The Waverley Music Lovers' Library
General Editor
A. Eaglefield Hull, Mus. Doc.
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'I'wo extracts from llie XTth (eiitm-y \\'i7ich('st('i' Trdpor. r-oiul)iiiiiiS'
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r.iiti~li luiit mu-if in notation.
J''r(yiiliri/ii'.cr
THE STORY OF BRITISH
MUSIC AND
THE EARLIER FRENCH
MUSICIANS
By
Clement Antrobus Harris
and
Mary Hargrave
THE SIGN OF A GOOD BOOK
LONDON
THE WAVERLEY BOOK COMPANY, LTD
96 & 97 Farringdon Street, E.C.4
TO MY SON
ANTROBUS TAFT HARRIS
Bachelor of Music of the University
of Edinburgh; Second-Lieutenant,
4th Bedfordshire Regiment; Killed
in Action at Armentieres, March
19th, 1916.
PREFACE
That evcrvone should be familiar with the
history of his own country is axiomatic. But
national chronicles have too often been written
as though mankind had no other employment
than putting kings on thrones and hurling them
off, and life could be fully expressed in genea-
logical tables, dates, and pictures of battles.
To this anomaly there falls to be added the
farther one that the oldest of arts, leastways the
first mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, has
been the most neglected. Even chroniclers who
have dealt with the industries, plastic arts, and
literature of a nation have wholly passed over its
music. Thus Henry Hallam could write on
"The State of Europe during the Middle Ages ''
(1818), that is to say on the countries and the
period which saw the birth of harmony (more
strictly, of counterpoint), the gradual growth of
our modern orchestra, and the evolution of " the
only universal language " (musical notation), and
blot his last page without having used a nib full
of ink on these events ! Much the same may be
said of Eord Macaulay writing thirty years later :
in the third chapter of his History of England he
deals in particular with the arts and science of
the seventeenth century, yet never even mentions
Henry Purcell, who towards the end of that ers
was the greatest composer in the world. More-
over he was the composer, or adapter, of one
of the politically most influential tunes in the
world's history, namely, " Lilliburlero," by which,
to quote another writer, " a prince was sung out
of three kingdoms." , One frequently hears the
tune to-day : who can repeat the words ?
Happily, however, signs are not wanting that
this myopic view of the conditions under which
nations exist is passing. The voluminous and
philosophical Irish historian of England, Mr. E.
H. Lecky ; the Oxford professor, Mr. C. A. Fyffe,
who in his three- volume History of Modern
Europe (1891) finds room for mention of Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven ; and the Scotsman,
Dr. John Macintosh, who deals with the subject
in each of the four volumes of his History of
Civilisation in Scotland, may perhaps claim to
be the first British writers who recognise music
as an important thread in the web and woof of
human life. Mention must also be made of the
awaleiing of our scholastic authorities to the
high educational value of music, a quality much
insisted on by the Greeks ; of our medical men
to music as a therapeutic agent, especiallv in
mental cases and shell-shock, wherein they, too,
are but following up a line of thought suggested
by Hellenic writers, particularly Pythagoras
and Xenocrates ; of our civic fathers and military
men to the recreative value of the art — organs
being found in every town-hall, bands in every
park, books on music and musical scores in every
municipal library, and concerts being provided
in the rest-camps during the present war to an
extent unheard of in the world's history. Strang-
est, perhaps, of all, and certainly the most recent
discovery in the oldest of arts, an American
teacher of aviation declares that musical pro-
ficiency is a great help in learning to fly !
But it must be confessed that if our leaders of
thought and men of action, and countless singers,
players, and listeners, know but little of the
longest musical story in the world — that of our
own school of composition — the fault cannot
wholly be laid at their own door. For despite
much musico-literary activity in recent years,
there has hitherto been no record of the course
which musical evolution has followed in our own
country likely to attract the attention and meet
the needs of the general reader.
Hence the present volume — les<= a history than
a story of British music on its social and more
human side.
Ellavgowan, Crieff.
CONTENTS
PART I : SOCIAL
Chapter Page
I. The Music of Nature in Great Britain - i
II. The Music of Myth and Legend : Bards
and Scalds __-_-- 12
III. Folk-Music : General _ _ _ _ 28
IV. Folk-Music : Irish, Welsh, Scottish,
English ______ j^
V. The Minstrels : Music in Court, Castle and
Cottage ------- 51
VI. The People as Musicians - - - - . 81
VII. Church Music : from the Introduction of
Christianity to Puritan Times - - 102
PART II : TECHNICAL
I. The Early Eminence of Great Britain for
Music ___--__ 138
II. Britain's Share in the Evolution of
Harmony. The Earliest Known Secular
Part-Sin"gi.\g ----_- 145
III. Britain's Share in the Evolution of Counter-
point. " SuMEU is ICUMEN IN " : THE WoRLd's
Most Remarkable Musical Manuscript - 153
IV. Britain's Share in Evolving the Art of
Composition. John Dunstable : " The
Most Remarkable Figure in the Whole
History of Music " - - - - - 160
V. Britain's Share in the Evolution of Instru-
mental Forms. Eminence of British
Musicians on the Continent - _ _ 163
V^I. Henry Purcell : The Greatest Composer of
HIS Time ------- 170
VII. English Eminence in Vocal Music : Our
First Miracle Play and Passion ; Early
Solo Songs ; the Anthem ; Service ; and
Glee- __--_-_ 17^
VIII. Educational Conditions. Later Instru-
mental Music ------ 189
IX. Light on Britain's Dark Age. The Tombs
OF the Prophets. The World's Greatest
Vv'oman Composer _ _ - _ - 200
X. 7'he Oldest National School of Music.
The Present and Future - - - - 205
APPENDIX :
Chronological Table AND Index of Typical Events 211
Alphabetical Index ------ 227
MUSICAL EXAMPLES :
Bird Songs - - - - - - 3, 4, 5, 7, 9
Ancient British Harp Music _ _ _ - 22-23
Ossian's Chant ______ 24
Troubadour Song ______ 56
Country Dance, 1260 - ----- 86-88
Eleventh Century British Part-Writing - - 150
Thames Watermen's Round : 1453 - - _ 1^7
Page of Psalter containing first Primed Sol-Fa
Initials _______ 183
Early Example of Numeral Notation - - 186
ILLUSTRATIONS :
Page of Winchester Troper _ _ _ frontispiece
Ogham Inscription ------ 193
PART I.
SOCIAL
CHAPTER I
THE MUSIC OF NATURE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
The story of a nation's music has no known
beginning : it can never be traced to a preludial
note ; like a fairy-tale it must begin with the
time-honoured but unsatisfying formula " Once
upon a time." For by however early a door we
enter the temple of Apollo we are late comers :
the music has already begun, nay, has never
ceased during ages which stretch into so distant
a past as to be beyond all human calculation.
The idea that man learnt his music from the
birds is so natural a one — whether literally true
or not — that classical literature had reached no
great age before such a derivation was at least
hinted at. That brilliant pantomime by the
greatest of Attic, and perhaps of all comedians,
Aristophanes' " The Birds," w^'ittcn over four
hundred years before Christ, may be cited in this
connection. For the two human fugitives who
reach the feathered kingdom admit the pre-
eminence ot the birds in every sphere of human
rutivity ; and pcets, if not musicians, are
2 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
expressly mentioned among those who enter
Cloud-cuckoo-town, and are afterwards ejected.
And some three hundred and fifty years later
Lucretius in his poem " On the Nature of Things "
expresses the idea quite definitely :
" There was a time when men did imitate with their lips the
birds' clear notes long before they could accompany flowing
songs with melody, and delight the ears." (Lib, V. Line 1378).
The earliest Christian writer on the subject
appears to have been the German Jesuit Athanasius
Kircher, who treats it, with notational examples,
in his Micsurgia Unvversalis published at Rome in
1590. What appears to have been the next work
also appeared in Italy, namely Omnia Opera by
P. Gassendo, Florence, 1727. The great interest
which American writers have taken in the sub-
ject also began early, but the first instance,
Lc Page du Pratz' History of Louisiana, 1763, was
published in London. Among later books it is
pleasant to find Biitish writers taking an early
and foremost place. Chief among them stands
the Hon. Daines Barrington. He was one of the
many gifted amateurs to whom music owes so
much, and member of a profession more of whoso
members have become eminent in the art than oi
any other profession, except the clerical order — ■
namely, the Lav/. Born in London in 1727
Barrington ultimately became a Judge on ih^
tHE MUSlC Of nAtuRe ^
Welsh circuit, and afterwards at Chester. He
wrote on legal subjects ; on the possibility of
reaching the North Pole ; on musical prodigies
— comparing Mozart with our own Crotch,
Samuel and Charles Wesley and Lord Morning-
ton ; and on " Experiments and Observations
on the Singing of Birds." This latter book came
out in 1775 and is still a leading authority. Not
many musical historians have recognised the
important bearing of the subject on the origin
of the tonal art, but Sir John Hawkins' monumen-
tal History published in London in 1775 may be
named as an exception since he gives examples
of bird songs, e.g. the following :
Blackbird.
^g
A later British writer, Mr. F. J. Crowest, very
aptly regards the subject as integral to the
argument of his book on " Musical Groundwork."
" The growth of melody," he says, " has been
clear and natural enough. Nature laid the
foundation when Sound first broke out in its
tlujusand shades and colouiino-s, from tlie trrate-
ful hum of bees to the terrific roar of munstcr
4 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
ocean. It is this world of sound — Nature's
great diapason — which we draw upon when mould-
ing into shape the nursery lullaby, or the operatic
scena, which commands the admiration of
patrician and plebeian alike. . . . The first
cravings of primitive man were towards an
imitation of the sounds of life around him. In
this way the Kamtschatkales have this succession
of notes,
t
^
not from any musical system, but by imitating
the cry of the wild duck. The moanings of man
and beast doubtless led to the first funeral chants,
such as the Egyptian Maneros, called by the
Greeks Linos, and reputed the oldest music in the
world."
While the greater part of bird music does not
lie within our scale system, more of it does than
is generally recognised. Mr. Simeon Pca-e
Cheney, an American writer, in his " Wood
Notes Wild " gives many instances. Here we
have space for only one or two typical cases of
the song of British birds. Over the house in
which these lines are being written, a bird tlew
THE MUSIC OF NATURE 5
on July 15, 1916, whose song I promptly noted
down with metronome pace, as follows :
MM r=^^ > >
^^m
^
Many similar instances, in a large proportion of
which the major common chord was prominent,
were given in a correspondence in Musical News
at the same time — July, 1916.
It is not, of course, necessary to its bearing on
musical history that bird-song should be proved
to include human scale formula?, The influences
under which music is composed are much more
subtle than that. Birds do not speak in human
word-formulas : yet the influence of bird-song on
poetry is everywhere apparent. Witness Charles
Kingsley, who declared in his article on " K
Charm of Birds" in Eraser's Magazine, June, 1867,
that it was the feathered songsters who set tlic
keynote for the songs of the old poets, and that
the mediaeval bards, of whom we shall have much
to say, borrowed largclv from them.
To us Britons the influence of bird-song on
human music is of special intercut since " the vocal
and instrumental music of birds can be studied
O THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
in Great Britain perhaps to greater advantage
than anywhere else in the world. "^
By " instrumental music," it may be explained,
ornithologists mean such sounds as the pcculiai
" bleating " or " drumming " of the British snipe,
and the " sharp note not unlike the crack of a
whip " of the American manakin, as distinct from
a melodious utterance.
This richness of bird-song would seem to be
enjoyed not only by Great Britain but by one of
her great over-seas Dominions. A German
traveller in Australia in a letter to his brother at
home declares that the grandest concerts of
feathered singers are to be heard in the clime
from which he writes ; and that the German
birds, in comparison with the Australian singers,
are mere bunglers {Stumper).' The same paucity
of bird music apparently obtains in Denmark, for
Dr. Gainborg published a book there in 1800,
under the titular question " How can we improve
the Song of our Wild Birds ? " In Great Britain
we don't need to give lessons in voice production
nV. p. Pycraft, "The Story of Bird Life-" p. 89.
^ See D. II. Beckle's "Music of the Bird," in "Die G.uteimube " for
1887. The "Guide to the A\istr;ili:in Museum" (Sidney: 1890: p. 5:;)
bears similar testimony. "In the AustraHan Bush, what is more pleas.int
than to listen in tlie early morning to the flute-like notes of the piping
Crowshrike [Gymnarbrina tibicen) and the rich and varied natural notes of
the Lyre Bird {Mcnura itipcrba), far excelling thos; of the Song-thrush and
hiiving immense powers of mimicry a .d , eutrlloquism."
THE MUSIC OF NATURE 7
to our skylarks, black-caps or thrushes, and the
greatest compliment we could pay Jenny Lind
was to call her the Swedish Nightingale.
Mr. Ward Fowler tells us that '' the singing
apparatus of a bird .... where it is perfect, is
a legitimate musical instrument," the product
being what Mr. Pycraft terms " a true musical
sound," produced in all birds " on the same
principle as in the oboe."
It is not melody only which man may have
learnt from the birds, but rhythm and the whole
principle underlying concerted music, double
choirs and antiphony. I have noted the following
as the rhythm of the corncrake's cry :
^' r r - ■ r i' ^- ' r r - " ^
A feeling for harmonic effects is suggested by the
predominance in bird music of the arpeggios on
the common chord, and of consonant intervals.
The third and fifth, the intervals formed b)- this
chord, have been estimated to form rcspcctivciv
twenty-six and twenty-seven per cent, of inter v.ils
sung by birds, wliile fourths and octaves form
twenty-five and nine per cent, respectively.^ 'Jlic
I Sec the late Mr. Xcnos Clark's " Animal Music : Its Nature ant! Oriijir, "
in the American S aluraliitiai K^xW li^/g.
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
reader will shortly have pointed out to him the
pride with which the human musicians of the
" West Country " in Great Britain claim to have
discovered the invaluable interval known as a
" third." But if our musical colleagues of the
sky and the trees recognise our emotions they
might well add a laugh to their forms of utterance.
For as some nameless magazine writer pointed
out, the cuckoo's song alone is sufficient to account
for this interval : " Here again the Big-wigs of
harmony have written volumes in search of the
origin and foundation of the minor scale when
they might have found it in every copse." The
idea is good, and well put, despite a serious
mistake on the anonymous writer's part in say-
ing that the cuckoo's interval is always a minor
third : it varies with the time of year and the
climate, and is often a major third and sometimes
a fourth.
When boating on a Scottish loch I once heard
the following little duet quacked by two ducks
— or rather, more probably a duck and drake in
an amatory mood. The repetition of the phrase
time and time again precluded the idea of a mere
accidental coincidence in either the harmonic
relationship or rhythm. Unfortunately I made
THE MUSIC OF NATURE
no note of the key and can only give it approxi-
mately from memory ;
^
fe
i
^iE
Z''.''j)uc/C
t
^^
2
If a chorus of birds, such as every one of us has
frequently heard, does not produce a chord re-
ducible to human musical notation, it is certainly
not a mere unison ; it is harmonic in effect.
And not only do birds sing in chorus, but one
chorus answers another : Mr. Hudson relates
how once he " heard flock after flock take up
their song round the entire circuit of a certain
lake, each flock waiting its turn to sing and only
stopping when its duty had been performed."
(Italics mine). This was in America, but Moses
and Miriam evidently enjoyed no monopoly in
their antiphonal singing, and our good old
English Tallis was not alone in the essential idea
underlying his motet in forty parts !
" Our music," we are told by Mr. Pycraft,
"' has been and doubtless often is inspired by that
of the birds." The first example of conscious
lO THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
imitation which I can find is British. Christo-
pher Simpson, or Sympson, was born about 1610
and was originally a soldier in the Army raised
by the Duke of Newcastle for the Service of
Charles I. His name has come down to us^
however, owing to his achievements as a com-
poser, writer on music, and player on the viol.
It is in a song with viol accompaniment that the
quaint imitation of the cuckoo's notes occur
which occasions this reference to him. Handel
in his organ concertos, and Beethoven in the slow
movement of his Pastoral symphony and in the
famous opening notes of the symphony in
C minor (thought to have been suggested by the
song of the yellow-hammer), were but copying
at a distance of about seventy-five years, and a
hundred and sixty years, respectively, a device
originated by this English music-maker of the
early seventeenth century !
The subject tempts one to a more lengtliy
discussion than we have space for here, and we
must end it even at the expense of an abrupt
close. The more so as even absolute proof that
man learnt his song from the birds would not
nullify the statement with which this book open-.
For in this case, where did the birds get their
music from ? Mr. Cheney believes that they
developed it gradually as we have done oui> ;
THE MUSIC OF NATURE II
and he sketches out the course which he thinks
this evolution probably followed. The present
wiiter agrees with him, and this is as far back as
we can carry even a problematical origin.
CHAPTER II
THE MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND I
BARDS AND SCALDS.
We have spoken of the impossibility of tracing
music to its beginnings. Yet human forms can
hardly be recognised moving through the mists of
the remote past before a musician is discernible
among them. Not only so, but we can finger and
handle the veritable instruments on which he
played ! Near Reading there was found among
some flint instruments a small oval stone with a
hole in : it is probably a sponge petrification, the
hole being where the sponge had been attached ;
when the hole is blown over it emits a loud
whistle, and the " find " is probably a musical
instrument of the Stone Age. In the Dorset
County Museum is a small bone exhibit labelled
" pipe " ; li inch long ; exterior dium. ^s inch ;
bored throughout and with a hole in the centre
of the length ; it was found in a Barrow and is
probably a Celtic whistle of the Bronze Age.
Several metal horns, curvedlike those of an anim;i],
found in Scotland and elsewhere, are probably of
the same period.
MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND I3
Among the Celtic races there were three orders
of Druids, distinguished by the colour of their
robes ; and one of these, who wore a blue robe,
were the poet-musicians or bards ; the others
were white-robed priests, and green-robed
ovates. Caius, the historian, believed that the
Druids originated in Britain in the year 1013 b.c.
A somewhat earlier date is given by another
writer unnamed (I infer that it was Wace, author
of a metrical account of Brutus). He says Britain
takes its name from Prydain, son of Aidd Mawr,
in the days of whose son, Dyfnwal, recognition
was made of three primeval bards of Britain.
Also that Plennyd enjoys the reputation of having
been bard, that is singer or narratory chanter, to
King Brutus, 1 149 b.c. A Welsh author, without
naming any particular year or century, is in
general agreement with these estimates, claim-
ing a Druidical origin, and between two and three
thousand years of age, for the tune Nos GaL'ii.
And as regards the antiquity of the Cambrian
race another writer goes even further and claims
that the Welsh population contains elements
which are pre-Celtic and probably pre- Aryan :
this means that her people have a strain
of continuity wiih those primitive human
rcing-^, akin to the Finns and American-
Indians, who shared the jungle of luirope with
l4 tHE StORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
animal occupants of somewhat alarming aspect !
The Irish of the present day are merely the
last of a number of invaders of that erstwhile
glorious but now distressful Isle, and content
themselves with claiming descent from the Mile-
sians — a group of Greek colonisers.
Mr. John Gunn in his " The Harp in the
Highlands of Scotland," published at Edinburgh
in 1807, claims that the harp was known as
early in Caledonia as in Ireland, and the present
writer agrees with him. As evidence he quotes
a poem of Bas Oisiain, as given in Kennedy's
Collection, which literally translated stands
thus •
Where many were our cruits and harps
zA.nd many were the bards to fing the tale,
Many a shell went round,
Many were the new songs which were sung together.
To prove his point it is necessary to show that
this and other poems he quotes were of Pictish
or British, and not Irish-Scots origin. This
the intended doing, but death intervened. Late
writers, however, to be cpaoted in Part II of this
book, have established what is practically the same
point. Anyway, whether it be through the invasion
of Argvll^hirc by the Scots from Ireland in the sixth
<'cntur\' or not, Scottish music harks back into
ilie dim recesses of Ossianic legend. Mr. Gunn's
MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND 1^
own opinion was evidently that it is more ancient
still, for he regards the harp, and the practice
of passing it round at banquets, as having been
introduced by our Caledonian ancestors from
Asia. And they are believed to have come
between the time of Abraham and David.
Even more ambitious is the claim which the
Anglo-Saxon makes for his music. The ofhce
o
which among the Celts was known as that of
" Bard," was in Scandinavian countries called
Scop, and afterwards " Scald," and after settle-
ment in Britain, " Glee-man." The Scald held
very high rank : the word means " polisher of
language," and the Scalds, like the Hindoo musi-
cians, attributed their art to divine origin —
to Odin or Wodin.
The Beow^ulf poem, supposed to have been
written about 520 a.d., refers to the Scalds as
follows :
" The glee-wood (harp) was touched, and
Hrothgar's glcemen, gladdcncrs of the hall, told
of the works of Finn's offspring."
The bards and Scalds exercised the same
functions among the Celtic and Saxon peoples
that the Aoidoi did among the Greeks. They
were the historians, poets and chroniclers of their
time. " The Bards of the Celts celebrated tlie
acti<jns of illustrious men in heroic prjcms, which
t6 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
they sung to the sweet sounds of the lyre," wrote
Ammianus Marcellinus about 350 a.d. They
incited armies to courage in the hour of battle,
and by their heroic strains aroused the fury and
valour of the warriors. Many melodies now
turned to peaceful uses^ Irish melodies perhaps
especially, are believed to have been originally
war songs and marches. In time of peace the
bards were the ambassadors, heralds, and deposi-
taries of all historical tradition ; ^ as heralds
they were particularly conspicuous in Wales and
Scotland. A Welshman's birthright depended
upon his being able to trace his ancestry back for
nine generations : and the bards committed these
genealogies to memory. Much the same law
would appear to have obtained north of the Tweed.
for at the first Scottish coronation of which we
possess any details, that of Alexander II, 1249, a
Highland bard, dressed in a scarlet tunic, repeated
on his knees, in Gaelic, the genealogy of the kirg
and his ancestors up to Fergus, first King 01
Scotland. Laws and religious principles were
committed to memory anci recited in a similar
manner. The status of the poet-musician^
was very high : in Wales the chief bard was
^ Miss \'cra Holmes, who was with Dr. Elsie Inglis in Serbia, on hospital
work, tells me that in that sorely Stricken country bards are still in existence, and
iha! tin- remarkable knowledge uliieh the Serbs have of their own history is
mainly due to the singing by the bards of interminable rhymed chronicles.
MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND I 7
eighth in social order from the Prince ; their
emokiments were considerable, and the office
was often hereditary. In Wales and Ireland they
were supposed to be able to read the future, and
their political influence was very great. Hence
the alleged endeavour (disputed by some writers)
of Edward 1. in 1284 to exterminate those in
Wales, an effort emulated bv Scotland some two
hundred years later, when laws were enacted
against the bards and they were classed with
beggars and vagabonds. In both countries these
eftorts at suppression were only partially success-
ful : especially in Cambria, where the bards
were held in higher veneration and for a longer
period than anywhere else. In all three Celtic
countries they did more than any other class
to preserve the traditional music, but in Wales
they brought it further forward than in either
Ireland or Scotland. For one of their func-
tions was the singing of impromptu verses, in
some cases to imp omptu tunes, and this practice,
known as " Penillinn singing," is still in existence
and is one of the most characteristic features of
Welsh musical life. Thackeray, it will be
remembered, introduces it in the first chapter
of The New comes.
Though the earliest figures of bards on the
stage of history arc shadowy, tradition gives them
c
l8 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
personal names as far back as the time when S.
John was writing his Gospel. Edward Jones, a
harper who was Welsh bard to the Prince of
Wales in 1783, published in the next year a work
called " Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh
Bards, preserved by tradition and authentic
manuscripts from very remote antiquity." And
in this he gives, as other writers have done, lengthy
lists of bards dating from a.d. 60, translations
of their songs, prose narratives, and musical
laws and rules for the government of their order,
"preserved by tradition and authentic manuscripts
from very remote antiquity." Jones has been
charged by anEnglishcritic with stating "intimate
matters " concerning the Druids with " little
reserve." But it is to be remembered that the
relative value attached by the Druids to oral and
written means of transmission was precisely the
reverse of our own. They were acquainted with
Greek letters and occasionally used them, but
they made an art of preservation and transmission
by the living voice, and that which it was their
special function to pass on to countless generations
they would trust to nothing else. Tradition
which is really bardic is probably true.
The Irish bards w^ere divided into three classes,
one of which sang the sacred and heroic songs, and
were emploved as heralds and councillors ; the
MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND I9
second recited and expounded the laws ; while
the third were the chroniclers and recorders.
The most famous bardic legend is, of course,
that of King Arthur, to be found in lays of the
sixth and seventh centuries. All Celtic countries
possess versions of it — iA.rthur's Seat in Edinburgh
is named after the famous monarch of the Round
Table. But Wales claims a special interest,
particularly for musicians, owing to certain tunes
to be found in Welsh manuscripts which are said
to have been performed at King iVrthur's Court.
The evidence for them is as follows :
The beginnings of the Eisteddfodaw, or " Sit-
tings of learned men," are said to date from only
a century later than the sittings round King
Arthur's famous Table. Some writers say these
meetings were of Irish origin, but most regard
them as W'clsh. Mention is made of one in
Wales in the se\cnth century at which King
Cadwaladr presided. They were triennial and
usually held at Aberffraw, the royal seat of the
Prince of North Wales ; at Dynevor in South
Wales ; and at Mathravael in Merionethshire.
Their purpose was the regulation of poetry and
music ; the conferring of degrees ; and the
electing of a Chief Bard. Candidates for degrees
had to pass a noviti;'.te of three years, and to
study for other periods of three years before
20 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
taking the three higher grades. An important
meeting took place in 940 a.d., when King Howel
Dha fixed the privileges of the bards. A century
and a half or so later a much more important
event of the same character took place. Prince
Gruffvdd ab Cvnan convened a great meeting
of Welsh bards, and invited thereto a deputation
of Irish bards, w^hose reputation at this period
was the highest of all. Laws were niade for the
guidance and governance of bards, harpers and
other musicians, and the council enacted that
certain " measures " should be played to particular
kinds of lyrics, and namc^ were given to them.
This Congress of about 1090 a.d. formed perhaps
the greatest epoch in the history of bardism, and
its decisions were quoted as authoritative for cen-
turies. Thus at a great Eisteddfod held nearly
five hundred years later in i ^6~'^ by order of
Queen Elizabeth, the Chief Bard, William Penllyn,
made it his business to commit to writing the
traditions of his own day as to what had been
the findings of the great congress under Grulfydd
ab Cynan. No copy of Penllyn's manuscript is
known to exist. But in the reign of Charles L a
book " was written by Robert ap Huw of Bodwigan
in Arg^.csev," to quote an early entry in the
volume, and " some part of it was copied out of
William Penllyn's book." Ap Huw's manuscript
MUSIC OF MYTH AND LEGEND 21
purports to contain " the music of the ancient
Britons as settled by a congress of the masters of
music by order of Gruff) dd ab Cynan, Prince ot
Wales, about the year iioo, with some of the
most ancient pieces of the Britons, supposed to
have been handed down to us from the British
Druids." The pieces referred to consist of
twenty-four lessons, or "measures," followed
by twelve variations on a ground bass, that is,
a short theme repeated in the bass while changing
harmonies are put abo\e it. This was a form of
composition for which English composers of the
period represented by Ap Huw's manuscript had
a peculiar partiality and skill ; but whether they
derived it from Wales, or Wales from them, or
each invented the device independently, is a
question which seems to have escaped the atten-
tion of commentators.
The musical examples in Ap Huw's volume are
given in "Tablature." This was a pictorial kind
of notation consisting of lines, dots, curves and
letters, which originated in the tenth century and
was much used up to the end of the seventeenth
for instrumental music. It varied greatly with
different instruments and in Ap Huw's manu-
script looks much like Chinese writing, "^riic first
of the following two renderings into modern
notation is t.;ken from Dr. Biii-ney's History.
22
tut STORY OF BRITISH MUSlC
The second is from " The Prelude to the Salt,"
a theme and twenty-four variations for the harp
which " used to be performed before the Knights
of King Arthur when the Salter was placed upon
the board." The theme and one variation are
here given, and for these I am indebted to the
skill and courtesy of Miss Margaret H. Glyn, who,
in connection with her book The Evolution of
Musical Form, has made a close study of Ap Huw's
manuscript.
ANCIENT BRITISH HARP MUSIC.
i i i
Music of- myth and legend
THE PRELUDE TO THE SALT,
(Said to have been played ai the Court of King Arthur.)
TAeme
23
^l^ \ \
t
^3^
?*
^^
i^^
1
I
f&r:I
fi^ -t tV'-y
f
# — ^
^
'.^ i v ^ ^
ft
^ \i ^ r M '
£=i
^f^^
^^
-9- -9-
-9- 9-
I
H
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
The Irish and Scottish bards dealt very largely
with Osslan and the traditions which surround his
name. The Rev. Patrick Macdonald, who
collected Gaelic folk-music between the years
1760 — 80, gives the following as the chant to
which traditionally Osslan recited his Soliloquy
on the dtath of all his contemporary heroes :
OiSIAN'S CHANT.
/jlowlu
^mi.\
^=^
s
17—^
Captain Fraser of Knockie, who published a
large and important collection of Scottish airs
In 1 816, gives a longer and much more elaborate
tune to which he says " Ossian Is recited " ; but
his habitual modernization of old airs invalidates
his claim to historical reliability.
The Anglo-Saxon glee-men harped much on
Robin Hood and his Merry Men, concerning
whom countless songs were written : but this
was after the twelfth century, during which he is
said to have lived.
Among the Highlands of Scotland there was
Music OF MYTH AND LEGEND 2^
iiardly a household among the chieftains which
had not a Bard or Harper on its establishment,
A piece of ground was allotted for his subsistence,
which devolved to one of his descendants on
condition of his being qualified to continue the
office. In some cases, for instance in the island
of Mull, this was known as " The Harper's
Field," and it was always contiguous to the
chieftain's residence. In the old castles of
several Highland chieftains the Harper's seat is
pointed out by the local guides, as the Harpcr''s
window at Duntullim castle, in the island of
Skye, and the Harper''s gallery at Castlelachlan
in Argyllshire.
The high status and emoluments of the bards
led in time to there being many impostors, and
as early as 1315 a law was passed in England to
suppress the evil and protect the properly qualified
nrusicians. In 1450 a similar law was passed in
Scotland, and in 1567 Queen Elizabeth appointed
a Commission in Wales with a like purpose. As
giving an instructive account of a state of affairs
apt to be recurrent in all parts of the Kingdom
this latter may be quoted :
" Vagrant and idle persons naming themselves
Minstrels, Rymers, and Bards are lately grown into
such intolerable multitude within the Principalitv
of North Wales, that not only gentlemen and
26
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Others by their shameless disorders are often
disquieted in their habitations, but also the expert
minstrels and musicians in tonge and cunynge
thereby much discouraged to travaile in the
exercise and practice of their knowledge," and so
forth. It was therefore enacted that annual
assemblies should be held at which a silver harp
should be awarded to the best musician on the
advice of " expert men in the faculty of Welsh
music," and that all adjudged unfit should be
compelled to " return to honest labour " upon
pain of being taken as " sturdy and idle vaga-
bonds." Happy Wales ! It will be seen that
diploma examinations and registration of teachers
are no new ideas.
Gradually the various functions of the bards
developed into separate professions ; the Order
deteriorated, and the later legislation was pro-
hibitive rather than protective. In Ireland the
last bard is said to have appeared in 1690 at the
battle of the Boyne ; in Scotland the last recorded
payment to a bard was that made to Murdoch
Macdonald, Harper to the familv of Coll, in 1734 :
a formal ending to the Order is seen by one
authority in the Act against Hereditary Jurisdic-
tions passed in 1748. Nevertheless Dr. Johnson
in his Tour of the Hebrides in 1773 mentions
O'Kane, Harper to Lord Macdonald. In Eng-
Music of myth and legend I7
land the Anglo-Saxon glee-man became known
after the Norman Conquest as a minstrel ; his
function was somewhat different from that of a
Celtic bard, and is dealt with elsewhere in this
book, but his end was much the same. In Wales
the bard still exists, though in name rather than
in fact, rarely appearing except at an Eisteddfod.
CHAPTER III
FOLK- MUSIC : GENERAL.
The only way by which we can begin the study of
national music without doing violence to its
continuity is by starting, not at any particular
period of time, but at the permanent well-spring
of musical inspiration flowing, though in very
varying degrees, at all times — namely folk-music.
What then is folk-music ? It is all music which
appeals to the deep and constant elements in
human nature sufficiently to make it permanent
in its hold ; which is simple enough to be under-
stood by all who have ears to hear ; and which
contains some element of feeling or construction
characteristic of a locality.
The reader fortunate enough to be familiar
with Mr. Cecil J. Sharp's admirable book on
English Folk Song will see that I am unable to
accept his definition of folk-music. He would
make it depend not on general and permanent
acceptance, but origin ; and this would exclude
a great part of the airs most familiar to all classes
of the people for centuries past.
Of these conditi(ms permanence is the most
vital. The song which was sung, whistled, hummed
2S
FOLK -Ml SIC 29
and its rhythm beaten as a Devil's Tattoo by the
greatest number of people at one time, was
probrbly some topical pantomime ditty. But
such tunes are not folk-music, for the rapidity
with which they achieve popularity is not more
remarkable than that with which they sink into
oblivion. Of this Tippurary is a recent and
striking instance. Even classical music cannot
claim this quality of permanence to the extent
which folk-song can. For that which distinguishes
the one from the other is technique : and
technique constantly alters. The clavier music
of the Elizabethan composers, Byrd, Bull and
Gibbons, showed one of the most startling develop-
ments in the technique of composition which a
historian can cite. Yet these pieces, the classics
of their own time and many a long day after, are
now heard only at historical recitals ; and this
while the songs of the same period — for instance,
The British Gre-nadiers and Now is the month of
Maying — are as much to people's liking in the
present day as they ever were. The simplicity
necessary to folk-music is of course a relative
quality, depending on the musical capacity
of a nation. A melody composed in a.d. 814
on the death of Charlemagne, or composed
earlier and adapted to this purpose, contains
a hundred and iifty-one consecutive sounds —
30 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
a great length for that period — yet with
two exceptions it is wholly composed of three
notes. This limited compass is characteristic
of Gallic melodies. On the other hand, British
folk-song is remarkable for its extended compass ;
a range of eleven notes and wide skips are very
common, especially among the Celtic races.
It is not necessary to folk-music, as some people
seem to think, that it should be by an unknown
composer — much is, and much is not. Nor that
the composer should be an untutored musician
though he or she may be ; the highly charaoteris-
tic example Rule Britannia was composed by
one of the most accomplished musicians of the
eighteenth century. Dr. Arne, and mioreover
occurred in an example of one of the most
artificial, and some say unnatural, forms on which
music is cast, namely opera. The melody to which
Burns wrote Auld Lang Syfte wa.s WTitten by one
of the best of the English opera composers, William
Shield, being part of the Overture to his Rosina,
1782, This is one of the many examples of a
melody composed in one country becoming more
popular in another. The song with which a
prima donna knows she can best please an English
audience when responding to an encore, Home
Sweet Home, was the work of Sir Henry Bishop, a
lending composer of his day. It is a question not
FOT,K-MUSIC 31
of origin but of character : Heart of Oak, to
give another instance, is none the less popular
from its having been composed by an erudite
ecclesiastical musician, Dr, Boyce ; or through
liaving first appeared in the most fleeting of all
forms, that of a topical pantomime song. Age,
again, is onlv a factor in the making of folk-song
to the extent that sufficient time must have
elapsed to proved the permanence of the hold
an air has on a people. Folk-music is always
being evolved. If the writer dared be rash enough
to assume the mantle of a prophet, he would
predict that not many generations will need to
have passed before Sir Villiers Stanford's Land
of Hope and Glory will have assumed the character
of folk-song ; indeed there are not wanting signs
I hat it has done so alreadv.
Social and psvchological considerations are not
the only ones which place folk-music first among
the subjects demanding a historian's consideration.
The technical side of music demands it equally.
For there is scarcely an element in even the most
elaborate and most modern forms of composition
which cannot be traced to some germ in primitive
song or dance. I'hus the two-theme character
of what is known as Binary or First-movement
Form is probably a development of the two four-
bar phrases of which so many early dances are
32 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
found to consist, often with a repeat at the end of
each phrase ; while Dr. Grattan Flood points
out that Ternary or Rondo Form is clearly
traceable to certain Irish dances.
Folk-music takes only these two forms of song
and dance. Some authorities regard dancing as
having preceded singing in the course of human
evolution ; and that among primitive peoples
singing took place only as an accompaniment to
dancing. A large proportion of early tunes were
used for both purposes, but this docs not determine
the question of priority. Be this as it may, song
is of much greater importance as an embodiment
of national characteristics than the dance. Words
may embrace any and every phase of human
activity and feeling. Thus almost every primary
civil occupation has songs proper to it ; milking
and w^eaving songs are specially common. Ireland
has its ploughing songs as well ; and Scotland its
Luinig, a choral song sung at all kinds of work,
mostly by women, and chiefly to extemporary
verses, like the Welsh Pcnillion singing ; and its
Jorram, a Highland boating song ; and England,
nation of sailors, its sea chanties. The dance,
though more widely expressive than is generally
realised, is much more restricted. On the other
hand, those very words which give to a song such
an unlimited range of expression in its own
FOLK-MUSIC 33
country, retard its introduction to another. The
dance has no such handicap : and we shall find
that dance tunes are much more cosmopolitan
than are songs. Hence, while dealing with the
ballads of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
separately, most of the dance music will fall more
conveniently into chapters reviewing British
music as a whole.
When one takes the course of human evolution
throughout the world under review, nothing is
more striking than the regularity with which races
have risen, come to a zenith, and then fallen out
of the race, to be followed over the same course by
others. The music of a nation is no exception to
this rule. And it is not wholly idle to ask which
among Western nations was the first to acquire a
reputation among its neighbours for its music ?
To this question most historians would reply
France, or rather Paris. But this is because they
measure a nation almost entirely by the achieve-
ments of its academic musicians ; and Paris was
the first centre to acquire a reputation for
musical attainments of the scholastic sort, which
it did in the twelfth century. But nations
enjoyed a high degree of musical activity, and
differed widely in the character and degree of
their mu.-ical attainments, centuries before the
germ-- of composition, as we understand it, became
D
34 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
visible. The purely scholastic criterion is arbitrary,
narrow and misleading. Turning, then, to the
natural and spontaneous output of the musical
impulse, folk-song, what will the answer be ?
Anyone w^ho had to make a guess would probabh'
and very naturally say '' The Land of Song —
Italy." Nevertheless he would be wrong. Rome
and Milan were a well-spring of ecclesiastical song,
but not of folk-music. The Italians regarded
their language as unsuited for poetry and music
till Dante taught them better ! The only tongue
thought fit for song was that of Provence, whence
sprang the Troubadours. These royal and noble
poet-musicians were the first as a body to acquire
great fame for secular song, but they were not
strictly a national body, and their lyrics were of
the order of art-song rather than folk-song. One
of the British Isles — zvhich will appear later —
was the first nation to win a European fame for
both its ecclesiastical musicians and its folk-song.
CHAPTER IV
FOLK-ML'SIC: IRISH, WELSH, SCOTTISH, ENGLISH.
Probably owing to a more intimate relation with
older and Eastern countries, civilization reached
a high level in Irehand earlier than in other
parts of Great Britain. It was from the
Emerald Isle that Wales, Scotland, England,
France and Germany received a great stimulus
to their education in music. Irish monks
educated S. Aldhelm, the first Englishman to
become celebrated as a musician, and S. Dunstan,
who was even more famous. Their monasteries
at Pavia in Italy (founded 800 a.d.), Angoul^me
(876), Vaussor (950), Metz (965), Verdun (995),
Wurzburg (1033), Erfurt (1050), Fulda (1058).
Ratisbon (1067), Roth (1073), and at other
centres, had a considerable effect on Continental
musical art during the tenth and cle^•L•nth cen-
turies. This is amply evidenced by the manu-
scripts still surviving at St. Gall. Even Dante
admits that the Italians got the harp fromlrcland ;
and it is well known that the harp has been
emblazoned on the arm,-, of Ireland since the
thirteenth century.
35
36 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Nor did the monks concern themselves with
church music only, as we shall see more than once
in these pages. History affords many examples
of the close relationship between sacred and
secular song. Perhaps the earliest example is
that of an Irish monk of St. Gall in Switzerland
(founded by an Irishman in 646 a.d.), who in
840 A.D. was at work in the scriptorium when a
merle (blackbird) sang and he paused to write
down these verses in the margin of his manuscript.
THE BLACKBIRD'S SONG 840 A.D.
Great woods gird me, now around
With sweet sound merle sings to me :
My much-lined pages over
Sings its lover minstrelsy.
Swift it sings its measured song.
Hid among the tree-tops green :
My God on high thus love me,
Thus approve me, all unseen.
So came to be written the earliest known secular
song by a British writer ! The words were found
by Cavaliere Nigra, and published by him at
Florence in his Rdiquia Celtichi in 1872. The
translation from the Irish tongue is by Dr.
Siecrson ; and for this and much other informa-
tion on Irish matters in these pages the present
writer is indebted to Dr. W. H. Grattan Flood.
For centuries Irish folk-songs were famous
throughout Europe. Dr. Ernest Walker in his
FOLK-MUSIC 37
Hisiorv of Music in Eiigland declares that " Irish
folk-music is, on the whole, the finest that exists.
. ... It is unsurpassed in poetical and artistic
charm .... for sheer beauty of melody, the
works of Mozart, Schubert, and the Irish folk-
composers, form a triad that is unchallenged
throughout the whole range of art. . . . Few-
musicians have been found to question the
assertion that Irish folk-music is, on the whole,
the finest that exists ; it ranges with wonderful
ease over the whole gamut of human emotion from
the cradle to the battlefield, and is unsurpassed
in poetical and artistic charm. If musical
composition meant nothing more than tunes
sixteen bars long, Ireland could claim some of the
greatest composers who have ever lived ; for in
their miniature form the best Irish folk-tunes are
gems of absolutely flawless lustre."
Sir Hubert Parry uses words remarkably similar
to those of Dr. Walker. He describes Irish music
as " probably the most human, most varied, most
poetical and most imaginative in the world " ; it
is particularly rich in tunes which imply " con-
siderable sympathetic sensitiveness," and he adds
that " the Anglo-Saxon Border music is not far
behind." Sir Hubert quotes the tune Danny
Boy as a remarkable example of an accumulation
of crises riimg higlier and higher, declaring
38 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
that " within the limits of a folk-tune it is
liardly possible to deal with the successive crises
more efTccti\ ely."
National character in dances is mucli less de-
fined, or at least much less confined to the country
of its origin, than is the case with songs, for reasons
already given. But the Planxty, or Lament, may
be appropriately mentioned here as being peculiar
to the Irish and Welsh harpers ; it was a dance in
six-eight time, with strains of an unequal number
of bars. Its character was not so doleful as the
name would seem to imply. The dance with which
Ireland is more associated than with any other is
the Jig. Italy claims its origin, and so does Spain ;
but the Irishman has made it his own and can con-
tent himself with no fewer than four forms of it.
The march is not, of course, a dance : but this
seems the most convenient place in which to
remark on the peculiarities of the Irish march :
namely, its six-eight time, which, though not
unique, is unusual in marches ; and its quick pace.
In this latter it was in specially sharp contrast
with the English march, which was slower than
most.* In turning to the music of Wales one is
at once struck by the sharp contrast betwejn the
extreme antiquity claimed for its folk-song and
the modern character of the tunes themselves.
* See page 16S.
FOLK-MUSIC 39
But this is no disproof of the truth of such claim,
for the Ionian scale, which corresponds with our
modern major mode, though held taboo by the
church, which called it modus lascivus, is as ancient
as those more severe ones which ecclesiastics
favoured. Sir Frederick Ouseley attributed " the
originality and tunefulness of the ancient Welsh
melodies " to folk-music having been " the
spontaneous, and I might say instinctive, growth of
musical inspiration unfettered by arbitrary and
false analogies, and trusting for guidance only to
an unspoilt musical ear." The fine tune Britain's
Lament is in the Dorian mode. Other tunes un-
questionably old from internal evidence are the
lullaby Suo Gan — said to be of Druidical origin, —
and the Shepherd of Hafod. But far fewer tunes
are in the old modes, except the Ionian, than is the
case with most folk-music. " The striking feature
of British music," says Mr. F. J. Crowest, "was its
indisputably indigenous character .... hos-
pitality and warm affection were esteemed a
virtue among the Britons and this quality reflected
itself in the native music," which is characterised
also by " wild flight and imagination ....
we still recognise the same plaintive mood in these
ancient vocal relics, the pent-up earnestness which
are alike properties of our oldest Irish, Welsh and
Scottish airs as well as of that music of the East
40 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
which affected the artistic tendencies
of Britain .... How symmetrical in form and
lovely in their stately evenness, too, arc the Welsh
melodies — almost without exception."
Among the most characteristic Welsh airs 'The
March of the Me?i of Harlech may be taken to
represent the robustness which springs from
mountain airs ; and The Rising of the Lark, the
sprightliness — a quality not entirely absent from
Nos Galen despite its fabulous age. As typical of
the beauty of sorrow in a character of great
strength nothing finer could be cited than the
slow minor airs, Morva Rhuddlan and The Red
Piper ; w^hile as exhibiting the beauty of tender-
ness and grace Gzvenith Gly?i and The Blackbird
would not be easy to surpass in Wales or out of it.
Triple measure and a fondness for tempo rubato
yerge on the frequency which makes things
characteristic. The former will be found in The
Ash Grove — which, however, is Welsh only by
adoption ; the latter in Adieu to dear Cambria and
Weep not, I pray ; and both features in Why
lingers my gaze.
Welshmen were much given to dancing : one
is therefore surprised to find no dance ^vhich one
can confidently say is the national one. As already
stated they shared the " Plaxty " or " Lament "
with the Irish. They had their own distinctive
FOLK-MUSIC 4^
form of the Morris dance. Edward Jones in his
book on Welsh Bards, 1808. gives a dance which
he calls '' Sibcl," and which it has been suggested
is a survival from the Druids ; but I can find no
other reference to it. It is in common time and a
feature of it is that there are no cresccndos or
diminuendos. Four burs J or ic' alternate regularly
with four bars pia^io, suggesting a solo for one
dancer, after which a company of dancers
joins in.
As regards instruments the harp was as common
at one time, and as international, as pianos are
now. Wales, however, continued using it longer,
I think, than any other nation, and may therefore
claim it as her national instrument. But the
instrument in which Cambria may justly claim
the most distinctive interest, though by no means
an exclusive one, is the crwyth (pronounced
crooth). It was also called "crowd." Its oldest
form was probably identical \\\t\\ that of the
Irish cruit, originally a small harp or lyre,
plucked with the fingers, as was the Roman
Jidicnla. Later on it had six strings, four of
which were plaved with tlic bow — the impor-
tance of which frtct will he commented on
later — and two were pinched with the thumb
of the left hand. I'he first known mention of it
is by an Irish poet who i-^ said to ha\c flourished
42 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
before the Christian era. And it is inckided in a
list of national instruments which occurs in some
elegiacs written about 609 a.d. by Venantius
Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, much quoted by
musical hi-torians :
Romanusque lyra plaudat tibi, Barbarus harpa,
Grascus achilliaca, chrotta Brittanna canat.
" Chrotta " was one of many forms of the name
of the instrument ; another was hurdy-gurdy ;
it was often mentioned and depicted in mediaeval
manuscripts, and delighted the ears of its devotees
for two thousand years, for it was heard at
Carnarvon as recently as 1801.
Scottish folk-music produces an impression
precisely the reverse of that of Welsh music. In
place of modernity one is struck with the highly
original and old-world character of the tunes.
Many of them are built on the pentatonic scale,
as are the oldest and best of Chinese tunes — a
scale outside both the Gregorian and modern
diatonic modes. And when the whole seven
notes of the normal system are employed it is in
a way totally different from that of modern music,
inasmuch as any note can be, and in different
tunes is, used as the " final." It is largely due to
this that the tunes have such a quaint and archaic
allurement about them. The playing every night
of the air " Soldier^ lie dozvn on \our piicklc n'
FOLK-MUSIC 43
straiv^'* by way of " Lights Out," by tlie piper
of a Higliland regiment, stationed a stone's throw
from where these lines are being written, at the
beRinnina: of the war, was one of the most
memorable and haunting musical effects the writer
has ever listened to. The Highland bards
attributed their poems to Ossian : it is impossible
not to believe that many of the tunes still in use
are not at least developments of those to which
these poems were originally sung. Yet the
earliest specific date to which a song can be
definitely assigned is that of The Lament for
Flodden, 15 13.
Mention has often been made of James I.,
139^—1437, who was distinguished as both poet
and musician, and according to Tassoni " found
out of himself a new kind of music, plaintive and
mournful, differing from every other." That he
improved Scottish music need not be doubted,
but one cannot believe that its main characteristics
arc not of older date than that of his reign. There
are many beautiful airs among the Highland folk-
songs : they are simple and are sung " in a wild
artless and irregular manner " with little or no
impression of measure. All of which suggests
a remote origin. Tlic tunes Gala Water, Ve
Banks and Braes and O meikle thinks m\ love
0^ my beauty show how beautiful a mcl()d\'
44 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
may be written on five notes. They can all be
played on only the black notes of a piano.
Perhaps the best testimony to the charm of
Scottish folk-songs is the frequency with which
concert singers respond to an encore by singing
one of them ; and also the innumerable imita-
tions which were composed by musicians south of
the Tweed in Queen Anne's reign and later.
Many of these were worthless, but quite a number
gained currency and have received the honour
of naturalization in Scottish Collections. He rose
and let me in ; Over the hills and jar away ; De^il
take the wars; Sawney was tall {Corn rigs); In
January last {Jock o' Hazel dean) arc instances.
But as with Irish and Welsh songs, so with
Scottish, it is not the populace only which is
appreciative of its own music. No one is more
keenly alive to the beauty of much folk-song than
the highly trained musician. Space will not
allow of a separate treatment of Highland and
Lowland songs, and we take the former as the
more characteristic. " The islands," wrote Mr.
Ernest Newman lately, " seem to have produced
some song writers to whom it is not at all extrava-
gant to attribute genius. There are melodies
among those songs that are as purely perfect as
any melody could be ; Schumann and Hugo Wolf
would have knelt and kissed the hands of the men
FOLK-MUSIC 45
who conceived them For sheer
beauty of invention, sheer loveliness in the fall
of the notes, some of these melodies are without
their superiors whether in folk-song or art-song.
Schubert himself never wrote a more perfectly
satisfying or more haunting melody, for example,
than that of The Seagull of the Land-under-W aves.''''
And Mrs. Kennedy-Fraser, who has devoted
a life-time to the subject of Hebridean music,
speaks of " rapturously reiving sea chantys that
send the salt spray stinging in the face ; sinuously
curving airs that seem to put the eye into the ear
and depict birlinns and galleys on gently rocking
summer seas ; processional refrain songs that lift
you over many a weary mile without conscious
effort, and labour lilts that virtually convert
labour into hilarious pastime. And withal there
are mystic chants with naught of what the outside
world calls Celtic gloom, but which are filled
rather with a golden glow of love and rapture and
light. And passionate love songs there are, many
of them the expression of woman's love. Woman
seems to have taken a higher place in ancient
heroic Celtic legend than in the Greek tales from
which Homer derived inspiration. The passionate
nature of the Hebridean woman'?, love-songb
surely bespeaks therefore free scope of choice.
Note Deirdre's frank, instantaneous expression
46 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
of love to Naoise at first sight.'' " Of this aspect
of Celtic life, no other race," says Renan, " has
carried so much mystery into love. No other has
conceived with more delicacy the ideal of woman,
nor has been more dominated by her."
The foregoing conjecture as regards women
composers is of special interest in the present day,
and is confirmed by the tradition that Mary
Macleod, an outstanding figure of the sixteen-
hundrcd period, " left the touch of her subtle
artistry " on much Highland folk-song, though
whether on words only or tunes as well is not
certain.
It hardly needs to be added that the national
dances of Scotland are the reel and the strathspey.
Some think that Scotland derived the reel from
Scandinavia, but it is just as likely to have been
the other way about. Most people would say
the national instrum.ent now is the bagpipe, which
superseded the harp during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and personally I should
agree with them, despite an eminent authority,
Mr. Kidson, who says it is the fiddle.
If anyone were doubtful as to national character
being reflected in the music of a people, all he need
do would be to compare the music of the Celtic
races with that of the Anglo-Saxons. The English
have none of the mysticism of the Gael, none of
FOLK-MUSIC
47
that inveterate elusiveness which makes the
Highlander never answer a question save by
asking another — they are straightforward to
bluntness. They are less poetical than the Celts,
less romantic, and if we except the Scots, more
practical. Above all they are cheery : they
have none of the dreamy m.clancholy which finds
so appropriate a setting alike in misty mountain
and bleak uplands ; no phrase is more aptly
descriptive of natural character or has obtained
a wider currency than that which speaks of
"Merry England."
And all this is reflected in the folk-music of
England. It is, of course, composite, as the race
itself is. It embodies many moods. There is
though very rarely, strong emotional expression
as in The poor soul sat sighing and Willow, JVillozu ;
there is occasionally pathos as in Ah, the sighs ; not
infrequently one comes across a naive wistfulness
and gentle melodic charm as in Pretty Polly Oliver,
or even sentiment, in the healthy sense of the
word, as in Bonny at morn or Sair fyel cThimmy
(North Country songs, akin to Scottish), or, with
the addition of a certain rhythmic piquancy,
Barbara Allen ; poetic feeling is not absent —
witness The Oak and the Ash. In a number of
the songs unearthed during recent years by the
devoted labours of Mr. Cecil J. Sh:irp and others
48 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
various rhythmic irregularities, similar to those
fourxd in the wild songs of the Hebrides, not
necessarily as written but as sung, have revealed
themselves ; for instance, five-four and seven-
four measure, and five-bar phrases, and, in the
rendering, a disregard of conscious time-keeping
altogether. In the English folk-songs, too, as
in the Celtic, there are many tunes cast in the
old " modes " — keys which preceded our present
system — the favourite being the strong, severe
Dorian mode (D to D on the white keys of a
piano), but songs can be found in all seven modes.
Nevertheless, taken as a whole, English folk-
music is in marked contrast with Celtic : it is less
pathetic, and more sturdy, rollicking, joyous,
good-hum.oured, and in every line is redolent
of out-of-door life ; it is strong, but never
becomes wild or rises to morbid or feverish
passion ; in place of mysticism it is straightforward
and direct almost to triteness : there is little, if
any, of the superfluous ornamentation which so
often disfigures tunes ; eccentric intervals are
conspicuous by their absence, and original rhythms
by their rarity ; dance-tunes occur in great
abundance, but " they rather imply an equal
flow of contented and joyous spirits, than the
vehement gestures, the stamping, and the
concentration of muscular energy which are
FOLK-MUSIC 49
represented by the dance tunes of many Southern
races and of savages," says Sir Hubert Parry; there
is much gaiety, humour, tenderness and play-
fulness ; and, to quote Mr. Percy Scholes, " no
composer of the past or present has made anything
more lovely, within tiny limits, than the more
perfect of the British folk- tunes. Within the
brief length of a single line of melody (for the folk
know nothing of harmony) nothing sweeter is to
be imagined." And as for quantity, Mr. Cecil
Forsyth tells us that five thousand folk-songs
have already been collected in England alone —
and being a Scotsman he is not likely to have
meant Great Britain !
