Sunday morning music

Those who don't listen to it much often think of classical music as slow and stodgy, not very interesting.  That's very far from the truth.

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) is best known for his sacred music, but he also produced "Terpsichore", a compendium of 300-odd medieval and early Renaissance dances.  Here's a 50-minute collection of several of them (not, as the video claims, a complete collection).  Some of them are quite rousing, and certainly foot-tapping even to those used to what's laughably referred to as "dancing" in modern popular music. I think you'll find some are very familiar to you, because they've been covered in modern versions by several artists.

If you'd like to see how these pieces would originally have been performed, here's a short excerpt from "Terpsichore" performed by Voices Of Music from San Francisco, using instruments of the correct vintage/design for the piece. In Praetorius' day, there was no conductor;  the music was led from the keyboard or violin, as shown here.

Lovely, isn't it?

Peter