Dryden Ensemble to Perform 17th-Century Lute and Guitar Music in Princeton

The Dryden Ensemble, led by artistic director Daniel Swenberg, returns with a captivating program entitled The Most Faithful Companion: Lute and Guitar Trios from the 17th Century on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will be presented at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Road (off Hwy. 206). Admission is free, though donations are welcome.

Swenberg will be joined by Adam Cockerham and Dušan Balarin, performing on Renaissance and Baroque lutes as well as Baroque guitars of various sizes and tunings. The trio's program explores rarely heard ensembles by John Dowland, Henry Purcell, Francesco Corbetta, Maurizio Cazzati, Alessandro Piccinini, Nicola Matteis, and Ludwig von Radolt.

“In the 17th century, composers wrote for intimate spaces where people gathered to connect,” Swenberg says. “Even amid uncertainty, music offered refuge. Experiencing early music today lets us step into another time, leave worries behind, and celebrate humanity's enduring capacity to create.”

The evening opens with a suite of trios by Dowland, honoring the 400th anniversary of the composer's death, followed by Piccinini's contrapuntal canzona for three lutes in differing sizes and tunings. The program then moves into Baroque territory with Cazzati's Balletto Quarto and selections from Matteis's False Consonances of Music, a didactic work for the Baroque guitar that was a staple of the period's fashionable repertoire. Purcell's Two Parts on a Ground, drawn from the Princess Anne Guitar Book, and Corbetta's Sinfonia à 2 and The Trumpets and Drums of the Siege of Maastricht showcase the trio's versatility on guitar.

One of the highlights of the evening is the North American premiere of Ludwig von Radolt's Concerto I in D Minor from his 1701 collection The Most Faithful Companion. Long thought incomplete, Radolt's recovered works demonstrate the extraordinary range and elegance of Baroque lute ensembles. The program concludes with Georg Muffat's Passacaglia in G, drawing from Radolt's ensemble music to deliver a late-17th-century masterpiece.