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Contents

   



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1 Sources  





2 Instruments  





3 Gaelic musicians  





4 Church music  





5 Song schools  





6 Court music  





7 Popular music  





8 Notes  














Music in Medieval Scotland: Difference between revisions







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[[Image:Celtic harp dsc05425.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Queen Mary Harp]], preserved in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh]]

[[Image:Celtic harp dsc05425.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Queen Mary Harp]], preserved in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh]]

'''Music in Medieval Scotland''' includes all forms of musical production in what is now Scotland between the fifth century and the adoption of the [[Renaissance in Scotland|Renaissance]] in the early sixteenth century. The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century. There are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. Instruments included the cithara, tympanum and chorus. Visual representations and written sources demonstrate the existence of harps in the early Middle Ages and bagpipes and pipe organs in the Late Middle Ages. As in Ireland there were probably [[filidh]] in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court in the twelfth century, a less highly regarded order of [[bard]]s took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century.

'''Music in Medieval Scotland''' includes all forms of musical production in what is now Scotland between the fifth century and the adoption of the [[Renaissance in Scotland|Renaissance]] in the early sixteenth century. The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century. There are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. Instruments included the [[cithara]], [[Tympanum (hand drum)|tympanum]], and [[Choir|chorus]]. Visual representations and written sources demonstrate the existence of [[harp]]s in the [[Early Middle Ages]] and [[bagpipes]] and [[pipe organ]]s in the [[Late Middle Ages]]. As in Ireland, there were probably [[filidh]] in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court in the twelfth century, a less highly regarded order of [[bard]]s took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the [[Scottish Highlands]] and [[List of islands of Scotland|Islands]] into the eighteenth century.



In the early Middle Ages there was a distinct form of [[liturgical]] [[Celtic chant]]. It is thought have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by more complex [[Gregorian chant]]. The English [[Sarum Use]] was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland. From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments. Monophony was replaced from the fourteenth century by the ''[[Ars Nova]]'', a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex [[polyphony]]. Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period. In the High Middle Ages, the need for large numbers of singing priests to fulfill these obligations led to the foundation of a system of [[Choir school|song schools]]. The proliferation of collegiate churches and requiem masses in the later Middle Ages would have necessitated the training of large numbers of [[Choir|choristers]], marking a considerable expansion of the song school system. A stress was placed on the technique of [[Faburden]], which allowed easy harmonisation according to strict rules.

In the Early Middle Ages there was a distinct form of [[liturgical]] [[Celtic chant]]. It is thoughtto have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by the more complex [[Gregorian chant]]. The English [[Sarum Use]] was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland. From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments. [[Monophony]] was replaced from the fourteenth century by the ''[[Ars Nova]]'', a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex [[polyphony]]. Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period. In the [[High Middle Ages]], the need for large numbers of singing priests to fulfill these obligations led to the foundation of a system of [[Choir school|song schools]]. The proliferation of collegiate churches and [[requiem]] masses in the Late Middle Ages would have necessitated the training of large numbers of [[Choir|choristers]], marking a considerable expansion of the song school system. A stress was placed on the technique of [[Faburden]], which allowed easy harmonisation according to strict rules.



The captivity of [[James I of Scotland|James I]] in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release. [[James III of Scotland|James III]] founded a Chapel Royal at [[Restalrig]] near [[Holyrood Palace|Holyrood]] and his son [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] refounded the Chapel Royal within [[Stirling Castle]], with a new and enlarged choir. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving secular music can be unequivocally attributed to his court.

The captivity of [[James I of Scotland|James I]] in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release. [[James III of Scotland|James III]] founded a Chapel Royal at [[Restalrig]] near [[Holyrood Palace|Holyrood]] and his son [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] refounded the Chapel Royal within [[Stirling Castle]], with a new and enlarged choir. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving [[secular music]] can be unequivocally attributed to his court.



There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland the late Middle Ages, but the only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song". Some surviving Scottish [[ballad]]s may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. They remained an oral tradition until they were collected as [[folk song]]s in the eighteenth century.

