In this country English music has often been disregarded or considered of minor interest compared to the music of other "musical nations" such as Germany or Italy. This attitude has not only been observed by the everyday man but also by many music critics who are supposed to guide the path of the nonspecialists into the ever expanding world of music. If things have improved over the years with the performances of music and operas by Henry Purcell or Benjamin Britten, and with the publications of some French musicologists, English music has often been equated with and restricted to German born Handel. The purpose of this article is to follow the footsteps of Gérard Gefen who published Histoire de la musique anglaise in 1992. In this remarkable book, he appears as a great advocate of English music underlining all the wealth of this music and refuting the idea that music in Britain should only be circumscribed to the Elizabethan composers, to Purcell, to Handel or even to Britten. Obviously he does not deny the importance of these composers, but he stresses other important composers who permeate the history of English music discontinuously. This idea of discontinuity is what this article will try to convey as much as possible to show that this music is one of the richest in the western world. Regarding the scope and the importance of the music here understudy this article will be divided into two parts and will appear as fact sheets. The emphasis as said before is on the discontinuous wealth of English music, thus there is no aim at being comprehensive. For those who would like to know more about this subject, they can refer to Gefen’s book as well as to the other sources mentioned at the end of this article. Finally as music can hardly be expressed through words and is never better conveyed than by itself, you are invited to listen to some of the pieces mentioned here as well as in the discography you will find at the end of both parts. 

Since there is no written examples of secular music before the thirteenth century, it is through mediaeval iconography and literature that the practice and performance of music are testified in Anglo-Saxon and Norman times. In those days and even after, minstrels, whether they were depending upon a noble household or were some kind of freelance musicians, could be considered as the main practitioners and performers of this art form in a secular environment. 

Yet secular music does not seem to be the domain in which mediaeval music prevailed. Music at that time could not be dissociated from God and the Church. Indeed, in the Middle Ages every human act was subordinated to the service of God. Thus, since music like any other human activity was dedicated to God, it did not aim at conveying the personal and intimate feelings of the composers or performers.

In England, Christianity was brought back at the end of the sixth century by Saint Augustine of Canterbury. In 680, Rome sent to England one of its representatives to diffuse the Gregorian musical rules as enunciated by the Schola Cantorum. In 747 The Council of Clovesho in Kent decreed, in De Sanctae Balmodiae Utilitate, that the mass should be sung following the manner and liturgy of the Roman Church. Yet, as time flew, these principles died hard and the English Church music eventually departed from the Roman canon of plainsong (or Gregorian). Well before 1100, John Cotto (or Cotton) of Affliggen’s writings deal with the independence of voices, a musical practice in total opposition with plainsong. Indeed, earlier examples of Church polyphony were found in one of the two Winchester tropers of the eleventh century. In Wales, Gerald had already reported that psalms were not sung in unison but in as many parts as there were singers. In the twelfth century, this polyphonic elements became increasingly elaborate as is illustrated with pieces like Speculum charitatis. 

In the thirteenth century, polyphony developed more freely in England than in any other European countries. The Church was still the privileged environment for the practice and performance of music. The use of intervals of thirds and sixths, which many musicologists consider as one of the great characteristics of English music in its manufacturing form, was a source of delight for the composers of that time. The music collection of Reading abbey also testifies to the intrusion of secular music in church music in the England of the thirteenth century. One example of this entanglement between the religious and the secular is Sumer is icumen in. This canon, written by a monk of Reading abbey and sung in local language from Berkshire or Wiltshire, was adapted for Church with a text set in Latin: Perspice Christi cola. 

From the fourteenth century the development of polyphony as well as a taste for intervals of thirds and sixths will lead to English discant (or descant) in which a proliferation of thirds and sixths is to be found. At the end of the fourteenth century, a new instrument which was the ancestor of the harpsichord appeared. This instrument which played a great role in English music of the Renaissance was the virginal. Many composers wrote music for it. Among this composers was John Dunstable (c.1390-1453) (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/Courses/MUSL242/marjdgpg.htm), probably the first great composer in the history of English music. His musical style was simple and popular but subtle, varied and innovative. He loved smooth harmonic progressions and was a master in the combination of different parts (most of his music is in three parts) and his use of harmony reflects the English predilection for thirds and sixths. He wrote mass cycles, mass movements (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo…), isorhythmic motets and some secular and vernacular pieces. He was such an outstanding musician that he influenced other composers on the continent, among them Guillaume Dufay (c.1398-1474). Another important English composer at that time was Leonel Power (?1370-85-1445) who wrote an important treatise. His compositions were mostly for Church and a great part of them is to be found in the Old Hall manuscript which compiles the religious work of different musicians associated with Henry V’s chapel. In 1483, the musicians of the Chapel Royal (whose creation dated back to Henry I) were given the title of gentleman by Edward IV. Moreover, the role of the Chapel Royal for music practice and performance testified to the fact that religious institutions were no longer the exclusive places for such activities.

