Vauxhall’s many acres of pleasure gardens had a long history of keeping the British public amused with delightful sights, sounds and smells of country life. Many singers and instrumentalists found ready audiences in the garden pavilions, and every seventeenth and eighteenth composer in London was bound to write for a Vauxhall Gardens event. Handel, J.C. Bach and Thomas Arne’s names are all recorded in Vauxhall annals.

The culmination of this part of the Yale music series (the entire series runs through April of next year with modern day British art and music collaborations) is the stage production of Sir William Davenant’s Britannia Triumphans, a masque set to music by William Lawes. After his death Davenant was declared Poet Laureate by Charles I. William Lawes, who died fighting for the Royalists in the Civil War, wrote vocal music glorifying the court. 

Students from the Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music will sing, accompanied by professional instrumentalists. Lectures and performances are free of charge and open to the public. For dates and times click on ycba.info@yale.edu.