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of [[popular music]] in Scotland during the Late Middle Ages, but the only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song". Some surviving Scottish [[ballad]]s may date back to the Late Middle Ages and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. They remained an [[oral tradition]] until they were collected as [[folk song]]s in the eighteenth century.



==Sources==

==Sources==

[[File:Monifeithpictishharper.jpg|thumb|The harper on the Monifeith Pictish Stone, 700 – 900 AD]]

[[File:Monifeithpictishharper.jpg|thumb|The harper on the Monifeith Pictish Stone, 700 – 900 AD]]

The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. These limitations are the result of factors including a turbulent political history, the destructive practices of the [[Scottish Reformation]], the climate<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> and relatively late arrival of music printing.<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> What survives are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2">J. R. Baxter, "Music, ecclesiastical", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 431–2.</ref> Neither does Scottish music have an equivalent of the [[Bannatyne Manuscript]] in poetry, giving a large and representative sample of Medieval work.<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33">J. R. Baxter, "Culture: Renaissance and Reformation (1460–1560)", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 130–33.</ref> The oldest extant piece of Church music written in Scotland is in the ''Inchcolm Fragment''.<ref name=Borland1916ppxv>C. R. Borland, ''A Descriptive Catalogue of The Western Medieval Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library'' (University of Edinburgh Press, 1916), p. xv.</ref> Musicologist [[John Purser]] has suggested that the services dedicated to [[St. Columba]] in this manuscript and the similar service in the ''Sprouston Breviary'', dedicated to [[St. Kentigern]], may preserve some of this earlier tradition of plain chant.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Other early manuscripts include the ''Dunkeld Music Book'' and the ''Scone Antiphoner''.<ref name=Borland1916ppxv/> The most important collection is the mid-thirteenth century ''[[Wolfenbüttel]] 677'' or ''W1'' manuscript, which survives only because it was appropriated from [[St Andrews Cathedral Priory]] and taken to the continent in the 1550s. Other sources include occasional written references in accounts and in literature and visual representations of musicians and instruments.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>

The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. These limitations are the result of factors including a turbulent political history, the destructive practices of the [[Scottish Reformation]], the climate<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> and relatively late arrival of music printing.<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> What survives are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2">J. R. Baxter, "Music, ecclesiastical", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp. 431–2.</ref> Neither does Scottish music have an equivalent of the [[Bannatyne Manuscript]] in poetry, giving a large and representative sample of Medieval work.<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33">J. R. Baxter, "Culture: Renaissance and Reformation (1460–1560)", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp. 130–33.</ref> The oldest extant piece of Church music written in Scotland is in the ''Inchcolm Fragment''.<ref name=Borland1916ppxv>C. R. Borland, ''A Descriptive Catalogue of The Western Medieval Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library'' (University of Edinburgh Press, 1916), p. xv.</ref> Musicologist [[John Purser]] has suggested that the services dedicated to [[St. Columba]] in this manuscript and the similar service in the ''Sprouston Breviary'', dedicated to [[St. Kentigern]], may preserve some of this earlier tradition of plain chant.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Other early manuscripts include the ''Dunkeld Music Book'' and the ''Scone Antiphoner''.<ref name=Borland1916ppxv/> The most important collection is the mid-thirteenth century ''[[Wolfenbüttel]] 677'' or ''W1'' manuscript, which survives only because it was appropriated from [[St Andrews Cathedral Priory]] and taken to the continent in the 1550s. Other sources include occasional written references in accounts and in literature and visual representations of musicians and instruments.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>



