Durham E-Theses The English theorists of the seventeenth century with particular reference to Charles butler and the principles of musik in singing and setting...1636 Shute, John Derek How to cite: Shute, John Derek (1972) The English theorists of the seventeenth century with particular reference to Charles butler and the principles of musik in singing and setting...1636, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9516/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 THE ENGLISH THEORISTS of the SEVENTEENTH CENTURY with particular reference to CHARLES BUTLER and THE PRINCIPLES of MUSIK in Singing and Setting...1636. John Derek SHUTE M.A. (University College) MASTER of LETTERS:March 1972 CONTENTS Volume I page Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Checklist of treatises,instruction books,tutors and lessons published in the British Isles 1561-1725 15 Chapter One The English Theorists of the Seventeenth Century 58 Chapter Two Charles Butler (d 560-16^7): his life and works 1*f3 Chapter Three The Principles of Musik...1636 185 Volume II page Editorial Method 1 Chapter Synopsis 5 MODERN EDITION of The Principles 8 Epistle Dedicatory Preface Prefatory Poems NOTES on Epistle & Preface 25 BOOK ONE 30 NOTES on BOOK ONE 174 BOOK TWO 187 NOTES on BOOK TWO 253 INDEX NOMINUM 259 INDEX RERUM 271 Volume III page Appendix A Butler's sources 2 Appendix B Photographic supplement 31 Appendix C A Butler checklist 71 Appendix D Transcriptions of Butler's musical examples Sk Bibliography Articles 137 Dissertations 1^9 Books 152 Microfilm Sources 195 ABSTRACT "The English Theorists of the Seventeenth Century,with particular reference to Charles Butler and The Principles of MuBik.,.1636." The thesis is divided into two main parts:the first part is concerned with the English Theorists and Butler;the second presents a modern edition of The Principles of Musik... Chapter I,which is preceded by a Checklist of treatises,tutors, instruction books and "lessons"(1561-1725)»examines the trad• itions of English Nusic Theory of which Butler forms part, devoting most attention to those theorists who have received least attention,Butler,the anonymous Guide,Campian,Playford and Simpson.Chapter II deals with the life and work of Charles Butler,presenting a large amount of unpublished biographical information,and showing the author to have been a man of wide learning and many talents.Chapter III discusses Butler's book: individual sections concern the book as a specimen of typo• graphy,the content of the book and its style,Butler's scholar• ship; the "major issues" of The Principles... - the Moods,Greek music,the fourth,the contemporary attitudes towards music as demonstrated in Book Two,Butler's indebtedness to earlier writers and his influence on others - are here treated. The modern edition which follows presents an annotated version of the entire text in un-reformed spelling,adding Index Nom- inum and Index Rerum.Appendices deal with Butler's sources and references;a checklist of his printed books;transcription of all his musical examples;a photographic supplement is devoted to Butler's biography.Bibliography under four main headings - articles,theses,books,microfilm sources - concludes the thesis.The whole is presented in three volumes,Volume II being the modern edition. INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION . The main objective of this dissertation has been the examination of Charles Butler's The Principles of Musik in Singing and Setting... 1636, against the background of a large number of didactic musical books published in Britain during the seventeenth century by many different authors who have since been conveniently labelled "The English Musical Theorists of the Seventeenth Century". A few words of "apology" are perhaps called for at this early stage before the reader finds that no attention has been given to his favourite theorist while lesser figures have received lavish treatment as if by some arbitrary magic, and also in an attempt to forestall criticism of the kind which censures an author for not achieving what was no part of his objective. The title delineates the seventeenth century as the scope of this study but I thought it advisable - for several reasons - to extend the period at both ends. I have concerned myself exclusively with printed sources, and, since these begin, and appear sporadically before 16OO - several are not extant - it seemed, therefore, a wise move to begin at the beginning. At the other end of the period Playford's Introduction which had first appeared in 165^, attained its fourteenth numbered edition in 1?00, and was to run without further significant alteration through at least five more editions, the last being the nineteenth in 1730. As Henry Playford's business declined, so did John Walsh's increase, the 1690's being a sort of no-man's land, while the early 1720's marked the end of a significant epoch in Walsh's reign. Faced with the decision of 1690's or 1720's as the upward limit of my checklist, I opted for c.1725 since this allowed Playford to bow out with dignity and also enables us to take notice of the important new trends encouraged, perhaps created by John Walsh. I have taken the widest possible view of "musical theory" it is fair to say that the books included in the checklist have only one thing in common; each has basically a didactic purpose. In several instances this is the only reason for including a specific book: for example, A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord, Spinnet ... by John Blow jvj'O'fj qualifies for inclusion in my list of theoretical works simply by having the word "lessons" in its title. The work in question contains 3 suites, a <D Minor, A minor and C Major: a unique (?) copy is in Durham Cathedral Library at CI**-. The Oxford English Dictionary records no use of the word "lesson" in a musical sense without the connotation of instruction or education, so, although not a word of instruction is given, Blow's purpose in writing the baok would appear to have been didactic. Perhaps the publisher, Henry Playford, possessed a keener eye for business than did the composer, and it was he who labelled them "lessons", but I think not. Xitles like Salos, Ayres, Sonatas are frequently found during this period, so in using the title he used it is most reasonable to assume that Blow accepted the instructional nature of his work. At the other end of the theoretical scale we come across a work like Claudii Ptolemaei Harmonicorum Libri Tres... Oxford, at the Sheldonian Theatre, 1682, by John Wallis, a translation from Greek pLnto Latin of the musical writings of Ptolemy, doubtless of great importance to all those people like the members of the Eoyal Society who were deeply concerned with the scientific study of music. Somewhere between the JJWO poles of Blow's Lessons and Wallis' translation of Ptolemy we meet up with a work like Thomas Greeting's Pleasant Companion... (earliest extant edition 1672, at Cambridge) which, in addition to the music to be played supplies instructions on how to play it. The most raw amateur could work his way through Greeting and still be an amateur but it cannot be stated too strongly that Greeting was a good book since it quite obviously achieved the stated purpose and made the recorder and flageolet instruments on which a person could virtually teach himself to play and thereby pass the time congenially, perhaps with a few friends of similar taste, with his family, or even on his own. By 1688 the book had achieved its seventh edition. This body of musical literature presents music to the public with a view to improving musical education: that is its f aison 4.'£tre. JSat, within thiB musical public there is an enormous range of ability, interest and application. Seen as an entity - which it is not, being truly but part of the whole of music published at any one time - the instructional literature illustrates what may be called for want of a better expression "the musical taste" of an era, and this taste, like any other, is constantly changing. The public who received 5 Whythome's Songs ... in 1571 was a very different beast from the one which bought Favourite Songs in Muzio Scaevola (c.1722). If we accept that musical taste can never settle and remain static we must also accept that it is not.a narrow and exclusive phenomenon visiting one section of the public as it were by divine authority. The year 1672 saw the publication of an edition of Greeting's Pleasant Companion, the sixth edition of Playford's Introduction, the preliminary skirmishes of Locke and Salmon, and also Edmund Chilmead's De Musica Antigua Graeca; it may have been a good year, or a bad year, but it was not a particularly single-minded year. Similarly v/e must beware the tendency to trust uncritically the little contemporary evidence which survives.