A History of Music in the British Isles, Volume 1: From Monks to Merchants

by Laurence Bristow-Smith

Overview

This engaging and immensely readable book is the first history of British music to be published for fifty years. It tells the fascinating story of the people who have shaped Britain's musical life over the centuries: the composers and
performers; the promoters and impresarios; the conductors and critics. It shows how its music evolved – and is still evolving – against a background of religious, social, political, technical and technological change. It addresses readers with all levels of musical knowledge and interest, from the musically-minded and musically-informed to those seeking an accessible intro­duction to the subject.

Volume One begins with a set of pipes from 2000 BC discovered in an Irish bog and follows the twists and turns of music in the British Isles up to the end of the 18th century. Celts and Romans, Saxons and Normans all brought music with them. Kings and queens, popes and archbishops alike saw music as a means of glorifying themselves and pursuing their religious and secular ends. The Reformation threw church music into chaos, but none the less managed to produce some of the greatest British composers. The Civil Wars and the Commonwealth created even greater disruption. The Restoration led to a new flowering of musical ideas. The 18th century saw the emergence of a musical market place. Continental musicians flocked to Britain for the money they could earn there. Concert promo­ters and theatre managers competed to attract new talent and reap the rewards.

Laurence Bristow-Smith tells a story which has a rich and fascinating cast of characters -- from the pious and politically astute to drunkards and lechers. It is a story which is important in its own right, but also illuminates the wider economic, political and social history of the British Isles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782970065463
Publisher:	Letterworth Press
Publication date:	12/11/2017
Pages:	426
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Preface xiii

1 Very Early Music 1

2 Romans, Druids, and Bards 6

3 Anglo-Saxons, Celts, and Harps 3

4 Augustine, Plainsong, and Vikings 16

5 Organum, Notation, and Organs 21

6 Normans, Cathedrals, and Giraldus Cambrensis 26

7 The Chapel Royal, Medieval Lyrics, and the Waits 31

8 Minstrels, Troubadours, and Courtly Love 37

9 The Morris, and the Ballad 44

10 Music, Science, and Politics 50

11 Dunstable, and la Contenance Angloise 53

12 The Eton Choirbook, and the Early Tudors 58

13 Pre-Reformation Ireland, Wales, and Scotland 66

14 Robert Carver, and the Scottish Reformation 70

15 The English Reformation, Merbecke, and Tye 75

16 John Taverner 82

17 John Sheppard 87

18 Thomas Tallis 91

19 Early Byrd 101

20 Catholic Byrd 108

21 Madrigals 114

22 The Waits, and the Theatre 124

23 Folk Music, Ravenscroft, and Ballads 130

24 The English Ayre, and Thomas Campion 136

25 John Dowland 143

26 King James, King Charles, and the Masque 153

27 Orlando Gibbons 162

28 Thomas Tomkins, and Church Music 169

29 King James, King Charles, and Archbishop Laud 178

30 Civil War, Playford, and the Beginnings of Opera 187

31 The Return of the King 197

32 The Violin, and Matthew Locke 204

33 Humfrey, Wise, Blow, and Turner 210

34 Purcell, and King James II 216

35 William of Orange, Purcell, and the First Concerts 224

36 Purcell, the Theatre, and Dido and Aeneas 229

37 After Purcell 235

38 Scotland and Ireland in the Early Eighteenth Century 240

39 The Arrival of Handel 248

40 Handel, the Royal Academy of Music, and Ballad Opera 258

41 Handel and the Oratorio 268

42 The Pleasure Gardens, and the Folk Tradition 279

43 Greene, Boyce, and Avison 286

44 Thomas Arne 293

45 Continental Music, and Carl Abel 298

46 The London Bach, and Frederick Herschel 304

47 The Cult of Handel 311

48 John Wesley, and West Gallery Music 315

49 Hook, Dibdin, Shield, and the Historical Perspective 322

50 A Reverence for Foreigners, and Haydn 330

51 The Glee 337

52 The Vienna Four 344

53 Commercial Pressures, Crotch, and Samuel Wesley 351

Notes 357

Printed Sources 373

Internet Sources 383

Index 387