Set in Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century, this gastronomic evening will offer an entertaining, virtuoso and varied programme of charming popular songs, elegant dances and courtly compositions, all spiced up with a dash or two of subtle British humour reflected in the music. The event, which will take place on Saturday 18 May at 7pm in the Serrería Belga (The Belgian Sawmill),

is part of the Cultural Space’s Mulier series, in which music, literature and gastronomy come together from a perspective that places women at the centre of the creative process.

Under the title, ‘Music for a While’, Victoria Cassano (mezzo-soprano), Lobke Sprenkeling (recorder), Óscar Gallego (viola de gamba) and Jorge López Escribano (harpsichord) will perform a selection of pieces from their repertoire of music from the Elizabethan era, a period of enormous literary flourishing that produced a wealth of musical culture with figures such as the writer William Shakespeare and the composer John Dowland. During the reign of James I, masques – courtly entertainments that combined music, dance, song and performance in elaborate stage sets - opened the way to the creation of unique visual and musical spectacles. In time, the masque was confronted by the “anti-masque”, or “antemasque”, a genre created by authors such as Adriano Banchieri, Giovanni Coperario and Robert Johnson, which immersed the audience in the world of the carnival.

When Charles II ascended the throne, the popularity of masque began to wane, and semi-opera, also referred to as English opera, took its place. Composers such as the celebrated Henry Purcell and Matthew Locke developed a distinctive musical style that combined Baroque forms with “gallant” modulations and colours unheard of elsewhere in Europe.

An example of this rich cultural form can be enjoyed at the Serrería Belga in an event that also includes a light supper that will invite the audience to an Elizabethan table with some of the ingredients that would have been served in 17th century England.

Four concerts that bring together a female perspective, music, literature and gastronomy

This series of four concerts between April and June, in which music and literature go hand in hand, focuses on creative women: the writer or composer, but also the translator, the patron of the arts, the lighting designer or the manager of an artistic creation that they now bring to the stage and offer to the public.

These concerts will also be accompanied by a light supper related to the context or to the musical or literary theme of each event, thus immersing the audience in the different eras represented not only through music and literature but also through the sense of taste. These small gastronomic delicacies will be chosen for their relation to one or more of the texts or songs performed, or to the gastronomic culture of the artists’ home countries.