England's national dance is the Country Dance,
a rustic dance dating from very early in our
history : a manuscript copy of one in the Bodleian
Library is attributed to 1300 a.d. and therefore is
the oldest copy of a dance tune in existence, and
probably the oldest dance ! Other names for the
same dance were hey digyes and round. In 1740
the dance was imported into Italy, where the
people were " fond to a degree " of it ; also into
Paris, where "no kind of dance ^vas received with
so much favour as they." It came back from tlicse
countries under the names respectively of Coranto
and Coutrc-danse, under which guise it was
welcomed by many with all the fervour due to the
E
50 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
music of another country ! As a nation of sailors
we may regard the hornpipe also as a national
dance. I do not think the English can be said to
have a national instrument, unless the high level
of organ playing justifies their regarding the King
of Instruments in that light.
CHAPTER V
THE MINSTRELS : MUSIC IN
COURT, CASTLE AND COTTAGE.
Previous to the conversion of the nation as a
whole to Christianity the bards and scalds, or
glee-men as they came to be called, exercised all
the functions of musicianship, vocal and instru-
mental, sacred and secular. But the new faith
was brought by monks — men who, though often
expert musicians, exercised their art only as the
" Handmaid of Religion," and who were not
ready, as the bards had been, to place it at the
service of any and every purpose. The bard
was a poet-musician of whose themes religion was
one : the monk was a missionary, one of whose
means of propaganda was music. As a result the
bard and the scald ceased to be a religious funct-
ionary and became a poet-musician pure and simple.
For the first time in European history a sharp
distinction arose between the sacred and secular
musician. The latter remained the versifier^
composer and singer, the entertainer, the accom-
panist of both song and dance, the inspirer to
war-like deeds, the eulogist, the satirist, very often
the news carrier : but the blue robe of priestly
character fell from off his shoulders.
5'
52 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
In Provence, when the eleventh century had
run but little of its course — some say much
earlier — there arose a body of royal and noble
poet-musicians called Troubadours, whose theme
was chiefly chivalry and love. They disdained,
or were unable, to play their own accompaniments
and hired professional musicians to do so. From
the fact that these " jongleurs," as they had
at first been called, ministered musically to the
Troubadours they became known as minstrels —
such is the probable origin of the name. And
though the position of the English scalds or glee-
men was much more independent, both artistically
and socially, than that of the jongleurs or minstrels
had originally been, they yet took the name of
minstrel after the Norman Conquest.
The materials are wanting which would enable
us to say what the popular music brought into
England by the Normans was like. But whatever
its character, Mr. Chappell tells us that it made
no impression upon the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants
of this country. They continued to support
their compatriot harpers with enthusiasm for a
considerable period after the invasion. " Of
this," says Percy, " we have proof positive in the
old metrical romance of Horn-Child, whicli,
though from the mention of Saracens, etc., it
must have been written at least after the first
The minstrels ^3
crusade in 1096, yet, from its Anglo-Saxon
language or idiom, can scarcely be dated later
than within a century after the conquest ....
the whole piece is exactly such a performance as
one would expect from a Glee-man or Minstrel of
the north of England, who had derived his art and
his ideas from his Scaldic predecessors there."
The French romance Dan Horn is a translation
from the English. In the Prologue to another
romance, King Atla, it is expressly stated that the
stories of Aelof (Allof), Tristan and others had
been translated into French from the English.
A'lore than a century after the Conquest,
namely in 11 80, Galid or Jeffrey, a Harper,
received an annuity from the Abbey of Hide near
Winchester ; and as harping was inseparable
from singing, this reward was probably for songs
sung to the monks, some of whom by no means
confined their music to psalm chanting ; and
these songs, Percy says we may conclude, would be
in the English language. Perhaps it should be
added that the more rigid monks both here and
abroad were greatly offended at the honours and
rewards bestowed on minstrels ; while others, as
Warton shows, were generous in the good cheer
and other recompense which they gave to those
who entertained tlicm. In tliis connection Wood
tells an amusing tale of two itinerant priests who
54 The story of BRiTisk music
in Henry III.'s day gained admittance to a grange
belonging to the Benedictines of Abingdon by
passing themselves off as minstrels. But the Prior
discovered the ruse, and disappointed of an even-
ing's amusement gave the clerics, not a square
meal and money, but a good thrashing and prompt
ejectment ! As illustrative of the goodwill often
subsisting between the cloistered musician and
his brother in the outside world, mention must
here be made of the remarkable secular canon
" Sumer is icumen in," written and possibly
composed by John Fornsete, chartulary of the
Abbey of Reading in 1226. Of this, on its
technical side, more will be said elsewhere.
Secular musicians were divided into three main
classes : those in the service of the king or some
great nobleman ; those in the town bands of
watchmen, or " waits " ; and wandering min-
strels. Perhaps the most famous of the former
class in England were Rahere, Henry I.'s minstrel ;
and Blondel and Gaucelm (or Anselm) Faidit,
favourite minstrels of Richard I., who, however,
were possibly not English, especially Blondel.
The sums paid to minstrels were often lavish : but
if Rahere received large sums he made good use
of them, for he founded the hospital and Priory of
S.Bartholomew's, Smithfield, in 1102, an early
example of that generosity for which, whether
THE MINSTRELS 55
out of their poverty, as in the case of Mozart,
or their comparative riches, as in the case of
Handel, Verdi and Liszt, musicians have always
been famous. But the sons of Jubal are equally
famous, it is to be feared, for improvidence : and
had all minstrels done as well with their wealth
as Rahere did perhaps John of Salisbury would
not have complained, half a century or so after
the foundation of S. Bartholomew's, of the riches
heaped upon amusement-makers of every kind.
It is a complaint of which we frequently hear
reverberations, and probably shall do as long as
human nature remains what it is.
The Crusades gave a great impulse to min-
strelsy, and furthered the cause of music in many
ways : chiefly in the oriental instruments which
the knightly adventurers brought back with
them, and the melodic expansion which resulted
from the acquaintance they made with Eastern
scale-systems and music. Instruments played
with a bow, with the exception of the crwyth
and our brass instruments, mostly owe their
introduction into the Western world to the
religious wars inaugurated by Peter the Hermit
with a very different purpose.
The most famous English Crusader was Richard I .
who was also the most famous English Troubadour,
One of his favourite minstrels, as every child
56
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSiC
knows, was Blondel. Another was Gaucelm (or
Anselm) Faidit. The latter was eminent for both
his words and his melodies. Here is a song which
lie wrote on the death of Richard, as deciphered
by Dr. Burney from a manuscript in the Vatican.
It is one of the very few troubadour melodies
which have come down to us. Gaucelm wrote
both words and tune.
5
•^
g
JVowfate hoj yill'd the
fe^3
i
-^
mea...,Sure o/- mi/ woes, ^■
■^nd
F^
- I ^N -t
22:
^
-0 #^
rent muhearlu^ilh^rief unJklt 6e. -^orC; jyo
^
^
itzjtzML
(J \^
1 — r
"^/u. hire 6lej5in^5 wounds iifcefk&secanelo^e, Or
^EES
7?2i..dz. .Jate i/ie lo:>^ /^ noto' de.pZo/
-^
de.p^re, TAe
"z:
^^
:^#
1^
va.hant/iichard Eri^^landS mic^hty dinj^, I7i&
tH£ MINSTRELS
57
#?iT^g^
.P ^ S
"O"
Jirjtandchief o/" ail fhatjjcodand drare.
i
^^
:^>^
Of tu. rant J)eafh ha^fe/f the
^n I J
-t^— ^
^r
>
a.
*5tin^ : ^
5
i
* — i^
«
^^ — i^
/hou^andt/eans /r Ais e..aualmau not t?rcri^.
-^— ^
#' ^
■ * ' J J I ^ ^ ^ -
TAe world from meanne^and con.
J'
i
^^==?
iempt
to
— ^D~
,3aos
g
^
^
The world /rvm mean ness
^^
(3'/z<s!' ^r^/z Ij/iiot to
58 THE STORY Ot!" BRITISH MUSIC
In the case of the Crusades, war favoured the
minstrels : but it was often the case that minstrels
inspired men in war. The best known individual
instance is perhaps that of Taillefer, William the
Conqueror's minstrel, who rode singing before
the Norman army at tl.e battle of Hastings, then
rushed into the fray and fell fighting. And the
most remarkable collective instance is that which
occurred at the battle of Rhuydland, or Rothelan.
and which reminds one very much of the camp-
followers ruse at Bannockburn a century later.
Ranulph, or Randal, Earl of Chester, being
besieged in his castle, sent for help to De Lacy,
Constable of Chester. The latter, gathering
together the minstrels of all sorts then assembled
at Chester fair, " by the allurements of their
music " assembled such a vast number of people
that the Welsh, towards whom the stage army
had been marched out, supposing them to be a
regular body of armed troops, instantly raised the
siege and retired. So great was the service
rendered that the minstrels within the jurisdic-
tion of the Earls of Chester were granted special
privileges, secured by charter. These privileges
were conveyed and renewed by quaint ceremonies,
descriptions of which are to be found in many
books of antiquarian lore. When, in Eliyabcth's
reign, owing to abuses, restrictions were imposed
THE MINSTRELS ^9
on minstrels, those of Chester enjoyed special
exemption ; indeed, their privileges lasted for
si : hundred years, for a renewal of the exemptive
clauses is to be found in the last Act on the
subject, passed in the reign of George III. !
Piers Ploughman, it may be recalled, describes
his Friar as much better acquainted with the
" Rimes of Robitihode and of Randal, erle of
Chester than with his Paternoster.^^
China may perhaps claim to hold the record
for first recognising the social status due to pro-
fessors of the Divine Art. For seme two thousand
years before Christ the music-master to the
Imperial household ranked next to the Emperor
himself ! But Europe comes much nearer this
record than probably most people in the present
day are aware of : indeed she may be said to
exceed it in a titular sense. For not only was
the very honourable title " master " applied to
the King's Harper — for instance to one Richard,
Harper to Henry III. in 1272 — but he was some-
times termed King himself, both here and in
France. In 1290 two daughters of Edward I,
and Queen Eleanor were married : on the first
occasion came, among others, King Grey of
England, King Caupcnny from Scotland, and
Poveret, minotrel of the Marshal of Champagne ;
to the second wedding came as many as four hundred
6d tHE STORY Of BRITISH MUSIC
and twenty-six minstrels^ among whom ;^ioo,
equal to ^1,500 modern value, was distributed.
In T306 the cour pleniere held by King Edward
was attended by no fewer than six Minstrel Kings,
namely, Roy de Champagne (probably the Poveret
from Champagne previously mentioned), Le
Roy Capenny (probably " King Caupenny from
Scotland "), Le Roy Boisescue, Le Roy Marchis,
Le Roy Robert, who is known from other sources
to be the English King of the Minstrels, and is
probably the " King Grey " of the former list ;
and Le Roy Druet. Of these, five received five
marks each, equal to about fifty pounds of our
money ; and the last named, Druet, three marks.
The surnam.es given mostly suggest an English
origin ; harpers were generally known only by
their Christian names, but some by their office,
thus " harper to the Bishop of Durham, the Abbot
of Abvngdon, the Earle of Warrenne," and so
forth ; one is called " Reginald le Menteur,"
another " Makejoye," another " Perle in the eghe."
Besides these were the nameless rank and file,
described as menestraus de la commune. The
total sum expended was about j^200, which would
bi equal to some _^3,ooo in the present day.
Henry V., who died in 1423, granted an annuity
of a hundred shillings to each of his minstrels.
The position of the higher order of minstrels
THE MINSTRELS 6l
was very much like that of the Heralds, who were
also known by the title " Roy." The dress of
the minstrels, too, would seem to have been as
gorgeous as that of a herald, leastways that of the
" minstrels of honour," as the highest order of
musicians was called. They received costly
habiliments as well as vast quantities of money
from the nobles, a fact testified to by many author-
ities. In a poem on the times of Edward II.
(1307-27) knights are urged to adhere to their
proper dress lest they be mistaken for minstrels.
In a manuscript of the thirteenth century in the
arsenal at Paris is a little picture which bears so
directly on this matter that I must refer to it,
though it is not British. The minstrel Adenes
li Rois is being received by Queen Mary of France,
a prince and princess are also present, and the
dress of the minstrel is exactly similar to that worn
by the prince ! The picture also shows the
extreme intimacy of the minstrel with royalty,
for Adenes leans, much at ease, against the Queen's
couch with his left arm thrown across her knees !
In 1416 Henry V. ordered " rich gowns " for
sixteen of his minstrels, but we are not told what
they were like.
In S. Mary's Church, Beverley, Yorkshire,
erected between 1422-60, is a pillar on whicli
figures of five minstrels are carved, and wliich bears
62 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
the inscription " Thys pillor made the meyn-
styrls." The minstrels are represented as wearing
short coats reaching to the knee — one has an
overcoat — and all have tolerably large purses, and
chains round their necks. The instruments they
hold are a pipe and tabor — instruments used
chiefly for country dances and the morris dance :
both were usually played by one performer, who
held the pipe, a primitive instrument of the flute
or oboe type, in his left hand while he beat the
tabor, a tambourine but without the jingles,
hung round his neck, with his right hand ; a
crwyth or treble viol, a bass flute, a treble flute,
and a lute. These instruments, and especially
the absence of a harp, suggest that the Beverley
quintet were not minstrels of the highest class —
all the more honour to them for being pillars of
the church !
Perhaps the best description of a minstrel's
dress is that given in a letter written from
Kenilworth by a court official named Laneham,
and though the date is 1575 the dress described
is believed to be that which had been worn by
minstrels of honour from the time of Edward IV.
" The Squire minstrel of Middlesex [note the
title, of which I do not recall any other instance]
travelled the country this summer season unto
worshipful men's houses," and he goes on to say
THE MINSTRELS 63
that he was a harper arrayed in a long gown of
Kendal green, gathered at the neck with a narrow
gorget, and fastened before with a white clasp ;
his gown having long sleeves down to mid-leg,
but slit from the shoulders to the hand and lined
with white. His harp was " in good grace
dependent before him," and his " wrest," or
tuning-key, " tied to a green lace, and hanging
by." He wore a red Cadiz girdle, and the corner
of his handkerchief, edged with blue lace, hung
from his bosom. Under the gorget of his gown
hung a chain, " resplendent upon his breast of
the ancient arms of Islington."
The livery of the London Waits at the time that
Laneham wrote his letter, 1575, is described in
Fairholt's Lord Mayor's Pageant as consisting of
" Blue gowns, red sleeves and caps, every one
having his silver collar about his neck."
The distinction between the different classes
was very marked and is frequently alluded to by
contemporary writers. For instance, in the old
romance of Lawnfcl we are told " 'I'hey had
minstrels of moche honours." " Minstrels of
honour " rode on horseback and had servants to
attend them — Edward IV. allowed his minstrels
two servants each to carry their instruments. They
could enter freely into the houses of the gentry,
into castles and even into the king's palaces unasked.
64 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
A special dress for minstrels was a matter not
only of ornament but utility : it was a passport to
their many privileges, especially that of entry into
castles and houses. Like all other privileges,
those of the minstrels were usurped by unworthy
and unauthorised persons, and in 13 15 Edv/ard II.
enacted a special ordinance to check the abuse :
" Forasmuch as many idle persons under cover of
Mynstrelsie, and going in messages, and other
faigned business, have been and yet be receaved
in other men's houses to meate and drynke, and
be not therewith contented yf they be not largely
consydered with gyftcs of the lordes of the
houses .... We have ordeyned .
that to the houses of prelates, earles
and barons, none resort to meate and drynke,
unless he be a Mynstrel, and of these minstrels
that there come none except it be three or four
minstrels of honour at the most in one dav, unless
he be desired by the lorde of the house. And to
the houses of meaner men that none come unless
he be desired, and that sucli as shall come so,
holde themselves contented with meate and
drynke, and with such curtesie as the maister of
the house wyl shewe unto them of his owne good
wyll without their askyng of anything. And yf
any one do against this Ordinance, at the first
tyme he to lose his Minstrelsie and at the second
THE MINSTRELS 65
tyme to forsvveare his craft, and never to be
rcceaved for a Minstrel in any house." There
were almost as many social grades among the
minstrels themselves as among those whom they
entertained : and this edict is valuable as showing
that the minstrels visited householders of all
degrees. In the very next year Edward II. him-
self learnt how much could be done under cover of
the dress of a minstrel. Stowe tells us that when
celebrating the Feast of Pentecost, the king " set
at table in the great hall of Westminster, attended
by the peers of the realm, a certain woman, dressed
in the habit of a Minstrel, riding on a great horse,
trapped in the Minstrel fashion, entered the hall,
and going round the several tables, acting the
part of a minstrel, at length mounted the steps
to the royal table, on which she deposited a letter.
Having done this she turned her horse and,
saluting all the company, she departed." The
letter contained a remonstrance to the king on the
favours heaped by him on his minions to the
neglect of his faithful subjects. The door-
keepers, on being threatened for admitting such
a woman, readily replied, " that it never was the
custom of the king's palace to deny admission to
Minstrels, especially on such liigli solemnities and
feast days." The incident, like a cliartcr wc arc
about to mention, is inLcrcbtIng as indlcatin:^^
F
66 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
equality of privilege between men and women
minstrels. The privileges of properly qualified
musicians were safeguarded not only by primitive
laws against those usurping the office, but by
special charters granted to the minstrels them-
selves. It is impossible to say when the first of
such charters were granted, but it was evidently
at a very early period. It is known that in the
thirteenth century there was a musical society in
London called " Le Pui." And in a charter
granted by Edward IV. in 1469 to his beloved
minstrels reference is made to " the brothers and
sisters of the Fraternity of Minstrels " having
established and ordained similar guilds " in times
past." Power is given to hold examinations, and to
supervise, control and correct minstrels through-
out the kingdom, the county of Chester excepted,
for reasons already given. How long this Frater-
nity held effective sway is not quite clear, but
in the next century a new guild was formed
called a " Fellowship of Minstrels and Freemen of
the City of London." In 1500 and 1501 the
Musicians or Minstrels were the chief hirers of
the Pewterers' Hall (these performers may have
been either, or both, of the guilds referred to).
This fact is extremely interesting as suggesting
a much earlier date for the first concerts tlian that
usually given ; if, as seems not unlikely, the
THE MINSTRELS 67
minstrels recouped themselves by giving per-
formances and making a charge for admission.
The new Fellowship had many complaints to
make of incompetent usurpers, similar to those
which led to the charter of 1469. A century later
it became necessary to form a new guild. This
was done in 1604 by charter from James I. which
created the Worshipful Company of Musicians^
an active body which, if we regard it as the
direct successor of the Fraternity formed in
1469, is the oldest musical society still existing.
It is also the only City Company concerned with
the exercise of a profession. It should not escape
notice that in the admission of women to the
highest degrees in music ; in the holding of
examinr.tions as tests of professional efficiency ;
and in the legal registration of qualified teachers
(compulsory in some Australian States : optional
in Great Britain) we are but making a somewhat
tardy return to the conditions of nearly — probably
more than — five hundred years ago !
While some minstrels, including, as we have
seen, those of the higher class, travelled all over
the country, others belonged to the bands
frequently maintained by kings, nobles and great
towns, and were more or less stationary. Munici-
pal musicians \Ncrc generally known as " waits "
and tlicir iii^lrum(jnt was very common!)' a large
68 tHE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
shrill kind of oboe used for signalling. Edward I.
provided for the city gates of London to be shut
every night by " the Servant dwelling there," and
each servant to have a " Wayte at his own
expense " — the watchman at Edward IV. 's palace
was to sound his Wait every three hours.
Henry VII. 's privy purse expenses from 1492 to
1504 include many payments to the " Waytes "
of Dover, Canterbury, Dartford, Coventry and
Northampton ; also to the Minstrels of Sand-
wich ; the shawms of Maidstone (players on a
double-reed instrument which preceded the oboe) ;
to bag-pipers ; and to harpers, some of whom were
Welsh. The w^atch of a city formed the municipal
band and played at civic functions. They were
in great request at banquets. England possesses
one of the earliest and best illustrations of
medieval table music in a magnificient brass,
ten feet long by five, erected to the memory of
Robert Braunch and his two wives in the parish
church of King's Lynn, in 1364 — that, leastways,
was the year of his death. At the foot of the
brass is a representation of a banquet, believed to
be a " peacock feast " given by Braunch, who was
Mayor at the time, to Edward III. during a visit
to the town. Twelve persons sit at one side of
the table, and at each end are two musicians
standing : their instruments being a fiddle, lute,
THE MINSTRELS 69
trumpet and schallmey (or small trumpet). The
workmanship suggests a Flemish foundry, and
a manuscript in the National Library at Paris
contains a picture of the banquet part of the brass.
Naumann, in his History of Music reproduces this
picture, which he says is of the fifteenth century,
and makes no mention of the English fourteenth
century original : probably he did not know of it.
At the coronation of Henry V., which took
place in Westminster Hall in 141 3, we are told
by Thomas de Elham that " the number of
harpers was exceedingly great ; and the sw^eet
strings of their harps soothed the souls of the
guests by their soft melody," and the dulcet sounds
of the united music of other instruments invited
*' the royal banqueters to the full enjoyment of
the festival." Nor was such an accompaniment
to a feast confined to royal palaces or baronial
halls ; once a year the monks of JMaxtoke Priory
near Coventry were allowed a special refection,
and while it was in progress six minstrels from
Lord Clinton's castle near by attended in the
refectory, to sing, harp and play while the
cowled brethren ate their repast ! Jn Queen
Elizabeth's time, and probab]\' very much earlier,
the privileges of having music at meal-times was
not confined to those of high estate but lay within
the reach of anybody able to afford to dine at an
70 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
inn. For a writer named Gosson protests against
the number of blind harpers and street and
tavern musicians, exclaiming : —
" Not a dish removed
But to the music, nor a drop of wine
Mixt with the water, without liarmony."
Like the professional examinations and so manv
other things, the bands which play while we
satisfy the cravings of the inner man at great
hotels and restaurants are but a revival and
adaptation to modern conditions of the practice
of our forefathers six centuries ago ! Another
quaint instance may be mentioned : attracting
people to mission services by secular music is not
an idea of which modern evangelists can claim
the invention. For S. Aldhclm, Abbot of
Malmesbury, whom William of JNIajmesburv
describes as the first Englishman to become famous
as a musician, used to stand on the bridge at
Malmesbury and sing " like a minstrel " till a
crowd gathered, when he treated his congregation
to words of more serious import !
In 1 38 1 John of Gaunt erected at Tutbury in
Staffordshire a Court of M.iiistreU similar to that
annually held at Chester : it had legal jurisdic-
tion over the professional musicians of fi\e coim-
ties, with power to elect a King of the Minstre]?.
This was done with great ceremonv, and the Court
THE MINSTRELS 7 1
existed during at least three hundred years, for
Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, describes
the holding of it in 1680. At this time — the
fifteenth century — every great family had its
establishment of musicians, and among them the
harper held a high, apparently, indeed the highest,
position. Some who were less wealthy retained
a harper only : this was done by many bishops
and abbots. Mr. Payne Collier, who edited Lord
Howard's household book for the years 1481-85
for the Roxburghe Club, remarks on " the gieat
varieties of entries in connection with music and
musical performers " as forming " a prominent
feature of the book." " Not only were the
musicians attached to noblemen or to private
individuals liberally rewarded, but also those
who were attached to particular towns."
If in some ways we moderns have revived the
practices of bygone days, in others we reverse
t„em. A clergyman taking a service is paid
double or four times what an organist is ; in
olden time the opposite was the case : a minstrel
assisting at a function was paid twice as much a?
a cle.-ic was, or more. In 1430 at the annual fcasi
of the fraternity of Holie Crosse, at Abingdon,
twelve priests each received fourpence for singing
a dirge, while the same number of minstrels
received two shillings and fourpence eacli, with
72 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
diet and horse meat. At Maxtoke, already
referred to, two shillings were given to each priest
and four to each minstrel, and the latter were
entertained to supper by the Sub-prior in the
painted chamber of the monastery. The Prior
of the same convent once gave a preaching friar
only sixpence ! As late as 1560 we find the same
relative rewards maintained. Thus in the books
of the Stationers' Company: ^'' Item, payed to
the preachers 6s. 2d. Item, payed to the minstrels
I 28.
Edward IV. 's book of household expenses in-
cludes provision for thirteen minstrels, as well as
twenty-four chaplains and clerks and eight choir-
boys. These different bodies of musicians were
intimately connected. For the " Master of the
Children," or organist and almoner — posts often
united — was expected to provide entertainments
of all kinds. In their earliest form these germs of
the drama, for such they were, went by the name
of " Interludes." This is the title given to an
entertainment compiled by Gilbert Banistir in
1482. William Cornyslic, composer to t]ie Chapel
Royal in the days of Henry VII. and VIII., is
recorded as writing dramas ; Jolm Redford,
organist of S. Paul's Cathedral, 1530-40; one
Heywood ; and Richard Jeffries, a poet and com-
poser of madrigals who died in 1566, may be
THE MINSTRELS 73
mentioned as other instances. The earliest known
piece of music printed in England is a song in an
" Interlude " by Rastell — a musician of whom I
can find no details. Indeed, the association be-
tween music and the stage was so close that
Shakespeare was in all probability a member of
the Musicians' Company himself.
The world's greatest poet lived in a house hired
from " Henry Walker, citizen and minstrel of
London." As Walker is elsewhere described as
" Musician, of London," he may well be taken as
representing the transition from the " minstrel "
of former days, generally a retainer in some great
household, or a traveller from castle to castle, to
the " musician " of our own, working on his own
account and living not in a palace or castle but
a town.
There were many causes for this change. One
was that several of the functions of the minstrels
had developed into separate professions. The
religious function of bard and scald had become
vested in the cloistered musician, as had his
original role ol literary man, polisher of language,
chronicler and general civili/.cr. In the process
of evolution, \\'n\\ its inevitable specialisation,
the joint oilice of poet-musician had become
divided. Poem and song had for centuries meant
the same thing. Chaucer's Troilus and Cussida,
74 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
though almost as long as the /Encid, was to ht
" rcddc or songc." Gradually poetry came to be
written by men who were not musicians, and
which was not intended to be sung, but " rcdde "
only. Mr. Henry Davey declares that " poet
and musician were not only closely connected
but were even identical in most cases " till the
seventeenth century.
No doubt the invention of printing had much
to do with this change : it placed poetry within
reach of those who could neither recite nor sing.
But in the long run it did more : it took from the
minstrel not merely the function of making verses
but that of disseminating them. For centuries
the recited or sung ballad had been a powerful
weapon for good or evil : and this power the
printing press intensified to an almost fabulous
extent. Fletcher of Saltoun may have been the
first to make an epigram on the relative influence
of the ballads of a nation and its laws, but he was
far from the first to have the immense power of the
former brought home to him practically. So
easily attainable and imniense a power was not
likely long to escape the notice of reformers,
political and religious, and in 1533 an Act was
passed to suppress " fond [i.e. foolish.] books,
ballads, rhimcs and other lewd treatises in the
English tongue " intended " to subvert the true
THE MINSTRELS 75
exposition of Scripture " and to " instruct the
youth of this realm untruly." Then, as now, new
political ballads were written to well-known old
tunes, and in 1537 John Hogon was arrested for
singing a political ballad to the tune of " The Hunt
is up." Ballads flourished in Edward VI. 's reign:
they were sternly suppressed within a month of
Mary coming to the throne, and flourished again
in Elizabeth's reign. During the mid-sixteenth
century far more ballads were printed than books.
At the end of the year 1560, of ballads left for
entry at Stationers Hall, 796 remained for transfer
to the new Wardens, and only 44 books ! But
a change was fast taking place : the ballad, from
having been used by all classes, was becoming the
exclusive property of the lower orders. Henry
Chettle, in 1592, complained bitterly of " idle
vouths singing and selling ballads in every corner
of cities and market towns," and mentions two
vendors in particular who bragged that they had
made " twenty shillings a day," mostly at no larger
a town than Bishop's Stortford, " whilst others,
horse and man have together hardly
taken ten shillings a week."
In place of the priestly Bard, the courtly
'rroub:'.dour and the King of the Minstrels, tlie
words of ballads had come to be written by such
men as Elderton, "with his ale-crammed nose."
"jS THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
and Thomas Deloney, " the balleting silk-weaver of
Norwich,' whose chief offence in the eyes of
a writer named Nashe appears to have been that
he did not drink beer enough and consequently
was not merry, but wrote such ballads as The
Thunderbolt against Szi'earers and The Strange
Judgmeiits of God. The ballads were printed
across one side only of very coarse brown paper,
hence the common designation " broadside " ;
and were sold all over the country at three for a
halfpenny by chapmen, that is, to give the Saxon
derivation, " cheapeners." The work of the
itinerant reciter and singer of narrative verse was
gone. Of this change the position of the harp
was typical : from being the solace of kings
and nobles, and forbidden to the lowest class, it
had become almost the monopoly of the latter —
the livelihood of mendicant musicians and
tavern minstrels.
The decline of the feudal system, which became
practically obsolete wdth the passing of the
Military Tenures Act in Charles II. 's reign, also
tended to the subversion of one of the old types
of minstrel — the personal retainer.
Another great factor in the metamorphosis of
the minstrel into the general musical practitioner,
vocal or instrumental specialist or composer of
to-day, was the appointment of laymen as
THE MINSTRELf 77
organists. In pre-Reformation days the organ
was always played by a priest or monk, as It is in
Spain at the present day. But with the dawning
of the great religious upheaval of the sixteenth
century laymen were allowed to take this part
of divine service. The first English lay organist
was long believed to be Dr. Tye, who was appointed
organist of Ely Cathedral at a salary of ^lo in
1 541, and in 1560 took Holy Orders ; but, in
1876, Dr. Cummings discovered that Thomas
Tallis, whose name is best known in connection
with his harmonization of the Anglican Responses
and the hymn-tune " Tallis' Canon," was earlier,
for he was appointed to Waltham Abbey previous
to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540.
With an important, permanent and salaried
position in a cathedral or parish church open to
him, and similar positions in princely households
becoming fewer and fewer, the man of musical
gifts was not likely to choose the role of wandering
or unattached minstrel. And hence it came
about that after being prominent figures on the
world's stage since the curtain rose on that
prelude to history which we call legend, the
picturesque forms of the bard and minstrel dis-
appeared. They did not, of course, all leave the
stage at once, or suddenly. And yet it is possible
to name a )car in which it may be said that the
78 THE STORY Of BRITISH MUSIC
word " exit " was writ against their name in the
play-book of life. For like so many other human
institutions — nor need we necessarily exclude
those of divine origin — they grew out of a necessity,
for centuries brilliantly served a great purposej
and then, their work done, withered away. In
1597 an Act was passed whereby those who had
at one time been welcome guests in kings' palaces
and could open any man's door unasked, if found
" wandering abroad " were to be arrested as
" rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars."
But we may resume our simile : for like the
actor the minstrel left the stage only to return
in another garb. The blue-robed Druid has
reappeared amongst us as the white-robed choir-
man, organist and composer ; the minstrel who
inspired armies may be recognised in the com-
poser of patriotic songs and in the members of
military bands ; the satire on the follies of the
age which was a common feature of mediaeval
ballads, still takes musical form in comic opera
and humorous songs ; the musical Guilds of the
fifteenth and previous and later centuries, whose
chief function was the examining and attesting
of aspirants to professional status, have been
revived in the form of our Royal and other Colleges
and Academics of Music ; the thirteen minstrels
who formed Edward IV. 's Court Band have had
THE MINSTRELS 79
direct descendants in every reign, and in the
present day tlicir representatives play under the
baton of Sir \\'alter Parratt, " Master of the
Alasick " ; tliose wlio were tlie retainers of great
lords, spiritual and temporal, since the decay of
feudalism, have been far less in evidence in Great
Britain than abroad. But some time previously
to 1 71 8 the Duke of Chandos established a private
chapel at Canons, Edgware, on a scale of
magnificence almost equal to the Chapel Royal,
and as his chief musician appointed first Dr.
Pepusch and secondly, in 171 8, George
Frederick Handel, v\'ho had been in England,
with a short intermission, eight years. It was
while at Canons that Handel composed the
Chandos Anthems, a Te Duum, his first English
oratorio Esther and the serenata Acis and Galatea.
No other British nobleman had such a " chapel "
at the time, or has had since, and the Duke's
reproduction here of a type of establishment
characteristic of Germany and Austria met with
considerable ridicule. Nevertheless, Dr. Pepusch
and Handel, both of tliem, it may be remembered,
born in Germany, may be regarded as eighteenth
century reproductions of the old retainer-minstrels
of feudal days. In the present day the private
organist whom a few noblemen appoint to tlicir
chapels is the only oiiicial at all analagou.^. \\\
80 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
our many municipal bands the old Waites may
find themselves not without a modern representa-
tive, and the travelling minstrel is still with us
in as great force as ever : those of the lower
orders, the menestraus de la commune, are little
changed : they still trudge on foot from town to
town with a penny whistle or other easily portable
instrument, and give " a lit of mirth for a groat " ;
and the " minstrels of honour," wTth horses and
servants to carry their baggage, are reincarnate
in the great artistes who travel over the same
ground as King Caupenny, between London and
Edinburgh, in magnificent saloon carriages ; or
overseas, as Roy Poveret did, but much farther
than he — round the world in fact, in a veritable
floating palace.
Man, like the birds, is a musical animal : music
is an essential of his nature, and the forms in
which it appears and reappears from age to
age differ only in detail.
CHAPTER VI
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS.
In all probability music was never confined to
those who made a livelihood of it, either in
Britain or elsewhere, for we hear of amateur
musicians as early as professional. In King
Gabbet, who according to Wace's metrical
chronicle sat on the throne of Britain about
1149 B.C., we have not only a royal musician a
hundred years before the Jews could boast of
King David, " the sweet Psalmist of Israel," but
one said to have been the greatest musician of
his day. He also was the first of a remarkable
number of kings and queens of our country who
were expert players, singers and composers. We
know from many sources that the mass of the
British people have always been musical. Pythias,
a Greek navigator and Marseilles merchant and
contemporary of Aristotle (384-322 b.c), visited
Britain and was the first to throw light on the
musical tendencies of the natives, who, he says,
always carried a horn about with them. Probably
it is merely on account of their exalted social
position that the first three amateur musicians
whose names we know are all royalties : they are
81 G
82 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
King Gabbet, just mentioned ; Princess Helena,
daughter of King Coel (who was possibly the
original of " Old King Cole " of the nursery
rhyme) and mother of the Emperor Constantine,
who is said to have been skilful in music and who
was born 250 a.d. ; and Alfred the Great, whose
proficiency with the harp is as well known to
school children as his shortcomings in cake-baking.
It is in his reign that secular music begins to stand
out, apart from the bards, as an item of polite
education. The harp was the national instru-
ment, indeed one may say the world-instrument,
at the time, and ability to play on it was one of
the things necessary to a gentleman or free-man.
No one else — no slave — was allowed to possess
one ; and a harp could not be seized for debt,
for if a free-man lost his harp he lost his rank.
It was due to no morbid over-sensitiveness that
Caedmon left the room when, the harp being
passed round at banquets, he found himself
unable to play upon it. At whatever period we
look into our national history we fmd this universal
practice of music. We have space to turn the
page and make note of its testimony only here and
there.
Speaking of London and writing in 11 74,
Fitz-Stephen (Stephanides), the friend and
biographer of Thomas Beckct, said " In summer
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 83
evenings the young people danced till dark, to
the sound of the harp (or cittern), and some of
the maidens acted as musicians." Also that on
festival days the boys of the London schools
attached to the three principal churches " con-
tended with each other in verse " and wound up
their contests " by recitations of epigrams, ballads
and rhymes in which the foibles and frailties of
their fellows were sarcastically exposed, without
naming the individuals." At this " the audience,
who were prepared to enter into the jest, shook
the assembly with peals of laughter." '
In the middle ages the country simply rever-
berated with song. If evidence were wanting of
this, it would be found in the fact that our poets,
from Adam Davy, who flourished about 13 12,
onwards simply teem with references to it. We
may learn as much from Chaucer of the music of
his day, and of the estimation in which the art
was then held in England, as if a treatise had
been written on the subject. For there is hardly
a character whom he does not represent as a
musician of some sort. Thus in the Canterbury
Talcs, describing the Squire, he says :
" Syngyne he was, or flowtynge [fluting] al the day ;
He cowde songes wel make and cndite,"
1 Descrip. Lond. edited by T. Pci^^t'
84 T'HE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
From very early days — how early it is not easy
to say — up to the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury, the quiet sweet voice of the flute was to be
heard in many European countries, and not least
in our own. There were many kinds of flute,
among them one called the Pilgrim's Staff from
its great length. It may be doubted, says one
" devoted to the sweetest of pipes," Mr. J. Finn,
" whether any musical instrument ever enjoyed
a longer or wider popularity than did the famous
flute called the Recorder." And the flute which
Chaucer describes the squire as playing was
probably of this kind.
Of the mendicant friar : —
" Wei couth he synge and playe on a rote [hurdy-gurdy]
And in his harpynge, when that he had sungo
His eyghen twynkclcd in his hcd aright."
Of the miller : —
"A bagpipe cowde he blowe and sown [sound]."
The poor scholar, Nicholas ; the parish clerk ;
and the apprentice in the Cook's Tale are reprc-
' cntcd as playing, respectively, the " gay sawtryc "
(psaltry, a dulcimer) \ the rubible or " rebec " (a
«mall fiddle with two or three strings), and the
gitcrnc (a kind of guitar).
' Owing to the unfortunate tr:it'.sliiiion of the Hebrew word " ncbcl " as
" psaltrv " or " p?alm " in the Bible, ir.any theologians have been led to
think that the psaltry was a harp, and many musicians that the nebel was a
dulcimer.
The people as musicians 85
It will be seen that there was as much music
in the cottage as in the court and castle. Men
and women alike sang at their work, while carmen
and plough-boys were especially given to whistling.
The Carman's Whistle was one of the best known
of songs. Singing to the spinning-wheel, and
while milking, was particularly characteristic.
Bishop Hall referred to this in the lines : —
" Sung to the wheel, and sung unto the pail,
He sends forth thraves of ballads to the sale."
It was the same in Scotland. Not only the
bards, but the heroes themselves, their wives and
young women, are represented in most ancient
Gaelic poetry as playing on the harp.
" And the shell went round, the bards sung,
and the soft hand of virgins trembled on the
string of the harp " (Dr. Smith's translation of
the poem of Tiomna Ghuil). xA.nd if children
did not play on the instrument they at any rate
tried to : in the poem of Trathal two children
take the harp from their mother but cannot find
the sound tliey want :
" Why docs it not answer us ?
Shew us the string where dwells the song."
She bids them search for it till she returns —
I'heir little lingers wander among the wires.
Here we may well introduce a tune written
nearly a century before Cluiucer was born (1340),
86
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
and probably popular for many generations
earlier still and for many generations after his
death. Especially as, to the best of the writer's
knowledge, it is the oldest dance-tune extant.
It was written on the back of a MS. collection of
statutes of Edward I,, now in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford. The notation is of exactly the
same character as that of Sunier is icumen in. The
extract here given, for the tune is too long for
complete quotation, is about a quarter of the
whole, and is taken from J. Stafford Smith's
version, he having been the first to decipher the
manuscript.
English Country Dance : cir. 1260 : the oldest
DANCE TUNE KNOWN,
i t ^^-^i m TJ ^r i^l/j Ti ^
/^j^LrT;i;/;:j^lj ^
■jijj J J J 1 > J '■' ; M^/^jv^^
4r ^J l jJJJbbjij p
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS
87
But immense strides in the art of deciphering
old musical manuscripts have been made since
Stafford Smith's day — he flourished at the con-
junction of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
turies. And it is only right to say that, taking
advantage of more recent research, Mr. Wool-
dridge demurs to the above generally accepted
version of the tune : and in the posthumous
edition of Mr. Chappell's Old English Popular
THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Music, which he has edited, he gives the following
as the correct interpretation of the rhythm :
S
^
3r=ta=t^^^
J- ;j N
4^-H-
^^
J ; I >■ ^ i =±±
But the study of folk-music soon familiarises
one with the fact that tunes often undergo con-
siderable change in passing from mouth to mouth
or fiddle to fiddle. I can find no such abundance
of syncopation in any other English dance as is
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 89
practically constant throughout the hundred and
sixty-six bars of Mr. Wooldridge's version. And
I strongly suspect that though this may have been
the original rhythm, constant and rapid repetition
would in time wear down its corners, its syncopa-
tion, till it came to be played much as Stafford
Smith assumed it to be. The same melody will
not infrequently lend itself to two different species
of time, as the student of hymn-tunes knows full
well.
It is significant that if we turn the page of our
history two hundred and fifty years later than
Chaucer we shall find exactly the same thing — the
great poet of the age, and in this case of all ages,
brimming over with references to music both vocal
and instrumental. So much so that if Shakespeare
did not write a treatise on music, music has written
more than one treatise on him — that is to say,
musicians have written books on the innumerable
and profoundly interesting references to their art
to be found, in not one only, but practically all his
works. ^
During the reign of Elizabeth the study of
music was universal. Chappcll says, " It was the
predominant art, and no subject during this
period, perhaps not even excepting religion, so
I Sec e.g. " Shake«pearc, his Music and Song," by A. II. Muncur-Sinie, in
this StTu-s.
90 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
much occupied men's minds." To the upper
classes it was an essential part of education.
Motley tells an amusing story which reminds one
extremely of Caedmon's self-reproach at having
neglected the harp. A young man went out to
dinner, and was asked by his hostess to read off
a part in a madrigal at sight : on his proving
unable to do it the company exclaimed " Where
were you brought up ? " But such accomplish-
ments were by no means confined to the higher
social grades. The City of London advertised
the musical abilities of boys educated in Bridewell
and Christ's Hospital as a mode of recommending
them as apprentices and servants. A century
later, it may be recalled, Pepys the diarist con-
fesses that he chose his servants according to their
ability to take part in household music. Delonez,
writing in 1598, tells how a man who tried to pass
himself off for a shoemaker was detected through
his being able " neither to sing, sound the trum-
pet, play upon the ilute, nor reckon up his tools
in rhyme." The bulk of the population not only
Bang constantly, but sang in parts. Of this
Chaucer's description of the song of the Pardoner
and Summoner or Apparitor is good evidence : —
" Ful lovvde he sang, 'come hider, love, to me,'
This Sompnour bar [bare] to him a stif burJoun
\^^is never trompe of half so gret a sown."
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 9/
The Sompnour supported the Pardoner bj
adding a deep burden or bass — probably a drone-
bass or single sustained note. Tinkers, tailors,
blacksmiths, servants, clowns, and others are
mentioned time and again as taking part in vocal
harmony. In the old Moralities or sacred plays
introducing allegorical impersonations of virtues
and vices, part-music was sung instead of ballads :
this was generally done in Canon, that is, several
voices sang the same tune but each began at a
given length of time after the preceding voice.
This is what is meant when, as frequently happens,
one of the dramatis -persons tells the others to
sing after him. The same thing is found in all
the waiters of the period. Peele, 1584, Shake-
speare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and
others might all be quoted as referring to the
singing of Catches and Rounds (which are forms
of the Canon) by apothecaries, friars, maids,
artificers, smiths, colliers, clothworkers, weavers,
watchmen, and indeed all kinds of people. One
of the most frequently named catches was,
" Three blue beans in a blue bladder, rattle,
bladder, rattle " ; another was " Whoop,
Barnaby."
Instrumental music was just as common
as vocal : almost everybody seems to have
gi THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
played on some instrument or other/ Among
the most popular of instruments in the middle
ages was the bagpipe. It was familiar to the
Anglo-Saxons. A ninth century manusciipt by
the Abbot of S. Blaise on sacred music contains
an illustration of it, as does the Minstrels' Gallery
in Exeter Cathedral, erected in the fourteenth
century ; and on a crozier presented to William of
Wykeliam in 1403 there is the figure of an angel
playing it ! It therefore was quite probably used
in monasteries and religious houses. " Pipes " are
expressly mentioned by Abbot Ailred of Rivaulx
Abbey, writing about 11 50, as among the instru-
ments used (to his evident regret) in church,
along wath cymbals, organs and cornets. And
these may have been bagpipes. Bagpipes were
common in England centuries earlier, and for
much longer, than in Scotland. Edward III.
employed pipers and made payments to them
sufiicient to allow of their visiting foreign minstrel
schools, and subsequent monarchs did much the
same. But the instrument was not confined to
professional players. We have already quoted
Chaucer as putting it into the hands of a miller.
Shakespeare often alludes to it, as do other English
^In a Latin poem writlen in 1393 Richard of Maidstone mentions sixteen
instruments: shepherd's pipe; small dulcimer; ilule; kettle-drum;
monochord ; organ ; dilciirier; cymbal; lyre; zambuca (bag-pipe:); lute;
" situlx " ; itraight trumpet ; vio! ; crooked horn ; harp.
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 93
poets, but, strange to say, Scotland's national
poet. Burns, only mentions it once. It came into
general favour in Scotland at the close of the
sixteenth century. In England it began to decline
about the same time. Nevertheless it was
regarded with evident favour as late as 1561, for
Vernon, in his Hunti7ig of Purgatory to Death of
that date, says : " I knewe a priest whiche, when
any of his parishioners should be maryed, would
take his backe-pype, and go fetche theym to the
churche, playnge sweetelye afore them, and then
would he laye his instrument handsomely upon the
aultare tyll he had maryed them and sayd masse.
Which thyng being done, he would gentillye
bringe them home agayne with backe-pype.
Was not this priest a true ministrell, thynke ye 1
For he dyd not counterfayt the ministrell, but
was one in dcde."
Dekker, in the Gull's Horn-book, tells us that
the usual routine of a young gentlewoman's
education was " to read and write, to play upon
the virginals, lute and cittern and to read prick-
song [i.e. music written or pricked down] at sight."
As we learn from Ben Jonson, among others, it
was usual to have a base-viol, or viol da gamba,
hung up in drawing-rooms for visitors to play on.
Though chiefly played by men it was occasionally
played by women, too, at least in James I.'s time.
94 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
The viol family was the immediate predecessor
of the violin family, from which it differed chiefly
in having six or more strings, and in the back
always, and the belly often, being flat. The
frequently used term " chest of viols " meant a
set of six instruments of various sizes. Viols and
the lute formed the stringed orchestra during
the middle ages. The latter, the lute, was for a
long time the most popular instrument in Europe.
In shape it was like a pear cut lengthwise in half,
and it had five or six pairs of strings. Keeping the
instrument in tune was difficult and expensive,
and lute strings were a favourite form of present
to a lady.
Rivalling the lute in importance was the
virginal or viginals. It was a stringed instrument
played by means of a keyboard, like the modern
pianoforte. In form it was like a box without
any legs or supports, and was usually placed upon
a table or stand. Though the gentler sex enjoyed
no monopoly of it, the instrument was especially
favoured by maidens ; hence, according to one
conjecture, its name. Another suggestion is that
this was due to the association of the instrument
with the song Angelus ad Ftrginem, to which
Chaucer and other old writers so often refer. The
earliest mention of the virginal in writing is in
a rhymed proverb, which was inscribed on a wall
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 95
of the Manor House of Lcckingfield, Yorkshire,
and is said to be as old as the time of Henry VH.,
1485 — 1509. Thus this allusion is older than
the earliest known mention abroad, that made by
Virdung in 151 1. The word in question
occurs in the first line of the verse which run?
as follo\\s :
"■ A slac strynge in a Virginall soundithe not aright."
Henry VHI. was a good player on the instru-
ment and had a virginal player attached to his
Court. Edward VI. had three, Mary, Elizabeth
and James I. retained the same number. The
three queens of the period, those just mentioned
and Mary Queen of Scots, were all accomplished
players, especially Mary Tudor, who also played
on the regals and lute. The former instrument
was a kind of very small portable organ : the
name remained in use for organs till as late as
1767. The virginal increased in popularity till
the Great Fire of London, when Pepys, under
September 2, 1666, describing the flight of the
citizens, says, " I observed that hardly one lighter
or boat In three that had the goods of a house in,
but there was a pair of virginals in it." The
name lasted till Queen Anne's day, when we find
it superseded by the word " spinet," an instru-
ment practically the same, and the predecessor
of the harpsichord, which was the immediate
96 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
precursor, though not the generic ancestor, of
the pianoforte. The history of the latter instru-
ment has been a veritable romance. Owing to
its great compass, its capacity for harmonic as well
as melodic effects, its expressiveness, the ease with
which music for voices and all other instruments
can be adapted to it, its incomparable character
as an instrument for accompanying solos of any
and every kind, it has achieved a position enjoyed
by no other instrument. And it did this earlier
in our own country than in any other. But there
is a grave debit side to the account, and this also
is more marked in our own country than in any
other. For the advent of the piano has ousted
more other instruments than the invention of
any other means of producing musical sounds.
Its coming has strangled the practice of household
concerted music, vocal and instrumental, super-
seding the singing of madrigals and performances
by that family orchestra the " chest of viols " which
were a marked feature of our domestic life in the
sixteenth and seventeeth centuries.
Reference has already been made to the fact
that though music in Great Britain has always
been on a democratic basis, the social factor has
at times made itself strongly felt — as when slaves
were not allowed to play the harp. An incident
in the early days of pianoforte making shows that
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 97
the art was not free from the influence of society
conventions in much more recent times. When
the harpsichord was being superseded by the
pianoforte in the Lite eighteenth century, Jacob
Kirkman made a number of instruments of the
new kind. They did not se"' as rapidly as he had
wished owing to ladies of fashion devoting them-
selves to the guitar. To appeal to the vast
musical superiority of the pianoforte, or forte-
piano, as it was often called, would be, he knew,
in vain. But he was an astute man and knew
something which would not. Obtaining a num-
ber of guitars he distributed them in such num-
bers among the maid-servants of the great families
in London that their mistresses could not in very
shame continue to play so cheap, easy and vulgar
an instrument and betook themselves to the piano.
Thereby Kirkman laid the foundations of a
prosperous and lucrative business.
To return to the days when not one but many
kinds of instrument were to be found in both
castle and cottage : what was the music which was
played on the bagpipes, harp, gittern, cittern,
flutes of all kinds, chests of viols, and virginals ?
To describe it in detail would take volumes, but
one generalisation can be given and with this we
must be content. For centuries there was no
buch thing as instrumental music wholly in-
H
98 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
dependent of song and dance, with the exception
of that extremely ancient Welsh harp music of
which an example has already been given, and
which is of the nature of an exercise rather than
of music properly so-called. All instrumental
music was an arrangement for strings, pipe or
keyboard, of some song, or an elaboration of some
dance-tune. In this latter cr.tegory were in-
cluded " Divisions," which were simply what we
should now call " Variations." The great classic
writers of the Elizabethan and subsequent period,
Byrd, Bull, Munday, Morley, Giles Farnabie,
and Orlando Gibbons, composed mainly on
this plan. The first deviation from it was
very appropriately named a " Fancy " or " Fan-
tasy," meaning that the composer had followed his
fancy in both compooing his own theme and in the
treatment of it. Examples of this type of piece
are to be found in the composers just named.
Later on a number of dances were strung together
and called a suite of pieces, which form was the
Immediate precursor of the sonata and symphony,
the latter being simply a sonata for orchestra.
The chief occasions for music were banquets,
both great and small. There was the minstrels'
gallery in the great halls, and for centuries it was
the custom after the meal at a social gathering to
pass round the harp or viol, which everyone was
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS 99
expected to play on, or to sing rounds, catches and
madrigals. Annual occasions for much music
were the fairs and May-day celebrations. The
right to hold the former was a very valuable
privilege generally safeguarded by royal charter.
The first such charter of which I can find
any trace was that granted to Winchester by
William the Conqueror. Most of the greater
towns had their fairs, and almost every village its
" feast." And music was so conspicuous a feature
of the latter as to pass into a proverb :
" Thou need no more send for a fidler to a feast
than a beggar to a fair." In some cases a fair,
leastways that of Wolverhampton, had its own
local tune. At the town named there was on the
eve of the fair " a procession of men in antique
armour, preceded by musicians playing the fair-
tune." I cannot recall this being mentioned in
any previous work on music. The quotation is
from Shaw's History of Staffordshire. The
celebration of May-day is believed to date from
pagan times. It was taken part in by everybody
from kings and queens downwards. Owing to
being held on one and the same day, there could
not be the same gathering of musicians from
distant parts as at a fair. But this only testifies
to the widespread character of musicianship, for
every village or hamlet had its player on the
100 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
bagpipe or fiddle, and sometimes drum or
trumpet, to enliven its May-day festival.
At the other end of the social scale was the
masque. Royalty sometimes attended May-day
festivals, but it took an actual part in masques, as,
of course, kings and queens had done in the state
pageants in which masques are said to have had
their origin. These masques, or out-of-door
plays with music interspersed, were in their turn
the precursors of the opera, which thus had an
origin in England quite different from what it
had abroad, where it was the outcome of an
endeavour in Italy about 1599 ^^ revive the Greek
drama with chorus. Up to the time of Henry VIII.
these pageants were out-door processions and
spectacular shows conducted mainly by hired
performers. But early in that king's reign a
marked change took place. In 15 12 the king
with eleven others took part in a masked ball with
pageantry at Richmond. From this beginning, in
which the novelty was not in the masking but in
the high rank of the performers, sprang the
masques of Thomas Campion, Ben Jonson, James
Shirley and others. The aristocratic character
of the masques may be gathered from the most
frequent place of their performance — the Palace
at Whitehall. One of these entertainments given
in 1632-3 cost no less a sum than twenty-one
THE PEOPLE AS MUSICIANS lOI
thousand pounds, of which over one thousand
was given to the musicians. In the next year
another was given the text of which, paradoxically
enough, was by the most eminent of Puritan poets,
Milton, his Comus being performed at Ludlow
Castle, Shropshire. The music was by the famous
composer, Plenry Lawes. Probably the last
masque written was Arne's " Alfred," produced
in 1740, and in which " Rule, Britannia " first
occurs. There could be no better close to this
chapter, and to our consideration of secular
music as a social factor in Great Britain, than this
reference to the origin of what has been declared
to be the finest patriotic song ever composed.
CHAPTER VII
CHURCH music: from the introduction of
CHRISTIANITY TO PURITAN TIMES.
What the music was which the blue-robed bards
performed when exercising their office in connec-
tion with sacrificial or other worship we do not
know. All we can say is that music was regarded
as an integral act of worship : to lack a funeral
song was esteemed the greatest misfortune, since
the belief prevailed that without it the spirits of
the dead would enjoy neither rest nor happiness
in the world to come. But there is hardly ground
for cYcn a reliable guess as to its nature.
Nor do we know what music was used by the
first Christian Church in these islands. Tertullian
tells us that Christianity had been introduced as
early as 203 a.d., and the attendance of three
Briti;h bishops at the Council of Aries in 314 has
often been commented on. Both dates are
earlier tlian that of the foundation of the first
known Christian school of church music. For
this was that founded in Rome by Pope Sylvester
in 330 A.D. Nor does this help us much in regard
to music subsequent to it. For we know nothing
CHURCH MUSIC IO3
of the music taught in the school save that the
music of the Jews having been antiphonal, that
of the early Christians would probably be so too ;
and this is borne out by Pliny the Younger, who,
writing in the second century, says that this was
the method adopted by the Christians in his day.
The first Christian Church in Britain was prior
also to S. Ambrose, bishop of Milan 374 — 97,
the first great apostle of Christian church music.
He adopted the eight Greek scales,^ out
of which to frame his chants, and also the Greek
system of singing each syllable to only a single
note. Three hundred years later his method was
brought into England, but seems to have gained
no foothold.