Henry VIII (1509-1547) wrote many pieces of music, among which Helas madam, Pastime with good Companye or Quam pulchra es, a three-part motet. Other kings before him were also musicians, but none matched his musical skill. His music reveals an undeniable talent for melodies and the influence of composers like Robert Fayrfax (1464-1521?) and William Cornysh (?-1523). The former played a great role in the development of pageant and disguising which may be considered as older forms of the masque. The latter was not only a musician, but a poet, a playwright and an actor. Such a combination of talents was no exception in fifteenth century England.

Although the golden age of English music started with the reign of Elizabeth I, some composers who lived when Henry VIII was king had no cause to be jealous of their Elizabethan colleagues. John Taverner (c.1490-1545) (http://www.hnh.com/composer/taverner.htm) is probably one of the composers who influenced most the next generation of musicians. He was a catholic who was attached both to the catholic faith and the catholic liturgy. Thus he wrote many polyphonic masses in Latin and many motets. Among the masses, the most famous are Western Wind Mass for four voices and Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas for six voices. There is in his music both suavity and vigour. He also wrote secular music. Taverner is the first composer of a trilogy of English Renaissance musicians known as the "Three Great Ts". Apart from Taverner, the other two were Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) (http://www.hnh.com/composer/tallis.htm) and Christopher Tye (c.1505-1572) who, following Taverner’s footsteps, also wrote a mass based on the secular song the Westron Wynde. Robert White (c.1538-1574) (http://www.hnh.com/composer/white.htm), who composed motets, anthems, Lamentations and fantasias , was also a great Tudor composer. 

In 1534, Henry VIII made the parliament vote the Act of Supremacy. This act declared that the king of England was supreme head of the Church of England, not the pope. This led to a schism which had great consequences. In 1549, the Anglican liturgy — as specified in the Book of Common Prayers — replaced the catholic one. This entailed a need for a new kind of religious music more in keeping with the Anglican liturgy. The rules for the composition of this music, better adapted to the Anglican Church, were codified by John Merbecke (?1505-10-1585) in the Book of Common Prayers. From this moment, religious music had to be sung in English and the words had to be intelligible. This led to the birth of an original and typical English religious musical form: the anthem. 

After the death of Henry VIII and of his son Edward VI (1537-1553), his daughter Mary I (1516-1558) banned the religious measures of the Act of Supremacy and reestablished the Roman Catholic liturgy in 1553 until another of his daughter Elizabeth I (1533-1603) reestablished the Book of Common Prayers in 1558 after the death of Mary I. Within the scope of fourteen years England had changed of religions and liturgy three times. This might account for the fact that many composers wrote religious music both in Latin and English according to the upheavals and changes in English history which have been described above. Added to this Elizabeth I was tolerant or astute enough to restore a moderate form of Protestanticism which won her the loyalty of Catholics and Puritans alike. This meant that under her reign, composers could compose religious works in Latin or English according to the liturgy they were aimed at. Among these composers writing in both languages was Thomas Tallis. In fact, most of his works are in Latin. He composed three masses, two magnificats, thirty motets, hymns… One of these motets Spem in Allium (a 40-part motet) is probably his most famous piece of music. In English, he wrote anthems (If you love me, Hear the voice and prayer…) which can be considered as the prototype of the early English anthem since they are in four parts with clear syllabic word-setting. He also composed vernacular and instrumental music.

In 1575, Tallis published Cantonies, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur with his pupil William Byrd (?1543-1623) (http://www.hnh.com/composer/byrd.htm). Both were granted by Elizabeth I the right to print and sell music. This book contains seventeen motets composed by Tallis and seventeen composed by Byrd. Although a catholic, William Byrd wrote for both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church with equal skill. His output is vast and varied. In Latin, he composed three masses (Mass for four voices, Mass for three voices and Mass for five voices) and other religious works (motets…). In English, he wrote services (The Great Service for five-ten voices…) and other pieces for the Anglican liturgy. Byrd composed consort and keyboard music: fantasias, In Nomines, variations, pavans and galliards… The expressive range conveyed by his music was not so common, even in the Renaissance. As far as his musical technique and genius are concerned, William Byrd succeeded in incorporating continental elements into a native English tradition. All this makes of him one of the great composers in the history of English music. Finally, alike Tallis, he belonged to the Royal chapel and had pupils. Among them were Thomas Morley (?1557-58-1602) and Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656). 

