Image and Influence: the Political Uses of Music at the Court of Elizabeth I
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Image and Influence: The Political Uses of Music at the Court of Elizabeth I Katherine Anne Butler Royal Holloway, University of London Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Acknowledgements With thanks to all the people who supported me throughout my research, especially: My supervisor, Stephen Rose, My advisors, Elizabeth Eva Leach and Anna Whitelock, The Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding this research, Royal Holloway Music Department for conference grants, My proofreaders, Holly Winterton, Sarah Beal, Janet McKnight and my Mum, My parents and my fiancé, Chris Wedge, for moral support and encouragement. Declaration of Authorship I, Katherine Butler, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ______________________ Date: ________________________ 2 Abstract In their Cantiones sacrae (1575), court musicians William Byrd and Thomas Tallis declared that ‘music is indispensable to the state’ (necessarium reipub.). Yet although the relationship between Elizabethan politics and literature has been studied often, there has been little research into the political functions of music. Most accounts of court music consist of documentary research into the personnel, institutions and performance occasions, and generally assume that music’s functions were limited to entertainment and displays of magnificence. However, Elizabethans believed that musical concord promoted a social harmony that would ease the process of government; hence politics and music were seen as closely connected. This thesis is an interdisciplinary investigation into the role of music in constructing royal and courtly identities and influencing Elizabeth’s policies and patronage. It considers the political meanings of music within court entertainments (plays, masques, tournaments, progresses and royal entries), social life (accompanying dancing or dinner) and private recreation. Firstly, through the exploitation of music’s ambiguously gendered connotations of feminine seductiveness and masculine order, Elizabeth and her courtiers were able to use music as a source of authority. Courtiers used music to fashion their aristocratic identities, petition the Queen, sweeten unpalatable political messages, or offer political counsel. Finally, music was a valuable tool for shaping national identities, either to promote harmony within the kingdom during civic entries and with Accession Day ballads, or to maintain the international reputation of the English court. Combining insights from musicology, political history and literary studies, my thesis adds fresh dimensions to our knowledge of the distinctive political situation under Elizabeth’s female monarchy, as well as a new depth of understanding as to how music functioned in Renaissance courts. 3 Table of Contents List of Tables 6 List of Figures 6 Abbreviations 8 Editorial Note 10 1. Introduction 11 Approaches to Court Music 15 The Production of Secular Court Music 20 Politics and Music 31 Communication through Music 41 2. Music and Queenship 46 Sensuality and Rationality: Queenship and the Gendered Meanings of Music 50 Music, Marriage and Age 62 Performance, Intimacy and Power 72 Musical Imagery for Political Authority 78 Conclusion 90 3. Music and Noble Identity in Elizabethan Tournaments 92 Music and Noble Masculinity 100 Philisides, The Shepherd Knight 105 Noble and Princely Relationships: The Four Foster Children of Desire 114 Music for Transforming Identity: Sir Henry Lee’s Retirement 125 Conclusion 140 4. Counsel, Complaint and Courting Royal Favour 142 Moral Advice and Political Counsel 152 Complaints and Petitions during Elizabeth’s Progresses 164 Love Songs: Favour and Intimacy 180 Appeals from Musicians 201 Conclusion 207 4 5. Music and National Identity 211 Imagining Community in Music 218 Creating Harmony: Local and National Identity in Royal Entries 225 Creating Harmony: Music for National Celebration on Accession Day 235 Music and the Representation of England to Foreigners 255 Conclusion 264 6. Conclusion 266 Bibliography 271 Appendices A: Musicians Employed at the Court of Elizabeth I 303 B: Evidence for Music at Elizabethan Tournaments 312 C: Songs connected to Elizabeth and the Court 315 D: Progress Entertainments with Evidence of Music 327 E: Political Broadside Ballads from Elizabeth’s Reign 333 5 List of Tables Table 3.1: A Comparison of the lyrics ‘Yeelde, Yeelde, O Yeelde’ 120 and ‘Allarme, Allarme’. Table 5.1: Broadside Ballads for Accession Day. 239-41 List of Figures Figure 2.1: Nicholas Hilliard, ‘Elizabeth I Playing the Lute’ (c.1580). 50 Figure 3.1: John Dowland, ‘Times Eldest Sonne’, Bars 1-10. 129 Figure 3.2: William Byrd, ‘The Trumpets’, from The Battle, Bars 1-4. 130 Figure 3.3: Dowland, ‘Times Eldest Sonne’, bars 11-14. 130 Figure 3.4: Dowland, ‘Times Eldest Sonne’ (Part 2), bars 1-5. 