Use this resource to explore early modern English ayres—songs c. 1590–1660 featuring the clear expression of text. View editions featuring variant lyrics and musical notation; read scholarly essays about cultural context; and listen to audio recordings of historically informed performances.
Our beta website features the songs of Henry Lawes’s 1653 Ayres and Dialogues, a previously unedited compilation of songs in the declamatory style, emphasizing the speech-like rhythms of verse. The next stage of the project will focus on the ayres of the Shakespearean stage.
