Henry Purcell wrote the music for King Arthur in 1691 to text by English poet John Dryden. It is a semiopera (in which spoken text is interwoven with musical items) that tells the story of King Arthur's struggle to rescue his beloved Emmeline from the (fictitious) Saxon leader, Oswald. It contains some of Purcell's most imaginative music, as in this 'Frost Scene' in Act III. Oswald's magician, Osmond, demonstrates his magical powers by summoning the Cold Genius, who rises up from the ground. The music for the accompanying strings contains repeated chords to illustrate their chattering teeth and shivering in the freezing cold.

Christopher Simpson, a virtuoso gambist (viol - player) is most famous for his book of viol variations called 'The Division Viol', published in 1659. Divisions are literally pieces which 'divide' the notes of the original tune, i.e. ornamenting a simple tune with many notes. This was a very popular way of composing pieces - composers would take a popular melody or dance tune, and write 'divisions' i.e. variations on it. This piece also comprises a set of 'divisions', but this time for two solo voices, with the bass line (taken in our performance by the lute) repeating the simple accompaniement throughout for each variation.

Simpson was a Catholic, and during the Civil War served on the Royalist side. Around 1645, he settled in Lincolnshire, at the house of Sir Robert Bolles, who became his friend and patron, 'affording me a cheerful Maintenance, when the Iniquity of the Times had reduced me (with many others in that common calamity) to a condition of needing it' (dedication of The Division-viol, 2nd edition, 1665) . It was Sir Robert's son John (b 1641) who was 'the chief occasion' for the writing of The Division-Violist (London, 1659). A Latin ode by James Alban Gibbes, in praise of John Bolles's brilliant viol playing in Rome in 1661, praises Simpson also as a teacher comparable to Chiron, 'whom roving fame made known to the world through the accomplishment of the Thessalian youth'. Simpson continued to enjoy Sir John's close friendship, staying at his house 'by Turn-stile in Holborne', until he died in 1669. Matthew Locke, a fellow Catholic and composer, commemorated him in 1672 as 'a Person whose memory is precious among good and knowing Men, for his exemplary life and excellent skill'; John Jenkins, the famed court composer and violist, had called him his 'very precious friend'.

This 'Uitnement Kabinet' or book of popular music for home music-making, was published during the time when Charles II was taking refuge in the Netherlands during his exile. He went there several times to escape the oppressive French court, where his Mother was scraping out an existance, and to visit his sister, Mary, who was married to William II, Prince of Orange. Unfortunatley her arrogant manner and refusal to adopt the Dutch culture made it difficult for Charles stay long, let alone ask for money the house of Orange.

The Calvinist cultural policy in the Northern Netherlands meant that public music-making was held at a very minimal level, but Dutch paintings of the period picturing music groups vividly show the vigor of domistic musical life, which in a sense made up for the lack of large scale public musical events, and this is the music Charles would have enjoyed during his time there.

The composers featured in this type of publication, were not all Dutch. Johann Schop was a renowned violinist whose popularity had spread out from Hamburg. He had moved there from the Court of Christian IV of Denmark. Here he had met the English viol player William Brade, (at this time there were close connections between English and German musicians). In 1619 Schop and Brade left Copenhagen to escape the plague.

These short and simple pieces reflect the type of music which the King and his courtiers might realistically have played (there was a vogue for playing the guitar at court, after the King was seen to take it up, but probably none of them worked hard at it!).

The pieces imitate simple country or folk music, (e.g. Over the mountains) which was becoming popular in restoration London, thanks to publications such as Playford's 'Dancing Master'. The Simphonie is actually a French musette, also a rustic idiom but this time imported from the French court; it's a very gentle lilting tune over a drone bass which imitates the drone of a bagpipe or hurdy-gurdy. The passetemps (literally 'pass time') is preludial in style, and basically 'explores' the sound of the instrument (and serves as a tuning check, which was one important function of preludes on plucked instruments). It also establishes the key of what follows in the ear of the listener. The courante is more developed than the others, reflecting the elaborate Italian guitar style of the royal guitarist Corbetta, and the immigrant guitarist Matteis. It uses the upper end of the guitar's register, and elaborate broken chord textures in which the campanella effect of the guitar's tuning can be heard very effectively. The Capona Espagnola is a swaggering dance with alternate rhythmic groups of 5 and 7 beats. This is a fairly simple one (we featured more elaborate one by Piccinini, on the theorbo in Sublime Inspiration), in which the rhythm is the main element.

The essential thing however, is the international character of the grouping, reflecting the French influence on restoration music, the input of Italian musicians who were heading for London in considerable numbers, the native folk / dance music, and a bit of Spanish influence, perhaps via the Spanish Netherlands. The guitar is, of course, essentially Spanish.

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Withy was a Cathedral singer, string player, music copyist and composer. From 1670 until his death he was a singing-man at Christ Church, Oxford. He played the violin in Edward Lowe's act song Nunc est canendum, and is named as a bass viol player in a later Oxford score (GB-Lcm 1059). Manuscripts in his hand at the Bodleian Library, where this piece comes from, and Christ Church, Oxford, suggest that he was a useful assistant to Lowe and his successors at both the cathedral and the music school. Five attributed sets of division for solo bass viol exist, together with one, unfinished, for treble and bass. Two sets of divisions by 'E. Withy' were also probably composed by Francis on themes supplied by an otherwise unidentified relative.

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