It has been suggested that the first British
Christians probably adopted the tunes used in
heathen worship, and that among our carols,
which in their original form and for centuries after-
wards were sung-dances and often secular, " are
remnants of ancient sacrificial chants and melodies."
The use of such music is not nearly so unlikely as
those unacquainted with musical history might
naturally suppose it to be. Jealousy of " the devil
having all the best tunes " is almost as old as vocal
worship itself. The words translated " the hind of
the morning" in the heading of Psalm xxii. Revised
'^ Not four onljr, as stated by all but the most recent invcstigati^rs.
104 "^^^ STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Version, are " probably the words of some well-
known song of the day," ^ which may have been
secular, and they are believed to indicate that the
psalm was to be sung to the same tune. The same
remark applies to the words " The silent dove of
them that are afar off.'" S. Columba was trained
by an Irish bard named Gemmains, and doubtless
from him learnt that art of singing which so won
the hearts and ears of the Irish people. Time
and again the Christian church has turned secular
music to sacred purposes and made it her own.'
Mr. F. J. Crowest is of opinion that a species of
monotonic chant with inflections was in use in
Gaul before the time of Ambrose at Milan, and
that the three bishops who attended the Council
at Aries in 314 probably brought it back with
them. Two French bishops, Germanus of
Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes, were made
respectively bishop and co-adjutor bishop of
Sodor and Man, early in the fifth century, the
former dying 448 a.d. And they, too, probably
brought the Gallican church chant with them.
If so, this Gallican chant would probably
displace any heathen temple tunes which were in
use, and be added to any church songs which
^ " A Handbook to the Psalms," Rev. E. M. Holmes, LL.B., p. xxiv.
^ Ps. hi, R.V.
' Sec, e.g. Chronological Table under 1070 and 1360.
CHURCH MUSIC IO5
those who first planted Christianity In Britain
had brought with them, or any local British use
which the native church had evolved for itself.
It has a direct bearing on this question that up
till late in the seventh centur)^ the British church
had its own local usage as regards the shape of a
monk's tonsure — deemed as a point of importance
in those days ! — and the date at which Easter
was to be kept. S. Austin, or Augustine, first
Archbishop of Canterbury, was sent here with
forty monks, to convert the Anglo-Saxons and
establish the authority of the Roman See, by the
S. Gregory who is the reputed author of the
" Gregorian " chants. But he did not get on
well with the British bishops whom he met in
conference in 603 a.d. This makes it the more
probable that the British church had an indepen-
dent musical " use " of its own.
But British independence in regard to Easter
and the tonsure was abandoned after much con-
tention at the Council held at Whitby in 664 a.d.
And within four years of the adoption of Roman
ritual, Roman, or at least Milanese, ritual-music
or " plain-song " was adopted too. For in 668
Theodore of Tarsus and Adrian of Naples came
to England and taught the Ambrosian system
of plainsong. In this chant, already referred to,
the melody is very short, varying from five to
I06 THE STORY OF BRITISH xMUSIC
seven notes (a modern Anglican chant has ten) ;
and as the syllabic Greek method was followed,
the style was declamatory in character. It does
not seem to have spread in Great Britain, for we
hear no more of it. Ten years later Benedict
Biscop sent to Rome for singers for York Minster,
and they brought Gregory's system. A dis-
tinguishing feature of this was the singing of a
syllable to two or more notes. This gave the
music a sphere and character of its own, and on
this account Gregory has been called the founder
of modern music. To the present writer,
however, it is impossible to believe that music
was thousands of years old before anyone thought
of singing one syllable to a plurality of notes !
The credit due to Gregory — great enough — is
more probably that of adapting to church music
some contemporary system other than that of the
Greek dramatic chorus. In 680 a.d., two years
after the Roman singers had arrived at York,
Pope Agatho sent no less a person than the
Precentor of S. Peter's at Rome, a man named
John, on a similar mission. He established a
number of music schools in Northumbria, and the
Gregorian system became universal. The custom
of sending to Rome for singers lasted well over a
century, perhaps much longer, for " Paul the
Deacon " arrived here to teach singing in 800 a.d.
CHURCH MUSIC IO7
It was also customary to send English priests to
Rome for instruction in church music : and it
was in all probability to avoid the necessity for
this that a school for the training of ecclesiastics
in liturgical music was established at Canterbury,
about the period of which we are speaking, though
the exact date is uncertain.
Eusebius, born about 264 a.d., speaking of the
consecration of new churches, says " there was a
place appointed for those who sang psalms, youths
and virgins, old men and young " ; and one of
the few things known about the Therapeutists,
a sect of Christian ascetics prior to 300 a.d., is that
they " selected from the rest two choirs, one of
men and one of women, who sang alternately."
But, this apart, the earliest Christian choirs of
which we have any record were male choirs. The
earliest trebles we hear of were boys. S. Odo of
Clugny (died 942 a.d.) and the even more famous
musician Guido of Arezzo, born about 995 a.d.,
both mention their choir-boys. These sang in
octaves with the men. Choirs in Britain do not
appear to have included women before the
Commonwealth. The high position occupied
by our Chapels Royal will be referred to in
Part II of this book. But provision for choirs and
their training was made in connection with cathe-
drals all over the country. The first choir-
I08 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
school was that founded for S. Paul's Cathedral,
London, about 1042. After over eight and a
half centuries it is still in existence and is a model
of its kind ! The ofhce of master of the choristers
cannot be traced back so long, the first known
instance being in the reign of Edward IV., 1473.
Boys usually received their education and board,
and when their voices broke often were awarded
a bursary or " exhibition " to enable them to go
to a great school and university. They also
enjoyed some peculiar privileges. They could
demand a fee from every newly installed officer
of the church, and could levy " spur money "
from all who attended the service in riding habit.
In this latter case the wearer of the spurs could
require the youthful tax-gatherer to sing his
gamut {i.e. scale, especially that of G) perfectly.
If he hesitated or failed he got no fee ! The boys
of the Chapel Royal were the last to abandon this
custom. Another privilege, though not confined
to choir-boys, except in cathedrals, was very
generally assigned to them, and largely for musical
reasons. This was in connection with what surely
was one of the most anomalous and absurd practices
the Church has ever been responsible for — that
of annually electing a " boy-bishop," who for
three weeks ruled over his superiors and con-
ducted every service but that of the Mass,
CHLTRCH MUSIC IO9
including preaching from the cathedral pulpit !
It is difficult to trace the custom to its origin.
Warton finds germs of it as early as 876 a.d. in
the Synod of Constantinople which anathematised
(in vain !) the practice of dressing up laymen in
episcopal apparel and personating bishops. Des-
pite their several privileges choir-boys were often
brutally treated, as we know from a poem written
by Thomas Tusser (1523-80) and others.^ And
the election of a boy-bishop may have arisen from
a crude sense of justice, and by way of a check
on ill-tempered clerics and " masters of the
children," through giving the boys an annual
opportunity of retaliating on bullies ! At Salis-
buiy, and possibly elsewhere, the boy-bishop
had the presentation to any prebendal stall
which fell vacant during his term of office ! The
practice is said to have encouraged school work
among the boys by giving them a foretaste of
the sweets of office. Anyway, these beam
[i.e. bairn] bishops as they were called were
appointed annually over the greater part of
Europe, and though in Britain the custom was
probably an importation, it took deep root.
Not only did the cathedrals provide for this
temporary puerile administration by Statute, in-
^ Fro'n 14S ; [•> 1603 both men and b'jys could be tak'.'u by coinpulsioii
for tht Chapels Royal and certain cathtdial choir*.
no THE STORY OF BRITISH iMUSIC
eluding ricli episcopal vestments " handsome and
elegantly shaped " — vide the York Capitulary
Acts of 1367 — but many parish churches placed
themselves under the same jurisdictio.u from S.
Nicholas' Day to Holy Innocents' Day— the
annual period of the boy-bishop's reign. It
hardly needs pointing out that Salisbury Cathedral
did more than any other to form the musical
" Use " of the Anglican Church, though other
cathedrals had their local peculiarities — York, for
instance. One of the many evidences of this is in
the elaborate musical arrangements made for the
institution of the chorister-bishop in the Proces-
sionale issued in 1566. In the year 1299 Edward I.
permitted one of these boy-bishops to say vespers
before him at his chapel at Heton near Newcastle-
on-Tyne, and liberally rewarded the puerile
prelate and other boys who had sung with him
on the occasion. Forty years later Edward III.
gave thirteen shillings and sixpence to one of
these boy-bishops for singing before him in his
chamber — so perhaps this was a secular per-
formance. It will surprise many to know that
the analogue of the boy-bishop, the girl-priestess,
was not wholly wanting. For in the year 1278
an injunction was given to the Benedictine
Nunnery of Godstone in Oxfordshire by Arch-
bishop Peckham " that on Innocents' Day the
CHURCH MUSIC III
public prayers should not any more he said in the
church of that monastery fer Parvidas, i.e. little
girls." The quotation is from Brand's Popular
Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 428.
Music formed a large part of these absurd
ceremonies both in the church and out of it, as
we learn from a proclamation made by Henry VIII.
on July 22, 1542, in suppression of them. " Chil-
dren be straingelie decked and apparayled to
counterfeit Priests, Bishops and women, and to be
ledde with songes and dances from house to
house, blessing the people, and gathering of
money, and boyes do sing masse,^ and preache
in the pulpitt, with suche other unfittinge and
inconvenient usages, rather to the derysyon than
anie true glorie of God."
In Queen Mary's reign the practice was re-
established and finally prohibited in that of
Queen Elizabeth.
We cannot fully understand our own country
without knowing something of neighbouring
peoples. Mention must therefore be made of a
custom, too barbaric for detail, whereby on the
continent, chiefly in Italy but also in France and
Germany, the soprano voice of boys was preserved
against change to tenor or bass, and the treble
I Perhaps a lutcr abuse, saying of Alass being an excepted ofTice in niosf
account*.
112 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
compass retained with the power and interpretive
maturity of a man's voice. This was done
mainly with a view to operatic singers, and it is
said that the manhood of four thousand boys was
sacrificed annually to this vile pseudo-artistic
Moloch/ The practice existed for ages and
lingered on well into the nineteenth century.
Despite ecclesiastical canons and a Papal Bull
prohibiting the employment of artificial soprani
in church choirs they were so employed largely,
and Riemann tells us that evirati^ as the Italians
call them, were admitted into the Papal Chapel
itself at the beginning of the nineteenth century!
But though such singers visited our operatic stage
I can find no trace of them in our church choirs.
Like many another Institution that of the boy
bishop achieved an end probably little dreamt of
by those responsible for its beginnings. Such adepts
did choir-boys become in acting that they were
selected to perform in the mystery-plays, morality
and miracle-plays which were such a prominent
feature of town and even village life in the
fourteenth and succeeding centuries. These began
as liturgy plays given in the church. They were
in Latin and dealt with events in the life of Christ.
Some examples discovered by Professor Skcat have
been published in Professor Manlv's Pre-
^ Authority : arucle Eunuch in Chambers' Encyclopedia.
CHURCH MUSIC II3
Shakespearean Drama. The earliest instance may
be dated 967, according to Mr. Ernest Rhys/ This
is an important date, as it has been often assumed
that we have no dramatic record of any kind in
these islands earlier than the Norman Conquest !
That event, indeed, seems to have assumed the
character in many people's minds of what
acousticians call a " node " — behind which they
can see nothing ! William the Conqueror sailed
forth on trackless seas and what are now the
British Isles kindly emerged from the depths of
the ocean to afford him foothold ! Thus Dr.
Naumann quite seriously asks his readers to believe
that " Poetry and song were introduced into
England from Northern France " ! * About the
close of the thirteenth century the liturgy-play
outgrew the church and became a town pageant,
each trade-guild making itself responsible for
some particular play or scene. How great a
place these plays took in the life of the people
may be judged from the fact that, reckoning the
scenes separately, York had iifty-f&ur, Wakefield
thirty-two, Chester twenty-four, Coventry forty-
one. The place which music took in these
" mysteries " is not easy to determine but was
probably considerable. The experience which
^ See Intr-j !aciion to " Everyman and other Old Religiou» Plays,"
2 History of Music, p. 237.
114 '^^^ SIORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
choristers gained in these plays led to their
ultimately taking part in the plays of Shakespeare,
Ben Jonson, and other master-minds. For it
must be remembered that till Charles II. *s time
it was not customary, though it was not unknown,
for women to take part in public performances,
and so slow was the progress of the innovation
that some seventy years later the treble part in
Handel's oratorios was sung by boys !
Instruments have been used in Christian wor-
ship from almost the earliest times. A flute is
known to have been used in celebrations of the
Last Supper in i8o a.d.
Justin Alartyr, born about lOOA.D.andEuscbius,
born about 264 a.d., are quoted by Sir John
Hawkins in his History of jXIusic (Bk. IV. cap 32) as
giving similar testimony.
" If you accompany your voices with the lyre
or cithara," said Clemens Alexandrinus in the
second century, " you will incur no censure."
Augustine urged the " singing of psalms to the
accompaniment of lyre or psaltery."
S. Ambrose (b. cir. 340 a.d.) employed Instru-
ments in the church at Milan with such effect
that by degrees the practice became general. The
first instrument which we hear of as being used
in churches in Great Britain is the organ. An
old manuscript known as the Utrecht Psalter,
CHURCH MUSIC II5
generally supposed to be of the fifth or sixth
century, indicates the existence of organs in
England as early as the time of Augustine. This
was before the introduction of organs into the
Roman churches, which took place under Pope
Vitalian in 666 a.d. But the well-known in-
dependence of the British churches is sufficient
to account for this earlier action. Vitalian's
missionaries, Theodore and Adrian, also are
reputed to have broi ght the art of organ-playing
to this country. Quite possibly they did so and
found themselves to some extent forestalled.
Still another claimant for the honour is to be
found in Bishop Aldhelm (died 709 a.d,), who is
said to have introduced an organ into England,
" a mighty instrument with innumerable tones,
blown with bellows, and enclosed in a gilded
case." S. Dunstan, in the reign of King Edgar,
caused one to be erected in the abbey at Glaston-
bury. S. Aldhelm three hundred years earlier had
written of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers gilding
the pipes of their organs. But it does not appear
certain that they were used in churches. Three
hundred years after Dunstan's time a large number
of instruments, including organs, were used in
churches, as we shall find in Part II, Cap 2. But
a great objection was taken to this practice both
in this country and abroad, and it appears to have
Il6 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
been discontinued, except in regard to organs,
which were retained. These were usually small ;
there were several in a large church, and some
were portable and were lent by one church to
another for special occasions. For centuries the
organ in churches was played by a priest or monk.
But in 1473, and probably earlier, the office of
master of the children, or as we should say choir-
master, was established. Holy Orders were not
necessary to the holder of it. And as w'e learn
from Sanderson's Antiquities of the Abbey or
Cathedral Church oj Durham, one of the duties of
its holder was to " play on the organs every princi-
pal day when the monks sang their high mass,
and at evensong ; but when the monks were at
mattens, and service at midnight, one of them
played on the organs himself, and none else."
Hence though Tallis is the first lay organist whose
name we know there were probably others before
him. From the Statutes of Durham, revised in
155:;, we learn that "the minor canons, clerks
and other ministers of the church, choristers,
grammar scholars, cooks and poor men shall use
an upper vestment of the same colour
the choristers, grammar scholars and under-cook
two yards and a half at three shillings and four-
pence."
Bells were used to summon people to church at
CHURCH MUSIC II7
a very early period. Also for other purposes.
S. Columba had one he called " God's Vengeance"
on which oaths were taken. In 1870 a very old
Celtic bell was found at Balnahannait in Glenlyon,
Scotland. In England bells were rung on the
death of ^thelwald in 905. This is, I think, the
first notice of them in Anglo-Saxon annals. Other
dates in regard to bells will be found in the
Chronological Table (See Appendix).
Between two great centres of early Christian
church music, Milan and Rome, a marked difference
at one time existed. The singing at the former was
taken part in by the whole congregation — S.
Augustine refers to the intense impression made
upon him by the great body of sound ; in the
Eternal City it was confined to a select body of
singers. The rival systems were brought before the
Council of Laodiceain 367 a.d., which decided that
"None but the canons and the choir who sing out
of the parcliment books shall presume to sing in the
church." In this matter, as in the system of
chanting, Rome prevailed over Milan ; and we
must picture the singing as confined mainly to a
choir of monks and boys in the great collegiate
and monastic churches, and of laymen and boys
in parish churches. At what period lay choir-
men began to wear the surplice I cannot say.
The white robe of the Druids was probably
Il8 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
much like a surplice. The word originally meant
the outer robe worn over the fur garment of a
bachelor. The Celts wore a garment of this
kind over their sheep-skin clothing. The choir
would be stationed in the chancel. The west end
choir-gallery is a post-Reformation feature.
In pre-Reformation days the liturgy proper
was wholly in Latin. But from time to time
additions were made to it, and these being regarded
as ex liturgica were sometimes in the vernacular.
Thus on great festivals vernacular hymns were
sung in Germany, and I should imagine in this
country too. Chaucer wrote a hymn to the
Blessed Virgin in English. And though the most
famous of such hymns in his day, the Angelus
ad Virginem, was in Latin, the oldest known
copy includes an English translation, " Gabriel,
from ebene king." Chaucer represents his poor
Scholar as solacing himself with it. The music
is extremely interesting as being the oldest known
Anglo-Saxon sacred song, and also owing to its
extreme tunefulness. On this account and be-
cause it is not to be found in the older histories
we give it here. It is from the manuscript
numbered 248 in the Arundel Collection, now
in the British Museum, and was discovered by
that prince of liturgical antiquarians, Mr. Henry
Bradshaw. It was composed about 1250 a.d., not
CHURCH MUSIC 119
many years after Sumcr is iciimrn in, and therefore
belongs to the First Period of the English School.
The notes in the original are written with great
exactitude over the syllables to which they are to
be sung. But they are timeless, hence the
rhythm can be only inferred from the verbal
accents. These can be made to agree with the
musical accents in both triple and quadruple time,
and the hymn has been written in both by
recent transcribers. But the tune seems to me
to have so much more natural a swing in triple
time than in quadruple that I give it that form.
And this is confirmed by a harmonization of the
tune in three parts which was made about a
hundred and fifty years later, that is, near the
end of the fourteenth century. Of course in
the original there are no bar-lines, and while
giving the same syllables to the same notes
another editor, even though adhering to triple
time, might give a somewhat different rhythm.
In the three-part setting the melody is slightly
different from the older version, having perhaps
been altered to make it easier to harmonize.
I20 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
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122 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
It will probably strike the reader that the pitch
of the tune is rather high. This is because it is
written in one of the old church " modes " —
the Mixolydian, G to G in the modern scale
of C Major, that is, without making F sharp.
And before the introduction of inflected notes
(sharps and flats) these modes could only be played
on keyed instruments (which had no " black "
notes) and could only be written at one pitch.
But they could be sung at any pitch, and this
tune was probably sung much lower than as here
written. Men would sing it an octave lower
anyway, and it is so placed in the three-part
version, where, however, it contains two inflectior.s.
One of the most curious of the liturgical
excrescences which were evolved was the " trope,"'
as to the nature and origin of which some little
explanation is necessary.
In the early Christian Church there was a
practice of speaking or singing with the spirit
but without intelligible words, which has con-
siderably puzzled commentators. S. Paul, it
will be remembered, tells the Corinthians
(i Cor. xiv, 15) that he " will sing with the spirit
and will sing with the understanding also." One
of the most interesting facts in connection v^ith
the historv of church music is that it exhibits a
similar phenomenon as recurrent if not constant
CHURCH MUSIC 123
through the ages, not excepting the present day :
for those who can see below the surface find it
in the fervour with which congregations sing
meaningless words, or intelligible words which
they don't mean, in our own generation. In the
early church this phenomenon was frankly
recognised and took the form of singing long
melodies merely to some vowel sound. It is not
known exactly when the practice began. But a
high authority, Dr. W. H. Frere, thinks " it is
possible that part, at any rate, of the revision which
S. Gregory carried out was directed towards
smoothing and curtailing these jubila," ' and he
quotes a passage from John the Precentor (who, as
already mentioned, came as a musical missionary
to England in 680 a.d.) in support of this theory.
Whether this be so or not, it became clear by the
eighth or ninth century that singers were not
contented with the amount of jubila which the
Gregorian music-text contained, and began to
supplement these by importing new ones. So,
side by side with the old chant, but distinct from
it, there grew up new musical phrases or com-
plete melodies prefixed, intercalated, or appended
to the recognised music-text. S. Austin, first
Archbishop of Canterbury, 596 a.d., bears witness
both to the natural inclination to sing merely to
1 Introduction to the Winchester Troper : p. vii.
124 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
some vowel sound, and to the fact that it was a
known thing in his day. The Gregorian Anti-
phonale Missarum recognises the same tendency
and provides a good deal to satisfy the craving for
melodies without words. Later on words were
added to the jubila ; and later still words and
music were composed simultaneously. These
additions accumulated till it became necessary
to collect them into books separate from the
original service books. Such a collection was
called a Troper, or Troparion, and one of the
most famous is the Winchester Troper, from
which our frontispiece is taken (see also page 150).
By the constitutions of Archbishop Winchelsey
(1305 A.D.) it was required that every church in
the province of Canterbury should be provided
with a Legend, an Antiphonary, a Grail, a Psalter,
a Troper, an Ordinal, a Missal and a Manual.
The copying of choir-books was a matter of great
labour, and the books consequently were very
costly. Two Antiphonaries cost the monastery
of Crabhuse in Norfolk twenty-six marks in the
year 1424 ; a common Missal cost live marks —
a year's income of a cleric at that time. In
1 549 the number of books required, or in common
use, had increased to twelve, so that substitution
of a single " Booke of Common Praier " must
have come as a financial relief. In the Roman
CHURCH MUSIC I25
Catholic Church tropes were banished under the
revision of the Latin service-books by the Council
of Trent, unless they are regarded as surviving in
one or two extant " Sequences." But some
tropes had sufficient merit to preserve their
existence in a separate form and there are two
with which the reader is probably quite familiar,
for they are frequently sung to the hymns 0/
the Fathei s love begotten and sons and, daughters
{e.g. in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1904
edition, Nos. 58 and 146).
Though I gather that the phenomenon was
rare, Dr. Frcre tells us that some of the later
tropes w^ere in English.
Carols were common at a very early period.
At first the word meant a dance or dance-song,
and it is used in this sense by Cliaucer. The
celebrated Boar's Head Carol is the most famous
of the secular type, and probably dates from the
time of Dunstable ((t/. i.|53). But later on carols
re-acquired a religious character (for carols on
the Nativity are said to date from the fourth
century, though not, I think, in this country).
And these sacred carols were sometimes in Latin,
sometimes in English, and frequently contained
a mixture of both ! This latter curious feature
survives to the present day. Carols, therefore,
more than anything else, are typical of the
126 THE STORY OF B.^ITISH MUSIC
transition stage in the language of worship.
The chief change wrought by the Reformation
from a musical standpoint was in making the whole
service vernacular and thus immensely increasing
the possibilities of congregational singing. The
English reformers were far more sympathetic to
music than were those of Geneva. In great part
they retained the old Plainsong but adapted it
to English words. Tallis' Responses (where the
Plainsong is mostly to be found, as was customary
then, in the tenor part) andMarbeck's Communion
Service are examples. (Tallis, it is believed, was
only very lukewarm as a reformer, but Marbeck
escaped martydom only by the intervention of
powerful friends.) Both are heard in the farthest
corner of the earth to which the Anglican Church
has penetrated. New music also came to be
written for the Kyrie, Creed, Sanctus and Gloria
of the English Communion Service, which took
the place of the Latin Mass, and for the Canticles
at Morning and Evening Prayer, and has continued
to be written since. Two new musical forms, the
anthem and Anglican chant, also emerged. One
might almost add the sacred cantata and oratorio,
for though the seeds of these are to be found
in pre-Reformation Passion music (the earliest
extant example of which is English) and in the
Laudi Spirituali of S. Phillip Neri, no great
CHURCH MUSIC 12/
development took place till a century and a half
or so after the Reformation, and then it became
phenomenal, but almost exclusively in countries
predominantly Protestant. But the most striking
musical effect of the Reformation is not to be
found in the evolution of the largest form in
which sacred music is cast, the oratorio, but,
paradoxically enough, in one of the smallest —
the hymn-tune. For the development of this
has been colossal. In pre-Reformation days such
a thing as a hymn-book was unknown. "^ The first
Christian hymn-book was Luther's Kirchenlieder^
issued in 1524. If we include metrical versions
of the psalms under the title " hymns," the next
of note was the Psalms of Marot and Beza,
published in 1542, which went through edition
after edition, and became " the Psalmi-book of the
Reformation." A facsimile of one of its pages
appears on page 183. The first English psalter
of note was that by Sternhold and Hopkins,
published in 1548 or 1549 in London. This has
no tunes : the first musical edition was issued in
1556 in Geneva by English reformers who had
gone thither to escape the Marian persecution.
Like the French psalter this book contained the
melody only, and also was an epoch-making work.
It contained the first instalment of those " church
* Sec, however, p. 141.
128 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
tunes," such as the " Old Hundredth," some of
which at least have been sung in practically all
Christian churches Sunday after Sunday from
that day to this. For close on a century and a
half this work remained in effect the authorised
metrical psalm-book of the Anglican Church.
Hymns as we now understand them were unknown
at this time. None of the psalters mentioned so
far contained all the psalms. The first one that
did was an English work — the author being Robert
Crowley, who published his book in 1549.
Strange to say it provided only one tune — in form
not unlike a double chant — for the whole of the
psalms ! Between the middle of the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries no fewer than two hun-
dred and twenty hymnals were published in
Great Britain alone. A modern hymn-book
sometimes contains over a thousand hymns, and
approximately as many four-part tunes. Of a
single hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern, twenty
million copies were sold in less than twenty years.
Only by realization of such facts as these can any
adequate estimate be formed of the stupendous
effect on popular musical development brought
about by the adoption of the vernacular tongue as
the language of worship. Nor did the Reformed
churches only benefit by this movement. The
Unreformed Church has largely increased her use
CHURCH MUSIC I 29
of "hymns in the language of tlic people. Indeed,
one writer has stated that the Roman Catholic
Church uses no fewer than forty such hymns by
a single author, Dr. Bonar, and he a Protestant.
Against the advantages to music arising from
the great religious upheaval of the sixteenth
century must be put the grave set-back caused
by the dissolution of the monasteries. In their
early days these institutions had been the centre
of musical as of all other culture — the schools of
the nation, — yet not, I think, quite so exclusively
in regard to music as has usually been claimed for
them. It is not, however, easy to determine
what loss their disruption involved. For civilisa-
tion had outgrown its monastic cradle. The town
had taken the place of castle and convent as a
place of safety and nursery of the gentler arts.
Moreover, if the monastic schools were gone, the
cathedral choir schools remained. In saying this
one need not, in respect of the first century or so
after the Reformation, make an exception of
Scotland. For though the cathedral system
lapsed, the Sang-Scules were for a time main-
tained ; and despite the music taught in them
having apparently been of a very rudimentary
kind, they had these advantages over the English
system, that they were not confined to cathedral
cities, or their membership to churcli clioirs.
K
130 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
In [music, as in other things, extremes meet.
The Fathers of the Genevan School prohibited
all worship-music except unisonous psalm-tunes.
The Fathers of the Council of Trent would have
prohibited all but unisonous Plainsong had not
the genius of Palestrina and the broadmindedness
and artistic sympathies of the Pope averted such
a disaster. The Anglican Reformers were much
more statesmanlike and judicial than either of
the extremists. Cranmer set the Litany in 1544
to " a sober and distinct note," but no artificial
restriction was placed on musical development.
A strong party, however, arose which was not
satisfied with this discriminating and temperate
attitude, and hankered after the drastic action of
Geneva — the Rome of the Reformation, as it may
be called. This party acquired the name of
*' Puritans " in Elizabeth's reign. And as early
as 1562 they were so powerful that a motion in
Convocation to put down organs and " curious
singing " was lost by only one vote ! Where a
disciple of Geneva obtained church preferment
the choral service was suppressed. A tract, The
Praise of Music, says that about 1567 " not so few
as TOO organs were taken down, and the pipes
sold to make pewter dishes." In the homily
on the " Place of Prayer " organs and " curious
singing" are ranked with image worship.
CHURCH MUSIC 131
The Commonwealth enabled the Puritans to
show what they would do when possessed of
power and a free hand. And as regards church
music they used their opportunity ruthlessly.
Most of the organs in England were destroyed.
Not quite all. The York organ was one of the
very few which escaped. A very fine new instru-
ment had been erected in 1632 which inspired
both pen and pencil. Thus the author of An
Account ej a Tour Made Through a Great Part of
England, A.D. 1634, evidently regarded it as one
of the wonders of the day : — " York ; there we
saw and heard a faire, large, high organ, newly
built, richly gilt, carved and painted ; and a
deep and sweet snowy row of quiristers." The
York organ stood unmolested, save by the ravages
of time, for over a century and a half, for it was
one of some half-dozen privileged instruments
at the existence of which even Puritans winked.
Moreover it was used as an adjunct to worship
even during the Commonwealth, as we know from
the curious pages of Master Thomas Mace's
Musick^s Monument. The author of this work
was a lay-clerk (choirman) of Trinity College,
Cambridge, before the Civil War, and an expert
on the lute. He travelled considerably, going as
far north as Scotland, and was shut up in York
during the siege of 1644. This was fortunate for
132 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
posterity, as he gives us one of the only two accounts
by contemporary musicians of Cathedral music
during the Puritan ascendancy. The only other
I can recall is that in which Magalotti speaks of
the Psalm-singing at Exeter as " first by one alone,
then by all together." " Now you must take
notice," writes Mace, " that they then had a
custom in that church (which I hear not of in any
other Cathedral) which was that always before
the sermon the whole congregation sang a Psalm,
together with the Quire and the Organ ; and
you must know that there was then a most
Excellent-large-plump-lusty-full-speaking - Organ
which cost (as I am credible informed) a thousand
pounds. This organ, I say (when the Psalm was
set before the sermon) being let out into all its
Fulness of Stops, together with the Quire began
the Psalm. But when That vast-concording-
Unity of the whole congregational-Chorus came
(as I might say) Thundering in, even so as it made
the very Ground shake under us ; (Oh, the unutter-
able ravishing soul's delight !) in which I was so
transported and wrapt up into High contemplations
that there was no room left in my whole man —
viz, Body, Soul and Spirit, for anything below
Divine and Eleavcnly Raptures." Voluntaries
were probably anathema at this period — at all
events. Mace names neither music nor player ;
CHURCH MUSIC I33
but the organist who thus unconsciously made his
mark on the pages of a contemporary chronicler
was evidently fames Hutchinson, who held office
from 1633 to 1662.
Worse than the destruction of organs was the
absolutely wanton destruction of choir-books, for
in many instances these could not be replaced.
In doing this, however, the soldiery were acting
outside any instructions known to have been
given them. To anyone combining a love of
music with the historical and antiquarian sense,
it is very difficult to speak temperately of this
senseless waste of the irreplaceable treasures of
past ages. But justice demands that one should
remem.ber the provocation under which the
Puritans acted. In this great upheaval of
Christendom w^e cannot entirely segregate our
own country. And on the Continent composition
had taken the form of absurd elaboration. Puzzle
canons, in which an intricate and lengthy piece
was represented by a few written notes only,
were common. Josquin des Pres wrote a mass of
this kind the solution of which was to be found in
the numerals on a dice ! Alasses were \vrittcn on
themes from not merely secular but obscene songs.
Worse still, most of the choir sang the secular
words while two or three prominent voices in
the front row of the ch(jir san^ the lituro-ical
134 '^^^ STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
words. * To the everlasting credit of our British
composers, they were guilty of neither senseless
elaboration nor secular ity. Only three English
masses are known composed on a secular theme.
It is the same theme in each case and the masses
are believed to have been written by way of friendly
competition. But our English Puritans, driven
to Geneva by the Marian persecution, were
naturally influenced by the drastic view^s of those
among whom they found haven of refuge. And at
home they had more than enough to cause a
revulsion of feeling. Nobody who burlesques
his own religion, or treats it with levity, can expect
other people to respect it. And this was precisely
what had been done. The puerilities which had
been enacted in church in connection with the
mystery plays, as described by Mr. J. C. Fillmore
in a passage too long to quote here, are almost
incredible, as are the buffooneries of the boy-bishop
celebrations. In addition, fairs, with booths and
dancing, were customarily held in the churchyards,
even the porch being sometimes hired out by way
of a market stall ! The abuses in connection with
the May Day celebrations, in themselves harmless,
were appalling as given by contemporary writers.
If the Puritan soldiery stabled their horses in
' Authority: arti le "Mass" by W. S. Rockstro, and " Palestrina " by
h. H. Pember, K.C., in Grove's Dictionary of Muuc and Musicians.
CHURCH MUSIC
135
churches, it was different and sterner, but not
greater, irreverence than the same buildings had
often been subjected to by those who ridiculed
their iron-grey and severe view of life.
The Puritan did not object to music in itself,
nor even to merry music, but only to instrumental
and uncongregational music in connection with
worship. The former objection he held in
common with a large party in the church in the
early centuries, and with the Greek Church to this
day. He did not object even to dance tunes
provided they were not danced to nor sung to the
lewd words which were customary. Shakespeare
in an oft quoted passage speaks of the Puritan who
" sings psalms to hornpipes." So doing, the
singer could, as we have already seen, claim
precedents among the high priests of both Judaism
and Christianity ! Psalms were not the only things
which Puritans adapted to secular songs. They
were very fond of singing carols to them, though
these were sometimes adaptations of psalms.
So much so that Warton credits the Puritans
with inventing the serious carol — erroneously, as
the religious carol dates from tlic fourth century.
The leaders of Puritanism acted very differently
from the less reputable of their followers. Milton's
father had been a composer of repute in his day.
The poet was himself an organist of some ability
136 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
and often played to Cromwell on an organ which
had been removed to Hampton Court Palace
from one of the Oxford colleges. The Protector
appointed a Professor of Music at Oxford, and
gave instructions for Cambridge University to
confer a degree in music on Charles Colman —
a strange proceeding if all music was suppressed
as several historians aver ! That sturdy Puritan
John Bunyan in the second part of his Pilgrim'' s
Progress represents the Interpreter as entertaining
his guests v/ith music during meals ; and Prudence,
Christiana and Mercy as playing on the virginals,
viol and lute. Bunyan played on a flute which
his jailor could never find — for he had cut it out
of a leg of his prison chair ! Evelyn the diarist
records matters of musical importance eleven
times : being a zealous Royalist he would certainly
have noted the fact had he in his journey through
England found music languishing. In view of
the Puritan horror of stage plays it speaks volumes
for their appreciation of music itself that opera
was tolerated if not actually encouraged ! Yet
so it was. Moreover, for a time there was actually
a daily performance of opera ! The chief of these
works were the Siege of Rhodes, in which a Mrs.
Colman took the part of lanthe and is therefore
said to be the first woman to appear in public as
an actress ; T^he Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru,
CHURCH MUSIC I37
and The History of Sir Fraiicis Drake. It has
been suggested that Cromwell had a political
purpose in these anti-Spanish and naval subjects.
Perhaps so, but there can be no doubt of his great
fondness for music on its own account. He was
the first of our rulers to establish regular State
concerts. And during the last ten years of his
rule thirty-four new books or reprints of or on
music were published, a large number for that
period. Also the first regular music publisher,
John Playford, established himself . Of the books
referred to, The English Dancing Master, which
became a classic in its way, was one ; most of the
books are instrumental works, and only two are
psalm-tune books. This proportion of sacred
works to secular is symptomatic, and goes far to
confirm Mr. Henry Davey's dictum that under
the Puritan regime sacred music languished,
ccular flourished.
PART II
TECHNICAL
CHAPTER I
THE EARLY EMINENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN FOR MUSIC.
In the ages preceding Christianity one of the
first nations to acquire a world-wide fame for
its religious music was the Jewish people :
hence the Babylonians demanded of their Hebrew
captives that they should " sing us one of the
songs of Zion." Among Christian peoples the
Italians, and particularly the cities of Milan and
Rome, were the first to win for themselves a
similar reputation. But the first nation, least-
ways in the West, to be assigned by its neigh-
bours to a position of special honour in regard
to its secular music, its folk-song, was apparently
a British people — the Irish. And as we shall
see, though they had not originated the chief
school of Christian Church song, the Cantus
Romanus, Irish monks were among its earliest
and most expert students and disseminators.
Where the first ecclesiastical experiments in
harmony were made is not easy to determine
138
EARLY EMINENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN 1 39
with certainty. Claims have been lodged on
behalf of both Spain, Ireland and Flanders,
and the last named country holds the record
for the earliest written examples. But the
first country to become pre-eminent for a
distinct school of harmonic church composition
was France — or ratlier Paris, which, as has already
been pointed out, enjoyed this distinction during
the period of which the twelfth century is the
centre. Nevertheless we shall find that if France
was first, Great Britain, even in respect of
academic composition, was not very far behind.
The earliest known scale system in Europe was
that which Ambrose and Gregory had borrowed
from the Greeks, who in turn are believed to have
borrowed it from the Egyptians. It was spread
over Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries
among others, as we have already seen, by
Irish monks, and in the seventh and eighth cen-
turies by musical missionaries under Charle-
magne. That energetic king's chief assistant
in this work was a British musician named
Alcuin. As a boy he had entered S. Mary's
Abbey, York ; and how high a place our country
held among the nations for its learning and
culture may be learned from what a German poet
wrote of him :
"'Twas he transported Britain's richest ware,
Language and arts, and kindly taught them here."
IA.0 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
The self-reproach of Caedmon at his inability
to take part in the harp-playing which, usually
followed banquets, and the well-known story
of Alfred the Great's ruse in the Danish
camp, are evidences of Anglo-Saxon musical
culture at this period. That Alfred's appoint-
ing one " John " as Professor of Music in
the University of Oxford " is a myth," as it has
been called by a recent historian, rather enhances
the evidential value of the statement than other-
wise. For a fact can live in a vacuum and may
bear witness to nothing, but a myth requires
atmosphere and bespeaks many things : such a
legend could only germinate and flourish among a
people whose musical reputation was very high.
On this account one is quite loth to add that
the " myth " in this case is a very substantial
one, being founded on the chronicles of the
Church of Winchester, which name Friar John of
S. David's as the first occupant of the chair. The
same may be said of the remarkable musical
achievements ascribed, especially by some con-
tinental writers, to S. Dunstan — among them the
authorship of several of the so-called " Gregorian "
chants.
In Archbishop Dunstan we English may claim
the first and only male musician whom the Church
has been bold enou<rh to canonize — unless we
EARLY EMINENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN I4I
regard S. Odo of Clugny as sufficiently musical
to share the honour. But the supreme test of
musicianship lies in composition . And whether
we take vocal or instrumental music, melodic or
harmonic forms, folk-music, or the elaborated
work of academic musicians, we shall find the
British Isles, or some part of them, among the
pioneers. It was by Irish monks that S.
Dunstan was educated, and to the Irish
monks of the Abbey of S. Gall, in Switzer-
land, founded in 613 a.d., and the music
school of which became the " wonder and delight
of Europe," that musical education in the West
is largely due. During the eighth century,
according to hymnologists of the first rank, the
Irish cycle of hymns superseded the Benedictine
Cursus and became the use of the whole Western
Church. "^ In 870 Moengal, an Irish monk who
was headmaster of the music-school at S. Gall,
gave S. Notker the first pattern " Alleluia," and
thus may be regarded as the inventor of sequences
or tropes ; and these, in their turn, materially
influenced the early drama.
The oldest known instrumental melody in the
world, if we may trust tradition, is British. It is
the Welsh tune' already quoted, and which
' lam unaware of these hymns having been collected in one book:
ICC pa.^'c I 28.
^ It was published in 1807 by the CyniruJorian Society.
142 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
is said to have been played at the somewhat
mythical court of King Arthur. The earliest
copy of a piece of instrumental music is English,
namely, the MS. of the Country Dance in the
Bodleian Library, the date of which is believed to
be A.D. 1280, and an extract from which is given
in Part I, Chapter vi.
All mediaeval writers who refer to instrumental
music speak of that in some part of Great Britain
as being of exceptional excellence. Thus the only
European people who may claim to share with
India the invention of the most subtle and delicate
means of eliciting sound the world knows — the
use of a bow on a string — are the Welsh, who used
a bow in playing the crwyth. The Irish, however,
claim to have shared the usage with them as early
as the sixth century, and to have introduced the
harp, fiddle, and bagpipe on the Continent in
the seventh and eighth centuries.^ Apart from
this, the bow was introduced into Europe by the
Crusaders. And the first European illustration
of a bow is to be found in the Cotton MS., the
author of which, though the point is not abso-
lutely certain, was, in all probability, an English-
man.* And England stood as high in the service
1 See " The Irish Influence on Music in the Middle Ages," by Dr. W. H.
Grattan Flood, in The Ave Maria, 1917.
* For list of instruments mentioned, lee Chronological Table under
FJeventh Century.
EARLY EMINENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN I43
of the King of Instruments as of the Queen. The
organ is mentioned in Aldhelm's poem " De Laude
Virginitatis," written before 709 a.d. Dunstan,
as we have seen, made an organ "with brass
pipes," and furnished several abbeys with instru-
ments ; and the huge organ built at Winchester
by Bishop Elphege, who died in 951, appears to
have been one of the wonders of the world at
the time. It had 400 pipes,' 26 pairs of
bellows, and took 70 men to blow it !
Ailred, Abbot of Rivaulx, Yorkshire, writing
about 1 1 50, asks indignantly " Whence hath the
Church so many Organs and Musical Instruments ?
. . . In the meantime, the common people stand-
ing by, trembling and astonished, admire the
sound of the Organs, and noyse of the Cymballs
and Musicall Instruments, the harmony of the
Pipes and Cornets.'" And Giraldus Cambrensis,
in his account of Ireland written a few years later,
finds that Hibernia has maintained its early
reputation, for " in musical instruments that
nation is incomparably superior to every nation we
have seen. For the performance is not heavy and
gloomy (as among the Britons, to whom we are
accustomed), but is rapid and dashing, yet a gentle
and pleasing tone-effect. . . It is astonishing that
' with this number it will perhaps gratify our modern corneit to compare
the 10,059 in the 1904 St. Louis Exposition organ.
■^ Speculum Cbaritatis : Prynnc's translation.
144 "^^^^ STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
in SO great a rapidity of fingering, musical propor-
tion should be retained, and art in everything
satisfied through involved changes and harmonies
of manifold complication." Giraldus adds that
Scotland and Wales were then striving to equal
Ireland, and in the opinion of many Scotland had
not only equalled, but far surpassed, its teacher.
The instruments in use by the Irish were the
cithara and tympanum, to which the Welsh added
the tibiae, and both Welsh and Scots the " chorus,"
but the nature of only the cithara is definitely
known in the present day. Mr. Henry Davey '
believes that the tympanum, and another writer
that the " chorus," was the bagpipe.
Two hundred years after Abbot Ailred had
laid down his pen, Froissart tells us how in 1347
Edward III. and his company entered Calais
" with a great abundance of minstrels (' menes-
trandies '), of trumpets, of drums, of kettledrums,
of reed pipes (' chalemies '), and of bagpipes."
No mean military band in those days ! The
introduction of the drum into Europe is involved
in much obscurity, but this passage is the fiist
clear evidence of its use.
' Ili^tnry of Kngli-h Music, p. 22.
CHAPTER II
Britain's share in the evolution of harmony,
the earliest known secular part-singing.
A FEATURE of incalculable importance distin-
guishes the modern from the ancient, and the
Western from the Eastern, world. This is
harmony, or the art of combining sounds '; and
the first known instance in the world of two or
more notes being sung simultaneously by secular
musicians is British. Giraldus Cambrensis, al-
ready quoted, declares in his " Descriptio Cam-
briiE " that " the Welsh do not sing their tunes
in unison as other nations do, but in harmony,
so that there are as many different parts as there
are singers." The construction of the ancient
Welsh violin, or crwyth, affords further evidence
of the British origin of chordal music. " Harmony
of some sort," says Sir Y. A. G. Ouseley, " must
result from the use of this instrument " when
tuned as he shows it to have been. Giraldus also
tells us that " the inhabitants of northern England
' Th\i view is that taken by most historians : the author must confess a
icrious doubt as to v.liethcr the music of the aricicnts was wiiolly unisonous.
146 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
sing in two parts, even the children falling into
this practice." Giraldus had travelled v^idely,
repeatedly visiting France and Italy. His com-
parison of Britain with other countries is, there-
fore, no mere guess.
If, despite this Welsh and Northern English
part-singing, we follow the majority of historians
in regarding harmony as being solely of eccle-
siastical origin, Britain still, if she does not lead
all other nations, is at least in the forefront. '
The Venerable Bede about 675 wrote treatises
on theoretical and practical music. In one of
these he tells us that " a deft harper in drawing
up the chords of his instrument tunes them to
such pitches that the higher may agree in har-
mony with the lower, some differing by a semi-
tone, a tone, or two tones ; others yielding the
consonance of the diatessaron, diapento or
diapason " (i.e. the fourth, fifth, and octave).
It is impossible not to believe that the notes
forming these consonant intervals were some-
times sounded together, thus making harmony.
A passage in the Divisio Naturae of the Irish
writer Duns Scotus Erigena, who died in 875 a.d.,
' In sayini: thi<;, I assi.ime that Isidore of Seville used the terms " Sym-
phony " and " Di.iphnny " in the same senfc as the Creeks, to wlioni intervals
and chords meant notes in succession. If Dr. Ritter is correct in attaching
to them the meaning they afterwards are found to possess, of notes in com-
bination, then Spain must be credited with a crude harmony in the sixth
century — some four hundred years earUer than any otlier country.
EVOLUTION OF HARMONY I47
seems to forecast the methods of free organum
some hundred and fifty years before we find
written examples of it. Thus it is to British
writers that the world owes the first literary
references to ecclesiastical as well as secular
harmony. The first unquestionable example
of harmony is the work of a tenth century monk,
apparently Flemish, formerly known to historians
simply as Huckbald, but now known as Pseudo-
Huckbald, or, as some think, Abbas Otger.
But England can show an example which probably
existed as early, thougli it is not known to have
been written down till somewhat later. For
Winchester boasts a Troper dating from the
tenth century which contains both Plainsong
melodies and the " organa " which were to be
sung to them. " The term (organa) is used here
and in many other places at this date as the
equivalent of diaphony, that is, early part-music,
or what was at a later period known as descant.
This collection (the two AISS. forming the
Winchester Troper) is the most considerable
practical document which has yet come to light
on tlic subject of early harmony in
the writings of the later tenth century we see
that a great step forward has been made. The
Musica Enchiriadis (a treatise formerly attributed
to tlic Flemish monk Huckbald, who died in
148 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
930, but now believed to have been written by
Abbas Otger, at a later date) and its companion
dialogue the Schola Enchiriadis (same probable
author) show how the three great concords,
fourth, fifth, and octave, pointed the way to
doubling a whole melody at the fifth, fourth
{i.e. inverted fifth) and octave, and thus singing
in parts and then went on to give
rules for the combining of two organa with one
principalis and for modifying the symphonia,
diatessaron, or diaphony at the fourth, so as to
avoid harshness. This modification is the first
step towards real harmony as opposed to a mere
reproduction of the same melody at another
pitch xAnother form of modification
had to be made owing to the limitation of the
downward range of the vox organalis, and thus
by developing the principle of a ' pedal ' also
led in the same direction towards real and free
harmony, one part standing still while the other
moved. Here we have practically the principles
of similar and oblique motion in germ.
" In Guido of Arezzo {cir. 1020) the same
system is found with possibly some little develop-
ment of the harmonic sense but no distinct
advance : for that we have to wait till John
Cotton (perhaps cir. 1050), who in the twenty-
third chapter of his Mtisica definitely set forth the
EVOLUTION OF HARMONV 149
advantages of contrary motion, and so put the
art of diaphony on a comparatively modern
basis [the nationality of John Cotton is not
absolutely certain, but, as pointed out elsewhere,
the high probability is that he was an English-
man]. The Winchester Organa exhibit all the
three kinds of harmonic motion. In the Sequence
melodies, for example, two clear instances of
contrary motion occur in the Alleluia of the first
melody, but it is the exception, and the vox
organalis proceeds mainly by oblique motion or
by similar motion probably a fourth below the
vox principalis,"^ It is extracts from two parts
of this Troper which form our frontispiece.
They represent the Gregorian melody to the
Tract Commovisti and the " organa " which were
to be sung with it, and are the first known British
examples of part-writing in existence, and nearly
the earliest in the world. The original photo-
graph was taken, with several others, by the
Rev. Dr. W. H. Frcrc, of the House of the
Resurrection, Mirficld, and I welcome an oppor-
tunity of publicly acknowledging my indebtedness
to him for his kind permission to reproduce it.
And it is to a similar courtesy on the part of Sir
VV. H. Hadow and the Clarendon Press that the
^ Dr. W. H. Frerc : Intro, luclion to the Win'-lirster Troper; Henry
Bradlh;iw Society, Vol. VUl, 1894.
150 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
following example of part-writing from the same
manuscript appears here/ It is chosen as con-
taining " contrary motion " ; only the relative,
not absolute, pitch of the organum can be
determined, hence the absence of a clef.
ybx principalis
f
zz
-© G-
ry '^ ^ rj
T ^
el/i ni.
J^j: oryfana^is^
& — ^ © ^— ^v rz 7^ &-
Z2
etA ni
The double treble clef is a modern device
the inventor of which I cannot trace : it indicates
the treble clef read an octave lower. The con-
trary motion is indicated by slurs : it shows an
extraordinary degree of advancement for the
period. Much longer examples from the slightly
earlier Flemish works just referred to contain it
only in the last two notes.
Fosbroke, in his '" British Monachism," " gives
an account of the singing of the Anglo-Saxon
monks which can only be interpreted as a descrip-
tion not merelv of part-singing, but of imitative
polyphony. Their song consisted of a method ot
' Sec die Oxfi;rJ i;i,tory nf M■,•,^iJ, Vol. I, p. 76.
' Vol, II, p. 113, as quoted by Mr. Rdckstro in Grove's " Dictionary of
Music," \ol. IV, p. 3.
EVOLUTION OF HARMON"y I5I
figurate Discant' in which the various voices,
following one another, were perpetually repeating
different words at the same time.
Ethelrcd, or Ailred (1109-66), Abbot of
Rivaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, writing of his own
day, gives testimony very similar. Protesting,
with as much vehemence as the Puritans of
a later day, against over-elaboration of Church
music, he complains that " this man sings a bass,
that a small mean, another a treble, a fourth
divides and cuts asunder, as it were, certain
middle notes." All of which suggests four voice-
parts of considerable independence. John of
Salisbury wrote in a similar strain, but his musical
references are too vague to be understood as
anything more than a protest against elaboration.
According to an anonymous author ' waiting
about 1 189, it is due to organists in " that part of
England which is called West-country " that the
discovery of the true tuning and qualities of the
interval known as a " third " is due. As a conse-
quence of this West English feeling for euphony
the old " organum " or accompaniment in fourtPis
and fifths w-as superseded, at first in England and
afterwards abroad, by a succession of thirds and
sixths. The innovation scandalised the purists,
' That IS, the nnta h:\<\ time-values : Franco, writing about a.d. I20o,
refers to such notes as previously existent.
» The Bury St. Edmunds trf;iii,r, now in the Royal M.SS.
152 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
who regarded it as an offence against austerity, and
called it Faux-bourdon, or false bass. But its
ultimate effect in furthering harmonic develop-
ment would be difficult to over-estimate/
1 The Fnclish orijin of the Faux-hniirdnn is admittofl not only by our
own, but German historians — Dr. Ricmann, for instance.
CHAPTER III
Britain's share in the evolution of counter-
point.
**SUMER IS ICUMEN IN " : THE WORLd's MOST
REMARKABLE MUSICAL MANUSCRIPT.
Composition, as we understand it, was totally
unknown to the earlier fathers of liturgical har-
mony. Whether the intervals they used were
fourths and fifths or thirds and sixths, the accom-
panying voices remained at a uniform distance
from the plain-song chant, and moved in parallel
motion with it. No such mechanical accompani-
ment could for ever satisfy even those whose whole
life was one long observance of rule. The first
break with this system in all likelihood came from
the Parisian School. But if the invention of
Counterpoint — the writing of independent simul-
taneous melodies — is probably due to an unknown
Frenchman, the first explanation and examples of
Double Counterpoint — melodies which may be
sung either above or below the cantus firmus —
certainly come from John Garland, " Johannes de
Garlandia." And he himself tells us that he was
153
154 '^^^ STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
born in England' (about 1180, apparently in
Devonshire), and studied at Oxford before going
to Paris. The inversion of melodies is essential
to all the higher forms of polyphony, and Gar-
landia's work forms the second step in that ladder
the summit of which was reached five centuries
later in the majestic fugues of Bach and Handel.
But even Garlandia's achievement pales before
that of a contemporary and fellow countryman,
whose work was copied early in the thirteenth
century by John Fornsete, Cartulary at the Abbey
of Reading, who may have been also the composer,
but this is by no means certain. The reference
is, of course, to the famous Rota, or Round, " Sumer
is icumen in." One must abandon as hopeless
any attempt to do justice to this MS. — the most
remarkable in the world's musical paleography —
within the space available. Suffice it to say that
the Round is in six independent parts, four of
which are in strict canon, that is, they are in
one of the most stringent and exacting forms of
imitative writing known even in the twentieth
century ; the remaining two voices sing a peculiar
two-chord species of drone-bass. Such a
' lie has frcriently been confused with Gerlandus of Bcsancon, who
flourished about 1150, and his I'.nglish origin overlooks!, Coussemaktr
corrects the error in the third volume of his invaluable history, but it sti'.l
iften reappears.
EVOLUTION OF COUNTERPOINt 155
combination is, to quote a German writer on the
subject, " infinitely more ingenious than the
common canon." ' The severer the criticism,
English and foreign, to which the MS. has been
subjected, the more firmly has its authenticity
been established. Microscopic examination has
recently shown how accurately its age had been
estimated, for it has revealed the two dates, 1226
and 1236, previously overlooked.
To enter into all the problems, solutions, refu-
tations and counter-solutions to which this scrap
of vellum, a little over seven inches by five, has
given rise is impossible. And none of the explan-
ations remove, few even modify, the difficulty of
accounting for so advanced a composition at so
early a period ; they only change it. Unless,
therefore, the composer of this Rota produced a
work further ahead of his age than any other
composer before or since is known to have done,
we must conclude that the standard of musical
attainment at this time, leastways in England, was
far higher than would otherwise be supposed.
It is true that all known examples for some two
hundred years after the Rota are against the
estimate of thirteenth century attainment sug-
gested by this marvellous work ; but in pointing
this out historians have attached too little
• Dr. Emil N'aiimaan, " History of Music," \'ol. II, p. 2S6.
156 tHE STORY OF BRITISH MUSlfi
importance to literary references, and too much
to our ignorance of other equally good examples
in ttiusical notation. While in the thirteenth
century music itself was thousands of years old,
the art of writing it was almost in its infancy, and
confined to the cloistered musician. Two of the
most musical nations of antiquity, the Egyptians
and Jews, are not known to have had any musical
notation whatever. For centuries music, like
early Greek philosophy, was independent of the
pen. Consequently, while there are early records
of great musical activity in England, there are but
few specimens of it. Thus it is evident from a
Latin poem by Archdeacon William Mapes that
rounds and canons were not only existent, but
common, half a century — and probably longer —
before the Rota was written. Yet no other
specimen of a Round is forthcoming for more
than two hundred and fifty years after it, when
one was composed in honour of John Norman on
his being made Lord Mayor of London in 1453.