Tomkins belonged to the last generation of Elizabethan composers. As for Thomas Morley, he was responsible for the Elizabethan taste for Italian madrigals and can be considered as the first to have written madrigals in English. Here, one should bear in mind that many foreign musicians (mainly Italians and Dutch) came to England after Henry VIII had called them. Since then Italy influenced a lot the Elizabethan composers. The masque mentioned for the first time in 1513 came from the Italian maschera and the first madrigals appeared in London in 1528. 

Compared to the Italian model, the English madrigal is usually more lyrical, more expressive. Apart from madrigals, Morley wrote service music, psalms, anthems, Latin motets, instrumental music and some other secular vocal music. Most Elizabethan musicians (including Byrd) composed madrigals. Some other musicians, like John Dowland (?1563-1626) (http///www.ou.edu/finearts/music/prideout/dowland.htm), wrote ayres or lute songs. Contrary to the madrigal which was contrapuntal music for three, four, five or six voices, the ayre was for one voice accompanied by a lute, a viola, or a virginal. Dowland wrote three Books of Ayres and also composed instrumental (Lachrimae or Seaven Teares…) and sacred vocal music (fourteen psalms and spiritual songs). Contrary to most of his Elizabethan colleagues, Dowland developed music which expressed his sad and tragic vision of life.

The masque was very much in vogue during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. It was a genre of entertainment which involved poetry, music, dancing, and an elaborate set. As seen before, its origins dated back from the English disguising of the fifteenth century and it was introduced as such in England by Henry VIII. The most famous masques were written by Ben Jonson (1572-1637): Masque of Blackness (1606), Masque of Beauty (1609). Jonson collaborated with different musicians who composed the music of his masques (Alfonso Ferrabosco wrote the music for nearly all the early masques).

The last generation of Elizabethan composers like Thomas Campion (or Compion) (1567-1620) (http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/campion.htm), John Wilbye (1574-1638), Thomas Weelkes (?1576-1623) or Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) (http://www.hnh.com/composer/gibbons.htm) has to be mentioned in this panorama. Campion wrote many lute-songs and several court masques for James I. John Wilbye wrote secular music (madrigals…) and sacred music (anthems and Latin pieces). Thomas Weelkes was both a great church composer and a madrigalist. As for Orlando Gibbons, probably the greatest of them all, he wrote sacred vocal music (anthems…), secular music (madrigals…) and instrumental music (pavans and galliards, In Nomines…). 

Had we had more space other composers would have been included. Nonetheless, our description of English music at the time of the Renaissance would not be complete if we did not mention the music composed for Shakespeare’s plays. Many composers wrote music for his plays as they did for Elizabethan theatre in general. The purpose of music then was very often to enhance such or such particular dramatic situations. Most of this music was lost; only some scores survived. Among the great composers who composed music for Shakespeare was the lutanist Robert Johnson (c.1583-1633) who set two songs from The Tempest. 

During the Commonwealth, organ music and choral music were banished from church, secular music was banned on Sunday, and theatrical performances were merely and simply suppressed. Since music could no longer be played publicly, the puritan measures described above contributed to the development of music publishing and to the performance of music within private circles or within the family. Never before in the English history had the private practice of music been so alive. The musical life, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of the Realm, was not completely extinguished, but none of the musicians who composed during the Commonwealth and the Restoration could match those of the Elizabethan period. Nonetheless, composers like William Child (?1606-07-1697), Matthew Locke (?1621-22-1677), Christopher Gibbons (1615-1676; son of Orlando Gibbons) or the Lawes brothers paved the way to the next generation of English musicians who would include people like John Blow or Henry Purcell. William Child composed services, anthems, mass sections, motets, and a few secular and instrumental pieces. Matthew Locke wrote dramatic music, vocal music and instrumental music. Christopher Gibbons composed anthems, masque music, keyboard pieces… William Lawes (1602-1645) composed vocal and instrumental music (anthems, pieces for dramatic works…), Henry Lawes (1596-1662) wrote songs, anthems, some instrumental music and contributed with Henry Cooke (c.1615-1672), Matthew Locke and some others to the composition of the opera The Siege of Rhodes (1656). This opera can be considered as the first English opera. Unfortunately the score of this opera and of many others composed at that time is now lost. 

