Dowland’s Delight - Harp Music from Renaissance and Baroque

Dowland’s Delight
Harp Music from Renaissance and Baroque
Les sonorités de la harpe de la Renaissance et de l’époque baroque


Tom Daun – Harfe / harp / harpe



Delicate, meditative and rich in tone colour – the enchanting sound of the harp was very popular during the 16th and 17th centuries. A lot of illustrations and texts prove that the instrument was widely played at that time. However, hardly anything is known about the repertoire – this is the reason why the harp has remained a kind of „Cinderella“ in the Early Music Scene until now.
For this RAUMKLANG production Tom Daun arranged lute music of the Renaissance and Baroque period for his instrument. Many old pictures show lute and harp playing together in a duo. So we may assume that they partially shared the same repertoire.
John Dowland for example was employed in the King’s Chapel of Denmark together with an Irish harpist called Charles O’Reilly. Dowlands music is the main focus of this CD. But also dance tunes of the 16th century, elegant courtly compositions by Esaias Reusner – a Silesian lutenist – and expressive sounds of the later Baroque period (J.S. Bach and S.L. Weiss) show that there is a lot to discover regarding harp and Early Music.