This little round is interesting not only on
account of its being the oldest but one in exis-
tence, and of its natural, easy flow and tune-
fulness, but as evidence of the cultivation of part-
music by the working classes. For it was made by
the Watermen of London in celebration of Sir
John Norman having commenced the custom,
EVOLUTION OF COUNTERPOINT
157
which became an established one, of going to
Westminster in his barge to be sworn into his
office of Lord Mayor, instead of going on horse-
back as heretofore had been done. On singing
it over the reader will probably be surprised by
its familiarity, since it has been one of the most
popular of rounds for over four hundred and
sixty years. Nowadays it is often sung to the
words " Turn again, Whittington."
Thames Watermen's Round: 1453
-5=::
-^ ^
//ea(/e and ko
rum..
...be...
. . Cow ,
\ K.
1 ^ m
1 • r
f<^ *
^ J
K)
^ • d
»/ _
^
/ioLp the 6>oaf , JVcr. .. man. row.
^-
/low to fhi/
jb€ . ...man
The music is like church bells and was quitt.
probably suggested by them. " Lcman " means
" loved one " and shows the affection with which
the bargees believed Norman regarded the cit}-
through which their river ran.
Mr. Henrv Davey, in a detailed survey of this
158 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
period, enumerated some eighteen British musical
m.anuscripts, only seven of which contain more
than one item, and almost all of which are sacred
music. Obviously, then, the specimens known to
us are too few, and confined too closely to
monastic musicians, to be safely taken as
necessarily representative of the whole ; and the
renowned Rota was probably not the only one,
even if the only written example, of its kind, and
quite possibly even of its quality.
This high estimate of thirteenth century
English music is confirmed by the remarkable
achievements in composition of the famous theorist
Walter Odington, who, like the copyist of the
Rota, was a monk of Evesham.
In this connection Dr. Naumann gives an
amusing example of the Teutonic obsession that
musically no good thing can come out of England,
and of the quagmire of inconsistency into which
jealousy is sure to lead its victims. Those familiar
with his otherwise excellent History will remember
that he declares that the only place from which
the Rota might have been expected to come was
Paris. And similarly, unable to deny the " aston-
ishing skill " (the words are his own) of the
great Evesham composer, he proceeds to solemnly
inform us that Odington, " although an English-
man, must be looked upon as a disciple of the old
EVOLUTION OF COUNTERPOINT I59
French school, his compositions unmistakably
bearing evidence of the Parisian masters." ' The
Gallic influence must have been exercised per
scripta in absentia, for as Naumann himself points
out twelve pages previously (in a different
connection) " of Odington it is not even known
that he ever visited Paris," '
It is not known by whom the form of composi-
tion known as a canon, round, or rota, was
invented ; but Reissmann, in his History of
Music, considers it as very probable that the
Faux-bourdon, an undeniably British invention,
prepared the way for it ; canons are admitted by
all writers to have been a popular form of music
in England in the thirteenth century ; and, says
Naumann, " it was the English who invented that
endless canon which is so great a favourite with
all people even to-day."'
> "Ill^t'.ry of Mwslc," p. 283.
'■' " ni^tury of Music," p. 276, footnote.
' I.l'-iii, p. z86.
CHAPTER IV
Britain's share in evolving the art of
composition.
john dunstable : " the most remarkable
figure in the whole history of music."
Many and steep as had been the steps of Britain's
ascent up the ladder of music, she v^as yet to
eclipse them all. The supreme art of the
musician, composition, has not been wholly
evolved by any one man or nation. But John
Dunstable, born probably at Dunstable, in Bed-
fordshire, about 1380, gave so new a meaning to
the term and advanced the art so far, that he has
been called the " inventor of composition," not
by English writers only but foreign. Thus the
Belgian, Tinctor, author of the first known
musical dictionary, published in 1475, says : " The
source and origin of this new art, if I may so
speak, is to be found among the English, of whom
the chief musician was Dunstable." The German
poet, John Nucius, quoted Sebastian Heyden and
" divers others " as expressing a similar opinion.
160
EVOLVING THE ART OF COMPOSITION l6l
Perhaps even more significant is the fact that a
Spanish writer whose manuscript is dated 1480
regards the history of music as beginning with
Dunstable — leastways, he is the first composer
mentioned. And the widely dispersed sources
from which these encomiums come, and the many
nations among whom fragments of his music are
to be found, go far to show that John of Waltham-
stead, Abbot of St. Alban's, was indulging in no
mere rhetorical figure when he declared in an
epitaph that Dunstable " dispensed the knowledge
of music through the world." Dunstable died in
1453, and was buried in St. Stephen's Church,
Walbrook, where a monument to him will be
found, replacing one destroyed by fire. Dunstable
was not only the greatest composer in the world
in his own day, but, it has been truly said, in soine
respects " the most remarkable figure in the whole
history of music." England in Dunstable's day
was undoubtedly the most musical country in the
world.
Scotland, too, would seem to have added a stone
to the cairn of composition at this time. The
eighteen years' exile which James I. of Scotland
underwent in England, and during which he
:"eceived his education, took place during Dun-
stable's time. James was undoubtedly the ablest
of the Stewarts, all of whom were musical ; he
M
l62 tHE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
was a skilful player on the harp and lute and other
instruments, and " found out of himself a new
style of music, plaintive and mournful, differing
from every other." Unfortunately Tassoni, from
whom the quotation is made, does not say whether
the innovation was harmonic or melodic. Evi-
dently, however, it was of sufficient importance
for word of it to have reached Italy, for there is no
evidence of Tassoni having visited this country.
But the prophet's mantle did not fall on his
own countrymen. The Belgians appreciated
Dunstable, or at least understood his principles,
better than we did, and for half a century or so,
1480-15 30, Flemish composers were undoubtedly
the world's masters in music. Britons, however,
leastways Irishmen, instead of being humiliated
by the success of their rivals, may justly feel a
pride less only than they would in the triumph of
purely native composers. For in 653 a.d., S.
Gertrude, Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, sent for
two Irish monks, S. Foillan and S. Ultan, to teach
psalmody to her nuns. These two musical sons
of Erin, willingly accepting the invitation, built
an adjoining monastery for themselves at Fosse in
the diocese of Liege. And this foundation was
the beginning of the cult of music in Belgium !
CHAPTER V
Britain's share in the evolution of instru-
mental FORMS. EMINENCE OF BRITISH MUSICIANS
ON THE CONTINENT.
Albion, as it proved, had fallen to second place
in one form of composition only to spring forward
in another ; for the fates had decreed that
England was to be pioneer nation in the composi-
tion, not only of polyphonic vocal music, but
instrumental. Ireland, Scotland and Wales, it
will be remembered, had already acquired fame
for their skill on wind and string instruments.
England achieved hers more particularly in regard
to keyboard music. Taken collectively, this
instrumental pre-eminence of the four nations is
the more remarkable since it is precisely in regard
to orchestral music that for some hundred and
fifty years the British Isles have been most signally
deficient.
Such was the proficiency of the early sixteenth
century English composers for the virginal, spinet
and harpsichord, that though it is not known by
whom a keyboard was first attached to a string
.63
164 tHE STORY OF BRITISH MUSiC
instrument, foreign writers as well as British agree
that it was probably in this country.
About 1460 Conrad Paumann, a blind organist
of Nuremberg, produced some fragments for the
organ which show a certain groping after inde-
pendence of vocal forms. With this exception,
the virginal music of Hugh Aston, or Ashton,
Aystown, or Austen, as his name variously appears
in different manuscripts, who flourished from
about 1 500-1 5 20, and of some anonymous con-
temporaries, to be found in the " Fayrfax Book "
(Royal MSS. Ap. 58), is the earliest instrumental
music for which the term composition is at all
appropriate. Mr. Davey regards the music of
Aston alone as enabling England to claim " the
glory of having invented instrumental as well as
vocal composition." ' In reading this one cannot
entirely suppress a suspicion that he weakens his
case by over-stating it. But the length of the
pieces in the " Fayrfax Book " — some are in
variation form — their scale passages, rhythmic
originality and non-vocal efforts, justify us in
saying that at this period English makers of music
did more to lay the foundations of a purely
instrumental style than those of any other nation.
Monumental evidence of England's supremacy
on the keyboard exists in the magnificent MS.
» " History of English Music," pp. 7S, 96.
EVOLUTION OF INSTRUMENTAL FORMS 165
collection of clavier music popularly known as
*' Queen Elizabeth's/' but more correctly as the
" Fitzwilliam " Virginal Book/ There is no
other such collection in the world. " Parthenia,
or the Maydenhead of the first musick that ever
was printed for the Virginalls," published in 1611,
should also be mentioned. It was frequently
reprinted and w^as the first music of any kind
produced from engraved plates. The English
instrumental school of the sixteenth century was
the germ, by the admission of Teutonic writers
themselves, from which sprang the modern
orchestral school. During a great part of the
sixteenth century England was for the second
time in the forefront of musical nations, and
English instrumentalists were in as great demand
abroad as foreign musicians have been since in
Great Britain. That quaint waiter Coryat,
speaking of opera early in the seventeenth cen-
tury, said that the Venetian actors could " not
compare with ours for music." The works
of the famous lutenist, John Dowland, 1562- 1626,
were printed at Paris, Antwerp, Cologne, Heidel-
berg, Nuremberg, Frankfort, Leipzig, Amster-
dam, Utrecht and Hamburgh. The Fansies,
' The book on " The Sources of Keyboard Music in F-tiijl.incl," by tlir
Belgian Professor, Charles van dcr Barren, recently published, is mainly
founded on this MS.
l66 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Court Ayres, Sutcs, and Jiggs which John
Jenkins, born at Maidstone in 1592, composed
'' by horseloads," to quote Roger North, proved
ephemeral, but during their short life they were
immensely popular everywhere, and acquired for
their author almost a European reputation.
Hawkins says that Jenkins' " Twelve Sonatas for
two Violins and a Base with a thorough Base for
the Organ or Theorbo " were reprinted at
Amsterdam in 1664 — four years after their
appearance in this country. Perhaps it should
be added that, being unable to verify it, Mr,
Davey doubts the statement. Jenkins' vocal
works were less successful, but the reader has
probably sung one of them — the spirited little
round " A boat, a boat, haste to the ferry."
When this ' little man with a great soul,' as Anthony
Wood calls Jenkins, was twenty-two years of age
there was born one who, if he added less in bulk,
added stones of a more durable quality to the
cairn of England's eminence in instrumental
music. This was Benjamin Rogers, whose
com])Ositions were held in high esteem in Sweden,
Holland and Austria, as well as in his native land.
In Austria his Twelve Fancies for viols and organ
were regarded as " the best music that could be
made." Like Jenkins, though best known in his
lifetime for his long instrumental pieces he is best
EVOLUTION OF INSTRUMENTAL FORMS 167
remembered after it by a short vocal one. His
Hymnus Eucharisticus is sung every Alay morning
from the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford ;
and one verse of it every day as a grace at the
College dinner.
Perhaps it should be explained that a " Fancy "
was a composition in which the composer followed
his own fancy instead of merely wTiting variations
on a well-known theme.
Max Seiffert, writing in 1891, pointed out that
a contemporary of Rogers, Samuel Scheidt,
living at Halle, received at once the Italian forms
from Southward, and English execution from
Northward, and from their union originated the
2:reat German instrumental school.
o
Nor was it only in the more classical of instru-
mental forms that Great Britain was to the fore.
Of all moulds in which music is cast the march is
undoubtedly the most popular ; and the first
example in regular rhythmical phrasing is the
well-knowai and beautiful Cambrian war-song
"The March of the Men of Harlech," which
Llwyd, " the Bard of Snowdon," tells us originated
during the siege of Harlech Castle in 1468. If
this is correct — some authorities question the
statement — Dr. Crotch was justified in his en-
comium that " the military music of the Welsh is
superior to that of any other nation."
l68 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
It is evident that from a very early date the
Eng-Hsh, as well as W^elsh, were famous for their
military music, as one gathers from the impression,
already mentioned, which Edward III.'s band
made on Froissart ; and especially for their
military march ; for in a royal warrant Charles I.,
speaking of " the ancient custome of nations " in
the use of national marches, refers to " the ancient
gravity and majestic " of " the march of this our
nation, so famous . . . being by the approbation
of strangers themselves confessed and acknow-
ledged the best of all marches." Unfortunately
the melody — which may have varied — has not
come down to us ; but the rhythm, a very
monotonous one to modern ears, has. It was
" beaten in the presence " of the King's " late
deare brother, Prince Henry," at Greenwich, in
1610 ; and, to restore accuracy and secure
permanence, was given in musical notation in the
warrant referred to. The pace was evidently
slower than that of most military marches.
Charles I., we sec, spoke of its " gravity and
majestic." A French Marshal of Queen Eliza-
beth's time, named Biron, had been less compli-
mentary, and derided it as " slow, heavy and
sluggish," the march of his own country being
brisk and alert. " That may be true," retorted
Sir Roger Williams, one of Elizabeth's soldiers,
EVOLUTION OF INSTRUiMENTAL FORMS 1 69
" but slow as it is, it has traversed your master's
country from one end to the other."
Returning to the question of national prece-
dence in music : in 1562 Palestrina produced his
famous Missa Papae Marcdli, and Italy may be
regarded as having then entered on her long
supremacy, to be followed in the early eighteenth
century by Germany. Nevertheless, during the
later sixteenth and early seventeenth century the
English school stood extremely high. For though
the greatest compliment that could be paid to its
most distinguished master, Orlando Gibbons,
was to call him " the English Palestrina," he was,
dramatic music apart, the ablest musician of his
time (1583-1625) in Europe. It is noteworthy,
too, as the Bohemian historian, Ambros, points
out, that we English have taken a greater and more
continuous delight in the music of the Elizabethan
composers than any other nation in its older
music-makers. Of music composed between 1550
and 1630 it is only the English which has secured
a permanent hold, and been performed through
three centuries.
CHAPTER VI
HENRY PURCELL : THE GREATEST COMPOSER OF
HIS TIME
If the mother-country of the greatest composer
hving is necessarily the most musical nation, then
England enjoyed this position for the third time
a century after ceding it to Italy, for Henry
Purcell was undoubtedly the greatest composer in
the world during the fifteen years before his
lamentably early death in 1696. With his last
breath there passed away unfulfilled the greatest
promise England has had since Elizabethan days
of a national school of composition. The inven-
tion in Rome and Florence in 1600 of the two
greatest forms in which music is cast, oratorio and
opera, naturally give immense impetus to Ital-
ianism in music. Purcell himself, in the preface
to " Diocletian," makes a courtly and, in its self-
deprecating element, utterly needless bow to
foreign composers. " English music," he says,
" is now learning Italian, which is its best master,
and studying a little of the French air to give it
somewhat more of gayety and fashion ... we
170
HENRY PURCELL I7I
must be content to shake off our barbarity by
degrees." Despite this, his musical and dramatic
genius was vastly superior to that of any contem-
porary, except, perhaps, Alexandro Scarlatti. In
the latter, the purely dramatic gift, he was much
more highly endowed than his great successor in
this country — Handel, whose operas predeceased
their composer. Purcell's operas, on the other
hand, have had the longest life of any, being still
occasionally performed two-and-a-quarter cen-
turies after they were written ! Moreover, the
audience present at a revival of " Dido and
iEneas " a few years ago at the Royal Academy of
Music were struck with the modernity of atmos-
phere and absence of any sense of anachronism in
the music. Excerpts are still given of Alexandro
Scarlatti's operas, but not, I believe, the complete
works, or those of any other opera composer who
died in the seventeenth century. The massive
choius, too, which is so essential a feature of all
greater vocal works in the present day, though
foreshadowed in early French operas, must be
credited to Purcell more than to any other one
composer. And what the world's greatest master
of the chorus, Handel, owes to Purcell, only
those who have carefully compared the works of
the two men know.' Of great though perhaps
' See, (T ;j., E. V. Rendall's paper in "Musical Tinits," 1895, p. 293.
172 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
lesser service in the evolution of modern musical
art was Purcell's development of orchestral
accompaniment.
The reputation of Great Britain as a musical
nation has suffered severely from the grotesque
neglect of music by our historians. In the
third chapter of his famous History of England,
Macaulay deals at length not merely with the
later seventeenth century, but in particular with
its arts and sciences. Yet he never once alludes
to Henry Purcell, who was the greatest composer
England has ever produced, and the greatest
composer in the world at the time 1
CHAPTER VII
English eminence in vocal music : our first
miracle play and passion; early solo songs ;
the anthem ; service ; and glee.
It may easily be that a country or age not distin-
guished as a whole may yet be pre-eminent in
some particular branch of art, and Great Britain
has never been without such a claim to distinction.
Chief and most enduring among them has been
her uniformly high position in regard to vocal,
and especially choral, music. England appears
to have been specially eminent in the cultivation
of boys' voices. When Becket visited Paris in great
state, in 1159 — that is, at the height of the city's
musical fame — he was preceded by 250 boys, who
walked singing in English — " according to the
custom of his country,"' When Henry V.
entered London after the battle of Agincourt
boys with pleasing voices were placed in artidcial
turrets singing verses in his praise ; he com-
manded that the praise should be given not to
him but to God, and this was duly carried out
in the subsequent " Scmg of Agincourt."
' Unnamed author quoted by Davcy, " History of Enj^li.-h Music," p. l8.
173
174 "^^^ STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
The establishment of Chapels Royal had an
incalculable influence on the advancement of
vocal art, and that set up by Henry V. — if.
indeed, it was not due to Henry IV. or even
Richard H. — was one of the earliest. In later
days the English Chapel Royal scandalised con-
servative musicians by its fondness for that
" musica Acta " ' which led the way to modern
tonality. During the second expedition of
Henry V. to France that monarch sent over for
his " Chapel," that is, ecclesiastical musicians,
consisting of six " organists " (singers of the
" organum," a crude harmony), clerks, and
singers, that he might celebrate Easter at Rouen
with becoming splendour. In 1466 Leo von
Rozmital, brother-in-law of the King of Bohemia,
made a tour through Western Europe. He was
entertained at a banquet by our Edward IV.,
and in an account of the ceremony Schassak^
his secretary, wrote : " We heard in no country
sweeter or more agreeable musicians than these ;
their chorus consists of about 60 voices." A
German member of the suite, Gabriel Tetzel,
recorded a very similar opinion : " After the
ball came the king's singers ; I believe that
there are no better singers in the world." Early
in the next century Sagudino, a Venetian ambas-
' That is, inflected notes, or sharps and flat' in a natural key.
VOCAL MUSIC 175
sador, was equally impressed; speaking in 1515
of Henry Eighth's Chapel Royal he said : " Their
voices are really divine rather than human
.... and as for the deep basses, I do not
believe they are equalled in the world." And
from that day to this the standard of male voice
church choirs, with the exception of the
Sistine Choir, has been higher in England
than in any other country. Milan, for instance,
in the present day, will not compare with our
leading cathedrals, or, indeed, many parish
churches.
The earliest known British Miracle Play was
performed at Dunstable in mo, and not im-
possibly it included, as did later ones, a vocal
element. "^ The first " Passions " known are
English ; they are those in Latin, of the year
967, discovered by Professor Skeat at Oxford.
None can be traced on the Continent for long
after 1490, which is approximately the date of an
imperfect S. Matthew Passion with music by
Richard Davy."" The fame of English vocal
music in Elizabeth's day is one of the best known
facts of British musical history. The greatest of
all madrigal writers was, per^iaps, the Italian,
1 Miracle Plays, however, were wriltcn abroad between 920 — 96S hy
Ilroswitha, a Saxon nun.
''■ (jivcii in the " Ivton College MS."; see II. Davcy, " Ilistnry ofKnylish
Mubic," p. 90.
176 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Constanza Festa, whose " Down in a flow'ry
vale," written about 1530, is probably the oldest
piece of secular polyphonic music still frequently
sung. But of the seven greatest maciri-
galists, as given by Bonavia Hunt, six were
English.
Music for several simultaneous voices was
for centuries the only form in which vocal art-
music, as distinct from folk-song, was written.
Vocal solos, such as are now found in operas,
oratorios, and art-songs, were unknown. The
credit of originating them was for long attributed
to Caccini, whose Nuove Musiche, containing
accompanied recitatives, appeared in 1602 ; and
Francesco Cavalli, in whose Giasone (1649) reci-
tative first develops into a distinct air. But the
honour more properly belongs to Adrian Willaert
who in 1540 issued arrangements (of Verdelot)
for solo voice ; and secondly to English com-
posers ; for in 1587 William Byrd published an
arrangement for several voices of a set of songs
with instrumental accompaniment which had
been originally, and therefore before I5<S7, com-
posed as solo-songs. And in 1601 two collections
of solo-songs were published in this country :
Jones' " Second Book of Ayres " claims to be the
first of its kind, but a collection issued by Campion
and Rosseter, and dated May 15th, 1601, can only
VOCAL MUSIC 177
have been later by a few months, and " is more
typical of the new school." ' These are believed
to be the earliest printed solo songs in existence.
There are three vocal forms which indisputably
owe their origin to English composers — the
anthem, Anglican Church " service "" and glee ;"
and, if it is not too small a thing to mention, the
Anglican chant may be added. The hymn-tune,
too, as distinct from the severer German chorale,
may almost be claimed as a British invention, on
so vast a scale and in such variety have we de-
veloped it, while other nations have done little
or nothing. Naturally, in these peculiarly
national forms British composers have excelled.
Foreign composers have scarcely deigned even to
notice their existence ; had they done so, had
even the giants of the " German genius period "
competed with British musicians on their own
ground, it is doubtful whether they would have
produced gems of greater lustre than Battishill's
" Call to Remembrance," Attwood's " Come, Holy
Ghost " (which is not unworthy of comparison
with the " Ave Verum " of Mozart, a composer
whom Samuel Wesley perhaps even more often
' Davey, p. 181.
' Our claim in this respect is considerably modified by the existence of
many Magnificats by foreign composers.
' 'I'homas Brewer's Turn AmaiylUs, composed i6oz, ii reputed the
first glee
II
178 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
approaches) ; or, in the field of secular music,
Stevens' " Sigh no more, ladies," or Spofforth's
" Hail, smiling Morn," to name but a few out of
our treasury of vocal miniatures.
Naturally, as a nation of sailors, we have
produced the finest sea-songs, and the Laureate
of the Waves, the poet-composer Charles Dibdin,
" the Tyrta^us of the British Navy " as he has
been called, was launched on life from one of
Britain's seaports. One of our nautical ballads,
Arne's " Rule, Britannia," has been declared the
finest patriotic song in the world/ Wagner
declared that the first eight notes were a complete
musical portrait of the British people. Add to this
the paradoxical fact that " a nation without
music," as we have been termed by two German
professors, has given to the world its most inter-
national national anthem ! Our tune to " God save
the King " has been adopted — though, of course,
with different words — by Denmark, Russia (up till
1833) and Germany. Not unnaturally the latter
country, after vainly endeavouring to discover a
Teutonic origin for the air, is now giving it up !
' Probably on this accouni ,1 German author, Schoclchcr, claims the tune
for Har.dil, who quotes two bars in hi:- Occasional Oratorio, produced iii
1745. lint the complete tune first appeared in Arne's masque .llfrcJ,
performed August 1st, 1740; in the unsuccessful version oi .■lljredhy Mallet
produced in 175 1, to which Schoclcher refers as being subsequent to llandei'c
oratorio, the tune merely reappeared as the most popular item of the origin;il
edition.
VOCAL MUSIC
179
Beethoven wrote his Variations on this melody" to
show the English what a treasure they have in it."
Nor has our success been wholly confined to
these shorter forms. The operas of Purcell have
already been mentioned. The period from his
death till, in the early nineteenth century, the
operas of Balfe and Wallace began to spread over
Europe, is generally regarded as the blackest in
Britain's musical history. Yet out record even
during this dark time will better bear comparison
with that of other nations than our too shame-
faced historians generally recognise. The famous
Beggar's Opera, produced in 1727, is still occasion-
ally performed.' Its success forms one of the
most romantic chapters in the history of music ;
and while often described as artistically worthless,
it did much to promote naturalness and local
colour in opera proper. Arne's Artaxerxes kept
the stage for 67 years. Dibdin's Waterman and
The Quaker, and Storace's No Song, No Supper,
were occasionally heard a hundred years after
their preludial notes first broke the silence. Many
other English operas enjoyed a great though less
popularity, and lived to a good old age. An
acute critic, Sir W. H. Hadow, while admitting
^hat the harvest " is a meagre one," points out
' 'rlif iail 'Kcasion was m \'t,ji or t^i-jT,; a correspondtiit .vlio was puser. i
s nut sure which of theie iwo date* is the correct one.
l8o THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
that English opera " always shows some character,
some sweetness of phrase." He singles out a
number of operas by Dibdin, Storace, Attwood,
and particularly Arnold's Castle of Andalusia and
Shield's Rosina. The latter he calls " a work of
genius," and protests that no other nation in
Europe would so lightly have cast it (" the best
of the grain ") away to the common dust heap of
oblivion.
Let it be remembered that, as already pointed
out, Handel's operas predeceased their author ;
that only three Italian operas of the eighteenth
century have survived, namely, Pergolesi's La
serva padrona (1733), Paisiello's opera of the same
name (1769), and Cimarosa's La Matrimonio
Segreto (1792) ; that British composers won their
success on the most cosmopolitan stage in the
world, and the work of the sons of our soil will be
seen in a truer perspective. So, too, will the
much maligned judgment of British audiences ;
tor had they been unwilling to hear the music of
their fellow-countrymen, no opera by a native
composer could have run for 75 nights, as Linley's
Dueima did, while Handel's best one, Rinaldo, ran
only for 15 ; nor would others have held the stage
for fifty or a hundred years.
The same conclusion will be reached if we
consider the other of the two greatest and twin-
VOCAL MUSIC lOl
born moulds in which music is cast — oratorio,
which is also chiefly a vocal form. As with opera,
every composer capable of producing music in
bulk has composed one or more examples ; and a
faint conception of the number of such works is
probably possessed only by book-worms whose
pabulum is musical encyclopaedias. Of a list of
52 notable examples given, apart from any
national discrimination, in the " Encyclopaedic
Dictionary of Music," examination shows 20 to
be German, 16 English, 3 Austro-Hungarian, and
3 French.
Gluck, who has been called " the creator of
dramatic music," confessed to Dr. Burney that
" he owed to England the study of nature in his
dramatic compositions and . . . finding that
plainness and simplicity had the greatest effect
upon them he has ever since that time (his visit
to England in 1745) endeavoured to write for the
voice, more in the natural tones of human affection
and passions, than to flatter the lovers of deep
science of difficult execution " ; " and it may be
remarked," adds Dr. Burney, " that most of his
airs in Orfeo are as plain and simple as English
ballads." ' Haydn, again, and Berlioz, to come
nearer to our own day, were much struck with the
excellence of English singing, especially the boys'
' Blimey, " Present State of Music in flerinany," I. 264.
iSl THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
and girls' voices at the Charity Children's Festival
in St. Paul's Cathedral. In the present day the
Leeds and Sheffield Festival Choruses are the
finest choirs in the world.
The system of singing from notes by relative
pitch, known in Great Britain as the Movable
Doh, or Tonic Sol-fa, system, and in France as the
Galin-Cheve method, though generally supposed
to be new, is in reality nothing of the sort. Its
principle was adopted by the Greeks in both vocal
and instrumental music. Guido of Arezzo, a
famous Italian monk of the eleventh century,
invented new note-names — ut, re^ mi, fa, sol, la,
applying them not to notes of fixed pitch, but
like the Greeks had done their names (as distinct
from letter-signs), to notes of relative pitch, that
is, to degrees of the scale. They will be found
so applied in an edition of the Psalter by Marot
and Beza, printed in 1567, of course on the
contemporary system of " Mutation," or con-
stantly changing key without any" bridge-tone."
A copy, believed to be unique, is in the Library
of Innerpcffray, Pcithshire. The copy of the
1567 edition in the British Museum does not
contain sol-fa marks. In 1560 Pierre Davantes,
at Lyons, printed a copy of tb ^ Marot and Be/.a
Psalter with a numeral notation, aua claimed that
it was the first of its kind. A copy of this rare
VOCAL MUSIC
IS3
psalter was sold among Mr. Littleton's books by
Messrs. Sotheby early in 191 8. But the Inner-
peffray psalter is the first known printed example
rjBAVMH v;iii
o 11 ^ T s O N.
OOifii rciil riiiirJtciM Av-i itrurj,& qui Ciii qucnoiu tlc(omuiC6
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ifui ;incc<lii'cii roy (fij.crton roil bus pour tcpouflf-r (eiix qii^
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1,-111, >. Jfs nrtrlyins, {v' noiis mainticn toudonrs en u liinilc pws
(ci-'i.o i.p.u tou \\\i Icliis CbiiU noljit ianucur. Adicu.
1' $ £ A V M F, Vltl. CL. MA.
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lyj, r.i[U'.r. J,. Nolhc Dicu & Seigneur
^•'.iiT, I'nyJii fdir
Dumuic , Domi-
nus noltcr.
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"x-— '— — ■ 1 — h— ^
kiCJCIU.
valtcr rcftrc fpa ci cux. Qui ra
mmm^m
paiifancc c Ic iic furlescicux.
T>t la bourJie
5 cnfans & ilbi-
fprcc i caufe ds ' En couc fc void ca ^and' vcrru parfairc
4" 'f fa,'rc'«fl--r l^^'l'^''' ^ boufhc aux cnfans qii'6 aUaiacr
fcan.-mi & Pea: Et rcnds par la confus & abbatii
ioutcnncniicjuinlc ta vcmi.
Quind lercjar- , ., • - , .
(<! rrcux^.wT/ Mais quad IC voy&: corcpic CfKTOurag'tt
'ouu-hse de tc, Tcs c:cux {} sGt de tcs doigcs haut onuragC
Edoilles?
Pace of Psalter, 1567, containing the first
printed sol-fa initials.
184 The story of British music
of a relative letter notation. So many people
are under the impression that sol-fa is a new
system that it may be well to give a specimen page
of this extremely interesting old psalter, though it
is British only by naturalization.
" CL.MA." are the initials of Clement Marot (other psalms
have TH.BE. — Theodore Baza). The rhythm is quadruple,
though an odd triple measure occurs at the end of the fourth
stave. There are no bar-lines. The short perpendicular stroke
following e.g. the fourth note of the second stave, is equivalent
to a double bar and indicates the end of a line of the poetry.
The mark / at the end of each stave is a direct, foreshowing the
position of the first note on the next stave. The '' Mutation "
is as follows :
Stave I. The first note is Re in the hexachord of C, the
fourth Re in that of G.
Stave T). Second note La in C ; third note Fain F.
Stave ^. First note Re in C ; second note Re in G ; the
sixth and seventh notes are respectively Fa and Mi
in F ; the eighth Re in G. The " V " before the
note indicates " Ut."
Stave 5. The fourth note is La in hexachord of C.
As mutation had usually to be applied without
being written the reader will readily understand
why it became known as crux et tormentum
puerorum !
As these pages go to press Dr. Grattan Flood
draws my attention to a book published in 1550
showing how to sing the psalms by sol-fa aban-
VOCAL MUSIC 185
doning the Guidonian method ; and to another by
Father William Bathe of Dublin published in 1584,
the first printed book in English on Musical
Theory, and containing a " short cut " method of
learning to sing. Ut was afterwards changed to
" Z)o," except in France, and a seventh note, Si,
was added. Unfortunately, during the rapid
advance in instrumental music, these sol-fa
names were misapplied to notes of fixed pitch.^
and so remain in France and Italy to this day,
and the logical and admirable system of the
Movable Doh fell into disuse. The most com-
plete and popular form in which it has been
revived — one likely to become world-wide — is
due, with the exception of the time-names, which
are French, to two English musicians — Miss
Glover, daughter of a Norwich clergyman, and
the Rev. John Curwen, a Congregational minister.
At first scoffed at in high places this system is
now included in the curricula of all the leading
colleges, and for twenty years before the war was
spreading in Germany, where it was recommended
by the S. Cecilian Society.
The third printed example of a relative
notation, which is the second example of a
numeral notation, also saw the light and was
possibly invented in Great Britain. It occurs in a
copy of a " Siren Coelestis " by a German com-
1 86 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
poser, G. Victorinus, and was published in Lon-
don in 1638. Possibly the numerals occur in the
first German edition published at Munich in 161 6:
during the war this cannot be ascertained ; but
they do not occur in the second German edition
of 1622, and therefore probably appeared for the
first time in the English edition : indeed, a pre-
face by the English editor, William Braythwayt,
leaves little doubt that they were invented for it
by Victorinus. The numeral system never took
root in this country, though it did in France at
a later period.
.Caot.vci I en. XX. MrnntBtAnehier'.
Sti funt triumphatores cju) vivcntes in came,
ij ifti font triiiphatorcs qui viventes ih came plantavcrunr,plaiv
taverunt ecclefiam fanguine fiio, ij calicem Do.
^j.'3'32;>l 7 "i Xi76 69 f.'/b-i: <?5'6>^ 'i ^'W^'i'^6 ^
mini caliceDo- minibibe- iunt,& atnici Dc- ifaOifunt.
4^5 6'^'^6'^6 '^ -^ ' ^^ b ^b 1^42 :^z,^ \1'1 I b ^ST ^
^.<. amiciDc- ifadifunt, & anuaDc- ifaaifunt, &; -
V'l ^^^2^^ VIZ 17 "fi
inici De- i fa' di funt.
Early Example of Numeral Notation ;
London, 1638
VOCAL MUSIC 187
Before leaving the subject of vocal music one
of our negative virtues should not be allowed to
escape attention : in the late fifteenth and early-
sixteenth centuries English Church-music was
free from the insensate formalism and verbal
secularity, even obscenity, characteristic of Con-
tinental composers. The English Church was
consequently, much more liberal in its treatment
of music than either the Genevan Fathers or the
Council of Trent. And similarly in regard to
secular music : in the eighteenth century Eng-
lish opera was comparatively immune from the
incredible puerilities — " the soprano men, howl-
ing women, and buff onery," to quote Rousseau —
which sullied it abroad.
Alas ! justice compels one to confess that for
the time being, and in regard to a section of the
nation, the tables have been turned. During the
last half-century or more a shallow and utterly
frivolous note has found its way into our popular
music ; and this not only in the music-halls, where
as a matter of fact the artistic standard is much
higher than it was, but in the last place where
superficiality should be found — the religious
revival platform. Many thousands of our people
listen to music — save the mark ! — of which it is a
compliment to say that in its happiest moments
it occasionallv rises to the level of twaddle, and
150 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
this with an apparent contentment, and to
quantities which could probably be equalled by
no other nation. But happily a broad view of
musical history shows that just as the genius-
period of a nation is a passing phase, so may its
decline be, and the whole course of our musical
record points to this aberration as being merely
temporary.
CHAPTER VIII
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS. LATER
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
With one serious exception, to be named shortly,
educational facilities in Great Britain have
generally stood high. For during those periods
when we have fallen sadly below our own high-
water mark, eminent pedagogues of other lands
have frequently found their most lucrative sphere
of work within our shores.
Prominent among these facilities is the system
of notation in use. Among the earliest methods
in the world was probably the ideographic-
sign system of the Chinese, corresponding to the
Letter system of the Greeks which Western
nations adopted. The first system invented in
Christian times was that of " neumes," already
referred to. The reputed inventor of the system,
according to Dr. Emil Naumann, was St. Ephraim,
a monk who lived at the end of the fourth cen-
tury, and who is said to have abandoned the use
of Greek letters and substituted fourteen original
characters. But the earliest writer to mention
190 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
neumes is our own Bishop Aldhelm, " the first
Englishman [not Briton] to become famous us
a musician." A writer who is either unaware
of, or disallows, the claim of S. Ephraim (Mr.
Henry Davey)^ suggests that Aldhelm was him-
self the inventor of the system he is the first to
mention. Another (Dr. Grattan Flood),'' dis-
regarding the fact that, as the Prentice Pillar
at Rosslyn bears witness, a pupil may excel his
master, seems to consider S. Aldhelm's having
been an enthusiastic pupil of S. Mailduff, an
Irish monk, as in itself a sufficient reason for
awarding the honour to Hibernia. We need
not labour the point here, for in either of these
cases the invention was British.
To whom the world owes the incalculably
valuable invention of a line to represent a musical
sound is not known. But in the article on Irish
Influence on Music by Dr. W. H. Grattan Flood,
already referred to, the author claims that " the
one-line stave of the Ogham alphabet suggested
the one-line stave on which the neums were
written, and thus originated the modern system
of musical notation. Before the introduction of
the one-line stave by the Irish monks, the position
of the neums, or musical signs to express pitch,
' History of English Muiic, p. 501.
- History of Irish Music, p. iz.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS I9I
could not be determined with any degree of
exactness ; and indeed the neums of the eighth
century were merely aids to memory, for the
Plain Chant m.elodies had to be learnt by heart,
(Let me add that the neums had no relation to
pnruma, as is frequently stated ; the word or
sign.) This Irish device of a one-line stave was
adopted both for the musical setting of Plain
Chant and secular songs. It was drawn across
the parchment over the words of the song, and
became the F clef, thus affording a basis for musical
pitch from which was subsequently evolved the
present stave of five lines."
The Ogam or Ogham alphabet was a seiies
of strokes carved some at one side, some at the
other, and some across the edge of a stone,
generally perpendicular. It is first found accord-
ing to Dr. Flood " from the third century," other
writers say, " during the later years of the Roman
occupation " (end of fourth century), and " prior
to the ninth century " — just the period when the
first traces of a stave are found. After a careful
examination of Dr. Flood's argument, both in
his article and in the first chapter of his History
of Irish Music, I am unable to agree with him that
" the very word Ogham suggests at once a musical
signification " : the Secretary of the Royal
Society of Antiquaries of Ireland informs me that
192 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
such a theory is " not admissible " and that the
paper referred to by Dr. Grattan Flood, which
appeared in the R. S.A.I. Journal for 1856-7,
would " hardly have appeared nowadays or for
many years back." And I must confess myself
unconvinced that " the Brassay inscription," two
illustrations of which lie before me, " furnishes
an example of music scoring " : it may be that
" three of the mystic strokes are identical wirh
three musical signs," but similar strokes, curves
and dots occur in all pen and chisel work. Nor
can I agree that the derivation of the musical
staff from the Ogham tablature at all is by any
means certain. But it is sufficiently probable to
make an illustration of this quaint old Celtic
writing extremely interesting. Oghams are
found in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, but are
much more numerous in Ireland. At the time
when they are believed to have been most in use
the Irish monks were at the height of their
activity as musical educators. Consequently
they, more than any other Celtic people, are likely
to have turned these cryptic characters to musical
account. Nevertheless in one respect the Irish
Oghams are inferior in suggestiveness to those in
Shetland. For these latter instead of being cut
across the natural edge of a perpendicular stone
are cut across an artificially incii-ed line on the
])IAC}RAM Ol" AX OCJIIAA.i IXSCklPTlOX
THE LUXXASTING STOXF,.*
Possible Origin of Linear Element in
Musical Notation
» I ^ Z, r C 1 I <} ,0 /; li 'J ^4 1^ it ;^ ig '^ io 11
Ci/ S I ^
* 111 1 he <[iagl';mi tli<M-(' -Iioi'M [iiiv<'
hccM colon points atit-r No. 22
Cr'a.'-rn /)r(i"'s i^.? '/;;7 ii),T.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS I93
surface of the stone, and in at least some cases
the stone is not erect but flat — both conditions
much more likely to suggest a line drawn on
parchment than the upright edge of a stone, or
prepared strip of wood, on which latter Irish
Oghams were sometimes written. Consequently
out of many illustrations which the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland have most kindly
placed at my disposal I have selected what
is known as the Lunnasting Stone. This stone,
a flat one, about a yard in length, was found
five feet below the surface in the parish of
Lunnasting, Mainland of Shetland. The in-
scription is "the hardest of all " to decipher, but
is believed to mean " (the Body) of Duichat, of
Manannland ; the son of Fife ; is lodged here."
The lettering, often combined with Oghams on
Scottish stones, and the numerals, which are
merely identification marks and of course are not
to be found on the stone itself, do not concern
us here.
Before quitting this subject a cautionary word
must be uttered against the misconception that
whatever is Scottish is ultimately and generically
due to Ireland. From about the middle of the
ninth century the name " Scots " has been given
to a fusion of Celtic peoples a minority of whom
had crossed over into Argyllshire from Ireland
o
194 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
apparently about the end of the fifth century,
though the date is much disputed ; and a majority
of whom were of the Pictish and British branches
of the race whose ancestors had landed in Albin
(Scotland) from their Asiatic cradle probably at
the same time that the Scottish Celts landed in
Ireland, and who are not known ever to have
been in the latter country. Evidence of this
may be seen in the wide divergence of character
between the Irish and Scottish Celts in the
present day.^
Turning from notation to more explicitly
educational works we shall find that of the twenty
most important treatises on music from Boethius
in the sixth century to Rameau in the eighteenth,
nine were certainly, and two others probably, by
Englishmen. Burney declares the famous text-
book by Walter Odington, written about 1300,
sufficient to balance all other mediaeval treatises ;
and those by Robert de Handlo, 1326; Simon
Tunsted, 1350; Lionel Power,' 1350; John
Dunstable, 1400 ; and Thomas Morley, 1597,
remained authoritative here and abroad for
centuries. Nor was the study of music con-
fined to Churchmen ; under Edward III. the
1 For a mo5t careful and detailed exposition of Celtic origins see Tb^
Ga'lic Kingdom in Scofla'id, by Charles Stewart, chapter I.
- The first treatise on music written in Fn-lish.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS I95
art formed an integral part of the lay system
of education ; students of the Inns of Court
learnt both to sing and play instruments, and
when, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
masques became popular, they took a great part in
them ; and, as we learn from the prologue to
Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," music was cul-
tivated more or less by persons of all conditions.
In Scotland Sang Scules were established from the
thirteenth century onwards ; that erected at Aber-
deen, in 1 370, acquired a European reputation. Our
universities were the second — the Spanish being
the first' — to grant degrees in music, the earliest
being conferred in 1463. A century later inability
to sing from notes was regarded as a sign of
deficient education, and after another hundred
years even servant girls were expected to possess
this accomplishment. Mr. Chappell describes
the universality of music during the Elizabethan
and subsequent period very vividly : " Tinkers
sang catches ; milkmaids sang ballads ; carters
whistled ; each trade, and even the beggars, had
their special songs : the base-viol hung in the
drawing-room for the amusement of waiting
visitors ; and the lute, cittern, and virginals, for
the amusement of waiting customers, were the
necessary furniture of the barber's shop. They
' A fact overlooked iii most hiilorics and dictionariei.
196 THE STORY OF BRITISH MU«!IC
had music at dinner, music at supper, music
at weddings, music at funerals, music at night,
music at dawn, music at work, and music at
In instrumental music Great Britain has never
regained the supremacy which the Irish, Scots
and Welsh enjoyed in the period centring round
the twelfth century ; and England from the
early sixteenth, up to the time of Purcell ; and
this weakness in orchestral music has been the
chief cause of, and justification for, the large
efflux of our students to foreign conservatoires.
Nevertheless, in two respects she may claim to
be ahead of other nations, even on the orchestral
platform. Though the United Kingdom has
produced none of the greatest composers for the
King of Instruments — Bach, Mendelssohn, Merkel,
Rheinberger, Widor — the standard of playing
in this country is higher than in any other
country in the world, a fact which lies at the
back of the familiar Continental jibe that we are
a " nation of organists." The late Mr. VV. T.
Best was the greatest organ virtuoso the world
has seen ; Sir Walter Parratt, organist of St.
George's, Windsor, is the greatest classical organist
living, and Mr. Lemare probably the greatest
concert organist. Secondly, it was a British com-
poser, the Irishman, John Field, who invented the
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS \Qf1
instrumental form which Chopin brought to such
perfection — the nocturne. Field was a pianist of
European fame, and his compositions are still in
use on the Continent. It is worth mentioning,
too, that though the piano was an Italian
invention, the date of which was about 1710, it lay
moribund for fifty years till perfected in England
by the Scotsman, John Broadwood, his apprentice
Robert Stodart, and the Dutchman, Americus
Backers ; and for long London was the centre of
the piano trade, and exported instruments to the
Continent. The first known use of the piano
in public for accompaniment was on IVIay i6th,
1767, at Covent Garden, the accompanist being
Dibdin ; its first use as a solo instrument was at
the Thatched Plouse, London, on June 2nd,
1768, the performer being J. C, Bach (known as
" The English Bach," from liis long residence in
London), and its first use in a theatre orchestra
was at Drury Lane, in 1771, the player being Mr.
Burney, nephew of the historian. Muzio Clemen ti»
the " Father of pianoforte playing," spent most
of his days and did his life-work in London ; as
did his able lieutenant, J. B. Cramer.
Turning to the Queen of Instruments, and
retracing our steps somewhat, England has
not produced the greatest violinist of any
period. But one such, Thomas Baltzar, like
198 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
80 many other sons of Jubal, found his
most appreciative home here ; and it was in
an Enghshman, Davis Mell, that he met his
keenest rival. In John Banister, chief violinist
to Charles II., and Matthew Dubourg, Alell
had worthy successors.
No structural alteration has taken place in the
violin for 300 years, and no material development
in the principles of playing it since Corelli, who
died in 171 3. The outstanding feature of the
eighteenth century was a development of execu-
tive virtuosity which frequently overbalanced into
charlatanry. England was no exception to the
general rule, and Paganini was foreshadowed in
John Clegg, J. A. Fisher, G. A. P. Bridgetower,
and others. The latter was the violinist with
whom Beethoven first played the " Kreutzer
Sonata " in public.
It should not escape notice, too, that if instru-
mental composition after Purcell's day achieved
no great heights, it never descended to the utter
frivolity characteristic of much Continental music.
Most of it was marked by " dignified solidness and
sober geniality." Dr. Blow's " Solo for two
Violins " has " a real look of Bach," ' and the
Oxford Flistory of Music makes a similar com-
parison in regard to some harpsichord music by
'■ Dr. WaJker, " History of Music in England."
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS
199
Dr. Nares. Dr. Boyce's sonatas for string instru-
ments are as good as similar works by any
composer of the period, and his Solemn March
in E-flat need not fear comparison with that in
the " Alceste " of his great contemporary, Gluck.
CHAPTER IX
LIGHT ON Britain's dark age. the tombs of
THE prophets. THE WORLD's GREATEST WOMAN
COMPOSER.
The eighteenth century and early nineteenth have
often been spoken of as Great Britain's Dark Age
in regard to music ; but it was not quite so dark
a time as " lovers of every nation but their own "
have been disposed to make out. As shown in
the chapters on vocal and instrumental music,
especially in regard to the output of operas, and
the perfecting and introduction of the piano, it
was a period of great activity, and high executive
attainment. Most of our great national and
nautical songs were inspired by the stirring
political events of this epoch, and two books which,
whatever their defects, have acquired a foremost
place among the musical world's literary classics,
namely the voluminous Histories of Music respec-
tively by Dr. Burney and Sir John Hawkins, were
both published in 1776.
If Britain during this period was mother to
rione of the world's greatest composers, she may
BRITAIN'S DARK AGE 201
at least claim that many of their masterpieces were
composed for her, and met with their highest
appreciation, and sometimes their best perform-
ance, in this country. Handel lived for nearly
fifty years and did practically his whole life-work
among us. Bach was not nearly so well under-
stood in his own day, and it was an Englishman,
Samuel Wesley — nephew of the Apostle of
Methodism — who may not unreasonably be de-
scribed as the first Bach enthusiast : he made it
his mission to herald the genius of the immortal
contrapuntist and propagate his works, especially
the fugues. Not till thirty years later, and eighty
years after Bach's death, did a similar personal
missionary, in the person of Mendelssohn, appear
in the composer's own country ; and though the
first complete edition of the famous 48 fugues for
clavier appeared in Germany, it was inspired by
a similar publication projected and begun two or
three years earlier in England. Thus the first of
Bach's fugues to be printed, though edited by a
German, August F. K. Kollman, organist of the
German Chapel, St. James's, found its way into
type in London.
Handel's operas were much more appreciated
in England than on the mainland of Europe. It
was for us, too, that the world's greatest oratorios
were composed — all Handel's (except his now
202 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
unknown Passion Oratorio), Haydn's Creation,
and Mendelssohn's Elijah. The Messiah was intro-
duced to its composer's native country not by a
German, but an EngHshman — Michael Arne.
Of all music's prophets Haydn was, perhaps, tiie
most honoured in his own country and lifetim.e.
But the tumultuous applause which greeted him
in Vienna was only the echo of that in London.
Not till his return from England did " Papa
Haydn's " own countrymen realise fully how
great a man had been born in their midst. It
was an Englishman, again, who first appreciated
the genius of Beethoven — leastways, who got up
a fund to provide for his musical education ; and
when Mayseder asked the master whether we
were not unmusical, Beethoven replied that " The
English were the only people who appreciated
himself."
Again, if since Purcell we produced none of the
greater prophets, neither did we stone them.
English composers have never occupied the servile
position in some grandee's palace which was the
normal lot of those abroad, and which so em-
bittered Haydn's earlier years. No English Bach
has had to beg repeatedly for a nod from royalty
that he might equal inferior rivals and avert
starvation. No English Mozart has been killed
with the tyranny of a prince-bishop, the vitriolic
BRITAIN S DARK AGE 203
intrigues of jealous rivals, and poverty (he received
only tenpence for songs which are among the
world's art-treasures), and then been buried in a
pauper's grave ! We laid Baltzar, the German
fiddler, Purcell, Blow, Croft, Handel, Arnold
and Shield to rest in \^^cstminster x^bbey ; Boyce
and Battishill in St. Paul's Cathedral.
The gloom of this period was not a " darkness
which could be felt," for the Gresham Professor,
R. J. S. Stevens, of glee fame, writing in 1797,
declared that music in England was then " thought
to be in greater perfection than among the
Italians themselves."
Beginning, so far as Britain is concerned, during
this Dark Age — the phenomenon appeared much
earlier in France — and increasing by leaps and
bounds since, musicianship has been characterised
by a feature which, in view of the course which
human evolution is now taking, may have a great
bearing on the future of the art. Yet hitherto it
has, I think, wholly escaped notice. I refer to
the large number of women composers. Some
eighteen British women have composed works of
considerable calibre — trios, concertos, symphonies,
cantatas, oratorios, operas, or songs of merit, while
the record for Germany appears to be seventeen ;
for France fifteen ; for Italy nine ; and Austria
six. Better still, in quality Britain leads even
204 '^"^' STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
more distinctly ; for Dr. Ethel Smyth is, un-
doubtedly, the greatest woman composer the
world has yet produced, and one of the greatest
composers of the day. Her The Wreckers contains
many features which " are among the most
remarkable things in modern opera, and it is
difficult to point to a work of any nationality since
Wagner that has a more direct appeal to the
emotions, or that is more skilfully planned and
carried out." '
» J. A. Fuller-ATaitland,
CHAPTER X
THE OLDEST NATIONAL SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE.
Judged by the longevity of its institutions, music
has shown a greater vitality in Great Britain than
in any other country. The oldest existing
musical society is English, for the Charter granted
to " The Musicians' Company " of London by
James I., in 1604, merely renewed privileges
previously granted to his " beloved minstrels " by
Edward IV. in 1469. And this latter charter,
preserved by Raymen in his Feodera, though the
oldest on record, was evidently not the first of
its kind, for it refers to similar institutions in
times past. Among these we may safely include
the company or brotherhood called " Le Pui,"
formed by some merchants in London at the end
of the thirteenth century for the encouragement
of musical and poetical composition, of which
Mrs. Edmond Wodehouse ' tells us there is a
record. Preceding these, as we have seen, were
' See her admirable article " Si.n^ " in Grove'i " Dictionary of Muiic and
Musicians," iqii edition, page 59Z.
205
206 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
the companies of Harpers, Gleemen, Minstrels,
Scalds and Bards. The Troubadours of Provence ;
the Minnesinger — confined to the nobility — and
the Meister-singer, or middle-class guilds, of
Germany, were of as old an origin as similar
institutions in this country ; but, unlike the
Musicians' Company, they do not still exist.
The society next in age would appear to be that
of S. Cecilia, in Rome, founded by Palestrina,
who died in 1594. The article on musical
societies in one of the best known German
Dictionaries of Music — Dr. Riemann's — records
nothing, except English societies, earlier than
1859.
Up to the mid-sixteenth century every composer
of note whose name and work have come down to
u^ — as pointed out in Chapter III, probably much
music was lost through the lay composer's
inability to write — was an ecclesiastic. Adam
de la Hale, born 1230, was no exception, for
after tiring of the lady with whom he had fallen
so hopelessly in love, he obtained a separation,
and appears to have carried out his original
intention of becoming a monk. And England
may claim not only the first secular composition
in more than two parts, " Sumer is icumen in,"
an honour which would otherwise rest with De la
Hale's chansons, but the first lay organist and
OLDEST NATIONAL SCHOOL 207
composer of Church music, the famous Thomas
Tallis, whose name is so well known in connection
with the Responses of the Anglican Church ; and
in John Dowland, already mentioned, she may
claim the first secular composer of note — the first
who had no official connection with the Church.
It was, therefore, merely the natural outcome of
long-existent conditions that Oxford in 1670 was
the home of the first public concerts, that is, con-
certs to which the general public were admitted
by payment ; the second were the musical
meetings which took place daily at the house of
John Banister in Whicefriars, Fleet Street,
London, in 1672. France followed in 1725,
Germany in 1743, and Austria exactly a century
after England, in 1772.
Greater, however, than priority in any one
branch of the art is the fact that the Island
Kingdom can boast a longer continuous musical
history than any other country in the Western
world. The Russian school penetrates time to a
depth of only seventy years ; the French and
German schools to about three hundred and fifty
years ; the Italian, barely four centuries ; Great
Britain, reckoning only, as is usual, from Dun-
stable, five hundred years. But this estimate is
an instance of the under-statement of their own
case characteristic of English musical writers.
208 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
Grotesquely inadequate as is Dr. Emil Naumann's
treatment of British music, he does us the justice
of dating the English school from " somewhat
earlier than 1360." In the present writer's
opinion it should be dated from " Sumer is icumen
in," 1226 — seven hundred years !
It is impossible thus to review Great Britain's
place among the nations which have occupied the
throne of music in the past without wondering
on whom the crown is likely to descend in the
future. Writing thirty-five years ago, Dr.
Naumann spoke of the " German genius period "
as a thing of the past ; and historians outside the
Fatherland have remarked on the waning of
Teutonic ascendance for many years now. Who
will take Germany's place ?
The greatest composers born during the last
century have come from no one nation. Exclud-
ing those now living, the most prominent among
them are Glinka, Cesar Cui, Moussorgsky, Tschai-
kowsky and Arensky — Russians ; Balfe, Wallace,
Sterndale-Bennett (the only Briton to be offered
the conductorship of the Gewandhaus Concerts),
Sullivan and Parry — Britons, works by all of whom,
it may be added, have received the much coveted
but withal somewhat over-prized hall-mark of
recognition abroad ; Coleridge-Taylor, the Anglo-
African ; Mendelssohn, Franz, Schumann,
OLDEST NATIONAL SCHOOL 2O9
Wagner, Brahms, Raff — Germans ; Dvorak, the
Bohemian ; Bellini and Verdi — Italians ; Gade, the
Dane ; Cesar Franck, the Belgian ; Berlioz, David,
Saint-Saens, Delibes, Gounod, Offenbach, Bizet,
among many distinguished French composers.
