In 17th - century England, a chest of viols referred to a set of viols – two treble, two tenor and two bass viole da gamba – often stored together in a chest and considered indispensable in any selfrespecting household. English music of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods holds a central place in the repertoire for the ensemble: nowhere else was music written in such quantity or of such extraordinary quality for it. The renowned musicologist Max Grün von Veltlin aptly described the viol consort as "an exotic, paradisiacal island in the history of European art music." Christopher Tye gave one of his fife-part In Nomine fantasias the name Free from all, and it's to imagine a more fitting description for this music – unless, perhaps, one were to put it in verse.