Following the Dolmetschs came a second wave, in which Michael Morrow's group, Musica Reservata (see Thomson, J. M.; Sothcott, John; Fallows, David; Page, Christopher (August 1994).
His first venture into this period was a highly ambitious one, namely the Florentine Intermedii, which served as light musical interludes between the extravagantly staged acts of some 16th.
Made up of local enthusiasts, it was originally simply a recorder consort, but soon acquired a veritable arsenal of other period instruments, regarding which Mike Oxenham's impressive array of autophones deserves a special mention.
So Frank Grubb - a member of the Sothcott group - promised George Murcell that - in the event of Michael's continuing intransigence - the Canzona Ensemble would step into the breach.
Subsequently, changing its name to suit that of the budding theatre, the St. George's Canzona now turned professional by virtue of being featured on Decca's ARGO label.
In the event, Bob made two recordings for the Canzona, namely The Music of Henry VIII and To Drive the Cold Winter Away (the latter 1975), in respect of which, and to his amazement, royalties actually began to plop onto his doormat.
Meanwhile, John Sothcott began to make his own stringed instruments, initially rebecs (for which the only exemplars were Medieval illustrations) but shortly afterwards he turned his attention to the vielle.
For this, the choir was made up from the ‘orchestra wives’, whilst young up-and-coming soloists such as Philip Langridge (who died in 2010), Mike Rippon and David Thomas (but to whose distinguished company the Canzona's own counter-tenor, Derek Harrison, needed to yield nothing!)
How exactly this programme of folk songs and tunes from Playford's ‘English Dancing Master’ was to be made was indeed perplexing; but the ever-resourceful John Sothcott solved the problem by handing out four-part settings of the music, to which the Broken Consort simply busked along.
And so research for this record included the assembling of a suite of such music, this eventually serving as an exciting, up beat conclusion to the album, to which Ray Attfield's distinctive, ‘folksy’ voice made an indispensable contribution.
Now, some time ago, Frank Grubb's son John had made his debut appearance with the Canzona at the youthful age of sixteen, during the making of the folk-rock disc.
But having committed to those tapes the Medieval music which John Boyden rightly regarded as the Canzona's forte, the group had reached that apparently insuperable hiatus, the Civil War.
Desperately in need of inspiration, John Sothcott and Frank Grubb took themselves off to the site of the Battle of Edge Hill, hoping perhaps that the ghosts of those who had died there in 1642 would help them.
It was therefore Playford again who came to the rescue, lyrics for whose tunes were to be found in the Thomason Tracts - a collection of literally thousands of Civil War pamphlets and broadsheets (the Holy Grail for students of the subject) currently held in the British Library.
To these sources were added the martial tunes of the time (notably Prince Rupert's March), and popular songs, of which When the King enjoys his own again, was thought by many to have contributed in no small measure to the Restoration of the monarchy.
During their making, WEA - who wished to acquire a classical label - purchased Enigma but soon tired of it, selling its tapes on to Academy Sound and Vision, of which (incidentally) Kevin Daly was a founder board member.
They then re-released the Civil War albums on vinyl, but afterwards were persuaded to condense the last four ‘Tapestries’, as compilations, onto two CDs, namely ‘A Medieval Banquet’ and ‘Music for Roundheads and Cavaliers’ (1994).
But to return to the 1980s, Frank Grubb now retired in favour of his son John, who secured two further recording contracts from CRD, again engineered by Bob Auger.
Like the Canzona, these also leaned somewhat towards folk music, playing drone-based instruments, such as the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipes; and Bob Auger's goodwill was unhesitatingly extended to this next generation of Grubbs, by making for the group their debut album, ‘Pass the Hat’, once more on a purely speculative basis.
Thus the torch of Early Music, lit by the Dolmetsch family and passed to Michael Morrow and John Sothcott, was received by those whose task it would be to keep the flame alight, and to take it onwards into the 21st.