In regard to future development, however, the
record of the nations varies much more in
promise than a cursory glance at this list would
suggest. For while the work of the Russian
school may be equalled by some of its neighbours,
it has been attained in a fifth of the time, and
represents a rapidity of growth unequalled in the
chronicles of the art. And Mr. Arthur Pougin,
in his " Short History of Russian Music," is
probably building no mere castle in the air when
he avows a hope that " some day Russia may take
its place at the head of the musical nations of
Europe."
But of living composers our own Mackenzie,
Stanford, Cowen, Elgar, Ethel Smyth, Edward
German, Holbrooke, Scott, Dale, York-
Bowen, Vaugh an -Williams, William Wallace ;
the Australian, Percy Grainger, and many others,
form a worthy counterpart to a similar list which
may be drawn from any other country. Of the
two greatest composers living, one, Sir Edward
Elgar, is an Englishman, the other being Richard
Strauss. And whether it be in the near or
210 THE STORY OF BRITISH MUSIC
distant future, it is not only possible but probable
that the country whose missiouctry monks were
among the chief musical educators of Europe
from the seventh century onwards, which " in-
vented the art of composition," laid the
foundation of the instrumental school, and has
always been famous for its choral singing, will
once again — perhaps in the course of the ages,
many times — lead the world in the Divine Art.
APPENDIX
Chronolofjiccil
o
Table and Index
Typical Events.
211
of
{I terns not follozved by a p/Jge number are additional to those given
in the body of the book. They are included in the Alphabetical Index.")
STONE AGE. year page
A hollowed stone whistle (pcrliaps naturally formed),
found near Reading, is probably of tJiis period, and one
of the oldest musical instruments in the world.
BRONZE AGE.
A hollow bone with one hole bored in it, now in the
Dorset County Museum, is probably a Celtic whistle of,
or previous to, this period.
Horns of brass found in Scotland and elsewhere date
from the Bronze Age.
BEFORE CHRIST.
Plennyd, bard to Brutus, mythological founder of
Britain, the first known Briton famous as a musician.
Gabbet, first British King to be " the most able
musician of his time " {vide Wace's metrical chronicle),
subsec]uent to
Date said " by some " to be that of Welsh tune 'Nos
Galen.
Caius, the historian, believed that Druids originated
in Britain.
Bardic tradition says the lute was taken into Ireland
hy Heber and Heremon, first princes of Milesian race
in Ireland. cir
Heccatc'eus, quoted by Diodorus, describes the Celts
a? singing songs in praise of Apollo.
Many Celtic folk-songs must have existed long be-
fore the introduction of Christianity into Britain. Dr.
kitter. say
12
12
12
B.C.
"49 13
1149 «i
1 100
to 100' 13
IOI3 13
500
500
212
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
YEAR PAGE
Pythias, a Greek navigator, says the British always 1 384 —
carried a horn about with them. 322
The Crwyth is mentioned by an Irish poet said to
have flourished before Christ. say 300
ANNO DOMINI. I a.d.
Second Century.
The Gallican Liturgy, believed to have greatly
influenced British usage, may with probability be as-
cribed to the second century.
According to Caius the historian, Druids ceased.
Third Century.
Nine different instruments are said to have been
in use in Ireland this century.
S. Helena, daughter of Coel, King of the Roman
Districts (the probable original of " Old King Cole "),
and mother of the Emperor Constantine : first British
princess famed for her skill in music.
Fourth Century.
The three British bishops who attended the Council
at Aries probably brought back with them the Gallican
chant (believed to be a species of monotone with in-
flections at the end of the sentence).
Fifth Century.
The harp is mentioned in a poem of this century
cited by Pennant in 1778.
The bag-pipe is mentioned in the Brehon Laws of
this century (Rolls Series).
Organs in England.
Germanus and Lupus, French bishops of Sodor and
Man, probably introduced Gallican chant to the island
cir
Sixth Ci:ntury.
Saxon " Beowulf " poem, probablv written before
179
130
3H
430
104
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
invasion of England, describes Anglo-Saxons as musical,
and mentions several instruments. cir
Welsh harp music, including the Prelude to the Salt,
given in a XVII Century MS., is said to have been
played at the Court of King Arthur, usually assigned to
this century.
S. Columba uses a bell called " God's \'engeance "
for taking oaths on. after
Seventh Century.
Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, writes the
famous lines : " Romanusquc lyra plaudat tibi, Bar-
barus harpa, Grsecus a.c\\il\ia.ca, chrotta Brittanna canat."
(The chrotta or crwyth was not at this time played with
a bow). cir
Synod of Whitby accepts Roman observances : Celtic
church music little heard of thereafter.
Theodore of Tarsus and Adrian of Naples came to
England to teach Ambrosian plainsong.
Aldhelm, the first Englishman (not Briton) famous
as a musician, says he wrote musical signs over the
words : inventor of neumes ? made Abbot of Mal-
mesbury. cir
Ven. Bede writes theoretical and practical treatises
on music which imply the existence of harmony.
Benedict Biscop sends to Rome for instructors in
singing for York Minster.
Anglo-Saxon youths much given to music ; it is
socially derogatory to be without a knowledge of the
art. IJede.
Pope ;\gatho sends John, Precentor of S. Peter's,
Rome, to teach church music to the monks of Wear-
mouth ; he establishes many music-schools in Northum-
bria.
Benedict, .^bbot of Wearmouth, brings (hand .') liclh
from Italy.
EicHiu Century.
\n Eighth Century MS., burnt in 1768, represented
the cythara Anglica, or English harp.
213
YEAR PA<'E
520
563
600
664
668
673
675
678
680
680
680
15
117
42
105
105
70
14.6
106
106
214
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
The Canterbury Psalter and other MSS. of this
period depict psalteries and horns.
The practice of elongating musical sentences in the
liturgy, resulting in jubila and " tropes," was begun
[re-introduced ? ] this century.
A school of church music established at Canterbury, cir
Alcuin, of York, chief assistant to Charlemagne in
spreading Plainsong over France and Germany.
Battle of Rhuddlan, originating Welsh tune Morva
Rhuddlan.
The Ogham alphabet, which existed prior to the
Ninth Century, possibly suggested the linear element
in musical notation : most likely to Irish monks.
Ninth Century.
The rebec, or rebeck (many variants) a two- (after-
wards three) stringed instrument, precursor of viol,
introduced into England this or succeeding century.
Paul the Deacon comes to England to teach church
song (evidently " Paulus Diaconus," who wrote the
hymn from which Guido of Arezzo took the sol-fa
syllables). cir
Assumed date of Irish liarp represented in Bunting's
" Ancient Music of Ireland."
Earliest extant secular verses in a British dialect.
Duns Scotus Erigena writes a tract on descant or
organum.
Alfred the Great said to have founded a ProfcfsorsLip
of Music at Oxford. Secular music becomes a part of
polite and not merely bardic education.
Tenth Century.
Bells were rung [the first in Britain .? ] on deatli of
/Ethelwald.
King Howel Dha fixes the privileges of the Welsh
bards.
S. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, builds organ? ;
composes church music ; establislics a bell-foundry
[the first in Britain .?] ; is skilled in secular minstrelsy
YEAR PACE
700 I IC7
735- I
8o| j 139
795 i 4^
830
840
860
871
905
117
940
20
115
960
140
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Latin liturgical plays on birth, life, death, and
passion of Christ, given in churches at Christmas and
Easter, etc., discovered by Professor Skeat, probably
date from
An immense organ, ^oo pipes, erected at Winchester.
cir
Carrying out his predecessor's scheme. Abbot
Egelric founds a peal of bells for Croyland Abbey.
Eleventh Century.
The famous Winchester Troper is of this period.
The curfew bell was known prior to the Norman Con-
quest. Irish tunes are given in a IMS. of this century
discovered by Dr. Fleischer. The three-stringed
crwyth is depicted in an Eleventh Century MS.
The Cotton MS. names the Nabulum ; Psalterium ;
Tympanum (bagpipe 1) ; Cythara ; Tintinabulum ;
Sabuca ; Pennola ; Bumbulum ; and Corns (bagpipe ?).
Wolstan, a Saxon monk of Winchester, wrote De
Tonorum IlarmoniiP (now lost).
St. Paul's Catlicdral, London, choir school founded.
John Cotton, probably an Englishman, writes
Treatises of great importance. cir
Normans introduce the word "minstrel."
Thomas, first Norman Archbisliop of York, writes
hymns to minstrels' tunes
Osbern of Dover, Precentor of Canterbury Catliedral,
"' without doubt the greatest of all musicians " {tide
William of Malmcsbury), writes De Re Musica. cir
Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, establishes the " Sarum
Use."
It becomes of more consequence that a young knight
should know how to compose, sing and play, than
versify, read or write. Ritter. cir
Congress of W elsh bards convened by Gruflydd ab
Cynan. cir
Twelfth Century.
S. Barthi-)lomcvv's Priory, London, founded by
Rahcre. the King's minstrel.
215
PAGE
967
980
984
1042
1050
1066
1070
1074
1077
1080
IC9O
H3
12-
— 142
108
142
03
et sen
82
54
2l6
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
First known performance of an English miracle play,
'*'. Catharine, given at Dunstable.
Abbot Ailred ot Rivaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, protests
against elaborate vocal (apparently four-part) music,
and multiplicity of instruments in church. cir
Rounds and canons are common in England about
this time {z'ide Archdeacon W'm. Alapes). cir
Adamus Dorensis, Abbot of Door, writes Rudimenta
Musices. cir
Organists in " that part of England called West
Country discover the true tuning of the Third." cir
Richard L discovered in castle of Durrenstein through
a song composed by him and his minstrel Blondel.
Thirteenth Century.
A musical society exists in London called " Le Pui."
" Sang-scules " are established in Scotland during this
century. Tropes as a system were extinct at the begin-
ning of the century, though a considerable number sur-
vived for over three centuries.
Minstrels turn fortune of battle at Rhuydland.
Walter Odington : treatises of classic standing.
Johannes de Garlandia invents Double Counter-
point, cir
" Summer is icumen in," written [also composed ?]
by Jolm Fornsete.
Simon Tailler, a Scot, writes four treatises. cir
Angelus ad Firginem, earliest Anglo-Saxon sacred
song known. cir
The King's minstrel is addressed by the title
IVIagister.
An English Country Dance, the oldest known dance
of which a copy exists, dates from cir
The founding of the Festival of Corpus Christi in-
creases the number of miracle-plays ; every consider-
able town performs them.
Alfredus Anglicus writes De Musica. cir
YEAR
PAGE
!I2,
IIIO
175
II50
H3
II75
156
II80
—
I189
151
II93
54-55
I2I2
I2I7
1226
1240
66, 125
195,
205
58
194
153
54>L54
1250 94,118
1252
1260
86-88
1264
1270
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Edward L is said to have endeavoured to exterminate
the Welsh bards owing to their independent political
influence. (Statement much questioned.)
426 minstrels attend the marriage of Edward L's
daughter
Fourteenth Century.
The minstrels' gallery of this century in Exeter
Cathedral includes representation of bagpipe.
Celtic harp, and probably Irish jig, introduced into
Italy. cir
Six Kings of the Minstrels attend cour pleniere of
Edward I.
A law passed to check abuse of minstrelsy.
Bishop Richard Ledrcde, a Londoner, writes hymns
to minstrel tunes and takes them to his Irish diocese
of Ossory.
Robert de Handlo writes Regula cum maximus
magistri Franconis, a standard text-book for centuries.
College of Windsor (S. George's Chapel) with six
choristers, founded by Edward III. cir
Bands of " Wevghtes " or Oboi employed by
Kdward III.
Bagpipers sent by Edward III. to visit foreign min-
strel schools.
Lionel Power, author of first musical treatise written
in English ; referred to by Morlcy, 1597.
Memorial brass, S. Margaret's Church, King's Lynn,
depicts banquet with four attendant minstrels.
Richard of Maidstone's poem on Richard II. men-
tions sixteen contemporary instruments.
Fifteenth Century.
The Dunstable epocli in rnmposiiion.
An angel playing a liaer'pe represented on a crozier
L'iven to William of Wykeliam.
I'rumpcts and drums used at battle of Harlaw, near
Aberdeen.
12J
1290
1300
1306
I3I5
60
25,64
I3I8—
1360
103
et se I
1326
194
1327
—
1327
68
1327
92
1350
194
136+
68
1393
92
1400—
1420
160
H03
92
I4II
—
217
PAGf
59
ti8
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
The " Morality " play, precursor of drama, time of
Henry VI.
The Minstrel pillar in S. Mary's Church, Beverley.
A description of the coronation banquet of Henry VI.
contains first known occurrence of the afterwards
much used word " ballad."
First [.']use of the crotchet, Thomas de Walsingham.
Great bell of Gloucester hung. cir
Bards classified by laws of Scotland with beggars
and vagabonds.
First known British degree in music, Mus. Bac,
conferred by Cambridge University on Henry Habington.
James HI. of Scotland establishes a Chapel Royal at
Stirling. cir
March of " The Men of Harlech " : earliest known
march.
Edward IV. grants a charter to a Fraternity and
Sisterhood of Musicians, and in it refers to previous
charters.
John Hamboys, first known Doctor of Music, writes
treatises.
Office of Master of the Choristers, Chapel Royal,
existent.
The bagpipe becomes common in Scotland towards
the end of Fifteenth Century. cir
A Spanish writer of this date begins his history of
music with Dunstable.
Gilbert Banistir, of Edward IV. Chapel Royal,
writes dramas.
Men and boys are " impressed " for Chapels Royal
and other churches.
" Wilzean, sangstcr of Lithgow " is paid £io for a
song book.
First known Oxford degree in music : Robert
Wydow.
SiXTr;ENTH Century.
The " Cushion Dance " or " Kiss in the Ring "
common among all classes this and succeeding centuries.
Y! AR
1422 '
1460 7
1422-60
1429
1440
1450
1450
1463
1465
J, 112
61
195
1468
167
1469
66
1470
108
1473
116
1480
92
1480
—
1482
72
1483
log
1489
—
1499
—
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
The Hugh Aston period of florid instrumental com-
position.
Galliard dance in England. cir
Sellengcr's Round, a noted dance-tune.
A Proclamation suppressing " fond [i.e. foolish]
nooks, ballads, rhimes and other lewd treatises in the
i*'.nglish tongue."
First known lay organist. previ -ui to
Ballads multiply during the reign of Edward VL
Wedderburn in his Complaynt of Scotland, published
at Paris, says that " Cow thou me the rasches grene "
was a current popular song.
Alarbcke's Booke of Common Praier "Noted."
An edict under Q. Mary "against books, ballads,
rhymes, and treatises " appears to have been effectual,
for few of her reign remain.
Lender Elizabeth the ballad degenerates and is con-
fined to the lower classes.
Q. Elizabeth's Injunctions provide for the " con-
tinuance of syngynge in the church."
796 ballads left for entry at Stationers' Hall re-
mained at the end of this year for transfer to the new
wardens and only 44 books.
A rare edition of Marot and Beza's Psalter (sold at
Sotheby's, 1918) contains a numeral notation of which
the editor claims the invention : dated
A copy of the same psalter, but with sol-fa initials
against each note, believed to be unique, is in Inner-
peffray Library, Perthshire, dated
"Robin, lend V) me thy bow " entered at Stationers'
Hall
Brief Introduction to the true art of Musicke, by
William Bathe, an Irish Jesuit, "the first [printed]
standard work in Imglish on musical theory," published.
See under 1330.
First rccf»rdcd Scottish military use of bagpipes,
battle of Balrinnes.
219
YEAR PAGi:
iSoc^j
1520
1500
1509
164
1533 74
1540 77,116
1 547-53! 75
124
75
75
75
L5^9
1550
1553
1558
1559
1560
1560
1567
1568
1584 184
1594 I -
182
220
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
An Act by which " minstrels wandering abroad " were
held to be *' rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars "
may be taken as extinguishing the ancient profession of
minstrel.
Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical
Musicke, a classic.
Mystery play, The Three Kings of Cologne, given
at Newcastle-on-Tyne [the last in Great Britain .?].
Seventeenth Century.
Madrigal composing wanes during the first quarter
of this century.
Mary Macleod, authoress of words, and probably music,
of Hebridean folk-songs. cir
The first glee, Turn Amaryllis : Thomas Brewer.
Vocal music often published as also " apt for viols "
during reign of James L " Impressing " for choirs
ceases.
James I. grants new charter to the Musicians' Com-
pany.
Sir George Beck, in a treatise, declares London
musicians " equal to any in Europe for their skill either
in composing and setting, or in singing, or for playing
on any kind of musicall instruments."
Rhythm of famous English military march " beaten
in the presence of Prince Henry " at Greenwich.
Great bell at Lincoln founded.
" Parthcnia,''^ a famous collection of virginal music
and the first music for that instrument ever printed.
First Irish degree in music granted by University of
Dublin to Thomas Bateson.
Transition begins from masque to opera : dialogue in
Laniere's setting of Ben Jonson's masque Lethe being
sung.
Queen Henrietta Maria plays " Chloris " in Ben
Jonson's masque Chlorida.
Shirley's masque Triumph of Peace given with lavish
magnificence at Whitehall.
1597
1597
1599
1600
1602
1603
1604
1604
1610
1610
1611
1612
1617
1630
1632
25,78
194
46
177
109
(>7
168
16^
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Milton's masque Comus, with music by Henry Lawcs,
produced at Ludlow Castle.
A harmonized psalter by Edward Miller of Holvrood
Chapel, Edinburgh, published, the harmonizings by
" the primest musicians that ever this kingdom had,
as John Dean Angus, Blackhall, Smith, Sharp, Black,
Buchan and others " (reprinted 1864).
The organ in Holyrood destroyed ; choir turned out ;
church music reduced.
Davis Mell, first English violinist of note, flourished
Eirst edition of Playford's Dancing Master, a classic.
First use of bar-lines in single voice parts : Henry
Lawes.
Sliirley's masque Cupid and Death, music by Gibbons
and Locke, performed in London by command of
Cromwell.
The Sons of the Clergy Festival, which acquired
musical importance, founded.
Mrs. Colman as lanthe in The Siege of Rhodes, the
first woman to appear on the stage in public.
The " Fansics " and other pieces by John Jenkins,
the typical instrumental composer of the period, are
short-lived but show remarkable independence of vocal
forms and acquire an almost European reputation. cii
" The new tied note " {i.e. quaver hooks grouped) :
Playford.
Clifford's Di-jine Service; and Anthems, the first book
of its kind printed in England.
The first public concert {i.e. admission to anyone on
payment) known, at Oxford.
First public concert in London, December ^oth.
First collection in which glees are specially men-
tioned, Playford's Musical Companion.
Largest peal of bells in England : Exeter ; founding
begun.
Round note-heads instead of lozengc-shapcd :
Playford.
Purcell's Dido and .T.neas.
221
YEAR PAGE
1634
1635
1637
1650
165I
1653
1653
1655
1656
1660
1660
1663
1670
1672
1673
1675
1675
1680
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
S. Cecilia Choral Festival established.
Lilliburlero, doggerel verse with good tune, con-
tributes greatly towards the Great Revolution.
Bards cease in Ireland with battle of the Boyne.
Purccll's King Arthur.
Rev. Dr. W'm. Holder's Treatise on the natural grounds
and principles oj Harmony is epoch-making in breaking
away from the artificial theories previously prevalent :
publislied in London.
Thomas Cross, London, first to issue single songs as
separate publications. cir
Mrs. Mary Battel!, All Saints, Hertford, first
recorded lady organist. died
ElGHTEEXTH CeNTURY.
Dr. Pepusch, a German, settled in London ; first in
Britain to study mediaeval music. cir
Charity Children's Festival established.
First English opera after the Italian model, by
Richard Leveridgc.
Handel arrives in England.
Academy of Ancient Music founded.
First entirely Italian opera performed in England,
Almahide ; composer unknown.
Office of Lutenist to Chapel Royal, S.James', instituted.
English Country Dance introduced into France.
Double chant invented [by Rev. L. Flintoft .'] cir
The Three Choirs Festival (Gloucester, Worcester,
Hereford) established on a permanent basis.
The Gentle Shepherd, Scottish pastoral play of
ballad-opera type, verses by Allan Ramsay, becomes
immensely successful.
l^he Beg2ar''s Opera acquires phenomenal popularitv.
Hon. R. North's " Memoirs of Music " first English
history of music.
Royal Society of Musicians founded.
Samuel W'ebbe, first great master of the Glee : his
adult life was coeval with its best period.
YEAR
1683
1688
1690
169I
1694
1697
1698
1700
1704
1705
I7IO
I7IO
I7IO
I7I5
I7I5
1720
1724
1727
1728
1738
1740-
I816
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 223
YEAR PAGE
Madrigal Society established by John Immyns. 1741
First Welsh Collection of folk-songs. ^742
Manchester Gentlemen's Concerts in existence. ^745
Bards cease in Scotland with abolition of hereditary
jurisdictions. 1748 26
Hymns are gradually introduced in addition to
metrical psalms, wiiich previously held the field almost
alone. cir 1750 12S
.•\fter centuries of popularity flute-playing declines, cir 1750
Death of Handel in London. cir 1759
Repeating type of hymn-tune (i.e. Miles Lane)
comes into vogue. cir 1760
First public use of piano for accompaniment took
place in London; accompanist, "Mr. Dibdin." '^7^7 ^97
First public use of piano as solo instrument :
London, John Christian Bach. 1768 197
Birmingham Choral Festival established. 1768
Norwich Choral Festival. 177°
Chester Choral Festival. ^7T^
Niel Gow, eminent Scottish violinist and interpreter
of national airs. flourished 1774
Sir John Hawkins and Dr. Burney publish their
Histories of Music. 1776
James Aird, Glasgow, first to print Tanky Doodle. 1778
First printed collection of bagpipe tunes : Rev.
Patrick Macdonald, Edinburgh. 1784
Liverpool Choral Festival. 179^
York Choral Festival. 1791
Pedals added to organ in Westminster Abbey. 1792
First Knighthood granted to a British musician. ^795
The piano supersedes the harpsichord in the King's
I'and. 1796
Ninkti;kntii Ckniuky.
1800—
Flute-playing is revived and becomes very popular. 1840
A player of the crwyth still living at Carnavon. 1801 42
Charles Nicolson's llute-playing gives foreign artists
" much ground for thought." cir\ 1 8 16
224
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
The first British musical periodica], 7he Quarterly
Musical Magazine and Reviezv, established : it was
continued till 1829. 181!
Royal Academy of Music founded. 1822
First woman pianist at Philharmonic concerts : Lucy
Anderson. ' 1822
The H armonicon : first British musical monthly : ;
continued till 1833. i 1823
The Musical World : first British musical weekly :
continued till 1891. 1836
Sir W. S. Bennett's Naiades overture. 1836
Bristol Madrigal Society instituted. 1837
Balfe's Bohemian Girl. 1843
Musical Times founded. 1844
Miss Glover publishes her Norwich Modulator restor-
ing Guido's sol-fa syllables to their original relative |
pitch use. I 1845
Vincent Wallace's Maritana. \ 1845
Office of Lutenist to S. James' Chapel Royal (long j
a sinecure) abolished. I 1846
First (:) Canadian degree in music : James Paton
Clarke {Mus. Bac), University of King's College,
Toronto {Mus. Doc. 1856). j 1846
Royal Irish Academy of Music founded. | 1848
Cheadle Association for promotion of Church Music, '
the germ of Diocesan Choral Festivals, founded. ! 1849
Tonic sol-fa Reporter (now Musical Herald). '• 1853
First Diocesan Choral Festival : Lichfield Cathedral. ; 1856
Triennial Handel Festival : Crystal Palace : estab- 1
lished. I 1857
The Halle Concerts, Manchester. 1857
Leeds Festival established. 1858
St. James' Hall, London, opened. 1858
Musical Standard. 1 862
Tonic sol-fa College founded. 1863
Royal College of Organists instituted. 1864
The Monthly Musical Record founded. 1 871
Trinity College of Music, London, incorporated. ' 1875
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Musical Otinton.
First local examinations in music (theory) instituted
by Trinitv College, London.
T.C.L. Practical Local Examinations.
University of London grants degrees in music.
Guildhall School of Music founded.
Royal University of Ireland, degrees in music :
•.vomen eligible.
Royal College of Music founded.
Augusta Mary Wakefield founds the Westmorland
Competitive Festival, initiating a scheme which
rapidly spreads throughout the kingdom and becomes
" the most vital movement in the musical life of Eng-
land to-day."
Ormond Chair of Music, University of Mel-
bourne, Australia, founded.
Hovingham, Yorkshire, village musical festival
founded : Dr. Joachim a frequent visitor.
Toronto College of Music founded.
Musical Nezvs.
First degrees in music granted by a Scottish Univer-
sity, Edinburgh : women eligible.
University of Wales, degrees in music : women eligible.
Sheffield Musical Festival established.
University of Durham, degrees in music: women
eligible.
Fcis Coeil, Irish ATusical Festival, founded.
A characteristic of the last decade of this century
was the progre?s made in the production of music by
mechanical means — pianolas and phonographs.
Twr.N'riF.TH Century.
Midland Institute School of Music, Birmingham,
founded; Granville Bantock first Principal.
Sir Fdwartl i'.lgar's Dreavi of Crrontius.
Adelaide University, Australia, School of Music
founded.
Elder Conservatorium (jf Music, Adelaide, Australia,
ff'Linded.
225
YEAR PAGE
1877
1877
1879
1879
1880
1880
1882
1885
1887
IS87
1888
I89I
1893
1894
1896
1897
1897
I()00
1900
1904
I9IO
226
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Conservatorium of Music, Sydney University,
Australia.
South African Musical Times established.
Capetown, S. Africa, Municipal Orchestra instituted j
£600,000 expended or promised by Mr. Andrew
Carnegie and his Trustees towards erection of church I
organs, to date December 31st.
The Carnegie Trust undertakes the publication of
from one to six symphonic or other large works by British
composers, annually ; has under consideration a scheme
for their public performance ; undertakes the pro-
duction after the war, in library and popular editions, by
the Clarendon Press, of Tudor and Elizabethan church
music ; and considers a scheme for a Musical Loan
Libraiy.
The following works accepted for publication by the
Carnegie Trustees : — E. L. Bainton, symphony Before
Sunrise; Granville Bantock, Hebridean Symphony;
Frank Bridge, symphonic suite The Sea ; H. Howells,
Pianoforte Quartet in A Minor ; Sir C. V. Stanford,
opera The Travelling Companion ; R. Vaughan Williams,
The London Symphony.
The Carnegie Trust accepts the following works for
publication : — Lawrence Arthur Collingwood, Sym-
phonic Poem for Full Orchestra ; Alfred M. Wall,
Quartet in C Minor for pianoforte, \io'in, viola and
violoncello ; Edward Norman Hay, String Quartet
in A Major ; William Wallace, symphonic poem for
full orchestra, JFallace 1305 — 1905. i
The British Music Society founded by Dr. Eaglelield j
Hull, for the fostering of British Music. Information
Bureau in London, Branches in towns of United King-
dom, Representatives in European cities and America.
Study circles, concerts, lectures, conferences to be
organised. The patron is the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour,
the president Lord Howard de Walden, and the
Central Committee consists of public men who have
interested themselves in music.
PAGE
I9I2
I9I3
I914
I915
I916
I917
I918
IQI8 —
Alphabetical Index
Aberdeen, 195^ 217.
Aberffraw, 19.
Academies, Colleges, Conser-
vatoires and Schools, 222-6.
Acts, Statutes, Charters
and Proclamations, 25,
64, 66, e-], 74, 75, 78, 99,
109, III, 205.
Adelaide, Australia, 225.
Adrian of Naples, 105.
Africa, South, 226.
Agatho, Pope, 106.
Aidd Mawr, 13.
Ailred, Abbot of Rivaulx, 92,
Alcuin, 139.
Aldhelm, ^ t , 35, 70, 115, 143,
190.
Alexander II. of Scotland, 16.
Alfred, Dr. Arne, 178.
Alfred the Great, 82, 140.
.Vmbros, A. W., historian, 169.
Ambrose, Bp. of Milan, 103-4,
114.139-
Ancient British Harp Music, 22.
Angelus ad Firginem, 94, 120.
Anglo-^ axons, 1 5, 24, 27, 46,
52, 150, 213, see E iL^and.
Anthem, the, 177, 22 r.
Antiphonal Singing, 103.
Aoidoi, Greek, i v
Apollo, I, 211.
Arezzo, see Guido.
Aristophanes, i.
Aries, Council of, 102, 104.
Arne, Dr. T. Augustine, 30,
loi, 178-9.
Arne, Michael, 202.
Arnold, Dr. Samuel, 203.
Arthur, King, 19, 142.
Aryan, pre-, race, i ;.
Aston (Ashton, Avbtown, Aus-
ten, Asshetone), Hugh, 164.
Atla, King, 53.
Attwood, Thomas, 177, 180.
Austin, or Augustine, Archbp.
of Canterbury, 105, 123.
Australia, 6, 209, 225-6.
Austria, 203, 207.
B
Bach, J. C. (the English Bach),
197.
Bach, J. S., 154, 196.
Bagpipes, 92, 100,212,219,223.
Balfe, M. W., 179, 208, 224.
Ballads, 74, 218.
Balrinnes, Battle of, 219.
Balt/ar, Thomas, 197, 203.
Banister, John, 198, 207.
Banistir, Gilbert, 72.
Bar lines, first use of, 221.
Barrington, Hon. Daines, 2.
Bartholomew's, St., Smithfield,
54- .
Bas Oisiain, 14.
Bathe, Father William, 185.
Battishill, Jonathan, 177, 203.
Beaumont and Fletcher, 91.
Bccket, Thomas a, 173.
227
'.2$
ALPHABF/nCAL INDEX
Bede, Venerable, 146, 213.
Beethoven, Ludwig Van, 10, 179,
202.
Beggar'' s Opera, 17^.
Belgium, see Flantern.
Bellini, Vincenzo, : C9.
Bells, 116, 213-15-18-23-2!.
Benedict Biscop, loti.
Bennett, Sir Wm. Sdersdale,
208, 224.
Beowulf, 15.
Berlioz, Hector, 181, 209.
Best, W. T., 196.
Beverley, St. Mary's, 61.
Binary form, 31.
Birmingham, 225.
Bizet, Georges, 209.
Biscop, Benedict, 106.
Blackbird's Sofig (words onlv),
36.
Blondel, 54, 56,
Blow, Dr. John, 19S, 203.
Booke of Covufion Praier, 124.
Bo3'-bishop, 108.
Bowen, York, 209.
Boycc, Dr. Wm., 31, T90, 203.
Boyne, battle of the, 25.
Boys' voices, artificial preser-
vation of. III.
Brahms, Johannes, 209.
Brehon Laws, 212.
Bristol, 224.
Britain's Lament, 39.
British Grenadiers, 29.
British musicians abroad, see
Continent.
British Music Society, 226.
Broadwood, John, 197.
Bull, Dr. John, 29, 98.
Bunyan, John, 136.
Burney, Dr. Charles, 21, 56, 18I,
194, 197, 200.
Burns, Robert, 30, 93.
Byrd, William, 29, 98, 176.
Cadwaladr, Kine, 19.
Caedmon, 82, 90, 140.
Caius, historian, 13.
Caledonia, see Scotland.
Cambrensis, Giraldus, 143-5.
Campion, Thomas, 100.
Canada, 224.
Canons, Edgware, 79.
Canons, 91, 159.
Canterbury, 215 ; Tales, 83,
195 ; School, 107 ; Psalter,
214-
Carnegie Trust, 226.
Carols, 103, 125.
Castlelachlan, 25.
Catches, 91, 99.
Caupenny, King, 59, 80.
Celtic and Greek legends com-
pared, 45.
Celts, 12, 13,15,17,19,27,30,
45-8, 192-4, 211, 217.
Chandos, Duke of, 79.
Chant, Anglican, 177, 222.
Chanties, sea, 32, sec also 178.
Chapels Royal, 72, 79,
107-8, 174-5, 21S.
Chappell, Wm., 52, 87, S9, 195.
Charlemagne, 29, i ',9.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
229
Charles I., 168.
Charles II., 198.
Charters, ice Acts.
Chaucer, 73> 83-5, 90, 94,
118, 125.
Cheadle, 224.
Cheney, Simeon P., 4, 10.
Chester, 58, 1 13.
Chest of viols, 94, 96.
China, 21, 42, 59, 189.
Chopin, F., 197.
Choral Festivals, 221-5.
Clementi, Mu7.io, 197.
Cole, Old King, 82.
Colleges, Academies, Schools,
Conservatoires, 222-6.
Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel, 208.
Columba, St., 104, 117.
Company of Musicians, Wor-
shipful, 67.
Competition Festivals, 225.
Comus^ Milton's, loi.
Concerts, the first, 137,207,
221.
Continent, British musicians
on the, 92, 107, 165, 174.
Coranto, 49.
Cornwall, 192.
Corpus Christi Festival, 216.
Cornyshe, William, 72.
Cotton, John, 142, 148.
Country dar.ce, 49.
Coventry, 69, 113.
Cowcn, F. Hymen, 209.
Cramer, J. ]'>., nj-j.
Cranmcr, Archbp., 130.
Crcjft, Dr. Wm., 203.
Cromwell, Oliver. 136-7, 221.
Crotch, Dr. Wm., 3, 167.
Crotchet, first use of, 218.
Crovvest, F. J., 3, 39, 104.
Crowley, Robert, 128.
Crovland Abbey, 215.
Cruit, Irish, 41.
Crusades, 55, 58, 142.
Crwyth; crwth, crut, or crowd.
41, 55, 142, 145, 223.
Curwen, Rev. Jolin, 185.
Cynan, Prince Gruffydd ab,
20-21.
D
Dale, Benjamin James, 209.
Dance music compared with
song, 32, 38.
Dance-ttme, oldest extant, 86.
Da?inv Boy, 37.
Dante, 34-5.
Davey, Henry, 74, 137, 144, 157,
164, 166, 190.
David, Hebrew King, 81.
Davy, Adam, poet, 83.
Degrees, university, 136, 195,
218-26.
Delibes, C. P. Leo, 209.
Dha, Kinc Hovvel, 20.
Dihdin, Charles, 178-9, 180,
iqj.
Dido and Apneas, 171.
Diocesan choral festivals, 224,
Dorian mode, 48.
Dover, Osbern of, 215.
Dowland, John, 165, 207.
230
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
Druids, 13, 18, 21.
Duns Scotus Erigena, 146.
Dunstable, John, 125,160-1,
194, 207, 218.
Dunstan, St., 35, 115, 140, 143.
Duntullim Castle, 25.
Durham, 116, 225.
Dyfnwal, 13.
Dynevor, 19.
Edinburgh, 221, 223, 225.
Edward L, 17, 68, 86, no.
Edward IIL, 68, 92, no, 144,
194, 217.
Edward IV., 63, 68, 72, 108,
174, 205.
Edward VI., 75, 95.
Egypt, 4, 139, 156.
Eistcddfodaw, 19, 27.
Elgar, Sir Edward, 209, 225.
Elizabeth, Queen, 20, 25,
75, 89, 95, III, 130, 165,
168-9, 195, 219, 226.
England, 25-6, 28, 32, 142,
158, 163, 165, 167, 170, 174-
5, 179, 181, 185, 187, 202,
206-8, see also Anglo-
Saxons.
Ephraim, St., 189.
Europe, London musicians
equal to any in, 220.
Eusebius, 107, 114.
Evesham, Worcestershire, 158.
Examinations, Local, 225.
Exeter Cathedral, 92, 132, 221.
Faidit, Gaucelm or Anselm, 54,
56.
Fair-tune, Wolverhampton, 99.
Fancy or Fantasy, 98.
Farnabie, Giles, 98,
Faux-bourdon, 152, 159.
Feasts, music at village, 99.
Feis Coeil, 225.
Fergus, King, 16.
Festivals, diocesan, choral, com-
petitive, 221-5.
Field, John, 196.
Fire of London, Great, 95.
First-movement form, 31.
Eitz.-Stephen, 82.
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, 165.
Flanders, i39> 162.
Fletcher of Saltoun, 74.
Flood, Dr. W. H. Grattan, 32,
36, 184, 190.
Flute-Playing, 84, 223.
Foreign Opinions of
British Music, i39' H^j
152, i55> i59> 160-1, 164-5-7,
168-9, ^^74' ^78? 181-5, 196,
206, see also Naumann.
Fornsete, John, 54, 154.
Forsyth, Cecil, 49.
Fortunatus, Bp. \^, 42.
Fowler, Ward, 7.
France, 3°. m> i59' 170,
181-2, 185, 203, 207, 209,
see Paris.
Franck, Cesar, 209.
Eraser, Captain, 24.
Frere, Dr. W. H., 123-5, H9-
ALPHABEIICAL INDEX
23'
Gabbet, King, 81.
Gade, N. W., 209.
Gall, St.,monasteryof, 35-6, 141.
Galliard, 219.
Gallican chant, 104.
Galin-Cheve method, 182.
Gaunt, John of, 70.
German, Edward, 209.
Germany, m, 118, 167,
169, 178, 181, 185-6, 201-3,
206-9.
Geneva, 126-7, 130, 134, 187.
Gentle Shepherd, The, 222.
Gibbons, Orlando, 29, 98, 169,
221.
Glasgow, 223.
Glastonbury, 115.
Glee, The, 177, 221-2.
Gloucester, 218.
Glover, Sarah Ann, 185.
Gluck, C. W., 181, 199.
Glyn, Margaret H., 22.
God save the King, 178.
Godstone, Oxfordshire, no.
Gounod, Charles, 209.
Gow, Niel, 223.
Grainger, Percy, 209.
(Greatest of all musicians, 21 q.
Greece, i5) 18, 45, 103, 106,
^139, 156, 1 82, 189.^
Gregorian Music, 105-6,
1^3, 139. 140.
Gruffydd ab Cynan, Prince, 20,
21.
Guido of Arczzo, 107, 148, 182.
Gunn, John, 14.
H
Hadow, Sir \V. H., 149, 179.
Handel, G. F., 10, 55, 79,
154, 171, 178, iSo, 201, 203,
222-3-4.
Harp, 22, 35, 41, 53, 69, 82, 85,
98, 212-13-17.
Harpsichord, 95, 163, 198, 223,
Haydn, Joseph, 181, 202.
Heart of Oak ^ 31.
Heber and Heremon, 211.
Heccatseu?, 2H.
Helena, Princess, 82.
Henry IV., 174.
Henry V., 173-4.
Henry VI., 218.
Henry VIII., 95, loo.
Heywood (composer of dramas),
72.
History of Music, first English,
222.
Holbrooke, Joseph C, 209.
Holder, Dr. Wm., epoch-
making treatise, 222.
Holie Crosse, Abingdon, 71.
Holyrood, Edinburgh, 221.
Homer, 45.
Horn-book, Gull's, 93.
Horn-Child, 52.
Hornpipe, 50.
Howel Dha, King, 20.
Hrothgar, 15.
Iluckbald, 147.
Hurdy-gurdy, 42, 84.
IIuw, Robert ap, 20, 21.
Hymns and Hynm-tuncs,
127-9, 141. 177, 223.
232
ALPHABI/nCAL INDEX
I
Impressing for choirs, 109.
Instrumental Music, 91- 9'
114, 141, 143-4, 163, 196-8,
200, 212, 214, 217, 226.
Interludes (dramas), 72-3.
Ionian mode, 39.
Ireland, 14, 17? 18, 24, 26,
32, 35-8, i43-4> 162, 190-4,
19 , 212, 217, 224-5.
Italy, 34> 38, 49, i-o, iii, 138,
162, 167, 169-70, 175, 180,
182,185,197,203,207-9,213,
217 ; i^"^ Milan; Rome.
James I. of Scotland, 43, 161.
James III. of Scotland, 21S.
Jeffries, Richard, 72.
Jenkins, John, 166.
Jig, 38, 217.
John the Precentor, 106, 123.
John of Salisbury, 55.
John, St., the Evangelist, 18.
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 26.
Jones, Edward, 18.
Jonson, Ben, 91, 93, 100, 114,
220.
Jorram (Boating Song), 32.
Jubila, 123.
K
Kamtschatkalcs, 4.
Kennedy-Eraser, Mrs., 45.
Kidson, Erank, 46.
King as title of Minstrels, 59,
Kingsley, Charles, 5.
King's Lynn, royal banquet, 68.
Kircher, A., 2.
Kirkman, Jacob, 97.
Knighthood, first musical, 223.
Kreutzer Sonata, 198.
Lament, The, 38, 40.
Lament for Elodden, Tlie, 43.
Laodicea, Council of, 117.
Lawes, Henry, loi, 221.
Lav Organists, 195, 206.
Lcckingfield, Yorkshire, 95.
Leeds, 182, 224.
Lemare, E. H., 196.
Lilliburlero, 222, see also Preface,
Linley, Thomas, 180.
Linos, Greek, 4.
Liszt, Franz, 55.
Ijchfield, 224.
Liverpool, 223.
Local Examinations, 225.
Locke, Matthew, 221.
London, 108, 182, 201-2-3,
207, 220-1.
Lucretius, 2.
Ludlow Castle, loi.
Luinig (choral song), 32.
Lute, 94-5, 136, 195, 222, 224.
M
Macaulay, Lord, 172.
Macdonald, Lord, 26.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
233
Macdonald, Murdoch, 26.
-McDonald, Rev. P., 24, 223.
Mace, Thomas, 131.
Mackenzie, Sir Alex., 209.
Macleod, Alary, 46.
Madrigals, 99, ^7S, 220-3-4.
Malmcsburv, William of, 70.
215.
Manchester, 223-4.
Maneros, Egyptian, 4.
Marbeck, or Marbecke, Thomas,
126.
Marcel linus Ammianus, 16.
March, The, 3^, 167 8.
Marot and Bc/.a's Psalter, 127,
182-4.
Mary Queen of Scots, 95.
Mary Tudor, 95, III.
Masques, 100, 220.
May-day, 99-100, 134.
Mediasval music, first study of,
222.
-Mcistersingers, 206.
Melbourne, Australia, 225.
Mendelssohn, Felix, 201-2, 208.
Meals, music at, 68, 98, 196.
Mechanical mu'.ic (pianolas,
&c.), 225.
Mcll, Davis, violinist, 198.
Milan, 34, 104-5, 117, 138.
.Milesians, 14.
Military Music, 43, 58,
167-8, 217, 219.
Milton, John, loi, 135.
Minnesingers, 20^.
Minstrels' dress, 62.
Minstrels' Pillar, Heverlcv, 61,
62.
Miracle Plays, 112, 175.
Mixed Choirs, 107.
Moralities, 112.
Motley, Thomas, 90, 98, 194.
Mornington, Lord, 3.
Morris dance, 41.
Most Musical Nation, 138-
9, 155, 161, 169, 170.
Movable Doh, 182.
Mozart, W. A., 3, 37, 55, 177,
202.
Mull, Island of, 25.
Munday, John, 98.
Aiusician and Poet separated
offices, 73.
Musicians' Company, 6"/, 73,
205-6.
Muiurgia universalis, z.
Mutation, 182-4.
Mystery Plays, 112, 134, 220.
N
Nares, Dr. James, 199.
Naumann, Dr. Emil, 69, 113,
155, 158-9, 208.
Neumes, 190.
Newcastle-on-Tyne, no, 220.
Nigra, Cavaliere, 36.
Norman Conquest, 27, 52, 113.
North, Hon. Roger, 222.
Northumbria, 106.
Is OS Calen, 13.
Note-heads, lozenge, round,
tied, 221.
K oiv IS the month o/ Al aving, 2')
Numeral notation, 185-6.
234
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
o
Odin, 15.
Odington, Walter, 158, 194.
Odo of Clugny, St., 107, 141.
Offenbach, Jacques, 209.
Ogham Alphabet, 190-3.
Oldest dance tune extant, 86.
Old King Cole, 82.
Omnia Opera, 2.
Opera, 100, 136, 165, 170-1,
179-80, 201, 220, 222.
Oratorio, 127, 170, 181.
Organ, 114, 196, 223.
Organa, 149.
Osbern of Dover, 215.
Osmund, Bp. of Salisbury, 215.
Ossian, 14, 24, 43.
Otger, Abbas, 147-8.
Ouseley, Sir F. A. G., 39, 145.
Oxford, 207.
Pageants, 100.
Page du Pratz, Le, 2.
Palestrina, G. P. da, 130, 169,
206.
Paris, 33, 49, 61, 139, 153-4,
159, 219.
Parry, Sir H. H., 208.
Parratt, Sir Walter, 196.
Parthenia, 165.
Part-singing, 90.
Passion Music, 126, 175.
Paumann, Conrad, 164.
Paul the Deacon, 106.
Peacock feast, 68.
Peele, dramatist, 91.
Penillion singing, 17, 32.
Penllyn, William, 20.
Pentatonic scale, 42.
Pepusch, Dr., 222.
Pepys, Samuel, 90, 95.
Percy, Bp., 52, 53.
Periodicals, musical, 224-6.
Pianoforte, 96-97, 197.
Planxty, 38, 40.
Playford, John, 137, 221.
Plennyd, 13.
Pliny the Younger, 103.
Plot, Dr., 71.
Poet-musician, passing of the,
73;
Pougin, Arthur, 209.
Pres, Josquindes, 133.
Prelude to the Salt, 22-23.
Proclamations, see Acts.
Prydain, 13.
Purcell, Henry, 170, 179,
196, 198, 202-3, 222.
Puritans, 130.
Pui, Le, 66, 205.
Puzzle canons and masses, 133.
Pycraft, W. P., 6, 7, 9.
Pythias, 81.
Q
Queen, see Elizabeth ; Mary.
R
Raff, Joseph J., 209.
Raliere, minstrel, 54.
Ramsay, Allan, 222.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
235
Ranulph, Earl of Chester, 58.
Rastel! (composer), 73.
Rebeck, 214.
Recorder, 84.
Redford, John, 72.
Reel, 46.
Reformation, The, 11, 118,
126, 129-30.
Regals, 95.
Registration of musicians, 67, 78.
Relinuia Cdtichi, 36.
Rhuydland, battle of, 58.
Rhvs, Ernest, 113.
Richard I., 54-5-6.
Richard II., 174.
Rivaulx Abbey, 92, 143, 151.
Robin Hood, 24.
Rogers, Benjamin, 166.
Rome, 34» 102, 106, 117, 138,
170, 206.
Rosina, 30, 180.
Rounds, 91, 99, 156.
Rousseau, J. J., 187.
Rule, Britannia, 3c, ICI, 178.
Russia, 207-8-9.
Saint-Saens, C. C, 209.
Salisbury, 55, 109-10, 215.
Sang Scules, 195.
Sarum Use, 215.
Scalds, 15.
Scarlatti, A., 171.
Schallmev, 69.
Scholcs, Percy, 49.
Schubert, Franz, 37, 45.
Schumann, Robert, 44, 208.
Scc.p, 15.
Scotland, 8, 14, 16, 17, 24-5-6,
32,42-6-7, 144, 161, 182, 192,
195-6,216,219,223,225. Srr
Edinburgh ; Holyrood.
Scott, Cyril, 209.
Scottish " primest musicians,"
221.
Seagull of the Land-under-lV az'es ,
45-
Rellenger^s Round, 219.
Service, the Anglican, 177.
Shakespeare, 73,89,91,113,
135-
Sharp, Cecil J., 28.
Sheffield, 182, 225.
Shetland, 192.
Shield, William., 30, 180, 203.
Shirley, James, 100.
Sibel (dance tune), 41.
Simpson, Christopher, 10.
Singing from notes, and at sight,
90, 117.
Skeat, Prof., 112, 175.
Slaves forbidden the Harp, 82,
96.
Smith, J. Stafford, 86.
Smyth, Dr. Ethel, 204, 209.
Societies, Musical, 222-6.
Sodor and Man, 104.
Sol fa System, 182, 224.
Solo songs, early, 176.
Songs first published separately,
222.
Spain, 38, 77, 139, ^9S, 218.
Spinet, see Virginal.
SpofTorth, Reginald, 178.
St. Paul's Cathedral, j^? London.
Staffordshire, History of, 71, 99.
236
ALPHABKIICAL INDEX
Stanford, Sir V., 31, 209, 226.
Statutes, see Acts.
Sterndale-Bennect, Sir W'm.,
208.
Sternhold and Hopkins, 127.
Stevens, R. J. S. 177, 203.
Storace, Stephhn, 179, 80.
Strathspey, 46.
Suite of pieces, 98.
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 208.
Sumer is icumen in, 54386,
119, 154, 206, 208.
^uo Gan, 39.
Sydney, Australia, 226.
Sylvester, Pope, 102,
Sympson, Christopher, 10.
Tablature, 21.
Taillcfer, minstrel, 58.
Tailler, Simon, 216.
Tallis, Thomas, 77, 116, i
207.
Tassoni, 43.
Taylor, Samuel Colet^dge
Ternary form, 32.
Thackeray, W. M., 17.
Theodore of Tarsus, 105.
Tiomna Ghuil, poem, 85.
Tinctor, Johannes, 160.
Tipperary, 29.
Tonic sol-fa, 182, 224.
Transition, masque to o|
220.
Transition, " minstrel " to
sician," 73.
26,
Tratkal, poem, 85.
Trent, Council of, 12;, 130, 1S7.
Troihis and Cressida, 73.
Trtsta?i, romance, 53.
Tropes, 122-5, ^47"9-
Troubadours, 34, 52, 55, 206.
Tudor period, 226, see Henry,
Mary, Elizabeth.
Tunsted, Simon, 194.
Tye, Dr. Christopher, 77.
u
University degrees, 136, 195,
218-25.
Variations, 98.
\^erdi, Guiseppe, 5^, 209.
^'iol, 93-4> 136.
Violin, 197-8.
Virdung, Sebastian, 95.
Virginal, 94, 136, 163.
Virginal books, 165.
w
Wace, 13, 81.
Wagner, Richard, 178, 204.
Waits, or W aytes, 67-8, So.
Wakefield, 113.
Wakefield, Augusta Mary, 225.
Wales, 13. 16-21,25-27,32-33,
35, 38-42, 141-2, 141. 163,
167-8, 192, 196, 223-5.
Walker, Dr. Ernest, 36.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
«37
Walker, Henry, the last (?) Eng-
lish minstrel, 73.
Wallace, William, 209, 226.
Wallace, William Mncent, 179,
208, 224.
Walsingham, Thomas do, 218.
Waltham Abbey, 77.
Webbc, Samuel, 222.
Wesley, Charles, 3.
V\'esley, Samuel, 3, 177, 20I.
Westminster Abbcv, 223.
Westmorland, 225.
Whitby, Council of, 105.
William of Malmesbury, 70, 2 1 5.
William of Wykeham, 92.
\\ illiam the Conqueror, 99, 113.
Wilzean, sangster of I.ithgow,
218.
Winchester, 124, 140, 143,
147-9. St'e al'o frontispiece.
Windsor, College of, 217.
Wodin, 15.
V\'olf, Hugo, 44.
Wolverhampton, Fair tune, 99.
W omen as Musicians, 6^,
67, 83, 85, 93-4, 107, 114,
185, 203, 205, 222, 224.
\^'ood, Anthonr, 53.
Wooldridge, H. E., 87.
Worshipful Company of Musi-
cians, 67.
York, ic6, no, 113, 131, 139,
223.
York-Bovven, 209.
PREFACE
The object of this little book is to supply English
readers with concise biographies of French Mu-
sicians from Lully to the beginning of the 19th
century (a period covering about 200 years), re-
flecting in some measure the conditions and influ-
ences of the times in which they lived and worked.
Although not all were born on French soil, France
was so entirely the land of their adoption that they
must be reckoned among her musicians.
For detailed analysis of their works, readers
are referred to the Authors mentioned in the Bibli-
ography.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Preface v
I Jean Baptiste Lully, 1632- 1687 - i
II Jean Philippe Rameau, 1683- 1764 - 49
III The Clavecin Composers, 1600- 1768 87
IV Andri-; Ernest Modeste Gretry,
1741-1813 109
V Etienne Nicolas Mi^hul, i 763-181 7 - 159
VI Jean Francois Lesueur, i 760-1 837 - 207
VII LuiGi Cherubini, 1760-1842 - - 225
VIIl Francois Adrien Boieldieu, 1775-
1834 243
THE EARLIER FRENCH
MUSICIANS
CHAPTER I
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY
1632-1687
Jean Baptiste Lully,^ born an Italian, left his
native land as a child and identified himself so
completely with France and French music that
(quite apart from the legal formula of naturalis-
ation) he must be reckoned a French musician.
Little is known of his family, and his enemies were
probably right in declaring that he was of humble
birth, Lulli was a common name at that time in
Florence. In or near that city Jean Baptiste w-as
born (2gth November, 1632) and baptised on the
same dav, as was then customary, his parents
being one Lorenzo Lulli and Caterina del Sera his
wife.
Of his childhood we only know that he loved
music and that a monk of the Cordeliers (Grey
1 Hf clian^cd Lulli into Lully in France, probably after naturalisa-
tion, ant! -ill (!<)( unionts sig^ncd by him have this spelling.
2 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Friars) taught him the guitar, with a smattering
of musical knowledge. Something — perhaps his
playing — brought him, a lad of fourteen, to the
notice of the Chevalier de Guise, who was travel-
ling through Italy and anxious to find " un joli
petit Italien " for his cousin, Mademoiselle de
Montpensier, that lady having expressed a wish to
practise her Italian. Jean Baptiste was taken,
1646, to France in the Chevalier's train, but not
being sufficiently " joli," was sent to Mademois-
elle's kitchen. Tradition says that his guitar
playing attracted attention and he was presently
placed among the musicians of her household ;
another version has it that he was made " gargon
de la chambre de la princesse." The former
sounds more probable, considering Lully's ante-
cedents, but the legend matters little, save as
proving that the boy's musical gifts were con-
sidered extraordinary and secured his promotion ;
" La guitare I'avait tire de la marmite," ran the
saying.
At Mademoiselle's court in the Tuileries there
was plenty of music ; balls, concerts, serenades,
ballets succeeded each other all the vear round and
Lully found scope for his talents although he only
received a meagre salary. The great lady, like
other distinguished personages, had her own band
of musicians, among them six violins; Lully learnt
the violin with his usual quickness and before long
was composing airs for this instrument. Here,
too, he formed a friendship destined to shape
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 3
events in his future life with a singer and composer
named Michael Lambert, in Mademoiselle's service
and of some repute- Mademoiselle pensioned this
singer generously when he left her service, for in
fact artists were usually treated verv liberally bv
their rich patrons.
In 1652 Mademoiselle, who had espoused the
cause of the Frondeurs, left Paris for the provinces
and Lully with the rest of the household accom-
panied her. But life in the country was not to the
young man's taste and Mademoiselle records in
her Memoirs : " He would not stay in the country ;
he asked permission to leave me and I granted it.
Since then he has made his way, for he is a great
baladin " (dancer of lively airs). Or was it (as
the story goes) that the mischievous Lully wrote
ribald verses about his protectress and was dis-
missed in consequence? Llowever that may be,
his dismissal was only a further step to advance-
ment, for three months later, behold ! Lully at
Court, taking part in the Ballet de la nuit, actually
in five different roles, and by the follow'ing month,
March, he had already stepped into the post of
Compositeur de la viusique instrumentale, oppor-
tunely vacant through the death of another Italian
musician, Lazzarini.
