Prosperous Elizabethan England knew its own Renaissance of culture. The poetic language of Spenser paved the way for that of Shakespeare; the imported Italianate musical styles of Ferrabosco allowed for native talents such as Dowland to flourish. It seems that music and dancing abounded here: Elizabeth I herself could boast of no little accomplishment on the keyboard, and she patronized a large number of musicians (she even apparently tolerated the unapologetically Catholic William Byrd). In addition, the amount of dance music called for in the plays of Shakespeare does seem matched by the flow of dance music written by Elizabethan composers. Numerous pavan and galliard pairs testify to the popularity of this central kind of dance set, with almains and corantos following closely behind. This rich, courtly musical culture provides the proper context in which to hear Antony Holborne's dance music, such as the galliard Muy Linda.

Unfortunately, history has obscured the meaning of Holborne's subtitle. He tended to individualize his dances by giving them similar emblematic titles in Spanish, Italian, or Latin. Perhaps this one refers to a courtly canzona, or signifies some aspect of one of Holborne's many patrons. As written, his music follows many conventions of the galliard dance form as Holborne and his contemporaries knew it: a fairly lively triple-meter dance consisting of three repeated strains. The first strain of Muy Linda is not the same length as the other two, but doesn't noticeably throw off the balance of the dance. What does strike the ear is the powerful rhythmic drive of this galliard. Cross-rhythms in the inner voices continually spur new momentum, and the melody itself oscillates quite frequently between simple triple meter and hemiola patterns.

© Timothy Dickey, Rovi