132 Figure 3.5: Dowland, ‘Times Eldest Sonne’ (Part 3), bars 8-10. 132 Figure 3.6: Byrd, Second Preces, Bars 16-19. 133 Figure 3.7: Byrd, Second Preces, Bars 21-23. 133 Figure 3.8: Dowland, ‘Times Eldest Sonne’ (Part 3), Bars 19-22. 134 Figure 3.9: Dowland, ‘His Golden Locks’. 136-37 Figure 3.10: Dowland, ‘Humor Say What Makst Thou Heere’, Bars 14-17. 137 Figure 3.11: Dowland, ‘Behold a Wonder Here’. 139-40 Figure 3.12: Alegra Anglia. 141 Figure 4.1: John Dowland, ‘Time Stands Still’. 145-46 Figure 4.2: Edward Johnson, ‘Elisa is ye Fairest Quene’. 148-49 Figure 4.3: Edward Johnson, ‘Com Agayne’. 150 Figure 4.4 Nicholas Strogers, ‘Mistrust Not Truth’, opening line. 161 Figure 4.5: Strogers, ‘Mistrust Not Truth’, third line. 162 Figure 4.6: Edward Dyer, ‘The Songe in the Oke’. 169 Figure 4.7: Robert Jones, ‘Scinthia Queene of Seas and Lands’, bars 19-35. 178-79 Figure 4.8: Daniel Bacheler, ‘To Plead My Faith’. 189-91 6 Figure 4.9: Richard Martin, ‘Change Thy Mind Since She Doth Change’. 194 Figure 4.10: Dowland, ‘Sorrow Stay, Lend True Repentant Teares’. 195 Figure 4.11: Dowland ‘My Heart and Tongue were Twinnes’, bars 1-5. 206 Figure 4.12: Dowland ‘My Heart and Tongue were Twinnes’, bars 18-27 207 (with the words from the progress). Figure 5.1: Wylliam Birche, A Songe Btwene the Quenes Maiestie and 218 Englande set to the tune of ‘Ouer the Broome Bessy’. Fgure.5.2: Wylliam Birche, A Songe Btwene the Quenes Maiestie and 218 Englande set to the tune of ‘Brown Bessy, Sweet Bessy’. Figure 5.3: R. Thacker, A Godlie Dittie to be Song for the Preseruation 230 of the Queenes Most Exclent Maiesties Raigne, 1586 Figure 5.4: The First Anointed Queene I Am, Within This Town Which Euer 232 Came [1573]. Figure 5.5: A Famous Dittie (opening four lines) set to the tune of 233 Wigmores Galliard. Figure 5.6: John Awdelay, A Godly Ditty or Prayer to be Song Vnto God 238 for the Preseruation of His Church, Our Queene and Realme, Against All Traytours, Rebels, and Papisticall Enemies (1569?). Figure 5.7: I.C., ‘A Song of Reioysing for the Prosperous Reigne of our 244 Most Gratious Soueraigne Lade Queene Elizabeth’ set to the tune of the 25th Psalm. Figure 5.8: A Pleasant Newe Ballad of the Most Blessed and Prosperous 246 Raigne of Her Maiestye for the Space of Two and Fortye Yeeres set to the tune of ‘The Hunt is Up’. Figure 5.9: A Hartie Thankes Giuinge to God for Or Queens Most Excellent 250-51 Maiestie and is to be Sounge to Ye Tune of Ye Medley set the tune of Edward Johnson’s Medley. Figure 5.10: W. Patten, Ann: Foelicissimi Regni Reginae Elizabeth XXVI (1583). 252 7 Abbreviations CSP Foreign Joseph Stevenson et al, eds., Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 23 vols (London, 1863-1950) CSP Simancas Martin Hume, ed., Letters and State Papers Relating to English Affairs Principally Preserved in the Archives of Simancas, 4 vols (London, 1892-99) CSP Spain Royall Tyler et al, eds., Calendar of Letters, Despatches and State Papers Relating to Negotiations Between England and Spain, 13 vols (London 1862-1954) CSP Venice Rawdon Brown et al, eds., Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives and Collections of Venice, 38 vols (London, 1864-1947) EEBO Early English Books Online <http://eebo.chadwyck.com> EIRE- Dm Dublin, Trinity College F-Pn Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale GB-AB Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales GB-BRO Bristol Record Office GB-CF Chelmsford, Essex County Record Office GB-Cfm Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum GB-Cu Cambridge, Cambridge University Library GB-Ckc Cambridge, Kings College, Rowe Music Library GB-Lbl London, The British Library GB-Lcm London, Royal College of Music GB-Lna London, National Archives GB-Ob Oxford, Bodleian Library 8 GB-Och Oxford, Christ Church Library GMO Grove Music Online <www.oxfordmusiconline.com> IRL-Dtc Dublin, Trinity College Library L&P J.S. Brewer et al, eds., Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII, 21 vols (London, 1864-1920) ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, 2008) <www.oxforddnb.com> OED Oxford English Dictionary <www.oed.com> REED Records of Early English Drama RECM Ashbee, Andrew, ed., Records of English Court Music, 9 vols (Aldershot: Scholar Press, 1992). SPO State Papers Online <gale.cengage.co.uk/state-papers-online-15091714.aspx> STC A.W. Pollard, G.R. Redgrave and Katharine Pantzer, eds, A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640, 2nd edn (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976-1991) US-NH New Haven, Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library US-NNSc New York Public Library US-Ws Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library Wing Donald Wing, ed., Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700 (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1982-1998) 9 Editorial Note Dates have been altered so that the year begins on 1st January rather than 25th March.