From this time Lully 's talents had ampip oppor-
tunity, lie collaborated with Court musicians,
danced in ballets, most frequently by thp side of
the King Louis XIV (at this time a youtli of four
teen) and " played the violin divinely '" according
4 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
to La Vieville. Perhaps at this time it was the
young Italian's dancing which especially delighted
the Court. He was so agile, so full of droll capers
and devices, always ready to " make up " for any
role, to wear any costume, however fantastic, in
short, to do anything likely to amuse. But deeper
than all this lay the real goal of Lully's genius,
music. Of this he was conscious. By no means
was he content to remain simply a fine dancer, a
good violinist, a court favourite whose drolleries
amused. And before long came the first step
towards more serious work.
The Court Musicians formed an orchestra of
European reputation known as " les violons du
roi " and the twenty-four violinists composing it
played dances at all the court balls and fetes.
Lully boldly criticised their performances as too
elaborate and artificial, " trop precieuses et tour-
mentees " (they were, in fact, too full of contra-
puntal devices) ; he advocated a simpler style. The
king allowed him to form a smaller band, " les
petits violons," whom he trained until they
rivalled the others.
Lullv's career was one of extraordinarv and, as
it seems, inevitable success. His lucky star
brought him to Court at the precise moment favour-
able to his type of character and genius, brought
him to a king, Louis XIV", who appreciated and
protected him from the first : the young musician
found a young king of artistic tastes and who loved
music especially, more in fact than any other art.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY ^
Their natures, too, were congenial ; both were Re-
naissance types, fond of life as well as art, fond of
a life of gaiety, gallantry and magnificence. The
young king loved to dance (which he did very well)
by the side of Lully in the Court ballets. And,
what is rarely the case with Court favourites, the
monarch remained a faithful friend throughout
Lully's life, pardoning his escapades and reward-
ing him with princely generosity. The Grand
Monarque always honestly preferred Lully's music
to any other. There is a pretty story of his reply
in later life (many years later), to an Italian Am-
bassador, who presented a celebrated violinist to
His Majesty. The king listened to the brilliant
performance of the virtuoso, then ordered one of
his own violinists to perform an air by M. Lully.
At its close, turning to the Ambassador, he said
simply: "Que voulez-vous. Monsieur? This is
the music I love."
Lully was speedily at home in Court life. His
wit and vivacity, his dominant personality, backed
by real genius, made him interesting, whilst his
caustic tongue was a dreaded weapon if courtiers
were inclined to snub.
The Court obviously offered splendid oppor-
tunities to artists in those days.
There was the intercourse with fellow musicians,
constant rehearsals and productions new and old,
an atmosphere of art. More than all these was the
invaluable opportunity of trying experiments. A
new composition, simple dance or ballet, could be
6 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
produced at once and its effect judged under the
most favourable conditions. The king himself
took the keenest interest in any new composition.
Later he was fond of suggesting subjects for opera
or pastorale and loved to have a composer under
his eye, so to speak, as was the case in after years
with Lalande, whom His Majesty would visit every
day " to see how he was getting on," a solicitude
doubtless embarrassing to its object. Louis could
play the lute, the guitar, the harpsichord, and sang
very well. He also composed small Airs, notablv
a pretty courante. Music was the art he loved
best.
In spite of Court duties and pleasures Lully,
conscious of deficiencies in his musical education,
set himself to study. He found time to work undei
three different organists (Roberday, Metry, Gi-
gault), studying counterpoint and composition.
As regards these teachers, Roberday taught some
what vaguely that " what pleases the ear should
always be accepted as a rule of music " {the ear
being apparently unspecified). Gigault was fond
of using old French songs and chants as themes
for fugues. Lully also learnt to play the harpsi-
chord with his usual facility.
On May 30th, 1655, he took part in the ballet Les
Bienvenus as a dancer, dressed in grotesque cos-
tume, but in the following year he composed the
music of a long " sc^ne infernale " for the ballet
Psyche. And after this date h'S compositions
were preferred to all others at Court.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 7
Mademoiselle spoke contemptuously of Lully
dancing himself into fame as a " baladin," but she
failed to appreciate his real genius. Although
his gifts as actor and dancer undoubtedly made
him popular, his lasting success was founded on
more solid basis. Whatever he undertook, he did
well. For instance, when Lully came to Paris,
nearly half the musicians were unable to sing or
read from score, learning their parts by ear. But
Lully insisted that all who came under his baton
should learn to read music, and at his death there
were very few singers or instrumentalists who
were not really proficient in the art of reading at
sight.
In a very short time Lully's reputation was es-
tablished and his life became a constant and broad-
ening stream of success. He collaborated in the
various ballets which succeeded each other at
Court, such as L'Amour Malade, La Baillerie,
Alcidiane, and was universally acclaimed " incom-
parable."
In other styles he excelled equally, producing
(1660) a motet " admirablement harmonique " on
the double event of the marriage of the King and
the Peace of the Pyrenees. In the same year
Mazarin invited the Venetian, Francesco Cavalli to
Paris, the Italian niaster's opera Xerxes being per-
formed at \'ersailles ; Lully wrote some ballet
music for it. But after his promotion to the post
of Surintendant de la -niusique^ (on the death of an
1 The Surintendants each served 3-4 months in the year at Court.
B THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
old musician named Cambefort) Lully became
more markedly French in the style of his music.
Later (in 1666)^ he showed his predilection for
his adopted country by applying for naturalisation
in France, a request which was granted in most
flattering terms.
The new Surintendant still enjoyed performing
in the ballets with his usual verve and drollery,
and Paris rang with mirth when Lully took the
part of " L'Aveugle " in the Ballet de L'Impatience
in the same year. There are pictures of him in all
kinds of costumes : as a beggar, as a Turk, as an
" Academiste de Chiron," with his face blackened.^
And he enjoyed life to the full, a life of dissipation
and excess, sometimes with episodes of more than
doubtful character, until his marriage to some ex-
tent acted as a sobering influence. His wife was
the only daughter of that Lambert whose acquaint-
ance he had made when in the service of Made-
moiselle. The lady brought him a dowry of
20,000 livres but a rather unamiable disposition,
being somewhat of a scold. Perhaps the union
was due to prudence rather than affection — Lully
had sound business instincts — but in any case the
King was delighted, appointed his favourite
" Maitre de la musique de la famille royale " with
1 In 1666 it is worthy of note that the King disniissed all his
ItaHan musicians, perhaps at Liilly's instigation, for Lullv
had set his fac(; against the Italian style of music.
2 On grand occasions the Court orchestra usually wore a cos-
tume in keeping with the Opera to be performed. Lully, for
instance, once conducted in Egyptian dress, " but very mag-
nificent."
Jean baptiste lully 9
the sum of 30,000 livres to be paid to his heirs, and
signed the marriage contract, as did also the Queen
Mother, Marie Ther^se, the Due de Rochechouart,
Colbert and other great personages.
Under such auspicious circumstances, at the
Church of St. Eustace, 24th July 1662, was
solemnized the marriage of Lully the musician,
who had come from. Florence a poor, unknown lad
some twenty years before.
Six children were born, three boys and three
girls, within as many years. Their mother de-
voted herself to her children and home life, she was
not fond of society, and Lully, although he does
not seem to have been very devoted to her, was
certainly less dissipated after his marriage. He
presented an edifying spectacle on Sundays, says
the chronicle, when he accompanied his family to
the Church of St. Roch, sitting in a pew with a
door a clef.
Whatever Lully's faults, idleness was not one
of them ; he was an indefatigable worker, and
after his marriage he worked harder than ever. He
composed unceasingly the ever popular grand
ballets which contained symphonies, recitatives,
airs and dialogues on operatic lines; also religious
music such as Motets and the beautiful Miserere
performed at the funeral of Chancelier "Seguier
(1664), th;- music of which, Madame de S^vigne
declared, could not be surpassed by the music of
Heaven.
In 1661 began Lully's collaboration with Moli^re
to THE EARLIER FREXCH MUSICIANS
in " Comedies ballets," in which dancing and sing-
ing enlivened the more serious business of the
play. In their first production, Les Fdcheux,
Lully, however, only took part as an actor in the
role of an " Augure musicale," the music being
by Beauchamp.
But in the next " Comedie ballet," Le Manage
Force, Lully wrote the music and in the same year
(1664) " les deux grands Baptistes," as the two
were familiarly styled, produced at the King's
request La Princesse d'Elide, a great success.
This piece was first performed at the Grand
Fetes given at Versailles (5 May 1664) really in
honour of La Valli^re. In Paris it was more rich-
ly decorated than anything hitherto attempted on
the French stage and ran from May through the
summer, when Cardinal Chigi visited Paris. In
honour of his visit Lully also wrote some music for
Corneille's Oedipe, which was performed before
the Cardinal (August 1664).
L'Amour medecin, performed at Versailles
(1665) was another triumph for the two Baptistes;
although Moli^re generously attributed its success
to the " incomparable M. de Lully." One ballet
followed another. There was a constant succes-
sion of Court events imperatively demanding
musical recognition and Lully was inexhaustible
in his occasional inspirations such as the Ballet
de la Naissance de Venus, Ballet de Crequez ou
la Triomphe de Bacchus dans les Indes.
The expiration of the Court mourning for the
Jean baptiste lullV d
death of Anne of Austria (the Queen Mother) in-
spired a " Com^die ballet " and in this Ballet de<^
Muses the versatile Lully himself performed e,
violin concerto.
For the baptism of the Dauphin (March 1668)
he composed a beautiful Plaudo letare.
The great Racine also offered to collaborate with
Lully and wrote for him La Chute de Phaeton,
1665.
And during his collaboration with Moli^re this
indefatigable musician found time to compose to
libretti supplied by Benserade.
The Ballet was not what it is to-day. It con-
tained singing and acting as well as dancing, and
from it opera gradually evolved. Mythological sub-
jects were the favourites, in fact almost the only ones.
For nearly two hundred years the public never
wearied of the amours of gods and goddesses, of
shepherds, nymphs, fauns, framed in classic land-
scapes and French Court dress. From the fif-
teenth to the end of the seventeenth centuries this
form of art was popular, a reflection of the classic
regime in France, crystallising into rigid operatic
conventions which ultimately fell to pieces before
the new ideals of the Revolution.
These Ballets, Mascarades or Pastorales, were a
series of pictures or slight incidents strung to-
gether without any real connecting link.
The Ballet de la Nuit, for instance, introduced
episodes of thieves, soldiers, the loves of Diana
and Endymion and other matter appropriate to the
12 THE EARLIER FREN'CH MUSICIANS
hours of darkness but not otherwise apparently
related.
Subjects Hke the Four Seasons, the Four Ele-
ments also appealed to French musicians with
their fondness for descriptive or imitative music.
The storms of summer and winter winds were as
suggestive as the exploits of Vulcan and Neptune.
Lully, for instance, in his conveys the idea of cold
and shivering by repeated notes.
When Lully began to write he Icept to the old
lines, at first collaborating with other musicians in
the Court ballets, then surpassing them by the
beauty of his music and improving the whole pro-
duction.
The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in the same year
(i8 July 1668) called forth a " Grand Divertisse-
ment de Versailles," in which the piece de resist-
ance was again a comedie ballet, " Georges
Dandin " (probably a first version of Georges
Dan din).
This was performed with more than 100 execu-
tants and scored a tremendous success. In the
Grotte de Versailles, another Pastorale (also per-
formed the same year in the famous grotto of Ver-
sailles, a triumph of the " rocailleurs " of the
period), nightingales were imitated by a hydraulic
organ to the great delight of the Court. Lully's
ballet Flore was written with Benserade (13 Febru-
ary 1669) and the King danced in this ballet
(February 1669), whilst in October of the same
year Lully played the part of // Signer Chiacchc-
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY I3
rone in the scene between two Italian musicians in
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. In these two produc-
tions Lully had greatly developed the musical side,
so much so that in the latter the music took first
place in public estimation, Lully being considered
of more importance than Moli^re. Yet another
Pastorale, Les Amants Magnifiques (4 February
1670). About this time an Envoy from the Porte
visited Paris, with a resulting vogue for every-
thing " exotique," and especially Turkish. Moli-
ere and Lully at once met the demand by a
" Turquerie," and in the " Bourgeois Gentil-
homme " (1670) the chief scene was a " Ceremonie
turque," in which Lully, in a strange and wonder-
ful costume, took the part of the Mufti. Great
expenses were incurred in the production of this
" bouffonerie," no pains being spared to secure
local colour. The costumes alone cost 12,000
livres (about ;^6oo) and the whole Court produc-
tion four times as much. But this extravagance
was justified by success. The King was delighted
and never wearied of the performance. It is said
that when Lully incurred His Majesty's dis-
pleasure by some particularly scandalous exploit
he would contrive to play this part in order to dis-
pense the clouds on the brow of " le roi soleil."
And many years later, when Lully had slept a
quarter of a century in his imposing tomb and
Madame de Maintenon had banished gaiety from
the Court, the old King commanded music of the
Turquerie to be played again, as if trying to recall
4 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
former joyous days. Several Pastorales were
written before the break with Moliere.
Psyche (1671), a tragi-comedy, in which both
Moliere and Corneille collaborated, was a great
success and had a three months' run.
Pomone in the same year, also a success.
Unfortunately, however, the two great Baptistes
quarrelled ; there are different versions of the
reason, but probably Lully's grasping, domineer-
ing character gave sufficient cause. Moliere
found his theatrical venture at the Palais Royal
seriously hampered by Lully's despotic powers of
limiting the number of musicians to be employed,
and he joined certain operatic directors in legal
protest against Lully's privileges. But they were
powerless against the favourite of the King.
The enormous amount of work accomplished
by Lully is partly accounted for by collaboration.
It was customary for composers to sketch the
outline, the melody of their works, indicating the
harmony and then leaving the middle parts to be
filled in by their pupils or by other musicians,
much as painters allowed their pupils to fill in
backgrounds, etc. These Ripieni were used in
chorus and orchestral parts, collaboration being
acknowledged in such terms as " M. Colasse wrote
the accompaniments." Lully was not fond of
ornaments and fioritura in his vocal music and
often left these to be written by Lambert, his
father-in-law. In fact there was a good deal of
collaboration, which accounts for the great amount
JEAN' BAPTISTE LULLY 1$
of operatic music turned out to order and at short
notice.
Lully found a new librettist in Quinault, a mild
poet who submitted to his bullying and caprices.
Quinault was engaged by contract to write one
opera a year at an annual salary of 4,000 livres
(about ;^2oo), but during their fourteen years
partnership the two produced quite twenty works.
Their first joint production, Les fetes de I'amour
et de Bacchus (1672) was not a success, the music
being really a pot pourri of dance tunes composed
by Lully for the King's ballets, no plot. But
noblemen deigned to dance in it at Court, and
among them the Duke of Monmouth, who was
visiting Paris at the time.
Cadmus et Hermione, " tragcdie en musique "^
(1673) pleased the Court greatly and was honoured
by the presence of the King, Monsieur and Made-
moiselle. The " Allegoric " of the serpent
" Python " in the Prologue was especially ad-
mired and a criticism in the " Gazette Rimee "
contains nothing but praise, somewhat naively ex-
pressed by a poetical critic :
" Cette aimable symphonic sans nul bruit dc cacophonie."
Cadmus et Hermione is really Lully's first seri-
ous attempt at opera in contra-distinction to his
I " Trag(!:dif " was really drama, not trngr-dy in our sense of the
word. " Comi'-dic " dealt with probable or possible happen-
ings, whilst Opera was at first confined to supernatural or
mythological subjects,
l6 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Pastorales and Ballets, and some account of it may
be of interest.^ The characters are a curious med-
ley, including giants, heroes, a Python, soldiers,
rural deities, chorus of winds in the air and sub-
terranean winds, ten golden statues animated by
Love. The distribution of voices seems peculiar
according to our ideas, the hero being a bass or
low baritone, whilst Hermione's nurse was sung
by a male voice, the same singer taking also the
role of a Tyrian Prince. It was customary at that
time for the parts of old women or women sup-
plying " comic relief " to be performed by men, a
tradition still maintained in our pantomime.
The Prologue (which was of great importance)
opens with rustic revels, in the midst of which
Envy emerges from a cave in the centre of the
stage. Then the terrible Python (a fore-runner of
Fafnir) appears from a marshy swamp {marais
bourheux) in the background. The flames issuing
from his mouth and eyes supply the only light in
the darkened theatre. Simple (very simple) run-
ning passages accompany the Winds, whilst Envy
sings a recitative, until hery darts from above
strike the Python, who falls writhing into his
marais bou-rbeux. A Gavotte celebrates the tri-
umph of the Sun, in wliom intelligent courtiers
recognised the Roi Soleil. The story of Cadmus
and Hermione followed.
1 The first French opera was Cambert's Pomone, but Cambert
had not Lully's success. He came to England and became
Court Musician to Charles II (16-2).
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 17
Throughout the opera the tonahty changes very
Httle, which makes for a depressing monotony of
effect; there is httle rhytliniic interest. The reci-
tative is often tine althou,qh unduly long, and some
of the airs are beautiful. It is recorded that a
droll effect was produced at one performance by a
singer, a vivacious and <:';reatly admired lady. She
was in the role of Pallas and, on being applauded,
rose and made a graceful bow from her cloud,
taking off her helmet and allowing her beautiful
blonde hair to flow loosely about her shoulders to
the delight of the public.
Cadmus ct Hcrmione was produced 28 April
1673 and on the following day the appreciative
monarch gave tangible proof of his satisfaction by
granting Lully the right of performing his works
in the Salle du Palais Royal where Moliere's
troupe had played and where, during a perform-
ance of his " Malade Imaginaire " poor jNIoli^re
had breathed his last only two months before.
Lullv was now ab>;olute dictator in matters
musical, not onl\- in Paris but throughout the
kingdom, Alreadx' in 1672 he had obtained the
right of directing the Academic Royale de
Musifjup, i.e. the Opera (practically an Opera Syn-
dicate), the former director, Perrin, having failed
linanciallw
Lull}' started it on a fresh basis, and Letters
Patent cc^nferred on him most arbitrary powers as
Director oi Opera. He was allowed to close a
riv'al theatre in the rue Mazarine. lie could pro-
1 8 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
hibit actors from employing more than two voices
and six violins and henceforth no opera could be
performed throughout the whole of France without
Lully's permission, for which of course he
charged.^ His authority was absolute and su-
preme in all matters of music.
Alceste brought new triumphs, though not with-
out dissentient voices. Madame de Sevigne was
extremely enthusiastic and declared that this would
surpass all Lully's previous works. The King
had said, if he were in Paris when this opera was
performed he should go every day. "These
words are worth a hundred thousand livres to Bap-
tiste " comments the astute lady. Again a few
days before the first performance she wrote : " The
Opera is a marvel of beauty, there are passages in
the music which move me to tears. I am not
alone in being overwhelmed, the soul of ]\Iadame
de la Fayette, too, was troubled." But in spite of
these sensitive vibrations of cultured ladies, sterner
critics condemned the work. Musicians disap-
proved of the music. Poets said that Ouinault
had spoilt Euripedes by introducing unnecessary
episodes- and ribald verse alluded to " musique
de chien " and " musique de diable." La Fon-
1 He received 2,000 livres (francs) per annum from a Director of
Opera at Marseilles, for instance.
2 Many critics disapproved of Ouinault's vers(^s. There is a story
that Lully's admirers once :it a supper advancf-d tlireateninglv
on him with raised glasses, shouting in mocl<-lieroic chorus,
" Abandon Quinault or thou art a dead man,"
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 1 9
taine, who was annoyed because Lully had refused
his Hbretto of Daphne, wrote a skit, " Le Floren-
tin," in which he compared Lully to a wolf In
short it was evident that the favourite of fortune
had many enemies.
There was even a report that a librettist named
Guichard, a gentleman in the household of the Due
d'Orleans, had plotted to poison Lully by means
of snuff containing arsenic. Such devices were
common enough in those days. Lully appealed
to the King for protection against his enemies and
the King told him to bring an action against Gui-
chard. The affair dragged on for three years,
involving many scandals, but in the end Guichard
was acquitted. He had, however, lost his post in
the service of the Due d'Orleans and left Paris.
Lully was fond of property and apparently of
building houses.
In 1670, having bought land, he borrowed
money from Moli^re (they were working together
at the time on the Bourgeois Gentilhomme), to the
amount of ii,ooo livres at a fair rate of interest and
built himself a house. It was a fine large build-
ing, (still standing at the corner of the rue Sainte-
Anne and the rue des Petits Champs), with all the
appointments suitable to a rich man, a stable for
three horses, etc., and in it Lully lived for some
years. Not long after this occurred the unfortu-
nate breach with Moli^re.
Later Lully bought a country house at Sevres.
Another dwelling he shared with his father-in-law,
20 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Lambert, at Puteaux. Finally in 1683 he retired to
another house which he had built in Ville I'Evesque
(now 28 rue Boissy d'Anglas). This last home was
in the midst of a large quiet garden. Here he com-
posed his three latest operas (Roland, ArnJde, Acis
et GaJathee) and here he died.
Attempts to collaborate with Racine and
Boileau failed, owing doubtless to Lully's exacting,
domineering character. Not one of the three
poets, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, could satisfy
him. He made his librettists write, alter, re-write
continually. For Bellerophon Corneille and Fon-
tenelle wrote over 2,000 lines, of which Lully only
accepted about 200.
Atys, libretto by the docile Ouinault, was per-
formed (1676) and delighted the Court. Madame
de Sevigne was again in raptures : " There are
passages of extreme beauty ; a ' Slumber ' and
' Dreams ' of surprising originality. The sym-
phony is entirely in the bass strings and of such
drowsy beauty that one admires Baptiste under a
new aspect."
Isis (1677) was not quite so successful; the pub-
lic condemned it as "too learned," the instru-
mental part being developed at too great sacrifice
of the vocal.
Moreover Quinault, having incurred the dis-
pleasure of Madame de Montespan bv a pointed
allusion to her in this work, had to disappear for a
time from Paris, depriving Lully of his librettist.
For a time Thomas Corneille wrote for him, re-
)EAN BAPTISTE LULLY 51
modelling ihe Psyche of 1671 into an opera, which
with new music by Lully had some success
(April 19 1678).
Then followed Bellerophon,^ composed more
slowly than usual, for Lully was ill at the time, and
performed in the following year (31 January 1679).
This was a greater success than any hitherto
achieved. All Paris flocked to hear it and the
Court honoured it by repeated visits. The King
insisted on encoring all the most beautiful passages
each time he attended the performance, even
during the following year, when Bellerophon was
performed at St. Germains (5 February 1680). The
music was beautiful, the staging a triumph. The
scene of the Elysian Fields designed by a Court
artist was especially admired as a marvel of melan-
ciioly beauty.
In spite of the critics Alceste was performed at
the Grand Fetes given at Versailles in the summer
of 1674 with the lavish splendour beloved of *' le
Roi Soleil." This opera and Cadmus et Hermione
were produced in the marble court (open air),
lighted by tall candelabra of silver placed along
the sides of the court among rows of orange trees
in silver tubs. The King's chair was placed on a
platform with seats for the courtiers. The Palace
and the lakes were illuminated, the fountains
played through coloured lights, there were mag-
nificent fireworks. Splendid collations were served
1 Thob. Corneille and Fontcnelle, librettists.
^i THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
in leafy arbours, the tables lighted by thousands of
candles in candelabra of silver, with the rarest
fruits and flowers in gold and silver dishes.
After listening to the Opera or a play by Racine
or Moliere the King and his Court would promen-
ade until dawn or embark in flower-wreathed
gondolas on the lake. Such were the Fetes of the
classic days of Versailles in which the Roi Soleil
strove to capture all the beauty and joy of life.
La Valliere's star was no longer in the ascendant.
These Fetes were in honour of Madame de Monte-
span. But the splendour and magnificence were
always the same. Lully was always the idolised
musician. At yet another Grand Fete the opera
was his famous Roland (1685).
The weather in that summer being rainy
and the Marble Court impossible, the manege
(riding school) w-as transformed in a few hours
into an Opera house, lest the King should be dis-
appointed. At noon*horses were exercising in the
manege, by evening it had been transformed into
a splendid theatre with raised platform for His
Majesty, seats for spectators, the usual brilliant
candelabra, a stage embowered in orange trees,
groves of other trees lining the walls, .... such
were the resources of Versailles.
Versailles the macrnificent, the lordly pleasure-
house, built at such fearful cost of money and
human life, whose upkeep was the despair of Col-
bert, was the Earthly Paradise in which Louis
XIV loved to forget earthly cares. Flis ideal was
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLV 23
an enchanted spot in which he could reahse all
beauty, natural and artistic, sculpture, painting,
music — above all music — gardens of rare trees and
exotic flowers, beautiful women and a glittering
court '^ " Surtout beaucoup de fleurs " was always
his command, " mais de fleurs tardives ou
avancees, " a characteristic touch, for His Majesty
took no delight in ordinary flowers, he must have
exotics or flowers forced out of their season : tube-
roses, Dutch tulips, orange blossoms; and the
potted plants in the parterres must be changed
every day, sometimes twice a day, lest their
monotony should weary the eye of the royal
aesthete.^ Debt troubled him little. The discom-
fort of courtiers crowded in dark corners behind
the magnificent exterior troubled him not at all.
Outward splendour marking dirt and misery made
Versailles the characteristic symbol of the period.
But the Grand Fetes dazzled all beholders. In
all some eight or nine of these wonderful Fetes
were given between 1663-1674, the first in honour
of La Valli^re, that of 1674 ^o celebrate Mme. de
Montespan. LuUy was always the chief director
as well as the great composer of these divertisse-
ments. He was indispensable and Louis XIV
realised it, he was terribly afraid of losing " a man
of such talent as M. de Lully," a man who under-
stood the art of splendid amusement. Besides,
Lully's genius celebrated " le Roi Soleil " and his
achievements. The conquering hero who kills the
1 E. I>avisse. Ilistoirp de France.
24 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Python, the benevolent Majesty adored by his
people was always " le Roi Soleil," the hero of
wars, victories, glories, etc. His Majesty often
suggested points which he wished especially to
emphasise, such as the snub to Madame de Monte-
span (for which Quinault suffered), when she had
bored him with jealousy about the Comtesse de
Ludes. Everyone recognised Mme. de Montespan
in the jealous Juno who persecutes the charming
nymph Isis.
Emerging from his temporary eclipse in connec-
tion with this affair, Quinault wrote Proserpine
(1679), over which Madame de Sevigne again
waxed enthusiastic, proclaiming " This opera sur-
passes all the others." Certain more critical
Lullystes, however, betrayed weariness of this style
and clamoured for something different.
*' Lully, donne-moi d'autres tons
Ou bien je me retire."
The Court at St. Germains was greatly pleased
with a ballet Trioviphe de l' Amour (21 January-
1681), in which several great personages took
part, the clou being Mademoiselle de Nantes,
young lady not quite eight years of age,^ wlio
danced with castenets to the delight of all be-
holders.
This was presented to the general public in
Paris (6th May 1681) and charmed every one.
1 Daughter of Louis XIV' and Madame de Montespan.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY ^5
Unusual interest was excited by the fact that
women danced in this ballet for the first time in-
stead of being represented by male dancers. The
innovation had already found favour at Court,
where ladies of quality delighted to dance in these
performances. 1
As for Psyche, the King was never weary of
the music of this (almost) opera. A curious in-
stance of the taste of the period: His Majesty
ordered some of the airs to be performed at Dun-
kirk when the city ramparts were completed. Be-
sides stringed instruments the orchestra was aug-
mented by pipes, hautbois, military trumpets and
700 drums; further, a salute of 80 cannons pre-
cisely on the final chord. The effect on the
audience was one of " joy mingled with terror."
Lully now took an extraordinarily bold step,
begging the King to give him a post of Royal
secretary (charge de secretaire) a post usually
reserved for noblemen. His request was promptly
granted, greatly to the disgust of the other high
officials, who snubbed the musician, but were
obliged to receive him in their ranks.
His only recommendation was that he made
people laugh, said Louvois contemptuously. To
which Lully retorted, " You would be glad enough
to do the same, if you could! " There were only
two men in the kingdom, M. le Marechale de la
I Membors of fho nobility werp even permitted to sing and dance
in Opera without prejudice to " their titles of nobility,
privileges, rights and immunities."
26 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Feuillade and LuUy, who dared to reply to M. de
Louvois so insolently, says Vi^ville.
On the day of his reception in the " Chan-
cellerie " (Seal Office) Lully, with his accustomed
love of display, gave a splendid banquet to the
most important of his new colleagues and further
invited all the " Chancellerie en corps " to a grand
performance at the Opera. History does not say
how these gentlemen enjoyed the performance, but
records that they sat through it, two or three rows
of serious gentlemen in black cloaks and large felt
hats, listening with becoming gravity to the
Minuets and Gavottes of " their Colleague, the
Musician." (December 29th 1681).
Persee (by Quinault) was performed in Paris
(17th April 1682) and repeated at Versailles in
July of the same year. Here it was performed in
the Riding School, again hastily transformed in a
few hours into a theatre, a grassy lawn for carpet.
The King considered it very fine, saying that the
music was beautiful throughout, he had never
heard an opera in which the music kept uniformly
at so high a level.
Persee was undeniably a glorification of His
Majesty's exploits. But everywhere it scored
triumphant success and at a gratuitous perform-
ance, which Lully gave to celebrate the birth of
the Due de Bourgogne, crowds flocked through a
triumphal arch at the entrance, whilst wine flowed
from a public fountain until midnight. Persee
remained a favourite opera, being still on the re-
JEAN fiAPTISTE LULLV 2^
pertoire as late as 1746. It was an opera which
made great demands on scenic machinery. Efforts
at flying machines succeeded fairly well after
several experiments had been made, and "vols"
were successfully carried out.
An opera by Lully was always an event. The
Rue St. Honore was lined with carriages at each
performance, and poorer citizens made an effort to
procure seats. La Fontaine wrote: —
" II a Tor de I'abbe, du brave, du commis,
La coquette s'y fait mener par ses amis,
L'officier, le marchand tout son roti retranche
Pour y pouvoir porter tout son gain le Dimanche."
and
" Le frangais pour lui seul contraignant sa nature
N'a que pour I'op^ra de passion qui dure."l
Some part of this passion for Opera was due to the
popular delight in the dramatic action of the plot
and in magnificent scenic effects, which surpassed
anything hitherto put upon the stage. The specta-
tors were open-eyed as well as open-eared, naive
crowds who with childish delight absorbed the
wonderful stories of mythological heroes, the novel
stage devices, as well as Lully's music. Vieville
relates " When Armide prepares to stab Renaud,
I have twenty times seen all the spectators hold
their breatli from fear, motionless, their souls all
1 " Ho has gold from the Abbd, the Soldier the Clerk, the
(.'oqu'-tte persuades her admirers to take her, the officer and
the incrrhant economise on their dinner in order to go to
the Opera on Sunday. The Frenchman, contrary to his nature,
remains faithful — to opera alone." (Roughly translated).
28 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
eyes and ears until the violin air which finishes
the scene relaxed the tension, permitting them to
breathe again, breathe with a murmur of joy and
admiration." It was the same at Court. What
wonder, when even the intellectual Madame de
Sevigne wept over the sorrows of Alceste or Ro-
land ! Lully interprets his age, the "Grand
Si^cle " which loved heroic sentiment, gallantry,
magnificent display, voluptuous imagery. His own
nature revelled in these things, for he was a true
child of his age, fortunately born in his right cen-
tury. His own house was full of objets de luxe:
pictures, mirrors, plate, diamonds ; he was rich
and loved to spend lavishly, extravagantly, living
in the " grand " manner, a prince among artists.
Such was Lully, the man of his age.
Phaeton, again by Quinault (as were also the
next three operas) was another " succ^s fou " both
at Versailles (6th Jan. 1683) and in Paris (23rd
April, the same year). The subject required mag-
nificent and difficult staging and all Paris flocked
to see it, but also to hear the music. It was known
as the " People's Opera," and some of the airs
were sung in the streets. Unfortunately, a brilliant
run was cut short by the death of the Queen, which
was announced one evening just as the Ouverture
was beginning.
Amadis (i8th Jan. 1684) contains the beauti-
ful " Bois epais," whose beauty is still recog-
nised. It is interesting to know that Lully
himself was fond of this work.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 29
Roland was a subject suggested by the King,
one which did not appeal to the public. The music,
however, became extremely popular and airs from
it, notably the "rages de Roland," were sung
everywhere. As the Court was still in mourning,
only selections from the Opera were performed at
Versailles (i8th Jan. 1685), but it was fully staged
at Paris in the following March. Lully considered
this his best music. Roland was the warrior who,
finding his love has deserted him for a rival, tears
up trees and hurls down rocks in a mad rage, until
a gentle spirit, Logistille, soothes him and per-
suades him to return to war and its glories.
Arjnide, written during a severe illness, per-
formed in Paris, 15th Feb. 1686, was again a real
success with the public. The Grand Dauphin, who
adored Lully's music, came to Paris on purpose to
hear Armide. But the presence of the King was
lacking to complete the triumph, l.ully was deeply
hurt and expressed his disappointment quite pathe-
tically in the Dedication published with Armide in
the same year.
" Sire, of all the tragedies I have set to music,
this is the one which has pleased the public most.
Crowds flock to see it and never has a work been
more applauded. Yet I esteem it the least happy
of my compositions, since it has not enjoyed the
privilege of appearing before your Majesty. At
your command. Sire, I work-ed with care and zeal
in spite of a sudden and dangerous attack of ill-
ness, and the ardent wish to complete it during the
30 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
period desired by your Majesty rendered me ob-
livious to the dangers of illness and the pains I
suflfered. But of what use, Sire, such efforts at
haste in offering you these new strains? Your
Majesty was not able to hear them (sa majeste ne
s'est pas trouvee en ^tat) and only took pleasure in
my music as it served to please your subjects."
But Armide was the greatest success since Bel-
lerophon. People wept at emotional passages and
declared Act V. to be Lully's greatest work. This
was Quinault's^ last libretto ; he wrote a poetic
farewell to opera, and to his " muse tendre," as
if presaging the end of his work, and courted a
more austere muse with a poem on " L'extinction
de I'H^r^sie."
A last " pastorale heroique " (words by Campis-
tron) was written at royal command for the visit
of the Grand Dauphin to the Castle of Anet. This
was Acis et Galathee^ a charmingly fresh and orig-
inal work, which remained on the operatic reper-
toire for nearly loo years (until 1782).
For its first performance (6th Sept. 1682) Lully
went to Anet with his singers, dancers and musi-
cians, and was treated during his stay there with
the greatest respect, being served at table exactly
like other noble guests; in fact, a special maitre
d'hotel was appointed to attend to his wants.
" There was always good company gathered round
his table," says the Mercure, "either to eat or to
talk with M. de Lully during the repast, for his
\ He survived Lully only one year, dying- 26th November xf-,88,
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 3 1
conversation is no less entertaining than his
music."
Another big popular success was scored when this
Pastorale w-as produced at the Palais Royal three
weeks later (Sept. 1686).
Lully's triumphant career might have run on for
many years longer had not death cut it short when
he was still in the prime of life, busy as ever and
full of new projects after his recovery from the re-
cent illness. He was at work on a new opera,
Achille et Polixene (with Campistron as librettist),
but the first act was still unfinished when the King
fell dangerously ill. France was full of rejoicings
at his recovery towards the end of the year. Lully
manifested his joy by a Te Deum which was sung
at his own expense (8th Jan. 1687) at the Feuill-
ants in the Rue st. lionore. More than 150 singers
and musicians took part in it and "in order to show
his zeal," says the chronicler, Lully conducted
himself. But in his enthusiasm he injured his foot
by striking it sharply wnth the baton. A small
swelling appeared, which spread rapidly; blood
poisoning supervened.
Lully would not agree to the amputation sug-
gested by his doctor. A quack was called in who
made matters worse. A characteristic story is told
of how Lully was persuaded by a priest to burn
the score of the opera on which he was busy,
{Achille et Polyxene). Afterwards, feeling better,
he received some friends, among them a voung
32 THE EARLIER FI^EXCH MUSICIANS
prince who reproached him for having destroyed
such music. ,
" How fooHsh, Baptiste, to believe a dreaming
Jansenist and burn such beautiful music !"
"Peace, peace, Monseigneur ! " whispered the
dying man, " I have another copy."
But in spite of his gay humour, when he felt
death really approaching, Lully energetically and
dramatically repented of his sins in ashes and with
a cord round his neck " avec une edification par-
faite."
With businesslike interest in this world and the
next he sent for the notary on March loth and
gave exact orders about his funeral, ordering a
perpetual mass for the repose of his soul
and many other things. His operatic riglils
he bequeathed to his wife and his son, Jean
Louis, jointly, and willed his wife also to have the
direction of the Academic Royale de }»Iusique, as-
sisted by a friend and a secretary. Twclxe davs
later, March 22nd, Lully died at \"il!e ^l^^•esqu('
in his large canopied bed, and was interred with
due pomp and ceremony at the church of Les
Augustins Petits Peres, after a service at the
Madeleine. His family erected a sumptuous monu-
ment to his memory in the chapel of his patron
saint, -St. Jean Baptiste, a monument in black and
white marble by Michel Cotton : two female iigures
representing light and dramatic music and alcove
these the characteristic bust of Lully bv Antoine
Covsevox. His enemies expressed disgust at such
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 33
display, but there were friends, we read, who wept
sincerely the loss of " Baptiste."
A more modest tribute to Baptiste's popularity
was a verse sung to the air of the Rigaudon in
Acts et Galatee:
" Baptiste est mort,
Adieu la Symphonic ;
La musique est finie,
D^plorons son sort. "1
" A very ugly little man," he is described, " and
extremely careless in his dress. One scarcely saw
his small red-lidded eyes, and they, too, scarcely
saw anything, but their sombre fire, expressed
great intelligence and a great deal of mischief
(malice); his whole face was in fact grotesque,
bizarre." Other writers note his large nose, large
mouth, thick sensual lips, a face full of lines, bushy
eyebrows, and extremely short-sighted eyes. He
wore a thick wig, not over clean, and was always
covered with snuff. He composed at his harpsi-
chord, snuff-box at one end of the instrument,
whose notes, stained and dirty, bore witness to
his inveterate use of the same.
Lully was probably never very strong physically,
in spite of his extraordinary energy and will power,
and his excesses in living, no less than incessant
hard work, undermined his constitution. Although
1 " Baptiste is dead,
Farewell to Symphony,
Music is at an end ;
Let us weep her fate,"
34 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
dissipated and fond of riotous living, he was on
the whole a good husband and father — " at anv
rate not a bad one," says Lecerf, dispassionately.
He found a congenial soul in Mademoiselle Certin,
a celebrated Claveciniste, who delighted the Court
as well as all Paris by her concerts. She had many
admirers; even La Fontaine wrote verses in her
honour.
Of Lully's children, three had a share of musical
talent, but not one inherited their father's genius.
Perhaps he had hopes of one son especially, for he
gave him a good musical education, but there was
no real gift. The two sons, Jean and Jean Louis,
were evidently not equal to the task of completing"
Lully's unfinished ballet, " Les Saisons," which
was done by Colasse, only the ballets in it being
by Lully. His eldest son, Louis, was a great dis-
appointment, weak in mind and character to such
a degree that he had to be placed under restraint
with the monks at Charenton.
Lully was generous to his children, giving his
daughter, Catherine Madeleine, a handsome dowry
when she married Nicolas de Francini, Maitre
d' Hotel du Roi. To this son-in-law he gave up
most of his own duties at the opera, only retaining
the artistic direction himself. >He made his sons
liberal allowances, and in his w-ill he remembered
all who had served him. Lully was not miserly,
as his enemies declared; although he w\is fond of
money, it was not to hoard, but to spend lavishly.
He certainly amassed a very considerable fortune.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 35
leaving 800,000 livres (francs), also about 44,000
francs' worth of plate and 35,000 frs. of diamonds.
His was a versatile genius. He could write verse,
especially in comic vein, was never at a loss for
repartee or joke, could tell a story in capital style,
with an Italian dramatic touch which never forsook
him. No wonder he was an amusing companion.
Le Roi Soleil found Baptiste quite indispensable to
his happiness. Foreign monarchs also smiled on
Monsieur de Lully, gave him rich presents and
honoured him with their portraits.
A career so amazingly, phenomenally fortunate
as Lully's naturally excited envy. Enemies laid
to his charge a terrible list of vices of all kinds.
Undeniably he had many serious faults, was pro-
fligate, selfish, greedy of money and possessions,
unscrupulous in his ambition, overbearing ....
All these, and worse, defects became a legend en-
crusting his memory. Later generations, remem-
bering the distorted vision of contemporaries, have
learnt to discount many of these accusations.
Whatever Lully's faults, he had friends at liome
as well as at Court. Incidents such as his remem-
brance of all his servants in his will show at least
a kindlv nature. Or he would seek to atone for
an unusual outburst of bad temper at rehearsal hx
inviting the long-suffering musicians to supper.
Nor does it appear that he kept his position as
Court favourite by flattery and servility; he had a
caustic tongue for high and low alike. Once on
!)eing reproached for keeping the King waiting,
36 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Ivully said drily : " He is the Master, he can
wait."
He gave the Court something precious, enliven-
ing its costly boredom by his genius and wit, gave
splendour of genius to wealth, besides being "bon
camarade " to them all, musicians, princes and
courtiers.
" Baptiste, fais-nous rire," implored the laugh-
ter-loving Parisians.
But Baptiste was not merely a laughter-provok-
ing comedian. His Bois epais, for instance, is on
quite different lines; its tender, solemn beauty is
still felt.
A vital, original nature, one who makes the flame
of life flicker more brightly, makes his fellows live
more intensely, is ahvays precious. And this was
Lully. His flame of life burned always brightly,
ardently; his genius illumined a King and his
period.
Lully wrote easily, although he had to wait some-
times for inspiration. If it came in the night he
would rise and go to his harpsichord to capture
the idea at once. He would read a scene which
he wished to interpret in music again and again
until he had it by heart and, when inspiration final-
ly came, would rush to his harpsichord, sing and
play until he had both melody and harmony per-
fect. Three months' work at an opera generally
sufficed; he then had the whole conception so firm-
ly in his mind that he could dictate it to his secre-
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 37
tary. When composing he seemed literally pos-
sessed by music and at all times rhythms and
melodies flowed at the merest suggestion, such as
the trot of a horse, the step of a dance. If he
took up a guitar, his fingers at once began to im-
provise courantes, minuets, gigues, most of which
he never troubled to write down. Even if a violin,
an instrument which he never really loved, was
lying about, he would take it up and play for hours.
In composing opera he often wrote several versions
of a scene and, after choosing one, would tell his
secretary carelessly to burn the others. His genius
loved simple, clear, firm outlines, a graceful me-
lodic line, made as expressive as possible with the
simplest accompaniment. Quite early, as we have
seen, his instinct led him to reject the over-elaborate
music of the " violons du roi." He had, in fact,
the instinct of the Modern of his age, the revolt
against the stereotyped contrapuntal devices of the
old school and the feeling for the concentrated,
expressive, harmonic basis of the New.
He w-as extremely severe w-ith his artists, insist-
ing upon good rhythm, vigour and clearness of
altaquc, points in which his Palais Royal orchestra
of forty executants excelled; his musicians were
famous throughout Europe. He trained his singers
to sing without dragging, especially in recitative,
whilst he instructed both actors and singers in de-
portment; how to walk on and present themselves.
In the ballet he invented what he called " pas d'ex-
pression," expressive steps, and was able to illus-
38 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
trate by his own performance what he wished. His
music contains minute directions as to expression,
e.g., " Very softly, almost without touching the
strings," etc.
Artists, singers, dancers and instrumentalists all
obeyed this energetic, despotic maestro, so ail
powerful as well as so exacting, who ruled them
with a rod of iron and Vi^ville, recalling his
regime, says regretfully: "I warrant that under
Lully's sway the lady singers would not have colds
half the year, nor would the gentlemen be drunk
four times a week." For alas! no sooner was the
great man dead than the musical edifice he had
erected so carefully began to crumble away. Ten
years later the instrumentalists were considered
" poor," the singers shrieked, the orchestra played
out of time and tune, and everyone lamented the
loss of Baptiste.
But his compositions, his operas held their own
for more than a century. Later generations de-
clared that music had only begun with Lully, be-
fore him it had been " gothique," barbarous and
crude. His Armide was pronounced the finest work
the world had seen since Nero's day! French 17th
century music was in fact represented by Lully,
the Italian who so completely identified himself
with France.
Not only in Paris and the provinces was Lully
a cult; beyond French frontiers his works were
acclaimed, in Italy, Holland, Flanders, in the chief
northern courts. Armide was performed in Rome
)EA\ BAPTISTE LULLY 39
in 1690. His influence was felt by musicians in
Italy, Germany, England, from the Italian Teo-
baldi di Gatti to Fischer and even Bach. Purcell
learnt much from Humphrey, a pupil of Lully,
and Haendel also adopted some of the French
master's methods.
And when Rameau came, he found a terrible
rival in his great predecessor, still supremely in
possession of the field, as he had been in his bril-
liant lifetime. Lully had become a musical dogma,
and he, who in his lifetime had sought new chan-
nels, had become in his turn an obstacle for others.
He was a Classic and a Classic of extraordinary
tenacity. Even Gluck had to fight the tradition
which had become a national obsession. For so
long every new composer had copied Lully. They
had written tempests, " bruits de guerre," rages,
" sommeils " in his style and imitated his recita-
tive slavishly. Even Gluck, in his first works,
copied Lully.
And not only did musicians admit his su-
periority, his music was popular with ordinary
folk'. No artist was ever more universally admired,
both during his lifetime and afterwards. Vieville
declares that (he air, "Amour, que veux-tu de moi "
{Amadis) was sung by every cook in France and
Lully would stop his carriage on the Pont Neuf
to set some poor fiddler right who was plaving one
of his airs. The severely hostile Arnould deplored
(in 1C94) '''-'^ " ''iP poison of songs by Ouinault
and Lulli had spread all through France."
40 TllE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Lully's opera, like Versailles, was very artificial.
Under him it became stereotyped and fixed, so
that no innovations could be attempted. The form
had crystallised and could not be changed without
breaking.
There was the Overture, a slow movement,
dignified and heavy, then a fugue followed by
another short, slow passage. Then the Prologue
with chorus, singing, dances, recitative, dealing
with mythological and allegorical subjects. The
Overture is repeated after this. The drama pro-
per following all this is a long, loosely woven plot
on which are strung dances, especially rustic
dances, scenes with chorus. Such descriptive pas-
sages as "Slumbers," "Furies," "Storms,"
" Battles," were all modelled on the same patterns,
a stereotyped form of descriptive art.
The subjects of Lully's operas were, moreover,
not spontaneous but greatly revised works of art.
Often the King chose or suggested the subject.
Quinault (or another librettist) would put it into
shape, entirely under Lully's direction however.
Finally it was submitted to the Academic Fran-
^aise, so that the Opera was really in some sense
National Opera. His Majesty followed the com-
position of the music with equal interest, scene by
scene, had the airs sung to him, attended rehearsals
(which were at Versailles or St. Germains), and
gave his advice. In the same way he would order of
Lalande, a court musician who wrote chiefly re-
ligious music, a number of " little pieces " and
JEAM BAPTISTE LULLY 41
would insist on hearing these at all stages of their
evolution.^
Lully's chief form of composition was of course
opera, but he composed religious music, too, es-
pecially in later years, when the King's thoughts
turned to piety under the influence of Madame de
Maintenon and advancing years. And in his re-
ligious music Lully showed sincere religious feel-
ing. He had moments of mystic exaltation in spite
of his worldliness. He drew a sharp distinction be-
tween secular and religious music and was scan-
dalised one day at church on hearing music adapted
from one of his operas used at Mass. There was
a story that he prayed aloud: "O Lord, forgive
this error, I did not intend this music for Thee."
His Miserere (written about 1664) on the text of
the Psalm is beautiful and impressive. In it he
employed Perpendicular Harmony, obtaining mas-
sive effects, and heightening the expression by bold
modulations. The voices, alone or combined, are
generally only supported by basso continuo, but in
1 Louis XIV lived in music, or, at any rate, his life had a con-
stant musical accompaniment. He had music at table, at
church, when playing cards, walking, hunting', in the country
or in town. In his private apartments of an evening- he would
hear acts of operas or " petits concerts," at which he some-
times sang himself. If an air took his fancy, he would hum
or sing it incessantly, sometimes. Mme. de Maintenon com-
plained, " whf'n the words were not at all suitable." Not
only the Court and the City, the whole kingdom was fond of
music. Lulli's airs were sung by high and low, played at
street corners and on the Pont Neuf. Opera was performed
at Lyons, Marseilles, Montpelier by travelling companies, and
there were several provincial Opera Houses.
42 THE MRLIER FREXCH MUSICIANS
the grand chorus violins double the vocal part (a
usual device at that period). To quote M. de la
Laurencie, in the Finale, " Lully expresses all the
religious emotion of the text, all its fear and hope.
Sorrowfully the alto sings ' i\mplius lava me,' a
fervent prayer in which the sinner's despair is felt.
At the words, ' Et in peccatis concepit me,' a series
of yths on a diatonically descending bass seem to
retreat in shame. The full chorus, although mas-
sive and heavy, retains its polyphonic suppleness;
this is perceptible in the restless movement of the
ten parts in ' Docebo iniquos,' in which heavy
masses of voices are hurled from all sides, crashing
on the word ' impii.' "
It is difficult for us at this distance of time to
distinguish the exact shades of difference between
Lully's style of music and that of his contem-
poraries, but in his day those differences were re-
cognised. Music was changing from the Poly-
phonic to the Harmonic system. The former still
flourished in organ music, but there was no vigor-
ous young school of moderns to take its place. But
Lully, when quite a youth, instinctively rejected the
old elaborate contrapuntal devices and always used
them sparinglv. He always disliked over-elabora-
tion and his " vSurtout pas de broderies " was con-
stantly directed against singers and instrumen-
talists who were fond of introducing " ornaments."
He wrote with greater simplicity, with more dis-
tinct rhythm and melodic line than his contem-
poraries. To quote M. Henri Prunieres, Lully
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 43
" put a Stop to the wearisome loquacity of com-
posers afflicted with chronic fugue and a bad habit
of talking incessantly when they had nothing to
say. He allowed a musical idea to free itself from
traditional forms and express itself more naturally.
Such a revolution was not entirely the work of one
man, it is true, but Lully had a large share in it;
he was so greatly admired that other musicians fol-
lowed his example and imitated his methods."
In his operas Lully employed very simple har-
monies, only occasionally a 7th or 9th by way of
relief. Musical critics of his day admired his clever
use of discords, sometimes, however, reproving
him for not resolving them properly. It is amus-
ing to find critics of that day anticipating, in this
respect, critics of Wagner ; the discord has always
been an object of solicitude.
The orchestra of the period was small and its
effects were not varied by judicious blending of
different instruments. Lully has duos of flutes,
trios of oboes, airs for violins, occasionally an
ensemble of wood-wind, brass and strings, contrast-
ing with other instruments, but he makes no ex-
periments in blending different timbres. There
were conventions with regard to the use of instru-
ments. Flutes were proper for " effets nocturnes
et <^legiaques," for tender laments, also as heralds
of approaching amorous divinities, as a kind of
]eii moth in fact. Rustic songs and dances de-
manded the oboe. Trumpets of course sounded
" War Alarms " and Marches. Violfns accom-
44 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
panied " Slumbers " and also (in rapid movement)
storms and fateful presentiments. A harpsichord
and two bass lutes accompanied recitative. On
rare occasions Lully employed the guitar, tam-
bourine, castanets.
Grove says that " Lully's instrumentation,
though laboured, is poor, and his harmony not
always correct. A great sameness of treatment dis-
figures his operas, and the same rhythm and the
same counterpoint serve to illustrate the rage of
Roland and the rocking of Charon's boat." He
made some innovations in the orchestra, especially
in his greater use of wind and percussion instru-
ments. And he was the first to introduce women
dancers on the stage, abolishing the inartistic cus-
tom of male dancers dressed as women.
In Opera Lully attached great importance to
recitative, declaring that it was more natural (as an
expression of emotion) than melodic airs. His
operas were really founded upon recitative and his
principle " la verite dans la declamation," followed
by Rameau and Gluck, foreshadowed Berlioz and
Wagner. There is an anecdote of Mile. Lecouv-
reur who recited Lully's " Enfin il est dans ma
puissance" and was astonished to find how faith-
fully the music rendered the emotion of the
situation.
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 45
WORKS BY LULLY
Ballets,
1658. Alcidiane.
1659. La Raillerie.
1660. Xerxes.
1661. L'Impatience.
— Les Saisons.
1662. Hercule Amoureux.
1663. Les Arts.
— Les Noces de Village.
1664. Les Amours d^e^uis^s.
— Entr'actes d'CEdipe (Corneille).
1665. Naissance de Venus.
— Les Gardes.
1666. Triomphe de Bacchus (Ballet de Cr^quy).
— Ballet des Muses.
1668. Le Carnaval.
1669. Flore.
1671. Ballet des Ballets.
1681, Triomphe de I'Amour.
1G85. Temple de la Paix.
Comedies-Ballets et Pastorales
1664. Le Mariage forc^.
— Plaisirs de I'lle enchantde.
1665. Amour m^decin.
1667. Pastorale comi(]ue,
— Le Sicilien.
46
THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
1668. Festes de Versailles et inlermedes de
Georges Dandin.
-— Grotte de \''ersailles.
1669. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac.
1670. Amants magnifiques.
— Bourgeois gentilhomme et Ballet des Na-
tions.
167 1. Psyche.
1685. Idylle de la Paix (Racine).
Operas
1672.
Fetes de 1 'Amour et de
Bacchus (pastorale).
(Several authors).
1673.
Cadmus et Hermione.
(Quinault).
1('J75.
Thesee.
(do.).
—
Le Carnaval
(Several authors).
(mascarade).
1676.
Atys.
(Quinault).
—
Alceste.
(do.).
T677.
Isis.
(do.).
1678.
Psyche.
(Thomas Corneillc
& Fontenelle).
1679.
Bellerophon.
(do.).
1680.
Proserpine.
(Quinault).
1681.
Triomphe de I'Amour
(Quinault &
(ballet).
Benserade).
1682.
Persee.
(Q'^jnault).
1683.
Phaeton.
(do.).
1684.
Amadis.
(do.).
1685.
Roland.
(do.).
JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY 47
1686. Armide. (do.).
— Acis et Galathee (Campistron).
(pastorale).
1687. Achille et Polixene (Campistron).
(ist act by Lully).
Motets for tivo choirs
Miserere 1664.
Plaudo laetare 1668.
Te Deum 1677.
De Profundis 1683.
Dies irae.
Benedictus.
(17 Motets in MS.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Priini^res, H. - - - Lully.
La Laurencie, Lionel de - Lully.
Radet, E. • ■ - - Lully, Notes et Cro-
quis a propos dc
son hotel.
Le Cerf de la Vieville - - Comparaison dc la
musique italicnne
et de la musique
frangaise.
Bradley, G. F. - - - The Great Days of
Versailles,
CHAPTER II
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
1 683- 1 764
CHAPTER II
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU
1 683- 1 764
Three years before Lully's death was born one
destined to be his great though posthumous rival,
one who had to fight, not Lully, but the Lully
tradition which still held sway fifty years after the
master's death.
Rameau was the contemporary of J. S. Bach,
whom he outlived by fourteen years. Dijon was
the town in which he was born and grew up; a
town which at that time was quite a centre of
music. A certain amateur, M. de Malteste, for
instance, used to arrange concerts once a week,
which attracted ladies of quality, music-loving
officers, amateurs and professionals, all eager to
listen or take part. Rameau 's father was organist
of a church, but he had only developed his music
late in life, remaining simply an amateur until his
thirtieth year, when an organist, struck by his
unusual talent, gave him lessons in various
branrhrs of the art.
