We’re gathering around a delightful batch of musical folktales and fables. Musicians have long been inspired by moralizing and fanciful stories, and plenty of their tales were told outside of theaters and opera houses. We’ll hear song settings based on Jean de la Fontaine’s revolutionary seventeenth-century fable collection, follow Aesop’s animal protagonists into the woods, and sample legendary and magical tales from medieval France to the American colonies. On our featured recording, Lucile Richardot and Ensemble Correspondances are joined by Sébastian Daucé to bring us Echoes from Seventeenth-Century Scandinavia.
PLAYLIST
The Best of the Baltimore Consort
The Baltimore Consort
Sono Luminus | DOR-90023 (2002)
Anonymous
Tr. 5 My heartly service (4:44)
Segment A:
Fables d’apres la Fontaine
Almazis, Iacovos Pappas
Maguelone Music | MAG358.406 (2016)
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
Tr. 1 Les grenouilles qui demandent un roi (2:27)
Tr. 15 La mouche et la fourmi (3:01)
Les Fables de La Fontaine
La Chapelle Harmonique, Valentin Tournet
B Records | LBM046 (2022)
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
Tr. 3 La fourmi and la sauterelle (1:39)
Un Bestiaire Fableux
Ensemble Faenza, Marco Horvat
Editions Hortus | HORTUS212 (2022)
Anonymous
Tr. 9 Le Corbeau et le Renard (2:39)
Music from the Time of Elizabeth I
The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
Decca | 00028948331529 (2017)
Thomas Ravenscroft
Tr. 11 Tomorrow the Fox Will Come to Town (2:15)
Sugarloaf Mountain
Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell
Avie Records | AV2329 (2015)
Traditional, arranged by Jeannette Sorrell
Tr. 9 The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night (3:02)
The Best of the Baltimore Consort
The Baltimore Consort
Sono Luminus | DOR-90023 (2002)
Traditional
Tr. 18 J'ai vu le loup (1:54)
Midpoint Break Music Bed:
Sugarloaf Mountain
Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell
Avie Records | AV2329 (2015)
Traditional
Tr. 14 Glory in the Meeting House
Segment B:
The Book of Madrigals
Amarcord
Raumklang | RKAP14106 (2006)
Thomas Weelkes
Tr. 8 Since Robin Hood (1:23)
Royal Delight
The King’s Noyse, David Douglass
Harmonia Mundi | HMX290737071DI (1993)
Anonymous
Tr. 17 Robin is to the greenwood gone (:52)
Thomas Simpson
Tr. 18 Bonny sweet Robin (3:25)
The Wonders of the World
Echo du Danube
Accent | ACC24185 (2007)
Anonymous
Tr. 18 The Fairey Masque (2:25)
Music from the Time of Elizabeth I
The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
Decca | 00028948331529 (2017)
Thomas Weelkes
Tr. 6 On the Plaines Fairie Traines (1:26)
Armada
Fretwork
Erato - Parlophone | 0724356182158 (2005)
Anthony Holborne
Disc 2, Tr. 3 The Fairie Round (1:19)
Pentameron
Oni Wytars Ensemble
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | 886447361962 (2019)
Anonymous
Tr. 15 Si te credisse (3:41)
Featured release:
Northern Light: Echoes from Seventeenth-Century Scandinavia
Lucile Richardot, Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastian Daucé
HMM905368 (2025)
Sebastian Knüpfer
Tr. 8 Suite de danses - Allemanda – Lentissime (2:40)
Franz Tunder
Tr. 13 Jubilate et exultate vivat rex Carolus (8:43)
Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 [ASIN: B000005J0B], T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal