Early Music Festival: The Wool Merchant and the Harp

Leah Stuttard (Gothic harp and voice)

George Cely, an adolescent apprentice in the wool trade, wrote details of his music and dance lessons in an accounting booklet in the late 15th century. By a lucky twist of fate following a legal process, this document is preserved in the National Archive in London. Three whole pages detail payments George made to Thomas Rede, 'harpar'. He noted how much he paid to learn 26 dances on the harp and wrote down the names of some songs Thomas taught him. This concert imagines George Cely enjoying himself, spending money on the luxury of music lessons, learning and playing dances from England and abroad, wooing women with songs.

Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, School of Music, University of Leeds