Jean Philippe was born 5th September 1683,
51
52 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
and was baptised on the same day in the church
of which his father was organist. His mother
claimed aristocratic relations, but nothing is known
of them. The Rameaus must have been poor, for
in the city archives it is recorded that they twice
appealed for exemption from taxation.
The baby Jean Philippe had however two noble
sponsors at his baptism : the Chevalier Jean Bap-
tiste Lantin, Sieur de Montagny and the Demoiselle
Anne Philippe Valon, daughter of the Chevalier
Richard Valon (whether the condescension of
these godparents was due to friendship for the
Rameau family or to their esteem for music does
not appear). The godfather had set to music no
less than thirty of the Odes of Horace and the Atys
of Catullus, further, he had written a treatise on
the Music of the Ancients.
Thus Jean Philippe was born in an atmosphere
of music.
Jean Rameau pere was determined that his child-
ren should not suffer as he had done for lack of
early instruction. So anxious was he not to lose
time that he began to teach them before they were
able to read, and as soon as poor little Jean
Philippe's fingers were capable of action, thev
were exercised on the spinet. The father was a
severe teacher with a strict system of rewards and
punishments, which seems to have answered well
enough in the case of the three musical children
of the family.
By the time he was seven, in spite of his father's
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 53
dry and repressive methods, Jean Philippe could
play all kinds of music at sight on the harpsichord.
His brother Claude afterwards became an organist
of repute and a sister, Catherine Rameau, made a
name as Claveciniste. When quite an old lady
she was still giving lessons in her native town.
These were the musical ones.
Of the two brothers, Claude, more brilliant as
a performer, was evidently destined for a musical
career but the father, less hopeful of Jean Philippe,
decided that he should study law, first sending him
to a Jesuit College for general education. But
Jean Philippe proved an unruly scholar; he was
always singing noisily or scribbling music in class
instead of learning his lessons and finally had to
leave with a very incomplete education. He had
indeed acquired some Latin, but French was
neglected by the Jesuits, and as a youth Rameau
wrote and spelt his own language disgracefully.
His first love-letters, it is said, were so ill-spelt
that the lady twitted him with his ignorance ;
whereupon, with characteristic energy, he set him-
self to study French and so far improved as to
write it correctly, but never well.
At College secular music was performed on fes-
tival days, usually in the form of operas in the
Italian style. The conflict between French and
Italian music was then raging and the Jesuits fa-
voured the Italian. Fven in Rameau's childhood
the M. de Malteste above-mentioned had brought
over the latest operas from Venice to be performed
54 THE EARLIER FREXCH MUSICIANS
at his concerts, a matter of no small expense and
a proof of the great interest taken in music at
that period.
We Ivnow not how or why, but Rameau at
eighteen made a journey to Italy; then as now the
magnet of artists. One would expect the ardent
young student to absorb new ideas eagerly, but
this was by no means the case. Was it from
temperament or from too strict an education on
the old lines? Certain it is that, having reached
Milan, Rameau disapproved of the music there
and was not even sufficiently interested to go on to
Venice, then the centre of the new operatic school.
After a sojourn of only a few months he retraced
his steps to France (literally his steps in those days
of pedestrian travelling). In after life he bitterly
regretted this unaccountable lack of interest, realis-
ing what he might have learnt in Italy; no doubt
it would have enlarged his outlook and developed
his genius on more modern lines.
On this journey Rameau, after the manner of
poor scholars, paid liis way by his art, playing
sometimes the violin in a band of travelling
musicians, sometimes the organ in a church. For
some reason he did not return to his native town,
but took a post as organist at Avignon for four
months and afterwards one at Clermont in Au-
vergne. Here he remained for six years and in
the quiet town he composed his first works : some
Pieces de Clavecin and three Cantatas {Medee,
U Absence, U Impatience),
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 55
The Cantata of that day was a musical form
newly imported from Italy, really a small opera
or operetta to be sung in a drawing-room. In and
about Clermont the novelty met with some success.
Rameau in his youth seems to have been full of
restless energy; he grew weary of the restricted
monotony of a provincial town. Two years before
the end of his engagement he broke his contract
with the Chapter, absolutely refusing to stay
longer, and betook himself to Paris. Here he
found a lodging with a wigmaker in the Rue du
Temple opposite the church of the Cordeliers, tra-
dition says in order to be near the celebrated or-
ganist of that church, Louis Marchand. He be-
came Marchand's pupil and, he says, learnt much
from him both in organ playing and composition.
Rameau himself obtained two posts as organist,
but both were wretchedly paid, and he eked out a
living by teaching. With the exception of his first
Pieces de Clavecin, published 1706, he composed
nothing at this time but devoted himself to study.
Paris, at any rate, offered the best masters, and
in addition to lessons from Marchand he studied
Harmon^', as it was then understood, under one
Lacroit. He learnt the Rule of the Octave, which
taught a chord for each note of the scale, but gave
no explanation of inversions, considering them as
separate and independent chords. Alreadv Rameau
was not satisfied with the usual theories, was
already seeking some basis for a better system of
harmony. Dimly he presaged some elusive secret
56 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
which would solve the contradictions apparent in
the approved system.
For some unknown reason he returned to the
provinces, visiting Dijon in 1716, possibly in con-
nection with the death of his father, and was pres-
ent at the marriage of his brother Claude (tradition
has it to a lady with whom Jean Philippe himself
was in love). He refused more than one post as
organist in his native town but accepted one in his
old church in Clermont. The great Massillon was
preaching in Clermont at that time and thus, to
the greater glory of the Cathedral, Massillon
preached and Rameau played. Evidently Cler-
mont was proud of its organist and Rameau's
chair, in which he rested between whiles, is still
preserved.
It was again an up-hill struggle when he re-
turned to Paris in 1723, this time for good. At
the age of forty, Rameau was still unknown. He
had composed nothing of importance in the pro-
vinces, but he brought with him a work on Har-
mony, which excited much interest. A smaller
work, Nouvcau Systeme de viusique theorique
(1726), roused lively discussion. Pupils came to
the author of the book and were for a time his
only source of income, for in spite of his growing
reputation, Rameau was passed over in favour of
Daquin, on applying for a post as organist.' But
1 In Paris the position of org"anist was roally a good one at that
time. An organist of repute Hl^e Marchand would undertake
several churches, playing himself only on great occasions and
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU §^
in spite of this, his means allowed him to marry (25
February 1726) Marie Louise Mangeot, daughter
of a Court musician. The young bride (a girl of
nineteen) had decided musical talent, a pretty voice,
and sang charmingly, so well, in fact, that in 1734
she sang before the Queen in her husband's opera
Hippolyte et Aricie. Had she possessed no fortune
at all, it is said, she might have made one as an
artist. She was, besides, a gentle, affectionate
creature who made Rameau an excellent wife in
spite of the disparity in their ages. Rameau was
forty-three at the date of his marriage. His second
Pieces de Clavecin had appeared in 1724, also an-
other treatise on the Basse F ondamentale et les
doigts. There are quaint instructions in this as re-
gards fingering. The left hand is only to play one
note at a time, the right hand may take chords.
The right thumb is only to be used when absolutely
necessary, i.e., if the hand cannot reach certain
notes without it. This was, of course, the uni-
versal rule until Bach discovered that the use of
the thumb was quite practical. Rameau further
directs that the forefinger shall play the lowest note
of chords, the little finger the top note, the third or
fourth the middle notes, chords to be in arpeggio.
fcbtis als ; on ordinary days he would send his pupils as sub-
stitutes. Pupils were a great source of income, and Marchand,
who was the fashionable organist, made ten louis a day by
lessons, a large sum in those days. There is an idea that
Marchanrl at first was proud of Rameau, but afterwards grew
j'-alous of his pupil's genius, and it was owing to him that
Rameau was passed over in favour of Daquin.
58 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Opera was really the only road to fame for a mus-
ician and Rameau's thoughts turned longingly
towards it. But he was unknown, poor, without
friends or influence. He began humbly enough by
writing music for a Fair held at St. Germain and
composed some numbers for a " Feerie burlesque "
(1723). There was an Exhibition of Cara'ibes
(natives of the Carribean Islands) at the Theatre
Italien, and Rameau produced some incidental
music for this spectacle, one piece of which has been
preserved as " Air des Sauvages " (afterwards in-
cluded in " Les hides Galanies," 1735.^)
The tide of affairs only really began to turn after
1727, when Rameau was discovered by a patron of
the arts, one Monsieur Riche de la Pouplini^re, a
wealthy man (fermier general), a friend of Voltaire
and generously disposed towards talent of all kinds.
At his house one met every one of note, artists, lit-
erary men, princes, ambassadors. This " protect-
eur " generously placed his organ and his private
orchestra at Rameau's disposal; the musician and
his wife were constant guests at his house. The
fact that M. de la Poupliniere's wife was a certain
Mimi Dancourt, a pupil of Rameau's, may have
led to this friendship. The lady was certainly in-
terested in music ; she afterwards wrote, under the
title Notes sur la Generation Harmonique, a criti-
cism of her master's theories.
In this house Rameau found the appreciation he
3 It had already been transcribed for hnrpsichord in a NouvcUe
suite de Pieces de Clavecin.
JEANT PHILIPPE RAMEAO 50
had Iaci<ed so long, and met men of note, foremost
among them, Voltaire. At last he was amongst
friends who recognised his genius. The Abbe
Pellegrin (known as the " Cure de I'Opera," whose
libretto Jephthe had been set to music by Monte-
clair) was induced to write a libretto for Rameau's
first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie. It is said that he
made the composer sign an agreement, but tore it
up after the first rehearsal, which took place at La
Poupliniere's house, so great was his enthusiasm
for the music. Hippolyte et Aricie was finally per-
formed at the Opera House, i Oct. 173.3, the com-
poser being already fifty years of age. During the
next twenty-one years, however, he composed twen-
ty-one operas, as if to make up for lost time.
The Opera was immediately attacked by Lully-
worshippers, a sure sign that the work was original
and interesting. The composer was too " Italian,"
he used strange chords, his music was unnecessarily
difficult. The Mercure, however, declared the
music " male et harmonieuse," and one musician,
Campra, recognised Rameau's genius, for, said he,
the score contained sufficient material for ten operas
" sucii as the rest of us write .... this man will
eclipse us all."
Yet in spite of friendly support the opera was not
really a success. Rameau was disappointed, but,
always stoical in his failures, he said simply, " I
was mistaken. I thought my taste would be suc-
cessful ; I have no other. I shall compose no
more."
6o THE EARLIEK FRENCH MUSICIANS
Fortunately he soon recovered sufficiently to
make another venture in the form known as Opera
ballet, and in 1735 produced Les Indes Galantes
above referred to.
Castor et Pollux followed in 1737 with the advan-
tage of a more logical libretto, and with this
Rameau's fame was established. He was acclaimed
as France's greatest composer. Crowds flocked
to see this opera, the receipts on the very last night
amounting to 4,500 livres.
But there was still much hostile criticism. In
fact, at every step throughout his life Rameau was
destined to find hostile critics, detractors, enemies.
At this time it was the still devoted Lullystes to
whom Rameau represented the daring innovator,
the rebel against the Lully tradition. They nick-
named his followers " Ramoneurs " and carried on
a wordy warfare. Rameau's music was, first and
foremost, too difficult of execution, his " prodigi-
euse mecanique " was impossible, his recitatives
were not to the popular taste. Voltaire observed
that the Lullystes were horrified at the amount of
semiquavers in Rameau's music. ^ As for Rameau
himself, he protested just as Lully had done before
him, that he only aimed at making his art as natur-
al as possible, at taking Nature for his model, which
perhaps meant that he tried to depict emotion as
naturall}- as possible. He ct^rtainly theorised about
1 " \\;u cannoL Liiiiik !io\v .'ilarming it is to see 32 notes in one
r.iiigle bat- " (Vi(5viIlo).
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 6l
it. However that may be, 1737 saw the publication
of another book of theory, La Generation Harmon-
ique, and Rameau started a school of composition
in his own house. Evidently he was now winning
his way to fame in spite of hostile critics, and in
spite, too, of his own proud, reserved, even repel-
lent nature, which by no means made for popu-
larity. And another ballet, Festcs d'Hehe ou les
talents lyriqucs, dedicated to the Duchesse du
Maine and performed 1739, set the seal on
Rameau's success as a composer. (In this is found
the pretty Tambuurin in E minor, which still
charms musicians). His genius was now acknow-
ledged. Duly the adversaries deplored the " co-
quetterie et volupte " of this latest work.
In November of the next year Paris was greatly
excited over the performance of Dardanus. Boxes
were sold out a week beforehand. Everywhere in
cafes and drawing-rooms discussion raged between
Lullystes and Ramoneurs. But finally the evening
of November 19th 1740 was a veritable triumph for
Rameau. In vain the Lullystes raged against his
music as difficult, obscure, " cabalistique," as a
medley with echoes of Pont Xcuf airs. In vain
they complained that for three long hours the hard-
worked orchestra had not even time to sneeze ! Pe-
rennial complaint of the Old against the New, of
the Accustomed against every original idea, every
improvement in means of expression ! It takes a
whole generation, Voltaire remarked, for the hu-
man ear to grow familiar with a new musical style.
62 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
An English nobleman in Paris at that time notes
that although everyone was abusing Rameau's
' horrible " work, yet it was impossible to get a
seat at the opera,.
A clever rpipram of about this date voices the
indignation of the Luilystes :
" Si le difficile est beau
C'est un grand homme que Rameau,
Mais si le beau par aventure
N'6fait que la simple nature
Quel petit homme que Rameau "l
In 1745, with Voltaire as librettist, Rameau com-
posed La Princesse de Navarre to celebrate tne mar-
riage of the Dauphin with Marie Ther^se, This
was performed at Versailles The King paid all
expenses of the performance and gave Rameau a
yearly pension of 2,000 livres' with tht title Com-
positeur de la musique de la Charibre " Alter
this success Rameau's style grew lighter, more
elegant.
Then followed various smaller worKs and
" Pieces d Occasion. '-
Platee (1745), a kind ot opera bouffe, was not a
success, even the court did not care for it.
Les Fetf-s de V Hymen et de I' Amour (1747),
1 " If difficulty be a test
Of beauty, great let Rameau be,
But it perchance simphcity
Be beauty, then how small ?c he." (Roughly translated).
8 A livre = about i franr
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 63
which celebrated the Dauphin's second marriage,
written without inspiration, failed to inspire the
public. Na'is, another " occasional " work, on
the signature of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1749),
was also a failure.
Rameau at first had rebelled against the conven-
tional operatic routine, but in reality he was no
innovator and clung to the old classical subjects
with spectacular display. Perhaps if in those
youthful wanderings he had stayed longer in Italy,
he might have absorbed the more modern ideas.
But now it was too late. Rameau was, in fact, be-
tween two schools. The Lullystes persecuted him
as an innovator, whilst the Moderns, who presently
appeared on the scene, considered him the repre-
sentative of the antiquated methods and abused him
from quite a different point of view.
It is curious to find the Lullystes, who had at-
tacked his Castor et Pollux on its first appearance,
defending that same opera with the greatest obstin-
acy some forty years later against the partisans of
Gluck, whose music they condemned as a foreign
invasion, its followers afflicted with " etrangero-
manie."
The music of Zoroastre (1749) was more inspired
than some of these other lighter works. Unfortun-
ately the gentlemen of the King's household, dis-
pleased because their usual free passes had been
curtailed, did their best to make the piece a failure.
There was plenty of discussion, but Rameau never
64 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
made large sums from his works. A verse of the
time commented on the fact.
" Rien pour I'auteur de la musique,
Pour I'auteur du p6eme rien
Rameau doit aller k pied
Les directeurs en carosse."!
And now the New, a far more formidable rival
than the Lullystes, came knocking at the door.
In 1752 a company of Italian artists arrived in
Paris with a repertory of new light Italian operas.
Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona took Parisians by
storm with its freshness and vivacity, and the Ency-
clopedists acclaimed Italian music as the only true
and spontaneous art. Rousseau attacked French
music (1753) with his eternal refrain of " Return to
Nature." Grimm, " the German disguised as a
Parisian," followed with virulent attacks on French
Opera, French esprit, and special attacks on
Rameau as representative of French music. Es-
pecially Rousseau pursued Rameau implacably,
continuing his diatribes even after the composer's
death. Rameau, impatient, proud, intolerant, re-
plied to these attacks ; the wordy war waxed furious
on both sides. The old conflict of Lullystes versus
Ramoneurs paled before this Guerre des Bouffons,
so called from the " Bouffon " Manelli, chief singer
of the Italian troupe. The charm of these light
operas lay in the unconventionality of their sub-
I " Nothing for the composer, nor for the poet, Rameau must
trudge on foot, the directors ride in their carriage."
JEW PHILIPPE RAMEAU 65
jects, taken from scenes iind persons in ordinary
life, humorously treated. They came as a dehght-
ful rehef after tiie stilted classical heroes and hero-
ines, the threadbare episodes of gods and god-
desses, the Greek and Roman warriors in tunics,
with ribbons and helmets on powdered wigs, in
short, all the artificial conventions of which people
had at last grown unutterably weary.
All Paris joined in these heated discussions.
Even the Court took sides. The King, inspired
by Madame de Pompadour, was for French music
whilst the Queen preferred Italian, and at the
Opera partisans gathered near the royal boxes,
standing by the " Coin du Roi " or the " Coin de
la Reine," according to their opinions.
Leaflets were distributed from their respective
corners. The Italian party was on the whole more
vivacious and enthusiastic than the French, Rous-
seau says, and probably this w'as the case, as par-
tisans of the New against the Old are usually the
more youthful and vigorous element.
The Encyclopaedists were interested in every
branch of science and dabbled in the problems of
music. D'Alembert at first wrote in support of
Rameau's theories, even collaborating w«th him
(greatly to the advantage of Rameau's literary
style, which was so poor as to be a serious draw-
back to his arguments). But presently D'Alem-
bert joined Grimm, Holbach, Rousseau, and all
with one accord began to attack French music and
Rameau as its representative. They condemned,
F
66 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
of course, the artificial conventions which had so
long ruled the French operatic stage, the classic
mythological subjects, the stilted libretti, the mon-
otonous ballets. The opera had become a mere
vehicle for spectacular display and dancing, and
people at this time were vaguely longing for " Na-
ture."
The Encyclopaedists, the Moderns of their days,
were unsparing critics of everything connected with
the old style, they condemned French recitative as
monotonous and dragging, French airs as insipid
and dull. Above all they wanted real human in-
terest instead of ballets with Apollo or Hercules
as figure-heads. In their zeal they declared duets
"unnatural," whilst Rousseau condemned fugues
as " the remains of the Gothic spirit " (esprit
gothique), and clamoured for the supremacy of
vocal art and simple accompaniments to song.
Harmony, he declared, was only physical and me-
chanical in its effects, Melody was all-important.
D'Alembert particularly disliked Sonatas as being
mere intellectual exercises. " Sonafe, que me
veux-tu ? " the saying of Fontenelle, was frequently
quoted. Undoubtedly the Encyclopc'edists were
right in many of their theories, but they were not
musicians and many of their opinions shot wide of
the mark in consequence. They considered indeed
that there was far too much music in Frencli opera !
Rousseau, the leader of these attack-s, had really
an extraordinarily keen feeling for music, without
being " musical " in the true sense of the word.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 67
One must grant him a knack of melody, a certain
facility in composing even. His opera, Le Devin
du Village, contained some pretty airs which be-
came, and have remained, popular. In rustic
scenes he created some charming effects by simple
means, and his air, " Allons dormir sous les
ormeaux," became almost a folk song in Geneva.
The loves of Colin and Colinette in the song,
" Quand on sait bien aimer que la vie est char-
mante," was also deservedly a success. Gretry
pronounced him an artist possessing sentiment but
ignoring the rules of his art. In short, Rousseau
possessed a keen musical sense, was extremelv im-
pressionable as regards music, but this did not
make him a musician; moreover, he never seemed
to realise that his lack of musical education was
in any way an impediment to perfect understand-
ing. Rousseau went on attaclving French opera,
its artists and composers so savagely that at last
the exasperated operatic artists solemnly burnt his
effigy one evening, whilst the directors refused him
admission to their performance henceforth — a pro-
hibition only withdrawn some twenty years later
at Gluck's special recjuest.
He ridiculed operatic stage effects, " the cars of
gods and goddesses consisting of planks suspended
by a cord, with a piece of cloth hanging in front
painted to represent a cloud, the demons issuing
from trap doors and climbing into the clouds . . .
the frightful cries and groans from the singers.
whilst the orchestra is a ceaseless charivari of in-
68 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
struments, no melody, a perpetual droning and
buzzing in the bass, the most gloomy, deadening
noise I ever heard in my life," and he described
the joy of the audience when anything like an Air
emerged.
His letter on French music (1753) is amusingly
dogmatic: " I think I have made it clear that there
is neither rhythm nor melody in French music,
because the language is not capable of it; that
French singing is a continual barking, unbearable
to any ear not accustomed to it; that French har-
mony is crude, without expression and showing its
scholastic origin; that French Airs are no Airs,
that French recitative is not recitative at all.
Whence I conclude that the French have no music
and cannot have any ; or that if ever they
had a music of their own, so much the worse for
them."
Thus the philosopher. It is worthy of note that
some years later Rousseau became a Gluck-wor-
shipper and an ardent champion of French against
Italian music! This was in the war of Gluckistes
ve7S^lS Piccinistes.
Rousseau's letter naturally excited heated con-
troversy. Rameau replied from the point of view
of the musician, and was drawn into a passionate
and bitter discussion, in which his lack of clearness
and literary style often placed him at a disadvan-
tage. Unfortunately he was not in touch or in
sympathy with the aspirations and ideals of his
day (how unlike Lully, the man of his moment!)
JEAN PrtlLlPPE RAMEAU 69
and clung to his spectacular splendours and regu-
lar " symphonies," utterly failing to realise the
need for a new form of art.
In these years Rameau did not compose much,
but wrote his " Demonstration du Principe de
I'Harmonie " and " Nouvelles Reflexions sur la
Demonstration du Principe de I'Harmonie servant
de base a tout I'art Musicale " (1752).
His " Ballet Heroique " Acanthe et Ceplvise
(1751), one of the usual spectacular pieces, written
to celebrate the birth of the Due de Bourgogne,
was the last of his larger works, but several small
one-act pieces, chiefly played at Court, followed.
Les Paladins, in three acts, was the last of his
works performed at the opera and was not a suc-
cess, the public disliked its mixture of serious and
comic elements. The unsparing critics declared
that Rameau was now too old and should cease
composing. He himself knew well enough that
they were right. He was ill as well as old and
grew weaker day by day. To a friend he said :
" Every day I improve in style, but I have no
longer any genius." (De jour en jour j'acquiers
du gout, mais je n'ai plus de g^nie).
Another book on theory, " Observations sur
notre Instinct pour la Musique," was published in
1754 and, whatever faults the Encyclopaedists
might find in it, the Censor, a certain M. Trublet,
approved of the work in these terms: "By order
of Monsoigneur le Chancel ier I have read a manu-
script entitled ' Observations on our Instinct for
^O THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Music, etc.,' and I believe that the publication of
the same would be both an honour and a service
rendered to French music, Paris, 12 April, 1754.
Trublet."
This book, in beautifully clear type, is interest-
ing reading for musicians, containing as it does
the gropings of a mind of genius after a solution
which eluded his grasp. It is rather pathetic to
read the old musician's cogitations on Harmony
and on the mysterious reason which leads the hu-
man mind to regard the Fifth, for instance, as a
peculiarly satisfactory interval, and to compare
this book with elementary text books of to-day, in
which children learn what the old genius vainly
sought.
" La Musique est une science qui doit avoir des
regies certaines," he had said in his Tralte of 1722,
and all his later writings were but variations on
this theme. Music, he insisted, was a physico-
mathematical science and he himself had been led
to study it mathematically from his youth upward.
His philosophical mind was chiefly interested in
harmony. " It is harmony and not melody which
guides us," he declared, and "a musical sound
is complex, containing a kind of interior song,"
therefore we must begin by studying the nature of
sound.
He noticed how " ordinary folk, not musicians,
instinctively sing or play the right bass note to a
melody," and felt that this must be based upon
a natural law.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU ^i
Rousseau criticised Rameau's musical theories
as he criticised his music, and his ignorance led
him to some foolish conclusions. He flatly con-
tradicted Rameau's theory as to the necessity of
the harmonic bass, " M. Rameau claims that the
upper or melodic part naturally suggests its bass
and that anyone with a true although untrained
ear will naturally find this bass. This is a musi-
cian's pre-conceived idea, one always disproved by
experience. One who has never heard either bass
or harmony will never find either harmony or bass,
nay more, he will not like them if he does hear
them, and will greatly prefer simple unison."
Rousseau himself is convinced that no harmony
is so delightful as unison, and if we want chords
it is because our taste is depraved. He had heard
a child playing single notes on the piano, its hands
being too small to grasp chords, and was charmed
by the effect.
Meantime, in spite of the persecutions of his
enemies, Rameau still enjoyed the fame of an es-
tablished reputation and in these last years re-
vivals of his works still excited enthusiasm. When
Dardanus, for instance, was revived in 1760, a per-
fect storm of applause greeted the old man when
he was discovered hiding shyly, as was his wont,
in a corner of his box. He was not without honour
in his own country, for Dijon had solemnly
exempted Iiim and his relatives from taxation, and
as a further mark of esteem made him member of
her Academic in 1761. In the same year Louis
72 tHE EARLIER FREXCH MUSICIANS
XV'. conferred the rank of nobility upon him with
the order of St. Michel.
Close upon eighty years of age he still devoted
himself to the theory of his beloved art, working
feverishly in spite of failing strength.
His Code de Musique Pratique (1760), L'Origine
des Sciences (1761), and a last investigation into
musical sound, le " corps sonore," appeared in 1762
with a Lettre aux Philosophes. In spite of illness
he was preparing to conduct rehearsals of a last
work, Abaris ou les Boreades, an opera in five acts,
when he grew rapidly worse and died in his house
in the Rue des Bons Enfants, 22nd September
1764. There is a story, characteristic if not true,
that almost with his last breath he reproved the
priest at his bedside for intoning out of tune.
His death was regarded as a national calamity.
Paris honoured her musician by a splendid funeral
at the Church of St. Eustace. Most of the prin-
cipal cities held memorial services and a fortnight
after his death a Mass for the repose of his soul
was celebrated at the Church of Les Peres de VOra-
toire, at which the orchestra performed selections
from Castor et Pollux and others of his works. The
expense of this was borne by the Opera, and 1,600
invitations were issued in the name of the widow
and her son. Not only was the church crowded,
but for several years the anniversary of Rameau's
death was observed in a similar wav.
Jean' Philippe rameau ^^
A coldly eulogistic epitaph ran thus :
" Ci-git le celebre Rameau.
II fut par son vaste gdnie
De la Musique le flambeau,
Et I'objet des traits de I'envie.
Muses, pleurez sur son tombeau."*
Rameau, the man, appears to have been reserved
and unapproachable in an extraordinary degree.
Where Lully's success had been in a great measure
due to his own personal popularity, or at all events
influence, Rameau won fame really in spite of
himself, solely by the force of his genius. Cer-
tainly he w'as not popular, scarcely amiable. Re-
served and taciturn, he had few friends and even
his wife knew next to nothing of his early life.
In his funeral oration the friend of his last years
was obliged to confess that he knew scarcely any-
thing about Rameau's private life. He was no
courtier, nor did he ever condescend to seek favour
with any one, great or small. Chabanon relates a
characteristic anecdote : A maltre de Ballet wanted
Rameau to shorten some of his minuets, urging
that Royalty might find them too long. "Sir,"
replied Rameau, " if he is not told that he will
find them long, he will think they are short."
Of Rameau's domestic relations little is known,
but the fact that his youngest daughter, Marie
Alexandrine, married the Mousquetaire de Gaul-
' " More lies the celebrated Rameau.
Whose great genius was the torch of Music
And the object of Envy's darts.
Muses, weep upon his tomb."
5-4 triE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
thier immediately after her father's death perhaps
shows that in his lifetime he had opposed the
match. On the other hand, he bestowed a hand-
some dowry on his other daugher, Marie Louise,
on her entrance into a convent.
The only son, Claude Francois, obtained the
post of " Valet de chambre du roi " through his
father's influence, a post which cost Rameau quite
a large sum of money in addition to a handsome
yearly allowance.
He was accused of undue harshness towards a
nephew, Jean Francois, threatening to have him
transported to the Colonies for some escapade or
other. But on the showing of Diderot even, the
young man seems to have been an incorrigibly
hopeless character, who abused his uncle's kind-
ness and hospitality. And it is known that
Rameau sent yearly sums of money to his sister
the Claveciniste at Dijon during the last years of
her life, sums regularly paid up to the year of
her death, 1762.^
1 Rameau wrote a kind and helpful letter to a young man who
asked for his advice about composing' an opera (1740). " One
must understand the art of staging, have studied Nature so as
to depict her as faithfully as possible ; one must visualise all
the characters, must feel dancin^j and its movements, not to
speak of all details ; must know the voice, the art of acting,
etc. The Ballet would be better than Tragedy as a beginning.
Before attempting a big work one must have written
smaller ones, cantatas, divcrtissonents, a thousand trifles of
the kind which feed and inspire the mind and render one un-
consciously capable of the greatest things. I watched the
stage since I was twelve ; I was fifty before I composed opera,
even then I did not consider myself capable of doing so. I
ventured, succeeded, continued."
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 75
Rameau was tall and unusually thin, attenuated
even; an unkind description compared him to an
organ pipe, with legs like flutes. His features were
large and strongly marked, with piercing black
eyes. He had a marked resemblance to Voltaire,
and a picture of the two meeting shows the re-
semblance strikingly. His voice was loud and
harsh and in discussion he would shout excitedly
until exhausted, when his voice w^ould fail and re-
duce him to silence, still gasping and gesticulating
helplessly.
He loved to take long solitary walks and his tall
spare figure was a familiar object striding along
by the Tuileries or out in the country. Appar-
ently he would be rapt in meditation, perhaps
thinking out a musical phrase or pondering over
some problem of harmony. But once when a
friend, meeting him, enquired what he was think-
ing of, Rameau gazed at him absently for a mo-
ment and then answered " Nothing." Probably
his mind was working unconsciously to himself,
for often on returning home he would hastily write
out or play some new theme. (He usually com-
posed violin in hand, not often at the harpsichord).
His enemies declared he had no heart; that he
was incapable of affection. Diderot said Rameau 's
wife and daughter might die but he would not
care, provided the passing bell tolled in tune; fur-
ther, he was mean, avaricious, pitiless towards
creditors. Avaricious, Rameau probably was. At
the time of his death his house was very poorly
76 THE EARLIKR FRENCH MUSICIANS
furnished, he and his wife were wretchedly dressed,
yet large sums were found in the drawers of his
writing table. There are instances recorded in
which he drove hard bargains. Perhaps he had
learnt the value of money too well in those long
years of grinding poverty in his youth and early
manhood. Yet the instances of kindness and even
generosity towards sister and nephew must not be
forgotten. And Rameau was free from petty
jealousy. He would praise the work of others un-
stintingly, even of his enemies, when they deserved
it. For instance, he praised the Italian opera, the
most formidable rival of his own.^ He was really
too shy to make many friends or enjoy great popu-
larity and always hid at the back of his box at the
Opera. Once after a successful performance of
one of his works at Fontainebleau he was found
hiding in a remote and disused apartment. He said
that applause embarrassed him, he did not know
how to receive it. Shy, proud, reserved, frugal,
simple, harsh — these are not characteristics which
appeal to the great world.
In reality Rameau's whole soul centred in music,
all else mattered little. As Piron said of him :
" All his mind and all his soul were in his harpsi-
chord and when he had closed that, the house w^as
empty, there was no one at home." When com-
posing, he would sing in a very harsh voice, play
his shabbv old clavecin, shout, gesticulate. And
at rehearsals he seemed completely possessed by
1 He admired LuUy generously. " Lully thought on a grand
scale," he said.
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 77
his art; if anyone ventured to approach, he would
waive the intruder impatiently away without even
glancing at him. He was very severe and brusque
with his librettists.
But he was known to shed tears when a musical
performance pleased him. There is a touching
simplicity about his devotion to music. When
some one asked him, a few months before his death,
if he did not really prefer the sound of applause
to the music of his operas, the old man thought
for a moment and then said seriously, " No, I like
my music best."
Music was certainly Rameau's life. And what
interested him most was really the theory of music.
He even thought time spent in composition wasted
in comparison with that used in investigating the
principles of his art. He certainly considered his
Theory of music the best part of himself. With
endless patience he pursued the problems of sound,
to him elusive, but laying precious foundations
for future students.
Rameau was the first to investigate the nature
of chords, the products of polyphonic melody,
" groups of sounds." For the conception of music
as Harmony was now being definitely substituted
for that of Polyphony. Rameau's assertion that
Harmony and not Melody should be the guiding
principle drew upon him the wrath of the En-
cyclopaedists who recognised in Melody the sim-
plicity they so ardently desired. Rameau's con-
stant broodingsand scarchings into the phenomena
78 THE EARLIER FRENTCH MUSICIANS
of sound are interesting. He notices that the hu-
man voice naturally r'ses from a note to its Fifth
and that the ear naturally provides a bass to a
melody. Any musician of even small attainments,
in accompanying a song heard for the first time,
employs the Fifth, later he may use the Third.
The Fifth is evidently the most perfect interval,
then the Third. And he traces the Fifth to the
vibrations of a musical note (corps sonore). In
this he followed Descartes, noting the intervals of
the Harmonic Chord and their order. This had
already been done, e.g., in Zerlino's " Institutions
Harmoniques," but Rameau's discovery that the
fourth and sixth are inversions of the common
chord was original, although at the time other stu-
dents were working on similar lines. Before
Rameau many inversions had been considered
separate chords. Later theorists like Helmholtz
and Riemann acknowledge Rameau's contribution
to musical science.
In his own day his theories attracted attention
both at home and abroad. In other countries he
was, in fact, better known as a theorist than as a
musician ; and in Germany his ideas were keenly
discussed.
J. S. Bach and his son Philip Emmanuel were
both " antiramistes," yet the great Bach taught his
pupils Rameau's " Basse fondamentale " all the
same. Haendel held Rameau in high esteem, and
the Traite de I'llarmonie was translated into Eng-
lish, In provincial France Rameau was greatly,
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 79
although perhaps uncomprehendingly, respected,
and after his death he was ranked among the Geo-
metricians, as M. de Laurencie says, placed some-
where between a " Traite sur les Sections Con-
iques " and a book on Algebra !
It is indeed rare to find this combination of the
scientist and the creative artist, but in Rameau the
two were united, not, in fact, without detriment to
his reputation as a composer. In his earlier days,
Lullystes reproached him for being too mechani-
cal, dubbing him the Geometrician who composed
according to algebraic formulas. The term " sa-
vant " applied to his compositions was a damning
criticism. Yet Rameau himself aimed constantly
at Nature, which he declared the source of all art,
just as Lully had done before him. Perhaps he
was too apt to theorise about the means of express-
ing " Nature." He insisted, for instance, that
each chord corresponded to an emotion ; there are
sad, languishing, tender, gay and surprising
chords. Joy is expressed by concords, sadness by
discords and minor keys, grief and suffering by un-
prepared discords. His Phnntcs Tendres contains
diminished chords and chords of the 9th and iith.
" The scale of ja is appropriate to tempests and
rages. Re, la, mi to grand and magnificent styles ;
ut and ja minor to ' chants lugubres.' " But he
concludes that, after all, composers must write as
they are inspired. He had, says M. Prunieres,
une " mentalite iiarmonique " and felt harmony to
be of supreme importance, melody only secondarv.
8o THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
even insisting that when pupils are taught singing,
every melody should be accompanied by its full har-
mony in order to educate the ear.
His clear, logical mind, reflective rather than
spontaneously emotional, turned towards descrip-
tive music. It was the fashion then to portray
natural objects in sound, — witness the charming
genre pieces of the clavecinistes, — and Rameau
wrote Programme music quite as much as moderns
do. In the Prologue of Dardanus there is a scene,
"The Pleasures in conflict with Jealousy," both
characterised by typical motifs. These themes are
stated separately until " Jealousy, pursued by
Venus, ceases to fret the Pleasures; they gradually
grow languid and finally fall asleep." In Platce
(ballet comique) there are imitations of frogs croak-
ing, birds, a donkey braying.
In a " sc^ne infernale " (Castor et Pollux, Act 4)
Rameau surpassed his predecessors, who had sim-
ply assigned to Demons the musical expression
usually employed to portray Anger ; they never had
any " local colour," says M. Laloy.^ But Rameau
contrived by rhythm and harmony to give them
"atmosphere," and his " choeur infernale " re-
mained unrivalled until Gluck's Orpheus surpassed
it.
Rameau's descriptive Harpsichord Pieces follow
the fashion of the day (Rappel des Oiseaux, La
Poule, etc.) He anticipated Debussy in Les Tour-
1 Laloy, L. Rameau,
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 8 1
billons, in which he tried to render " gusts of
wind stirring up whirls of dust."
It is curious to find Rameau insisting that " the
ruHng quahty of French music is Sentiment, which
has no precise movement and therefore cannot be
forced into regular rhythm without losing the
charm of Truthfulness." For his own best work,
the music in which he showed himself most truly
and spontaneously inspired, is his dance music.
Mis Dance Tunes are masterpieces in which his
mastery of rhythm, his instinct for clearness and
concision are most evident, they are his most orig-
inal works; whilst his vocal airs, not well written
for the voice, are forgotten. Rameau's dance tunes
were frequently used in Italy and other countries
for the Ballets in Italian opera, so far superior were
they to all others.^ He did not modulate much or
vary his tonality by chromatics, but he was con-
sidered very daring in his famous modulation from
V minor to E flat, which occurs in Castor and Pol-
lux (" que tout gemisse," Act i). Adam alludes to
this as a touch of genius, great in its simplicity.
VoT over half a century musicians went on quoting
Rameau's fa, la, mi as the most daring modulation
conceivable. Rameau himself marvelled at Lully's
skill in rising from Subdominant to Tonic. " Then,
striding to Dominant with redoubled energy ....
again rousing our desire for the Tonic which must
follow, etc."
1 Funeral oration, Maret. Even Diderot said Rameau's dancp
tunes would be immortal.
82 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Rameau's recitative does not differ essentially
from Lully's. La verite chin:^ la declamation was
still the device. Both tried to express emotion by
following the accents of the spoken word. ^ Rameau,
however, supported his recitative more fully by
harmony during the whole of the phrase instead of
merely punctuating it by a cadence at the end.
Also he modulated more freely and used augmented
and diminished intervals (notably the fifth) to ex-
press grief or anxiety. According to his theories
ascending notes and phrases express joy, eager-
ness, hope, etc., descending ones the reverse.
Sometimes he lets the voice fall over a long inter-
val, e.g., the tenth. A descending chromatic pas-
sage in Hippolyte had to be abandoned because of
its difficulty, and his enemies were always com-
plaining of his difficult music.
He was more successful with instrumental than
with vocal music.
Mis orchestra had the same instruments as that
of his predecessors : strings and woodwind, with
the harpsichord as support in the bass. But he
made more use of the strings and his violin parts
were fuller. Also he wrote more melodious parts
for horns, giving them difficult running passages.
By novel combinations of timbres and by groups
of instruments he obtained more colour. In les
Surprises d' Amour he introduced two groups :
violins and flutes for "Sybarites," trumpets and
kettledrums for warriors. He accented his melodies
sometimes by pizzicato effects. He was rather fond
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU 83
of mechanical subjects such as tempests, earth-
quakes, fire music, and made great effects with
the simple means at his disposal. P"or storms, for
instance, he employed scales in contrary motion;
fire he suggests by brilliant sparkles of trills and
grace notes (Zoroaster). Sometimes the titles of
his descriptive music are very ambitious (not more
so than those of his contemporaries), e.g., " The
Monster Leaving the Waves," "The Clearing of
Chaos" (prologue of Zais), "The Assault of
Titans," attempted by syncopated notes express-
ing rugged, broken effort. *
In a (}uaint pamphlet (Riedel) Lully and
Rameau meet as shades in the Elysian Fields and,
on hearing of Gluck (" the name sounds rather
Tudesque," says Rameau), they enquire, what does
the world think of Us since the appearance of
Iphigenie? They are told, "All persons of taste
say: in the harmony of M. Rameau there is too
much art and in the melody of M. Lully there is
too little. But the composer of Iphigenie has
united your remarkable talents with everything
else he has had the good fortune to surpass
you." A point of view open to the criticism of
posterity.
1 M. de la Laurencie. Sre Prof. Nieck's " The orchestration of
J. P. Rameau." Monthly Musical Record, 1910,
84 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
WORKS BY RAMEAU
Operas
1733. Hippolyte et Aricie. (Pellegrin).
1735. Les Indes Galantes. (Fuzelier).
^737- Castor et Pollux. (Bernard).
1739. Les Festes d'Hebe on les Talens Lyriques.
(Mondorge and others).
— Dardanus. (Leclerc de la Bruere).
1745. La Princesse de Navarre. (Voltaire).
— Le Temple de la Gloire. (Voltaire).
— Platee on Junon jalouse. (D'Autreau et
d'Orville).
— Les Fetes de Polymnie. (Cahusac).
— Les Fetes de Ramire. (Voltaire).
1747. Les Fetes de 1' Hymen et de 1' Am our.
(Cahusac).
1748. Zais. (Cahusac).
— Pygmalion. (Sovot).
— Les Surprises de 1' Amour. (Marmontel &
Bernard).
1749. Nais. (Cahusac).
— Zoroastre. (Cahusac).
1 75 1. La Guirlande ou les fleurs enchanters.
(Marmontel).
— Acanthe et C6phise. (Marmontel).
1753. Daphnis et Egl^e. (C0II6).
— Lisis et D^lie. (Marmontel).
1754. La Naissance d'Osiris. (Cahusac).
-r~ Anacr^on. (Cahusac).
JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAO 85
1760. Les Paladins. (Monticourt).
Nelee et Myrthis (pastorale) ) . ,,
-7 ' u / . 1 \ f Authors
Zephyre (pastorale) \ ,
Abaris on les Boreades \
Pieces for Harpsichord
Four volumes: 1706; 1724; between 1727-1731 ;
1 741 (with violin or flute).
La Dauphine. 1747.
Cantatas
Le Berger fidele. Aquilon et Orinthie • - 1728
Motets
Laboravi • 1732. II convertendo • 1751
Theoretical Works
Nouveau Systeme de musique theorique • 1726
Generation harmonique .... 1737
Demonstration du principe de VHarmonie
servant de base a tout I'art Musical,
theorique et pratique .... 17^0
Nouvelles reflexions sur la demonstration du
principe de I' Harmonic servant de
base a tout I'art musical, theorique et
pratique ...... ly^i
Observations sur notre instinct pour la mus-
ique et sur son principe - . - 1754
^
THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIAKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pougin, Arthur - • Rameau
Laloy, Louis
La Laurencie, Lionel de
Ecorcheville, Jules
Pougin, Arthur -
Mercure de France, 1764
Rameau
Rameau
Do LuUi a Rameau
J.J. Rousseau mus-
icien
Works hy J. P.
Rameau
CHAPTER III
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS
1 600- 1 768
CHAPTER III
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS
1 600- 1 768
The music written for clavecin or harpsichord in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is of great
importance as being the forerunner, or rather the
ancestor, of all modern literature for the Pianoforte,
whilst from the old masters of the clavecin the
brilliant pianists of our day have developed. In
an unbroken line is the evolution from virginal or
spinet, harpsichord, clavichord to concert grand.
In the same way compositions develop from the
simplicity of English Tudor composers for the Vir-
ginal (Tallis, Bird, Ball, Morley, of the sixteenth
century^), through the school of French clavecin
composers, through Emmanuel Bach, Scarlatti,
Mozart, to Beethoven and the moderns.
The spinet gradually supplanted the lute as the
instrument for solos and accompaniments, for
chamber music in short, and by the end of the six-
teenth century it had become a favourite, especially
with women.
1 Sec " Parthenia, or the Maydcnhcad of the first Musick that was
ever printed for the Virginalls," 161 1.
89
^O THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
Queen Elizabeth played the virginals strictly for
her own amusement, not encouraging courtiers to
listen and criticise. A later queen, Marie Antoin-
ette, was quite a talented performer on the harpsi-
chord and her playing delighted the Court. There
was even a woman composer, Elizabeth Claudine,
(the wife of La Guerre, organist of Saint Severin),
who composed a Recueil de Sonates pour Clavecin
(1669-1729). During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the post of spinet player to kings and
queens was one of the regular appointments of royal
households.
Among the earlier of these court harpsichord
players in France were Matthieu Dugay (1548),
Augustin Langlois (1559), Claude Chabeausseau
(1602), Jacques Champion Sieur de la Chapelle
(1609), Jacques le Breton (1624).
The harpsichord was used also in orchestras and
churches until the end of the eighteenth century.
The chief French Clavecinistes lived during the
period 1600-1768 and include Chambonni^res,
Loeilly, Couperin, Rameau, Schobert. The first
of these is really the father of the French School of
harpsichord players and composers.
Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres, (after his
marriage to a widow of Chambonnieres he added
the name of her estate to his own and is known by
it), came of a musical famih'. Both his father and
grandfather (Thomas and Jacques Champion) were
organists. Born under Louis XIII, about 1620,
the date of his death is approximately 1670. Like
tHE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS g'l
the rest of his family, he played the organ well, but
the harpsichord was the instrument on which he
really excelled. He was famous as a performer
and especially noted for his soft yet full tone. Few
details as to his life are preserved, anu little of his
music. He was chief court clavecinist under
Louis XIV and founded a school of clavecin play-
ers. Among liis pupils are Hardelle, Buret,
Gautier, Francois and Louis Couperin, uncles of
" le grand " Couperin. Evidently he had a pros-
perous career and showed, moreover, a generous
nature in encouraging and instructing Louis
Couperin. It chanced that once during his visits
to his country estate a serenade written by a young
and untaught musician was submitted to him.
Chambonnieres w^as so struck by it that he brought
the composer, Louis Couperin, to Paris as a pupil
and afterwards introduced him at Court, where he
obtained an appointment ; the rest of the Couperin
family came to Paris and became noted musicians.
Chambonnieres composed dances of every kind :
Courantes, Gigues, Sarabandes, Pavanes, grouping
them in Suites and giving each piece a descriptive
title (as was the fashion at that time), although the
titles seldom show any real connection with the
music. He has such titles as La Dunkerque, La
Toute Belle, Iris, La Rare. This fashion origin-
ated willi the lute-players, who had made descrip-
tive titles a matter of form, often without any con-
nection with the music.
A critic complains that in a piece for the lute
^2 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
supposed to describe a storm, it was a pity the com-
poser had not added a note to say when it Hghtened
and when it thundered.^
Chambonni^res' works are nearly always written
in four parts and in good counterpoint. His style
is simple and clear, with few of the embellish-
ments and ornaments so much in favour at
that period.
La Rare (in A minor) is one of his most interest-
ing pieces ; others are a Courante, Sarabande and a
Loureuse (slow dance in 6/4 time). He published
two volumes of " Pieces de Clavessin," but speci-
mens of his score are extremely rare.^
The Couperins were another of those families of
musicians who spring up in unexpected places like
rare plants, flourishing for a generation or two until
their artistic vitality is exhausted, and culminating
usually in one supreme genius. The Couperins
were musicians during two hundred years, and
Franc^ois, called " le grand," was their genius.
The original family (of Chaumes en Brie), con-
sisted of three brothers : Francois, Louis and
Charles, who all came to settle in Paris through the
influence of Chambonni^res and became musicians
of repute. All three were organists of the Church
of St. Gervais, and Louis, as we have seen, was
made Court musician (1630- 1665).
Charles, the father of " le grand," died young
1 In a volume of Pieces for the Lute (Denis ClauUicr) occurs the
title, " Phaeton struck by lig'htning. "
2 M. Farrenc possessed some of his original score.
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS 93
(1632-1669), Fran9ois being born only a year before
his father's death. But a friend of the family, one
Tomelin, an organist, practically adopted the child
and taught him the organ. In course of time Fran-
cois too received the post of organist at St. Gervais,
but the date of his appointment is uncertain.
His fame, however, both as performer and com-
poser, rests on the clavecin. His life seems to have
been uneventful ; he was of the fortunate ones whose
history is too smooth for chronicling. Like Cham-
bonni^res, he became harpsichord player to the
king, was greatly admired at Court, feted and flat-
tered in aristocratic houses.
Fashionable gatherings were incomplete without
Couperin at the harpsichord, whilst on Sunday
evenings the king desired his presence at court
Chamber concerts. He mentions this in the intro-
duction to his Third Book of Pieces for the Clave-
cin (published 1722) under the title " Concerts
Royaux." He had written these pieces especiallv
for the " petits concerts du roi," at which he played
the harpsichord nearly every Sunday throughout
the year, and he trusts the public will like these
pieces as much as the late king did. Musicians
were certainly sure of an appreciative listener in
Louis XIV ; no monarch ever loved music more.
He enjoyed the " petits concerts " as much as
Grand Opera, and occasionally sang an air himself
at these evenings. He evidently recognised Coup-
erin 's genius and treated him generously, as was
his wont with artists. " For twenty years," Coup-
94 THE EARLIER FREXCH MUSICIANS
erin says, " I have had the honour of being in the
King's service and of teaching Monseigneur le
Dauphin, the Due de Bourgogne and six other
Princes and Princesses of the Royal House." And
in his dedication to Louis XV of his Methode de
Clavecin (1716) he speaks of " the tokens of kind-
ness and satisfaction bestowed on me by the late
King, your great grandfather, during the twenty-
three years during which he listened to my works ;
those bestowed by your august father, to whom I
had the privilege of teaching composition and
counterpoint for more than twelve years." (A
somewhat long course of instruction without appar-
ently any striking result).
He was the fashionable teacher of the harpsi-
chord, and great ladies were proud of being his
pupils. His Art de toucher le Clavecin (1717), the
first book of instruction especially devoted to the
instrument, shows him an enthusiastic and pains-
taking teacher. He instructs the pupils not only
in notation and technique, but how to sit gracefully
at the clavier, the right foot slightly extended, the
arm horizontal, forming a straight line from elbow
to fingers, sometimes with a bar placed above the
hands of the beginner to regulate their height, for
the tone becomes hard if the hands are held too
high
He especially warns the pupil against manner-
isms of all kinds, such as " coquetting with the
public" ; sometimes he even places a mirror so that
the pupil may see and correct any awkwardness or
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS 95
*' grimaces." We, however, see reflected in the
mirror, not the pupil's awkwardness, but Couper-
in's polished, elegant, courtly self. The " Pre-
ludes " appended to this book were really exercises
for pupils; he calls them " Prose literature of the
harpsichord."
He says that a study of this " Art of harpsichord
playing " is absolutely indispensable for those who
wish to play his pieces in their proper style.
Couperin speaks of Time {mesure) and " Cadence
ou Mouvement," by which he seems to mean phras-
ing. He says that Italian music does not possess
this " Cadence," which is really the mind and soul
of music. (It is curious that Rameau, too, consid-
ered French music expressive and Italian music the
reverse).
Couperin says : " All our violin airs, our Pieces
de Clavecin, de violes, etc., seem to express some
sentiment. Therefore, as we (the editorial ' we ')
have no signs or characters to explain our own
ideas, we try to make up for it by placing words
such as Tendrement, Vivement, etc., before our
pieces. I wish someone would take the trouble to
translate these for the use of foreigners."
He considered women's hands far better adapted
to the clavecin than men's, and taught the ladies of
his own family to play. His cousin Louise was
well known as a performer, (probably " La Coup-
erin " was dedicated to her), whilst his daugliter
Marguerite Antoinette was appointed plaver at
court and musical instructress of tfte Princesses,
96 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
She was, by the way, the first woman to occupy
such a position in France.
We get a gHmpse of Couperin's temperament
in his remark that strong hands, capable of exciting
the most rapid and hght passages, are not always
most successful in pieces requiring tenderness and
expression. " I confess that I greatly prefer what
touches to what surprises me," he says. This
taste is exactly what one would expect in the com-
poser of his exquisite little pieces, so modern in
their expressive charm.
He was very fond of his chosen instrument and
jealous of its reputation. " The harpsichord-player
is the last to be praised for his share in a concerto.
What injustice ! His accompaniment is the found-
ation of a building, which supports the whole, but of
which no one ever speaks!" He recognises its
shortcomings however. " The harpsichord is per-
fect as regards compass and has a brilliance of its
own, but as one can neither increase nor diminish
its tone, I should be grateful to anyone sufficiently
skilful and artistic to render this instrument capable
of expression.^ My ancestors attempted this task
apart from their compositions!"
As one of Couperin's nephews married the daugh-
ter of a harpsichord maker, it is possible that some
of the family were practically interested in clavecin
manufacture.
1 The harpsichord had " a note which no manipulation of the kev
could prolong' or sustain or alter in quality ; and the instru-
ment was therefore specially adapted to clear, cold, polvphonic
writing, in which the parts moved almost equally well with
THE CLAVKCIN COMPOSERS 97
French harpsichord music is usually in dance
form and most of Couperin's pieces are dances.
He wrote Courantes, Minuets, Chaconnes, Passa-
caglie, Sarabandes, Gavottes, Gigues, grouping
them together in suites or " Ordres " (as he called
tliem) and dedicating them to great ladies or
patrons. He published some twenty-seven of
these " Ordre " volumes between 1713-1730. Fol-
lowing the fashion of the day, he bestows descrip-
tive titles on his pieces, and claims to portray in
music the characteristics of the " models." The
French have always been fond of descriptive music,
and in Couperin's pieces they no doubt recognised
allusions to persons or to passing events which have
lost their meaning for us.
Couperin himself certainly meant them as pic-
tures or portraits. tie says in his dedication to
the First Book, " I have always had an object in
composing all these pieces, inspired by various
events ; the titles correspond to the ideas I had in
my mind; I need not explain them, but as some of
the titles may seem to be flattering me,^ it is perhaps
as well to mention that the pieces bearing them are
in a way portraits which have sometimes been con-
sidered very characteristic when I played them.
Most of these pretty titles are bestowed rather on
an alnio'-t uniform tone .... ThrTO were mcclianical dovices
whereby the whoU; volume of tiMie could be suildenly increased
or diminished ; there were none for swelling it by insensible
degrees or brinfjing into prominence some special note of the
rh(jrd." — ILidow, Oxford History of Music.
1 " me flater " {sic).
H
98 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
the charming originals whom I wished to portray
than on the copies of my making." (This may
mean that he designated a lady by a title, dedicat-
ing a piece to her?) He adds that he had taken
great pains to have the book well printed, sparing
neither money nor time, it had taken over a year to
produce properly.
Besides the names of fair women tJiere are names
of dancers of both sexes (nicknames were given to
dancers at that time, such as the Princess, the Bird,
the Devil, the Restless One). These have no sig-
nificance for us, nor can we identify " Fleurie ou la
tendre Nanette," " Mimi," or " Soeur Monique "
(that especially charming little piece). Names of
landscapes are naturally merely titles : Bourbon,
Basque, Charleroi. Strange titles suggest charac-
ter-description : the Enchantress, the Voluptuous
Woman, the Lugubrious or Gloomy Woman, the
Chatterbox, the Turbulent j\Ian. There are even
a Troubled Soul (Ame en Peine), a Convalescent,
Wandering Shades (spectres). Working Women
and a March of Men in grey. (Marche des gris-
vetus). Whoever the Gris Vetus may have been,
their march is to be played " heavily but not slow."
