Consort

What it means

Consort is the English term for a small instrumental ensemble of the 16th and 17th centuries, usually consisting of four to six players. A distinction is made between a whole consort, in which all instruments belong to the same family in different sizes, such as a set of viols from treble to bass, and a broken consort, which mixes instruments from different families, such as lute, cittern, bass viol, and flute.

Musical use

Consorts played both purely instrumental music without voices, so-called consort music, and accompaniments to songs and dances at the English court and in middle-class households. The viol consort in particular, a whole consort of viols da gamba, developed a rich repertoire of fantasias and polyphonic pieces of its own, among others by composers such as William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons.

The consort should be distinguished from the later string quartet or orchestra, which rest on a fixed, usually larger standard instrumentation, whereas consort scoring was more flexible and shaped more strongly by the particular instrument family involved. The English term corresponds roughly to what would today be called a chamber ensemble, but historically it is tied to England and this period.

Performance practice

If you play in a modern consort ensemble, such as a viol consort, pay particular attention to the tonal balance between the different sizes of the same instrument: since all parts are closely related in sound, an even, well-matched tone production is essential for the parts to blend into a homogeneous overall sound.