Early music performance in Cincinnati, Renaissance lute, Medieval lute, Baroque lute, Vihuela, Medieval Citole, Rebec and Vielle, Baroque Guitar and Hurdy Gurdy.

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The Noyse Merchants is currently exploring the astonishing musical wealth of Sephardic music, music carried from Spain (after the expulsion of the Moors and Jews in 1492) to the Ottoman Empire and to North Africa. The music was the only thing that held people together during these terrible times. The Sephardic sound is medieval with distinct modes - the melancholic sounds that immediately remind us of Spanish, Hebrew, and Gypsy music. Since Sephardic music has its roots in the musical traditions of medieval Spain, we thought it appropriate to perform it on early instruments. The addition of the violin and chalumeaux (early clarinet) reflects the fact that Sephardic music has adopted the rhythms and tone colors of the various countries where the Sephardim settled.
See our History of performances.

        Our Early Music group The Noyse Merchants plays Medieval and Renaissance music as well as music from the early Baroque. We play music from the 12th through the 17th centuries on historical musical instruments. Music from the Middle Ages, the Crusades, music from early Ireland, Scotland and England--essentially popular music from previous centuries. Historically-informed performances are supported with research into areas as diverse as musicology, instrument-making, literature, medieval and renaissance studies, and fine arts.

A new page has just been added: The Gemshorn - Fact or Fiction?

The Instrument Making section has detailed photos showing the construction of a Baroque Guitar, Vihuela, Rebec, Orpharion, Citole, Fiddle, Vielle, Medieval Lute, Renaissance Lute, and Baroque Archlute. It also contains a brief history of early instrument building in Cincinnati, including the work of Larry Brown, Dave Schneider, and the late Ben Bechtel.

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Photos by Tina Gutierrez.

© Early Music Cincinnati, 2006, and Larry Brown, lute maker. Ensemble for early music in Cincinnati Ohio includes early music entertainment, Renaissance and Medieval Music, concerts, world music, classical music, chamber music, events. Cincinnati live music. Ensemble members here in Cincinnati pursue private early music lessons in baroque guitar, lute, recorder, and other historical instruments in order to gain an understanding of the many practical and theoretical areas essential to performance of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music (e.g. improvisation, ornamentation, articulation, basso continuo, historical notation, bibliography, organology, and more.) Research and experimentation with a diversity of early musical instruments in Cincinnati. Renaissance lute, Baroque Guitar, rebec, wooden Renaissance flute, Renaissance and Baroque recorders, (including soprano, alto, tenor, and bass recorder), medieval small pipes (hummelchen) , Hurdy Gurdy, and baroque violin. The rare thing about Musica Antiqua Cincinnati is our group's access to extraordinary resources, including lute-making, baroque guitar construction, and building early instruments. The construction of early instruments in our workshop here in Cincinnati allows us to experiment with different early music sounds and tone colors. We like to weave pedagogical and performance strands together in a way that makes historically-informed performance of early music enjoyable to the broadest spectrum of listeners. This means an emphasis on improvisational performance in historically informed styles.