La Lugubre has heavy chords (in C minor). The
Prude is a Sarabande bristling with grace notes
and " agrements." .... Atalante is in lightly run-
ning passages. A curious title is Slight Mourning
or the three Widows, not a serious mourning-piece,
however, it is in A major and to be plaved " gracie-
usement." The Spinner (La Fileuse), with its
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS 99
humming accompaniment in the bass, anticipated
many modern spinning songs. And Couperin's
Bees, Butterflies, Grasshopper, Will o' the Wisp
all seem suggestive titles which invite imitation.
The Hunt, too, offers opportunities for obvious de-
scription, so does Reveille Matin, with its fanfares.
The Eel seems unique. Dodo or Love in the
cradle is as tenderly expressive as a modern cradle
song.
M. Farrenc, who has published Couperin's
" Pieces de Clavecin " in his fine series, " Le
Tr^sor des Pianistes," classifies them in an inter-
esting manner.
La Florentine, la Mylordine, les Papillons, La
Lutine, le Carillon de Cyth^re and Soeur Monique
have " charming melodies, graceful and natural."
La Logivi^re, la Marche des Gris-vetus, Passa-
caille, La Superbe, I'Audacieuse, la Visionnaire,
" are more interesting in their harmony."
La Voluptueuse, la Lugubre, I'Ame en peine,
les Ombres Errantes, la Convalescente, are " very
expressive, varied and original." And le Reveille-
Matin, la Diligente, la Comm^re (the gossip), les
Tricoteuses (the Knitters), are " vivacious and
brilliant."
In some of these musical pieces imitation is quite
evident, as in Les Tricoteuses, or the Man with the
grotesque Body, who jumps in detached notes, etc.
In these pieces the music is simple. Couperin
usually employs two voices, occasionally three, sel-
dom full chords. They are contrapuntal in style;
lOO THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
but the soprano leads the melody and is very richly
ornamented with agrements, grace-notes, trills,
etc., in order to help out the weak tone of the instru-
ment. For the same reason chords in arpeggio are
held down by all fingers so that more sound is ob-
tained. He also employs a sign to indicate a
phrase, which the performer should make evident.
He modulates to the dominant, relative minor and
the nearly related keys. Under Couperin the
Rondo beg'an to develop from a simple dance form,
foreshadowing the Sonata. But the great charm
of his music is its expressive (juality ; in this he far
surpasses all his contemporaries, xMarchand, Da-
quin, even Rameau, who wrote some delightful
clavecin pieces in genre style (Le Rappel des Ois-
eaux, La PouJe, etc.) These, like Dacjuin's Le
CoiLCOu, were cleverly descriptive, but Couperin
aimed at psychological portra\al, being, in fact, a
forerunner of Schumann. He is the first composer
with a definite conscious note of modern expression.
Les Petits Ages is a little cvcle of four pieces :
Muse naissante, Enfantine, Ad(jlescente, Delices.
There is also a Ballet called the Pomp or Masque
of the great and ancient Minstrelsy (Alenestrandise)
with its five acts of descriptive dances, a picture in
music of an ancient fair or Masque. It contains
the entry of the Xotabk'S. The song of Beggars
and Hurdygurdy men. The dances of Jugglers
and Merrv Andrews with bears and monkevs.
Duet of the crazy and kune. And in the finale, the
animals break loose and there is a "•eneral stampoclc
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS lOI
In Lcs Folies Frangaises ou les dominos there are
distinct foreshadowings of Schumann's " Carne-
val " and " Papillons," psychological character-
isation and programme music.
These are twelve very short pieces, a kind of vari-
ations on the same harmonic foundation. The
titles are the most curious part of them, each
domino is supposed to have a different colour :
Virginity in a colour which is invisible. Modesty
in rose colour. Ardour in red. Hope in green.
Faithfulness in blue. Perseverance in grey. De-
sire in Violet. Coquetry in varied colours. Old
gallants in purple. Silent jealousy in purple-grey.
Despair and rage in black.
Curious is Couperin's partiality for 'cello effects
in such pieces as La Bandoline and Delices. He
evidently was seeking for a more expressive tone
than that of the clavecin.
One pictures Couperin at court or in aristocratic
salons, stately at the harpsichord, playing his com-
positions to an appreciative king, with great ladies
listening attentively, amused and sometimes flat-
tered by the piquant titles and allusions of his
pieces. Or we see him giving excellent lessons to
aristocratic pupils, always polished and affable, art-
ist and man of the world. His plump rounded
features look calmly prosperous and benign beneath
the imposing wig of the period. A touch of cvni-
cism is manifest in the dedication of his first book
to a friend (one M. Pajot de Villers), to whom he
expresses gratitude. " A man really sensible of
i02 THE EARLIER FREN'CII MUSICIANS
gratitude should be privileged because he is of such
a rare species " (en faveur de la rarete de son
esp^ce)^ therefore may he, Couperin, being grate-
ful, have the privilege of offering this book, etc. . . .
The " engraving " of his works was an anxious
matter. One book was delayed for a year, Couper-
in politely waiting until the " graveur " had
finished some Viola compositions by a noted mus-
ician, " un des illustres de nos jours," who in his
turn had on a former occasion politely waived his
claim to the " graveur " in favour of Couperin.
In his quaint spelling he gives the address of the
" autheur " as rue de Poitou en Marais. In spite
of frequent illnesses which also, he says, delayed his
compositions, Couperin lived to the age of sixty-
five.
His wife was one Marie Anne Ansault, and his
two daughters played the organ and the clavecin.
Marie Anne became a nun at the Abbaye of Mau-
buisson and was organist there, whilst Marguerite
Antoinette was the distinguished court claveciniste.
In 1745 the wafe claimed and was granted the
rights of Couperin 's compositions for twelve years
after his death.
Louise, the daughter of the earlier Fran9ois, was
born after the removal of the family to Paris (1674)
and died at Versailles (17^), having held her Court
appointment for thirty years. Besides being a
famous claveciniste she was also a talented singer.
Her brother Nicholas had a musical appointment
at the Court of Toulouse (1680-1728). He was also
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS iO^
organist of St. Gervais, which seems, in fact, to
have been held by all the Couperins in turn. Fran-
cois le Grand occupied the post too, but the date of
his appointment is uncertain, as we have seen.
Two sons and a daughter of Nicholas continued
the musical traditions of the family, the last of the
line being one of these, Gervais Francois, still liv-
ing in 1815, but described as of " mediocre " talent.
He obtained posts as organist solely on the strength
of his illustrious name. The genius of the family
was exhausted.
Couperin's four books of Pieces de Clavecin ap-
peared in 1713, 1717, 1722 and 1730 respectively.
In his third volume (1722) Couperin essays com-
posing for other instruments besides the clavecin,
for violin, flute, oboe, viola and bassoon. There
are four of these concerted pieces which he calls
" Concerts Royaux," and in the preface he says
they were composed expressly for the little chamber
concerts at the court on Sundays. Messieurs Du-
val, Philidor, Alarius and Dubois were the other
performers, and Couperin himself played the harp-
sichord. These pieces have a figured bass, and
Couperin adds that he had arranged them according
to their tonalities, keeping the titles under which
they were first presented to the Court in 1714-1715.
Another volume for various instruments appeared
in 1724, called Les gouts rcunis, containing
among others a grand Sonata with Trio entitled La
Parnasse ou I'Apoiheose de M. Corelli.
io4 'rill-: earlier i-rench musicians
Other works :
L'Apolheosc dc V Incomparable M. do LuUy,
undated.
Trios for violin ; his book L'art de toucher le
Clavecin and
Neuj Iccons de Tencbres a unc el deux voix.
Even in the Apotheose of CorelH and Lulli no-
thing was left to the imagination ; it was all strictly
" programme " music. Corelli is received on
Mount Parnassus, he drinks of the fount of Ilippo-
crene, expresses his delight, falls asleep to slumber
music, and is assigned a place beside Apollo.
On the same lines Lulli arrives in the Elysian
Fields and is met by Apollo, w-ho presents a violin
to him. The envy of Lulli 's contemporaries is
supposed to be heard in " subterranean sounds."
Corelli welcomes Lulli and they make music to-
gether, each alternately leading. Italian and
French muses unite in harmonious strains.
Jean Baptiste Loeilly (1660-1728) comes as a con-
necting link between Chambonnieres and Couperin-
le-Grand. He composed sonatas of great merit
and a suite in G minor. Not succeeding in Paris,
he came to England and became rich and famous
as Court Director of concerts. He also wrote for
the flute and a book of six lessons for harpsichord.
Schobert, the last great French harpsichordist,
was a native of Strasbourg (i7,':;o-i768). His com-
positions w^ere well known in England and Hol-
land; they were chiefly sonatas and his style was
different from that of the other clavecinistes, being
tHE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS I05
richer in harmony. He became harpsichord player
to the Prince de Conti.
Other harpsichord composers were Jean Henri
D'Anglebert, Court Musician under Louis XIV
(1623-1692). Among other works he arranged
Lully's airs for harpsichord.
Jean Louis Marchand (i 669-1 733), Court harpsi-
chord player and organist. He lost the king's
favour and was banished for a time. On visiting
Dresden during his exile he was invited to take part
in a contest of skill with Bach. Both masters
played their own compositions and improvised, but
Bach was so obviously superior that Marchand left
before further comparisons could be made. On
returning to Paris he was soon as popular as ever
and had many pupils, receiving a louis d'or for a
lesson, but was so extravagant that he died in pov-
erty. Rameau was his pupil after his return from
exile. Marchand composed two books of Pieces de
Clavecin.
Louis Claude Daquin or d'Aquin (1694-1772), the
pupil to whom Marchand gave a post of organist
in preference to Rameau. On leaving his post at
the Cordeliers, Marchand apostrophised his organ :
" Adieu, chere veuve ! d'Aquin seul est digne de
toi !" Besid(\s clavecin pieces, among them " Le
Coucou," which is still played, Daquin composed
some Xoels and works for other instruments.
Jean Fran(,'ois Dandrieu (1684-1740) wrote rustic
dances (Fete de ]' illume), a Hunting Piece (chasse)
with descriptive music, and a Battle or War Piece
I06 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
[Les Caracteres de la Guerre) in which he imitates
the firing of cannon by detached triads.
Rameau's charming Pieces pour Clavecin are
famihar to all. The titles are all descriptive, some
of the less known names are quite on Couperin's
lines: " La Boiteuse " (the lame woman), " La
Joyeuse," " L'Indifferente," etc. " Les Tour-
billons," which Rameau explained as representing
whirls of dust raised by wind, is a quaint forerunner
of Debussy. " La Rameau " was perhaps his
sister, the Claveciniste.
La Fontaine gives a pretty picture of the cele-
brated clavecin player. Mademoiselle Certain, the
friend of LuUy (1660-1711). On the way home from
church he calls at " the famous Certain's " for a
chat,
" In a thousand ways charming, a thousand ways wise,
Mamselle Certain entrances our hearts and our eyes ;
Her brilliant fingers, her talent so rare,
Surpass Hardel, les Couperins, Chambonnieres.
This charming girl's harpsichord touches my heart
More than Isis and all other musical art ;
I ask nothing better, I crave nothing more
To satisfy ears, eyes and heart in this hour."
" Chez I'illustre Certain faire une station.
Certain par niille endroits igalement charmante
Et dans mille heaux-arts igalement savante,
Dout le rare genie et les brillantes mains
Surpassent Chambonnieres, Hardel, les Couperains.
De cette aimahlc enfant le clavecin unique
Me touche plus qu' Isis ct toute sa musique
Je ne veux rien de plus et ne veux rien de mieux,
Pour contentcr V esprit et I'oreille et les yeux."
THE CLAVECIN COMPOSERS io?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chabeau, P. • • A Oi" vieux Maitres les Clave-
cinistes.
Bie, Oscar - - A history of the Pianoforte
and its players.
Farrenc, J. H. A. - Le tresor des Pianistes,
Weitzmann, C. F. • Geschichte des Clavier spiels.
CHAPTER IV
ANDRE ERNEST IMODESTE GRETRY
1741-1813
CHAPTER IV
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY
1741-1813
Across Gretry's later life, as across the youth of
Mehul's fell the shadow of the Revolution. Until
middle-age Gretry lived under the old regime, the
settled order of things, the conventionalism which
had crystallised everything — society, art, morality,
into shapes so stiff that they could not change except
by being broken. The air of the old regime seems
to us heavy and stifling, but with flashes of the com-
ing terrible storm. Under these conditions Gretry
lived for his art and achieved fame. Then the
storms of the Revolution burst and broke up his
world. Everything was changed. But Gretry's
nature could not change and his music remained
uninfluenced by the passions raging outside art.
He lent his genius to the service of the Revolution,
it is true, but was not inspired to new strains. He
says himself that the Revolution was no time for
music or poetry. Poets had no need to write trag-
edies, " Tragedy walked the streets."
Gretry's music was tender, gay, playful, steeped
in domestic sentiment. It appealed to the sentiment-
JIX
112 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
al side of men like Rousseau and other more terrible
Revolutionists and, although his Richard Coeur
de Lion was sternly prohibited during the Reign
of Terror as savouring of Royalty, Gretry himself
remained unscathed. The only music really in-
spired by the Revolution was the immortal Marseil-
laise, rivalled by Mehul's Chant du Depart.
Although Gretry was born in Belgium, he is so
thoroughly French in language, style, tempera-
ment, that one must reckon him as belonging to
the land which he adopted in liis youth, whatever
his ancestry may have been. In the words of a
French critic,^ " Whoever settles in a foreign land
and produces creative work in the very spirit of
that land, acquires by that fact alone the right of
naturalisation." Besides, although Liege had
come politically under the Holy Roman I^mpire,
its inhabitants always remained intellectually and
morally in sympathy with the Latin (Walloon) race
in the Netherlands, and never became really a Ger-
man province. Neither Teuton language nor Teu-
ton culture ever took root there.
The Gretry family were settled in Liege when
Andre Ernest Modeste (the second child) was born,
II February, 1741. They have been traced orig-
inally to a village of the same name (Gretry), which
the grandfather had left for another village (Blegny)
near Li^ge, where he kept an inn. Music was al-
ready in the family, for this grandfather used to
play for village dances and taught his children
1 M. Bourgault Ducoudrny,
AN'DRK ERNEST MODESTE GRj^TRY II3
music. They formed, in fact, a little orchestra —
greatly in request at weddings, dances and fetes
generally. Francois, the father of Andre, made
music his profession and was very successful. Me
became first violin at the Church of St. Martin in
Li^ge, gave lessons in the best families and married
above his own station in life.
Andre was a delicate child of consumptive tend-
ency, and life was not easy in those first years.
His earliest remembrance was of a terrible accident
by scalding, which injured his eyesight permanent-
ly. After a serious resultant illness he was sent to
his grandmother's in the country, always a delight-
ful memory of rustling trees and the music of a
bubbling spring of water, which he loved.
But when still quite a child his father appren-
ticed him as choir boy^ under a cruel master, and
he suiTered four or five years of misery. The mas-
ter over-worked and ill-treated his pupils; "We
were all wretched," says Gretry. The smallest
fault in singing or unpunctuality in arriving was
cruelly punished, and poor little Gretry was so
afraid of being late that he would leave home at 3
a.m. in snowy weather and spend a couple of hours
sitting on the steps of the church with a lantern to
be in time for early mass, a forlorn little figure, half
dead with cold and weariness. From this " misery
of the incjuisition," as he calls it, he was finally de-
livered by his timidity. He had a beautiful voice,
1 Ch^'ir schools nnd mc,nastprins woro tlic only School.s of Music
thon.
V
114 "^HE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
but was too shy to sing solos well and the master
dismissed him as " incapable."
Very fortunately an Italian Company were per-
forming Opera boiiffe in Liege just then, and Gret-
ry played in their orchestra for a year. He also took
singing lessons from some of these artists, and
under the fine old Italian method improved wonder-
fully. He sang again in choirs and his beautiful
voice was greatly admired, but he was forced to
sing far too much before his voice broke. One
day in an air by Galuppi, with very high notes, he
suddenly broke down and began to spit blood.
This was the end of Gretry's singing.
He always looked upon music as his vocation.
At the time of his first communion, he prayed ear-
nestly that he might either grow up to be " a good
man and a great musician," or die. And on the
very same day a beam of wood fell upon his head
in the church belfry, stunning him. When he re-
covered consciousness his first words were : " Then
I am to be a musician after all." He dreamed
above all of dramatic music, for he adored Pergo-
lesi's light opera, probably influenced by the Italian
company of operatic singers, but also instinctively,
in accordance with his own musical bent.
Then came a period of study : composition for
a couple of years w'ith Renekin, an organist, a
splendid and enthusiastic teacher; afterwards with
one Moreau, less inspiring. Before he was
eighteen Gretry had composed six small " Sym-
phonies " and. a Messe SoIenneJJc, which were well
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GRltXRY II5
received in Li^ge, then, as now, appreciative of
musical talent. A certain Canon, delighted with
the works, advised a visit to Rome, offering to de-
fray the expenses of the journey. So in 1759 the
youthful composer set out for Italy, a journey per-
formed on foot and with haphazard companions.
An old pedlar, who concealed his real business of
smuggling under the pretence of conducting young
students to Italy, acted as guide. A medical stu-
dent and a delicate young Abbe were of the party,
but the Abbe had to turn back after a few days on
the road, footsore and worn out with fatigue.
After various adventures the medical student and
Gretry reached Rome, and both were received in
the College liegeois, founded by a native of lAhge
for poor students. This was behind the Borghese
Palace, and conducted by a priest very much on the
lines of a gratis hostel, students being allowed full
liberty in their choice of teachers, etc.
Here Gretry lived for seven years (1759-1766),
studying hard all the time, unless interrupted by
attacks of illness brouglit (jn by hard work. He
loved Rome and in after years always advised
young artists to spend some time there. He worked
under several Roman teachers at the usual routine
of fugues, c(junterpoint, imitations — drudgery
which he detested.^
At this time there was a decided revolt of the
younger generation against the strict rules of coun-
l Casali, maitre de chapcUe at St. John Latoran, was his
favourite tcarhcr.
Il6 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
terpoint and Gr^try felt that much of the teachini:;'
was simply wasted time. He was striving" to find
some new way of expression, even in Liege he had
grown weary of the old contrapuntal style, but as
yet he was too timid to strike out boldly and throw
off conventional traditions. One can dimly feel
what courage of conviction was needed, at that
particular period of transition, for a young
" modern " to declare and realise his aims, to
throw overboard the cherished traditions of cen-
turies. Voltaire had truly said that it took a whole
generation for the ear to grow accustomed to new
combinations of sound. Gretry speaks of his
struggles between conventional ideals and the real
rules governing art, of " the conflict between taste
which chooses carefully and inexperience which
does not know how to select." He had not yet
realised what his own aims were. Again he w-as
dismissed by one of his teachers as " ignorant and
without promise."
No wonder that in later years Gretry warned
young artists not to grow discouraged, " for you
must travel round an immense circle of curious and
incoherent ideas, ever recurring and ever rejected,
before you finally perceive the truth you are seek-
ing." Certainly he, as a young artist, had to wade
through a mass of contradictions and prejudices
before he realised himself and his genius. He loved
melody and light opera, but disapproved of the
frivolous style of Church music then in vogue.
(Burney noted and condemned the use of the
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GRIStRV tiy
Minuet form in Church music. Jigs, arias and
dance tunes of all kinds were used in sacred ser-
vices). The only music really liked and appre-
ciated by Italian audiences was singing; for the
eighteenth century was the period in which the
human voice was cultivated to an extraordinary
degree. At the opera people only listened to the
phenomenal execution of celebrated singers; dur-
ing the rest of the performance they talked, ate
ices, visited each others' boxes, in order to escape
boredom.
Gretry took his art very seriously and worked
with his usual impetuosity until he brought on a
dangerous attack of illness with fever and blood
spitting. All his life he remained subject to those
attacks and even in Rome he speaks of dieting
himself carefully (he considered a diet of dried figs
and water good for the chest).
After this illness he was sent to rest and recruit
in a hermitage on Monte Mario. In these beauti-
ful surroundings, in solitude and quiet, he grew
calm and sure of himself. All at once inspiration
came and he composed an air on words by Metas-
tasio, charmed to find that at last he could express
his ideas clearly and easily. " Never have I known
a more delightful moment," he records.
Soon afterwards he was asked to write music for
a two-act piece to be p<'rformed during Carniwil,
and composed Lcs ]'cndan:^i'uscs: (" The Harvest-
ers ") within a week. It was a grcv'it success with
public and critics alike. Piccinni congratulated
il8 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
him on having struck out a new line. The stu-
dents at the College liegeois celebrated their musi-
cian's triumph by a gala (1766).
There were flattering invitations to stay in Rome
and compose operas. But Gretry was anxious to
hear Opera Comique in Geneva before going on
to Paris, his ultimate gaol. He felt that his talent
lay in light opera. Besides, there was the oppor-
tunity of travelling in the suite of a certain English
nobleman, a musical amateur especially devoted
to the flute. (Gretry composed flute concertos for
him and also had found a friend in the German
flute professor attached to his service). Through
this connection he obtained singing pupils in
Geneva immediately on arrival and independence
was assured. He visited Voltaire, who was living
in Geneva at that time, and asked him for a
libretto, which however Voltaire refused to under-
take. But he welcomed the young man, cordially
clasping his hand at their first meeting (" it was
my heart he clasped," says the impressionable
youth), and was very friendly.
Voltaire was astonished to find so much "or-
dinary intelligence and such a sense of humour
in a mere musician." Evidently Gretry was able
to hold his own with the great man. Thev dis-
cussed many thing-s, among others the question,
which had been raised lately by the Encyclopaedists,
of the treatment of the e mute in terminations,
e.g., in such words as " philosophe." Gretry
An'dr6 erxest modeste gr^try 119
thought it should be considered a syllable and
have 3 note of music, whilst Voltaire advised him
to keep the e mute (" philosoph ").
In Geneva Gretry stayed six months and com-
posed Isahclle et Gertrude on an old libretto (it was
a custom of the day for more than one composer
to use the same libretto). This was fairly success-
ful, but Voltaire strongly advised him to go to
Paris and seek " immortalite," and in Paris he
arrived in the summer of 1767.
Rameau had died three years before and no one
had as yet taken his place. At the opera portions
of old operas and ballets filled the bills, the sing-
ing was quite in the old artificial style. Gretry
was disappointed, and disappointed besides in
Rameau's music, which seemed to him old-
fashioned, out-of-date ; but he found some brilliant
actors at the Comedie Italienne (Madame Favart,
Monsieur Clairval, etc.). And he had the great
good fortune to find a friend in the Swedish Am-
bassador, the Comte de Creutz, a most enthusiastic
music-lover.
Creutz became his devoted friend and it was
largely owing to his influence and support that
Gretry succeeded so soon in making a name. At
his house the unk-nown young musician met the
most intellectual and artistic persons: Suard, the
Abb(5 Arnaud, Vcrnet the painter, and delighted
them by his playing on the harpsichord. It was
the custom to have music after dinner and Gretry
120 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
often played his latest compositions to these
appreciative listeners. Among other things in
those early days, he played the score of an opera,
Les Manages Savinites (libretto by an amateur
named Legier). This was performed at the Prince
de Conti's but, partly owing to the libretto, was
a decided failure. Gretry had now no money left
(he had copied the score himself, being too poor
to pay for it), criticism was entirely unfavourable,
and in his youthful despair he thought seriously
of suicide. Creutz, however, acted as guardian
angel and persuaded the well-known librettist Alar-
montel to write a " poem " for him; this time all
went well.
Le Huron (on an episode from Voltaire's L'In-
genu) was performed 20 August 1768, the music
being pronounced " charming, natural, sincere,"
in fact all the criticisms were favourable. Gretry
had won fame. Grimm said the success of the
opera was entirely due to the music, which was
" purely Italian in style, the harmony not too
iieavy and full " (this was certainly never Gretry 's
fault). Certain airs caught on and became famous,
such as " Dans quel canton est I'Huronie? " The
march at the end of Act I. was taken from the un-
successful Manages Samnites.^
1 The score of this opera shows five first nnrl five second violins,
two violas, three 'cellos, two contrabass!, two bassoons, two
horns, kettledrum, two oboes and two flutes. But as onlv
two artists were provided for these last instruments they al-
ways had to be divided into one flute and one oboe, or two
flutes etc., never all four tog-ftiher.
Andre erxest modeste gretrv 121
This opera, called Opus i (comedie in two acts)
was dedicated to Count Creutz.^
Five months after Huron appeared Lucile, a one-
act opera which scored a tremendous success (5
January 1769), libretto again by Marmontel. This
opera appealed to popular taste, at that time all for
sentiment and sensibility. Rousseau and Diderot
wrote, whilst Greuze painted, the charms of Inno-
cence, Simplicity, the Domestic \'^irtues. Au-
diences enjoyed shedding facile tears ; it was the
fashion to be easily moved. Lucile is on these
lines of simple domestic sentiment.
The idyllic plot resembles the story of " Lord
Ronald and Lady Clare." Lucile, betrothed to
Doryal, finds out that she is not the daughter of
the rich Timante, but of Blaise the peasant. Siie
prepares to renounce Doryal, but he will not part
from her and his father also generously consents
to their union. An " enthusiasm of kindness and
virtue," commented the Mercure, whilst the music
became popular at once. The {|uartelte : " Ou
peut-on etre mieux qu'au sein de la famille?"
( " \Vh(^re is one hapj^ier than in the bosom of
one's family?"), had a long run of favour, it
became in fact a kind of household word and was
often played with ludicrous effect. The soldiers
of the Republic sang it later on all possible oc-
1 It i-; rcin.'irkalili' that Ic Huron was porfi)rnicc! in his iiativa^
t(;\Mi (if I.iiyc in January, 176'), only six iiionllis after Paris,
and th(; city Maf^ist rales invited Madame (ir/'trv, his mother,
to their box. This points lo an extraordinary success in those
days of slow communication.
122 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
casions, when escorting prisoners, for instance, or
on taking possession of a city. Even during the
terrible retreat from Russia a special guard once
surrounded Napoleon at a dangerous moment,
playing the familiar air. There is a legend that
this air, so often heard in times of storm and
stress, was actually sung in church in 1825 to other
words, expressive of the happiness of the elect in
Heaven !
Lucile was all domestic sentiment, but in his
next work, Le Tableau Parlant, Gretry showed that
he could write gay bright music which surprised
everyone by its sparkle. This work, composed
very quickly on a libretto by Marmontel, was per-
formed 2oth September, 1769. Critics compared
him with Pergolesi. With this work he became
" the father of French light opera."
Gretry had by this solved the question of the
e mute, which he had discussed with Voltaire, and
in this opera he definitely assigns a note to it.
(" Je suis jeune, je suis fille "). His music was
full of amusing imitations and descriptions, such
as a passage in the bass indicating the tottering
walk of an old man or the heroine's mimicry of
her guardian. The work made him famous. When
Burney visited Paris in 1770 he found Gretry the
most fashionable composer of comic opera, the idol
of the public. vSelections from his works were
performed at most public receptions and his score
was found on every harpsichord. At this time he
was only twenty-eight years of age. There is a
ANDR^ ERNEST MobEStfi GR^V ij^
charming portrait of him by Madame Vigee ie
Brun : a refined, delicate face with regular fea-
tures, too feminine to be called handsome, but
decidedly good looking, the expression dreamy,
sensitive, amiable — " un gar^on charmant " in the
costume of his day, with an air of distinction and
elegance. He was delighted to know that he re-
sembled Pergolesi, who was also pale, delicate and
of consumptive tendency.
" Let him try to live, if possible," said Grimm,
after discovering that Gretry was a genius. And
after all this frail being, in spite of ill-health and
many trials, attained the ripe age of seventy-two.
Although of humble origin, Gr^try's wit, in-
telligence and charming manners made him at
home in grand salons. He enjoyed the life of a
fashionable artist, in summer invited to aristocratic
chateaux, in winter to dinners and receptions in
town. He made friends among the noted artists,
whilst the Encyclopaedists, who had fought
Rameau, took him under their wing. Diderot was
especially friendly to him. At the Abbe Morellet's
first Sundays in the month there was always music
with the best singers ; Philidor,^ Caillot, Hul-
mandel the claveciniste, d'Alembert came and Mile
de L'Espinasse, de la Harpe, Mme Vig^e le Brun.
But Creutz remained his most devoted friend, whose
admiration for the young genius was described as
almost a " culte religieux." He would sit for
1 Director of Concerts spirituels and operatic composer
{_Le Sorcier).
124 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
hours in silence, happy to watch him at work and
carefully made notes of all words of praise uttered
in his honour. If an idea occurred to Gretry,
Creutz would hand him paper and pencil and urge
him to jot it down at once.
Silvain (libretto by Marmontel) was Gretry 's
next opera, performed 19th February 1770. It
was on the domestic sentimental lines of "Lucile, "
part of the music being again drawn from the un-
successful Manages Samnites. Another lyric of
family affection " Dans le sein d'un pere " again
pleased popular taste and became celebrated, " al-
most a classic." The conjugal love of Hel^ne and
Silvain was a theme pleasing to disciples of the
Return to Nature and Simple Life school of those
days.
On the other hand some rather revolutionary
lines displeased the nobles. There was a certain
reference to the freedom of hunting, for instance,
and lines expressing the beauty of virtue as com-
pared with noble blood,
" II est bon de montrer quelquefois que la
simple vertu tient lieu de naissance, "
were not pleasing to aristocratic ears.
At this time Gretry was in love with a young
girl named Jeanne Marie Grandon, the daughter
of a poor widow in Lyons. She seems to have
been alone in Paris earning her living and oc-
cupying a room in the house where Gretry lodged.
Mer father had been an artist, the master of
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY 1 25
Greuze. For some time her mother refused to
permit the marriage, but finally (November 1770),
signed a deed in presence of a notary at Lyons,
in which she gave her full consent. Jeanne Marie
had nursed Gretry through a severe illness and
their marriage took place 3rd July 1771, he being
thirty and his wife twenty-four.
Gretry's own mother, now a widow, had come
to visit him during his illness and she remained
in Paris, living with the young couple for many
years, until her death in 1801. Gretry settled a
pension of 400 livres a year upon her at the time
of his marriage.
In 1770 the marriage of Marie Antoinette with
the Dauphin was celebrated. Marmontel was asked
by the Due d'Aumont to write an opera for it with
Gretry as composer. Unfortunately Marmontel's
libretto, Zemire et Azor, so greatly resembled the
plot of "La Belle et la Bete " that the Due
d'Aumont feared " the possibility of an epigram."
Marmontel had nothing else ready, but, as some-
thing had to be produced, Gretry composed two
shorter operas, Les deux Avares and Amitie a
I'Epreuve (by unknown librettists) and these, with
Le Tableau Parlant, were performed at Fontaine-
bleau in October and November.
Gretry was ill at the time and wrote the chorus
of Janissaries in the first act of Les deux Avares
after a night of delirium, during which the music
rang in his head until it became a torturing «b-
session.
126 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
The plot and words of these operas are poor, but
some of the music is charming. The duet of the
two misers, Martin and Gripon, is characteristic^
and there is some clever descriptive music, for in-
stance, the scratching of a mouse, or when Jerome
descends into a well, the violin imitates the cord
and the wheel unwinding it, etc. The short march
(sung in chorus), " La garde passe, il est minuit,"
became popular and was used as regimental music,
although really not at all martial in character.
Gretry received 4,500 livres for this work.
The dauphin hated music and was at no pains
to conceal the fact. (He was known to remark
after a musical fete, " Now the music is over, we
can enjoy ourselves "). But Marie Antoinette,
devoted to music, was delighted with Gr^try's
opera. There was even a Royal summons for the
composer to appear at Court, and the invalid left
his sick bed to obey the command. His reception
was not encouraging, the King merely remarking
drily that M. Gretry looked very ill.
Zeniire et Asor, composed meantime, was pro-
duced (8th November 1771) at Fontainebleau and
a month later in Paris. People insisted on calling
it "La Belle et la Bete," (and it undoubtedly is
" Beauty and the Beast "), but there was at this
moment no royal marriage to furnish the possibility
of an " epigram " and Marie Antoinette expressed
herself charmed, delighted, she had dreamt of
I " Nieces, neveux, race haissable" has an angry, impatient
accompaniment expressing the sentiment.
AXDRfi ERNEST MODESTE GRJ^TRY I27
the music. Gretry had dedicated the opera to
Madame du Barry and received a pension for it.
All the honours of this piece went to the composer.
Poor Marmontel, who always fanced that his li-
bretti were far superior to Gretry's music, was
deeply mortified. Nothing could convince him
that he was not the principal collaborator in their
productions and when Gretry's music proved to
be the real attraction, his jealousy knew no bounds.
Marmontel's fatuous belief in his own superior
talent is very evident in his complacent version of
the success of Zemire et Aaor:
" I do not deny that the charm of the music
contributed wonderfully to such effects. Gretry's
in this case was, in my opinion, better than usual;
but he never sufficiently appreciated the pains I
took to indicate for him the lines and character of
easy and pleasing melody. Most musicians are
foolish enough to believe they owe nothing to their
poet; and Gretry, who was intelligent in other re-
spects, p(jssessed this weakness in a supreme de-
gree."
Next day the guard presented arms to the com-
poser in one of the corridors of the palace at Fon-
tainebleau, and when Gretry said he was mistaking
him for a personage of distinction, the soldier re-
plied :
" I heard Zemire et Azor yesterday." Gretry
was delighted with this spontaneous homage,
which he records in his Memoirs.
The opera, in four acts, described as a " Comedie
128 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
ballet en vers," was, in fact, founded on the old
fairy tale. Azor \\as, however, not intended by
Marmontel to be an animal, and he was horrified
(as was also the singer) by the costume designed by
the tailor for the part. It was hastily altered under
Marmontel's personal supervision into an elegant
costume with a cloak of purple satin and a mask.
Zi'mire remains one of Gretry's famous compo-
sitions. The Mercure praised the trio en sourdine
of the father and two daughters, who appear in a
magic picture (for wliich Marmontel ordered two
ells of silver moire and two ells of fine gauze, as
appears in items of theatrical expense). The air for
the slave is a good example of Gretry's musical
jokes. The slave assures his master that the storm
is over, in order to get him away from Azor's mys-
terious palace. " Already the winds are at rest,
the storm is over," he sings, whilst the orchestra
breaks out with fresh violence to show that the
slorm is still raging. Gretry made the slave yawn
so realistically that the audience yawned too, a de-
vice condemned as be}"ond the legitimate province
of music. When the father bewails the absence of
Zemire " mysterious music " is heard, produced by
two horns, two clarionets and two bassoons behind
the scenes.
TJke Rameau, Gretry aimed at " La Verite dans
la declamation." Whilst writing the father's song
he declared he had twice tried in vain to express the
words naturally and, on shewing his airs to Dide-
rot, he too found the music unsatisfactory. Diderot
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GRETRY 1 29
recited the words aloud and Gretry then wrote the
song according to Diderot's inflections. The result
was a complete success. But Gretry admits that
this method would not succeed in every case.
" Only the spontaneous inspiration of a man like
Diderot could give worthy expression."
Marmontel and Gretry now revised L'ami de la
Maison and it was performed successfully at the
Com^die Italienne in May, 1772.
Gretry about this time found a more sympathetic
librettist in Sedaine, who provided him with le
Magnifiqiie, founded on a story by La Fontaine.
This Opera Comique in three acts (Paris, 4 March,
1773) was not a brilliant success, but enjoyed rather
a long run in spite of intrigues against it by Mar-
montel and his friends, furious at Gretry's prefer-
ence of Sedaine. The only really interesting scene
is one known as that of the Rose, in which Gretry
finds opportunity for delicate shades of emotion.
The heroine, Clementine, has a scene wath her
lover, but is forbidden to speak to him, her guard-
ian being present to watch the lovers. The plead-
ing of the lover, the triumph of the guardian and
Clementine's emotions are variously expressed
by the music. Finally she drops a rose, a token
to her lover, without speaking.
La Fausse Magie, Marmontel's libretto (i March
1775), contained a few charming airs and some
curious descriptive music. It pleased the public
and its success was durable, for it was performed at
intervals during a period of nearly twenty years.
K
130 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
It was again the music rather than the stupid plot
which made tlie work successful, and Gretry
thought the first act on the whole the best among
his works. It was after this opera that Gretry met
Rousseau, whom he had long admired from afar.
Rousseau was delighted with his music and the two
started to walk home together after the perform-
ance, conversing amicably. But when they came
to some debris of building materials, Gretry offered
to help the philosopher over the rough places. To
his surprise Rousseau pushed him away in a sud-
den fit of irritability, saying, " Let me do it by my-
self." They continued the walk in silence, then
separated, and never met again.
La R osier e de Salency, a pastoral, was performed
uneventfully at Fontainebleau (1773); and at \^cr-
sailles at the close of the same year, in honour of
the marriage of the Comte d'Artois, Louis XV 's
grandson, Cephale et Procris. This time iMarmon-
tel was again in collaboration with Gretry and, as
usual, sure that his libretto was a masterpiece. But
neither words nor music pleased the public, al-
though the music was pronounced by a noted singer
(Mile Sophie Arnould, who sang Procris at its first
performance) " more French than the words." As
for the words, their banality may be ganged by
C^phale's apology for having killed Procris :
Pardonne, hdlas ! pardonne
A I'erreur de ma main.
ANDRfi ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY I3I
To which Procris repHes :
Tu m'aimais, je pardonne
A I'erreur de ta main.
Only one performance of this took place at
Versailles (30 Dec. 1773). There was much ad-
verse criticism of the music. La Harpe pro-
nounced it feeble. Mile, de Lespinasse, who had
been so enthusiastic over Gretry's previous works,
thought it " rather anasmic " and said Gretry
should always keep to his pleasing, sensitive,
" spirituel " style, and not attempt more. Some of
his best airs, however, are in this opera, the duet
in Act I and the chorus in Act III.
The story is based on the legend of Cephalus and
Procris, but in the opera Procris, after being slain
by her lover, is brought to life again by Amor, who
descends from the clouds for the purpose.
At this impressive moment a " celestial sym-
phony " is heard (consisting of four common
chords), the terrified demons remain "en attitude
on the crescendo note " (the G minor chord), then
rush away in scale passages (presto).
The orchestra, a typical one, consists of kettle-
drum, trumpet, horns, oboes and flutes, clarinets,
violins, violas, 'cello, bassoon.
Gluck was now in Paris, and his stronger genius
l)ecame a touchstone on which those of lesser calibre
were tried and found wanting. Already compari-
sons were made between him and Gr6try. It was
unfortunate for Gr(^'try at this time of transition,
132 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
when people were vaguely yearning for some newer
and truer expression in art as in life, that the singers
still kept to their absurd conventional costumes and
manner ot singing. They were given to loud out-
bursts followed by trivial little roulades and all
sorts of ornamentation (so detested by Lully), and
paid no attention to the conductor, being loftily in-
dependent of time. Gluck had great difficulty in
reforming this state of things, but his strong will
prevailed.
In his memoirs Gr^try gives an amusing account
of the pretensions of singers at the opera.
It was a recognised state of things that, excepting
for dances and chorus, there should be no insistence
on strict time at the opera. At the rehearsal of
Cephale et Procris Mile. Levasseur, the prima
donna, attacked Francoeur, the conductor.
" What is the meaning of this ? Your orchestra
seems to be in a state of rebellion."
"Rebellion, mademoiselle, how so? We are
all here to serve the king and we serve him zealous-
" I should wish to serve him too, but your orches-
tra interrupts me and prevents my singing."
" Yet, mademoiselle, we are keeping time."
"Time! What nonsense is that? Take your
time from me, sir, and know that your symphony
is the very humble servant of the artiste who re-
cites."
" When you recite, I follow you, mademoiselle,
but you are now singing an air in time, very strict
time."
ASJDRfi ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY 13;^
" Enough of this nonsense, take your time from
me.
No wonder Gr^try complained of the constant
" syncopations " introduced by singers of both
sexes in his melodies.
Gretry now produced his early opera Les man-
ages Samnites with some new material (12 June
1776). Marie Antoinette attended the first perform-
ance, but it w'as only a mediocre success, a fate
shared by several of his works during the next
couple of years. In other countries his operas were
going the rounds, — in Germany, Sweden, Italy,
Russia, Holland, Flanders. But in Paris Gluck's
operas took first place and Grdtry found his Cephale
only billed on Sundays, then, as now, the bourgeois
holiday when people of quality stayed at home.
In 1778 fortune smiled again, the result of collab-
oration with a more original poet. It was a young
Englishman named Hale,^ who wrote the clever
libretto of a different style from anything Gretry
had yet composed. Le jugement de Midas scored a
success, first at court and afterwards in Paris. In
this work Gretry cleverly parodies old French
music : Pan represents the vulgar old-fashioned
Vaudeville, whilst Marsyas stands for classic Grand
Opera. There are curious and interesting descrip-
tive episodes. The Overture (programme music)
depicts " the silent sound which heralds dawn,"
followed by a realistic storm; " Apollo falls from
heaven." ~
1 Known in France as H61es.
i34 'i'riE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIAN^
Les fausses Apparences ou I'Amant jaloux (also
by Hale) was another success both at Versailles
(20 November) and at Paris (23 December, 1778).
La Harpe placed it in the first rank of French
Opera Comique of the eighteenth century. Yet
only the Serenade of the second Act (for two violins,
two mandolines and 'cello) is at all known now.
Mozart admired and even imitated this work. He
heard Gr6try's operas when he visited Paris, bought
the score and studied them attentively.
It was unfortunate that Hale died young, much
to Gretry's regret. Their last collaboration was
in Les evenements imprevus, in the style of Italian
comedies of intrigue, which ofifered Gretry the op-
portunities he loved of depicting conflicting senti-
ments. This was performed at Versailles 1 1 No-
vember 1779, and in Paris two days later.
Several smaller works followed with no great
success. It was the time of the war of Gluckistes
versus Piccinnistes. Gretry knew he could not
hope to rival Gluck, yet he thought that on his own
lines of "sensibility" he might hold his own.
Somewhat unwisely, he refused to welcome Piccinni
when that master came to Paris, and naturally this
ofifended the Piccinnistes, who more than once
hissed his operas. Colinette a la Cour ou la Double
Epreuve (libretto by Lourdes de Santerre) was
popular (i Jan. 1782). It was a pastoral with pretty
dances and chorus and some of Gretry's fresh,
spontaneous melodies.
ANDRE ERNEST MODESTE GRETRY I35
La Caravane du Caire^ a spectacular production
with Egyptian colouring, then a novelty, achieved
a popular success in Paris (15 January 1784), The
Gluckistes approved of it, whilst the Piccinnistes
behaved so badly at one performance that they had
to be ejected. Within a fortnight the opera was
parodied — sufficient proof of its success.^ The
" Op6ra ballet " with its Oriental scenery (a bazaar
scene was a picturesque novelty) contained some
original music, two airs for bass being especial
favourites. The Caravane held its own on the
French stage for a long time, five hundred and six
performances being given down to 1829, and Gretry
made a fortune from this work.
Panurge dans Vile des Lanternes (25 January
1785) was condemned for its libretto (taken from
Rabelais), although the music ranks among Gr6t-
ry's best. The great Vestris saved it by his danc-
ing. Gretry, by the way, made a curious innovation
by repeating the overture at the end of the opera
and having it danced.
About this time the Operatic Committee awarded
a pension of 3,000 livres to composers of six great
works. Gretry received 2,000 livres for five master-
pieces (among which were counted Zcmire, Colin-
ette, La Caravane and Panurge), another 1,000 was
promised when he should complete another work.
1 1 h<- " book " was bv the Comte de Provence, afterwards
i.ouis xvni.
2 In the parody Florestnn, the father, arrives in a balloon to
rescue his son, a topical allusion to the balloon experiments
then bfing carried out in France.
136 THE EAkLIER t'RENCH MUSICIANS
At this time Gretry was at the height of his fame
and fortune. Besides revenues from his works he
enjoyed several pensions (one granted by Louis
XV and increased by Louis XVI, and one from the
Opera); he held various posts, such as Inspecteur
de la Comedie italienne and a sinecure, created ex-
pressly for him, Censeur royale de la musique.
This was a court appointment, he had refused others
on account of his delicate health. A street in Paris
bore his name. His works were almost daily on
the repertoire, and he might be seen nearly every
evening in the box which the Comedie italienne had
presented to the Gretry family. At this time he
was living in the rue Poissoniere.
At the age of forty-five Gretry had composed
some twenty-five operas, most of which had been
successful. His home life with a devoted wife and
three charming daughters was happy, his circle
of friends included all the noted men and women
of Paris. He was fond of spending the summer in
a small house at Auteuil, the summer suited him
and was "good for composing," he said. Un-
deniably he composed too much and with too great
facility. It is curious that Marie Antoinette, al-
ways a friend of Gretry, was really growing a
trifle weary of his music and was frankly bored by
his Epreuve villageoise (performed at Court 24
June 1784). She tried to conceal the fact, but it
could not escape the sensitive Gretry and, whether
from pique or policy, he took care not to force his
music upon her. He went less frequently to Court
Andre ERNEst modeste gretrv 13^
(where his presence was required as director of the
Queen's private concerts). Marie Antoinette no-
ticed his absence and reproached him.
" I ventured to tell her that, as I was tired of
my owm music, she must certainly have had enough
of it and I praised the ' Bouffons italiens,' whom
she favoured just then. . . . She saw I understood
and remained kindly disposed towards me — at a
distance — but she would soon have disliked me if I
had insisted on trying to please her."
Thus Gretry — as an accomplished courtier and
man of the world. He kept the Queen's friendship
and she was always particularly fond of his third
daughter, Marie Antoinette, her godchild. On
entering her box at the opera, after bowing to the
audience the three times prescribed by etiquette,
the Queen's eyes always sought her goddaughter
and she would smile and blow a kiss to the young
girl, to the delight of the spectators.
The tragedy of Gr^try's life was the loss of his
three daughters, one after another, each one as
she reached womanhood.
Jeanne, called familiarly Jenny, the eldest, quiet
and nun-like, died of decline when she was six-
teen (about 1787). Lucile Dorothee, the second,
full of life and restless energy, the image of her
father, had unusual musical talent and composed
a little opera, when she was only fourteen (" Le
mariage d' Antonio," performed in 1786, retouched
and orchestrated by Gretry). Unfortunately she
died, as her sister had done, in the spring of 1790.
I3B THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
She had married early and her marriage was an
unhappy one. Her husband treated her badly and
her parents were doubly wretched, knowing this
and unable to help her.
There remained only Marie Antoinette, the
Queen's goddaughter, prettiest and youngest of
the sisters. She was betrothed when quite young,^
but after a boating accident in which she and her
father were nearly drowned, she developed the
same fatal illness and died as her sisters had done.
Gretry was composing Guillaume Tell at the time
and, to please her, his spinet was placed near her
bed, so that she could watch him at work, " At
last," he says, " she closed her beautiful eyes and
went to her sisters."
The parents were heart-broken. Gretry de-
scribes how they tried to comfort each other, the
wife forcing herself to take an interest in her paint-
ing (she had some artistic talent), Gretry busy
with his music which, he sadly says, could not
console him for the loss of his dear ones. Fame
was but an empty name compared with the " real
happiness " of family affection. They could not
bear to stay in the house where they had lived with
their children and removed to the Boulevard des
Italiens.
Richard Coeur de Lion, by some critics consid-
ered Gretry's finest work, was performed in Octo-
ber 1784. The libretto by Sedaine was on the
story of Richard I. and his minstrel Blondel. This
1 To Bouilly, the young poet, librettist of " Pierre le Grand," etc
AMdre ernkst modeste gretry 139
was perhaps Gretry's culminating success, al-
though at its first representation fhe public was
not satisfied with the denouement, which was al-
tered and in part re-written. For the air, " O
Richard, O mon roi! " Gretry had ransacked old
music to find a suitable style, which should at the
same time please modern taste. He produced one
which became very popular, so much so that dur-
ing the Revolution it was forbidden as savouring
too much of royalist sentiments.
Gretry wrote one more opera founded on royal
traditions: Pierre le Grand (libretto by Bouilly),
produced 13 January 1790, at the Theatre Italien.
This was the last opera of monarchical tendency
before the Revolution. It contained flattering al-
lusions to Louis XVI, which were enthusiastically
received by the audience. Necker was recognised
in Lefort, the friend and counsellor of Peter the
Great, and Mme. de Stael personally thanked com-
poser and librettist for their work.
But Guillaume Tell (Sedaine) was more appro-
priate to the times. It appeared 9th April, 1791
(not long after the death of Gretry's youngest
daughter), and was a popular success, "breathing"
(said the Journal de Paris), " hatred of oppression
and love of liberty," Meantime the day of the
Revolution had dawned. The theatres were closed
one evening* by angry crowds because Necker was
banished, then came the taking of the Bastille and
ten days later the opera re-opened with benefit
1 12 July, 17S9 — Gretry's Aspasie was to be performed at 5 p.m.
i40 THE EARLIER FREN'CH MUSICIANS
performances (Panurge) " in aid of the workmen
who had fought for Liberty and la Patrie " (21st,
26th and 29th July, 1789).
A couple of unsuccessful operas and a " Ro-
mance of the Willow," written for the tragedy of
Otello, bring Gretry's works down to November,
1792. The Romance was very popular and was
subsequently arranged for voice accompanied by
guitar, harp or harpsichord, published by "citizen
Gretry."
In February of that year, however, the opera
Richard Coeur de Lion had been forbidden, so was
Pierre le Grand, and any theatre producing works
" calculated to revive the superstition of royalty "
was closed, " the directors to be punished with the
utmost rigour of the law."
In Gretry's Memoirs he mentions an instance
of the fanatical hatred of that " superstition." An
unfortunate parrot had his neck wrung for singing
" Richard, O mon roi," an air he had learnt in
days when there was still a king in France. Pa-
triots burned the score of Richard in a cafe. " I
heard the following at a sitting of the National
Convention : ' You say, Citizen, that this man is
not an aristocrat ! And yet he was heard singing
that infamous air, " O Richard !" ' " Strange to
say, the composer himself was not attacked, but
he was ordered to write music for the infamous
" Fete de la Raison " (a one-act piece, words by
Silvain Marechal). This was composed in 1793,
but was not performed until 2nd September 1794
ANDRfi ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY I4I
(16 Fructidor, An II. of the Republic). Certain
scenes in this work were forbidden by the Censor
on the ground of impropriety and its name was
altered to La Rosiere Republicaine. The original
scenes must have been of extraordinarily degrad-
ing character to be condemned at this period of
license and the work as it actually appeared has
been described as " a nameless insult to the Catho-
lic religion." Women are represented falling
asleep as they recite their Ave Maria at the church
doors; then the scene changes and the Goddess of
Reason appears on an altar; a cure tears up his
breviary and dons the Red Cap, nuns join in a
frenzied dance. . . . To such compositions was
Citoyen Gretry reduced. His Memoirs say very
little about his share in such works, nor is it clear
how he escaped suspicion when some of his operas
were considered so dangerous. His reputation as
a musician would not have saved him, but his for-
mer known sympathy with the Encyclopaedists,
his friendsiiip with Diderot, D'Alembert, Voltaire,
may have kept him secure. Of course he lost his
position, his pensions and otlier sources of income.
For a time none of his operas were performed, he
was neglected in favour of newer and more force-
ful composers, Mehul and Cherubini for instance.
He was certainly reduced to poverty. There exists
a little book in his handwriting which shows this
convincingly enough. He sold jewels, trinkets, a
piano, " to live and pay some debts," whilst his
wife tried to earn money by painting. This was
142 THE EARLIER FRENCH MUSICIANS
in the second year of the Republic. Yet the
government seems to have had a great respect for
Gretry's talent. When the Conservatoire de
Musique was founded, he was appointed " In-
specteur des Etudes " (Director of Studies), with
Gossec, Mehul, Lesueur and Cherubini.^ Also he
was one of the three chosen to represent music at
the Institut de France, with Gossec and Mehul.
This was in 1795. But his health was now too
delicate for any active work, and he resigned the
former post in the following year, retiring to
L'Ermitage at Montmorency, once the home of
J. J. Rousseau, where he spent the remainder of
his life.
Napoleon made him member of the Legion of
Honour (19th May, 1802), granted him a pension
to make up what he had lost, and spoke in flatter-
ing terms of his music in a personal interview.
Gretry certainly had to write to order during the
Revolution. He says: "I wrote Guillaume Tell
at Sedaine's request ; my other works, such as
Barra, which was performed at the Italiens, la
Rosiere Republicaine and Denis le Tyran at the
Opera, were " commanded " by llie terrible tyrants
1 Gossec had founded an " Ecole de declamation et de Chant "
in 1784, and Sarette (originally a Captain of the Guard) set
up a School for Military Music, in which bandsmen were
trained for the army (1790). From these beginnings came
the " Institut National de Musique " (1793), changed to
" Cons('rvatoire de Musique " (1795). Some 600 students,
male and female, came from all parts at once. The instruction
was always gratis. Sarette was the lirst director.
ANDR6 ERNEST MODESTE GR^TRY I43
of those days. Another revolutionary drama, whose
title I forget/ was set to music in two days by all
the composers in Paris. The terrible committee
of Public Safety commanded the performers; all
the numbers intended for singing were put into
one red cap, the names of the composers into
another, then the scrutineers decided which piece
each one was to compose during the day.
" This musical medley was not a success. An
extraordinary effect was produced at the first per-
formance. The overture had been assigned to
Blasius, first violin of the opera and a good com-
poser. My air, * O Richard, O mon roi,' as is
well known, was forbidden during the Revolution,
it became a death song for him who dared to sing
it. . . . The overture of Blasius commenced with
this very air. A shudder went through the au-
dience, who rose with one accord on hearing these
unexpected strains; the orchestra stopped, there
was an alarming silence, until the music continued
with the refrain of the Marseillaise, ' Qu'un sang
impur arrose nos sillons.' Then came a burst of
applause as the composer's intention was re-
vealed."
He goes on to say that music can only flourish
in peaceful times. " Music had its cradle in the
time of Lulli. Gluck and I (I venture to think)
furthered its progress because we were dramatic.
.... Generally speaking, my music was thrown
aside during the Revolution; the sentiments ex-
2 Le Con^res des Rois,
144 THE EARLII^R FREXCH MUSICIANS
pressed by it were too moderate; it was not in
harmony with the unrest in men's minds; besides,
the life of ancient times depicted in my poems was
forbidden, I have my revenge to-day (year XIII.,
1805); my works are revived with success."
La Rosiere Republicaine, The Planting of the
Tree of Liberty, was a piece in one act, the poem by
Maherault, clearly an "occasional" work. It is
impossible that Gr^try contributed willingly to such
compositions, but, had he refused, he would have
been " suspect " and not even his genius could have
saved him. Although he makes only slight allu-
sions to these productions, he is careful to point out
that among his collaborators were such famous men
as M^hul, Cherubini, Kreutzer, Delayrac, Soli^,
Catel, Berton, Devienne, Jadin, Blasius and Des-
hayes. All these names were drawn from the red
cap to assist in the Congres des Rois, a production
offered gratis by the Government to the good citi-
zens of Paris February 26th 1794. It is described as
a set of caricatures without rhyme or reason, ending
in a Carmagnole danced by red-capped kings.
Gretry's other quite numerous works during the
Reign of Terror (1792-1796) were not successful or
important. The operas were all failures — most of
them unpublished. Joseph Barra, one of these,
contained little of 
