Taffel Consort (1621) (complete set parts)

Thomas Simpson (1582 – c.1630) was one of several English musicians who found northern Germany a more promising working environment than his own country; of the others the most notable was perhaps William Brade. The earliest reference to Simpson’s professional activity is found in the court records of the Elector Palatine at Heidelberg in 1608; the title page of his Opusculum of two years later describes him as a “Violist”, which does not necessarily mean a viol player. But at some stage he moved further north, for from about 1615 to 1621 he worked at Bückeburg (near Hannover) at the court of Count Ernst of Holstein-Schaumburg, who was an important patron of music; in the years leading up to 1621 this maecenas figure also had in his orchestra William Brade, who joined in 1617 together with his talented pupil Nicolaus Bleyer, as well as another talented Englishman, Maurice Webster, who apparently played the lute. Two of the German musicians who feature in Taffel-Consort also worked at Bückeburg, the gifted Johann Grabbe, who had the distinction of having studied with Giovanni Gabrieli at Venice, and the less famous Johann Krosch.

As we shall see, Simpson’s collection turns out to be a fascinating mixture of musical elements from England, Germany, Italy and even France. The contribution played by English musicians to the musical life of Germany during this period has caught the attention of several scholars, notably Werner Braun, whose monograph on the subject is the main source of information.