Cervantes and his Don Quixote and William Shakespeare with his Hamlet were both grandfathered by melancholy, just like everyone in Europe in the 16th century. They were suppressed by feckless authorities and an unforgiving god, a combination leading to cruel and merciless religious conflicts, unperturbed as the populace died. Thus abandoned, society had no choice but to cling to the intellect and to the essence of the human being, rife with all its moral complexity.

We have given much thought to these Shakespearian references and to the feelings which so obsessed Burton and these have influenced our meticulous choice of the repertoire and musical instruments for A Circle in the Water. First of all, there had to be a place for the human voice, the narrator of stories, the driver of passion and transmitter of melancholy. As in the theatre, where the actors were accompanied by a stringed instrument, our grouping includes a viola da gamba, an eight-string lute and a theorbro. They all appeared in many different scenes, whether solo or together with other voices and instruments. Their harmonious strings were also a recurring metaphor to describe intra- or inter-personal relationships between different roles and they were even used as tools to stimulate emotions.