Manuscript Susanne Van Soldt (1599)

In Nobody's Jig (Alpha 502), the Witches explored the English country dance repertoire found in notebooks published by John Playford from 1650. For this new release Les Witches work on Susan Van Soldt's manuscript, comprising dances, songs and psalms adapted to the virginal or harpsichord.Aged 16 when she noted in this copybook the pieces she probably enjoyed playing at home, Susan was a young Protestant who had to leave Flanders for England with her family at this time of raging religious conflict between Christians.The majority of pieces in the manuscript are reductions for the keyboard, therefore Les Witches have tried to imagine the original instrumentation and hence recreate the tonal colours of Brueghel's country fairs, weddings and village feasts.