The two great composers of the late seventeenth century are John Blow (http://www.hnh.com/composer/blow.htm) and most of all Henry Purcell (http://portico.bl.uk/exhibitions/purcell/overview.html). John Blow (1649-1708), like many musicians then, belonged to the Chapel Royal. He wrote religious music (services, anthems…), odes, songs… He composed what is probably the first English opera to have survive: Venus and Adonis (1681). One of his most famous pieces is the ode he wrote when Purcell died: Ode on the death of Mr Henry Purcell (1696). Blow’s music displays his perfect use of harmony as well as the deepness and quality of his musical expression. Composers like John Eccles (c.1668-1735), Michael Wise (c.1647-1687), Pelham Humfrey (1647-1674), Jeremiah Clarke (c.1674-1707) and William Croft (1678-1727) are of worthy interest but none of them is more famous than Henry Purcell.

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673. He was appointed composer -in- ordinary for the king’s violins in 1679 and he succeeded John Blow — whom he studied with — as organist of Westminster abbey in 1679. Three years later he was appointed an organist of the Chapel Royal. Purcell composed sacred music (anthems…), many odes and songs, and instrumental music (In Nomines, fantasias, suites…). He also wrote dramatic music: one opera (Dido and Aeneas in 1689), five semi operas (Dioclesian in 1690, King Arthur in 1691, The Fairy Queen in 1692, The Indian Queen in 1695, and The Tempest circa 1695) and incidental music for plays. Purcell was the heir of English Elizabethan Music (madrigals, anthems, polyphonic music...), but he was also influenced by French and Italian new forms. Thus, he was able to use the language of his time and transcend it to make it very expressive and highly melodious. In 1710, hardly two decades after Purcell’s death, a German composer whose name was Georg Friederich Händel settled in London where he was to start a new career.

Sources
• Gefen, Gérard. Histoire de la musique anglaise. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
• Caldwell, John. The Oxford History of English Music. Volume 1: From the Beginnings to c.1717. Oxford: O.U.P, 1991.
• Michon, Jacques. La Musique anglaise. Collection U2. Paris: Armand Colin, 1970. 
• Rouville, Henry de. La Musique anglaise. Collection Que sais-je? Paris: P.U.F, 1985.
• Sadie, Stanley,ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. (20 vol.). London: Macmillan, 1980.
• Walker, Ernest. A History of Music in England. Revised and enlarged by J. A. Westrup. Oxford: Clarendon press, 1966.

Selected Discography
• Medieval English Music (Anonymes des XIVème et XVIème siècles). The Hilliard Ensemble. Harmonia mundi (HMA 1901106), 1983.
• Taverner, John.Western Wind Mass, Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas, Dum transisset Sabbatum. Cond. Peter Phillips. The Tallis Scholars. Gimmel (CDGIM 995), 1995.
• Tallis Thomas, Spem in Alium, Sancte Deus… Cond. Peter Phillips. The Tallis Scholars. Gimmel (CDGIM 006), 1994.
• Tallis Thomas, The Complete English Anthems. Cond. Peter Phillips. The Tallis Scholars. Gimmel (CDGIM 006), 1994.
• Byrd, William. Messes. Cond. Alfred Deller. Deller Consort. Harmonia mundi (HMA 190211), 1989.
• Byrd, William. Consort Music and Songs. Fretwork. Virgin (7243 5 61561 2 8), 1999.
• Dowland, John. Lachrimae or Seaven Teares. Fretwork. Virgin (7243 5 61561 2 8), 1999.
• Dowland, John. Songs: Book 1 & Book 2. Metronome (MET CD 1010), 1995.
• Shakespeare’s Music (Songs and Dances from Shakespeare’s Plays). Con. Philip Pickett. Musicians of the Globe. Philips (446687-2), 1997. (A selection of music for lute, ensemble and keyboard by Byrd, Johnson, Morley and other contemporaries of Shakespeare.)
• Blow, John. Marriage Ode, Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell… Cond. Alfred Deller. Deller Consort/Stour Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. Harmonia mundi (HMA 190201), 1987.
• Blow, John. Venus and Adonis. Cond. René Jacob. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Harmonia mundi (HMC 901684), 1999.
• Purcell, Henry. Dido and Aeneas. Cond. Trevor Pinnock. The English Concert & Choir. Archiv Production (427624-2), 1989.
• Purcell, Henry. Music for a While. Alfred Deller. Harmonia mundi (HMD 94249), 1998.