An Argosy for England - The Intrepid Academy

In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock describes the merchant Antonio as having argosies bound for Tripolis, the Indies, Mexico, and “a fourth for England”. Indeed, in the 16th century, Venice was building one ship every day, to defend itself and to trade. One of its exports was music – string instruments were built on an industrial scale in Venice, and shipped all over the world, sometimes in kit-form, packed in boxes specially designed to fit efficiently into the standardised holds of the ships! Venice also exported musicians from all over Italy, and was the centre for music printing. Our programme includes Venetian music by Rore and Willaert, and Italian dances and instrumental music from the libraries of great English houses, and features instruments copied from Venetian originals.