction_numerical': 0.022561531449407476, 'mean_word_length': 4.805555555555555, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Consort Music of William Lawes 1602–1645 (review)

The first thing to say is that this is a beautifully produced book. Author and publisher have benefitted from the recent discovery of the Portrait of a Young Man, believed to be that of William Lawes, which makes a most handsome cover. Timely discussion of the painting by C. V. R. Blacker and David Pinto, ‘Desperately Seeking William: Portraits of the Lawes Brothers in Context’, appeared in Early Music, 37 (2009), 157^74. Clearly it was an advantage to belong to the most artistic and cultured of English royal courts; no image at all is known of John Jenkins, who surely also deserved one, but rather spent his time with families in the country. John Cunningham’s book is the latest in a considerable line of writings about Lawes, which began in earnest in 1960 with Murray Lefkowitz’s excellent study of the composer and his music. David Pinto followed on with a series of articles featuring Lawes’s string music, including a more substantial essay For ye Violls: The Consort and Dance Music of William Lawes (Richmond, 1995). The 350th anniversary of Lawes’s death in 1995 was commemorated by a conference in Oxford and most of the papers given there subsequently appeared in A. Ashbee (ed.), William Lawes (1602^1645): Essays on his Life, Times and Work (Aldershot, 1998). Parallel with these commentaries, a series of editions of Lawes’s music has been issued. Lefkowitz’s William Lawes: Select Consort Music (Musica Britannica, 21; 1963) was a useful first sample to accompany his earlier book, but it was soon realized that the major consorts should be published complete. David Pinto began with the Consort Sets in Five and Six Parts (London, 1979), later adding the Fantasia Suites (Musica Britannica, 60; 1991) and the Royall Consort in both ‘old’ and ‘new’ versions (Richmond, 1995). Gordon Callon has published four volumes comprising Lawes’s Collected Vocal Music (A-R Editions; Madison, Wis., 2002). Numerous smaller editions continue to appear. So what is there left to say? Cunningham writes: ‘My aim in this book has been to address several issues concerning Lawes’s music not dealt with in previous studies, and to build upon the existing body of knowledge to advance our understanding of Lawes as a composer.’ What we know of Lawes’s biography remains virtually unchanged since Lefkowitz’s 1960 account, so Cunningham sensibly confines a summary of this to his preface. He notes that work on music at the English Court has led to important studies of some of the musical groups there, especially Peter Holman’s account of the violins (Four and Twenty Fiddlers (Oxford, 1993)) and David Lasocki’s account of the wind players in The Bassanos (Aldershot, 1995). Both groups could trace their origins to the Tudor period and both had routine employment serving the court at large in accompanying dances and playing at mealtimes. More intimate gatherings of musicians playing for the royal family certainly existed, but few details concerning these appear in the records before the accession of Charles I; as the ‘Private Musick’ their activities are largely hidden. But in 1625 the ‘Lutes, Viols and Voices’ was created by Charles from the musicians who served him when Prince of Wales, and the group continued until the accession of James II in 1685. The Lawes brothers served in the Lutes, Viols and Voices, so in chapter 1 Cunningham has compiled the most extended account we have of it so far and sets it in the context of court music as a whole. He notes its importance as a pioneering group responsible for musical innovations like the so-called fantasia suites and its role in establishing music to be listened to rather than as an art to satisfy just the performers. Lefkowitz identified the Lawes autographs that have survived (except for British Libary Add. MS 40657^61), but Cunningham (like David Pinto) disputes some of his assumptions about the make-up of the books. In chapter 2 he embarks on an extensive survey of Lawes’s hand and signatures. No fewer than fifty-eight music illustrations appear in the text, in which Cunningham sets out his views concerning the chronology and dating of the various manuscripts. It is fascinating that the illustrations show such a wide variety in the presentation of the music text, but, as Cunningham points out in his concluding section, this can be attributed