William Lawes' "Lord, in Thy Wrath"
Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England. https://youtu.be/c0PS0C77aRs The 17th-century English diarist Samuel Pepys left us a wonderful eyewitness account of life in the English Restoration period. His descriptions of major events including the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London, as well as other events in England and in Europe, are unparalleled. Pepys loved music, and he wrote about many of the great musicians of his day, including Matthew Locke, Henry and William (1602 –1645) Lawes, and Henry Purcell. See, for example, this excerpt from his diray dated 7 November 1660: "After all this he called for the fiddles and books, and we two and W. Howe, and Mr. Childe, did sing and play some psalmes of Will. Lawes's, and some songs; and so I went away." And, again, on 1 February 1664: "After supper a song, or three or four (I having to that purpose carried Lawes's book), and st...