Reverend Edmund Brown's Library: A Concert of a Puritan Minister's Musical Collection

As a part of Sudbury’s and Wayland’s 375th anniversary celebration, the Sudbury Historical Society presents a concert in honor of one of the founders and the first minister of the Sudbury Plantation, the Reverend Edmund Brown.  He was known for being a good-standing Puritan minister and for being a wealthy citizen of the plantation, possessing the largest amount of property in the plantation.  Surprisingly, he was also an amateur musician, traveling to the colony with a bass viol and his library of 180 books – some of which were certainly music books.

Since any records of exactly what books he had no longer exist, the concert attempts to recreate the books of music that would have been in the Rev. Brown’s library.  The selections were based on the most popular pieces for viols and church music in 16th-17th century England, featuring pieces by Byrd, Gibbons, Kirbye, and more.

The concert will be performed on period-instruments by 4 members of the Boston-area viol consort “Long & Away” and soprano Sarah Orlovsky on April 6, 2014, 3pm at First Parish of Sudbury, Unitarian Universalist in Sudbury, MA.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Sudbury Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.