Elizabethan Music and Musical Criticism

397 Pages·1962·14.417 MB·English

by  Morrison Comegys Boyd

ELIZABETHAN MUSIC
AND MUSICAL CRFTICISM
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E L I Z A B E T H AN MUSIC
and
^Musical Criticism
By
MORRISON COMEGYS BOYD
SECOND EDITION
®
Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania Press
(£) 1940, 1962, by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-10744
Second Edition, Revised, 1962
Second Printing, with corrections, 1967
First Pennsylvania Paperback edition 1974
ISBN: 0-8122-1071-9
Printed in the United States of America
To
Miss Amy Comegys

'Treface
I
T is the purpose of this book to assemble the comments concerning
English music, its practices and composition, during the period rep-
resented by the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James (1558-1625);
to summarize the works on musical theory published in England be-
tween those dates; and to illustrate the Elizabethan attitude and opin-
ion as to music in theory and practice. It is a commonplace of history that
tht artistic and literary impulses of these two reigns were one and con-
tinuous. This is equally true of music. But with the conclusion of the
regn of James, this artistic impetus failed and taste was changing. The
ncble madrigal especially was dying, and the music of the reign of
Ckarles I was so comparatively unimportant and spiritually remote
from that of Elizabeth's time that it has seemed best to conclude our
miin inquiry with the death of James. But there were writers on the
tfeory of music who though writing in Charles's time, like Bevin and
Butler, express the views of the past. Those have been therefore in-
cluded, with Anthony Wood as well, who, writing at Oxford during the
latter half of the seventeenth century concerning the music of an earlier
day, is far too important to ignore. Wood's information was much of it
doubtless derived by word of mouth, for it is well known that he was
acustomed to quote his older contemporaries in the conduct of his an-
tiquarian researches.
Although it was my original intention to present only criticism writ-
tei by Elizabethans, I soon realized that I should have to describe briefly
the object or music criticized and add a modern appraisal of it, other-
wise no reader not blessed with omniscience could picture or grasp
what the Elizabethan commentator was discussing, let alone agree or
disagree with him. Consequently this book has become, somewhat un-
e>pectedly, a short account of Elizabethan music. It is in essence a com-
[vii]
ELIZABETHAN MUSIC
pilation, and I shall be glad to hear of any interesting material that has
escaped my notice.
Elizabethan spelling has been preserved in the quotations of this
study, except that the vowel ν and the combination ij have been re-
placed by our modern u and ii, and the consonants u and i by ν and /.
The original punctuation, too, has been retained except in a few in-
stances where such marks would be misleading. The word Elizabethan
refers here to the reigns of both Elizabeth and James I. The date of any
year covers a period from the first day of January to the last day of the
December following, in accordance with our present system.
I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Felix E. Schelling of the
Department of English of the University of Pennsylvania for his un-
failing kindness and numerous constructive suggestions.
In this second edition certain minor changes have been made in the
text, and the bibliographies have been enlarged and brought up to date.
M.C.B.
[ viii ]
Contents
Chapter page
I. Music in High Places ι
II. Music Attacked and Defended 13
III. Music Sung in Church 37
IV. Madrigals 92
V. Songs 127
VI. Instruments and Instrumental Music 153
VII. Music on the Stage 189
VIII. Musical Relations with the Continent 205
IX. Musical Theory 222
X. The Musician Himself 272
XI. Finale 279
APPENDICES
A. Thomas Whythorne's Preface to His Set of Madrigals,
1571 281
B. Cantiones . . . Sacrae by Tallis and Byrd, 1575: the
Latin Dedication by Tallis and Byrd, and Latin poems
by Mulcaster and Ferdinando Richardson in Honor of
the Music 284
C. The Praise of Mustere, by John Case, 1586: Excerpts 292
D. When You See Me You Know Me, a Play by Samuel
Rowley, 1605: a Quotation Mentioning Tye 301
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