==Instruments==

==Instruments==

In the late twelfth century, [[Giraldus Cambrensis]] noted that "Ireland uses and delights in two instruments: the [[cithara]] and the tympanum; Scotland three: the cithara, tympanum and chorus; Wales three: cithara, [[tibiae (instrument)|tibiae]] and chorus." The chithara is probably the [[clarsach]] or Celtic harp<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9/> and the typanum probably a string instrument rather than a form of drum.<ref>S. Harper, ''Music in Welsh Culture Before 1650: A Study of the Principal Sources'' (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), ISBN 0754652637, p. 36.</ref> The identity of the chorus is debated. It has been suggested that the chorus is an early form of bagpipe, but John Bannerman suggested that this was the [[Crwth]] or Crowd, a stringed instrument similar to a lyre and played with a bow, which is mentioned in later Scots poetry and English minstrel lists. Giraldus Cambrensis also notes that these instruments used steel strings, rather than cat gut, but exactly to which instruments he refers is unclear.<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9>A. Budgey, "Commeationis et affinitatis gratia: Medieval musical relations between Scotland and Ireland" in R. A. McDonald, ''History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700–1560'' (University of Toronto Press, 2002), ISBN 0802036015, pp. 208–9.</ref> Stone carvings indicate the instruments known in Scotland, including the harpists on the early Medieval Monifeith Pictish stone and the [[Dupplin Cross]].<ref name=Allen&Anderson1904p1/> Two of the three surviving Medieval Celtic harps are from Scotland: the [[Lamont Harp]], dated to about 1500 and the highly elaborate [[Queen Mary Harp]], from around 1450.<ref name="Cheape2001pp29-31">H. Cheape, "Art, Highland", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 29–31.</ref> From the late Middle Ages there is a [[gargoyle]] of a pig playing the bagpipes at [[Melrose Abbey]]<ref name=Allen&Anderson1904p1>J. R. Allen and J. Anderson, ''The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland: (pts. 1 and 2)'' (Edinburgh, 1904), 1874012032, p. 1.</ref> and the carving of an angel playing bagpipes at [[Rosslyn Chapel]].<ref>D. Mackinnon, "I now have a book of songs of her writing" in E. Ewan and J. Nugent, eds, ''Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland'' (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008), ISBN 0754660494, p. 43.</ref> There are literary references in Scotland to the fiddle, often called the fethill, fedhill or rybid.<ref>K. Ralls-MacLeod, ''Music and the Celtic Otherworld: From Ireland to Iona'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), ISBN 1902930096, p. 57.</ref> In the Late Middle Ages several churches acquired [[pipe organ]]s.<ref name=Ewen2011p118>E. Ewen, "'Hamperit in ane hony came': sights, sounds and smells in the Medieval town", in E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson, ''A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland: 1000 to 1600'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), ISBN 0748621571, p. 118.</ref>

In the late twelfth century, [[Giraldus Cambrensis]] noted that "Ireland uses and delights in two instruments: the [[cithara]] and the tympanum; Scotland three: the cithara, tympanum and chorus; Wales three: cithara, [[tibiae (instrument)|tibiae]] and chorus." The chithara is probably the [[clarsach]] or Celtic harp<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9/> and the typanum probably a string instrument rather than a form of drum.<ref>S. Harper, ''Music in Welsh Culture Before 1650: A Study of the Principal Sources'' (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), {{ISBN|0754652637}}, p. 36.</ref> The identity of the chorus is debated. It has been suggested that the chorus is an early form of bagpipe, but John Bannerman suggested that this was the [[Crwth]] or Crowd, a stringed instrument similar to a lyre and played with a bow, which is mentioned in later Scots poetry and English minstrel lists. Giraldus Cambrensis also notes that these instruments used steel strings, rather than cat gut, but exactly to which instruments he refers is unclear.<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9>A. Budgey, "Commeationis et affinitatis gratia: Medieval musical relations between Scotland and Ireland" in R. A. McDonald, ''History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700–1560'' (University of Toronto Press, 2002), {{ISBN|0802036015}}, pp. 208–9.</ref> Stone carvings indicate the instruments known in Scotland, including the harpists on the early Medieval Monifeith Pictish stone and the [[Dupplin Cross]].<ref name=Allen&Anderson1904p1/> Two of the three surviving Medieval Celtic harps are from Scotland: the [[Lamont Harp]], dated to about 1500 and the highly elaborate [[Queen Mary Harp]], from around 1450.<ref name="Cheape2001pp29-31">H. Cheape, "Art, Highland", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp. 29–31.</ref> From the late Middle Ages there is a [[gargoyle]] of a pig playing the bagpipes at [[Melrose Abbey]]<ref name=Allen&Anderson1904p1>J. R. Allen and J. Anderson, ''The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland: (pts. 1 and 2)'' (Edinburgh, 1904), 1874012032, p. 1.</ref> and the carving of an angel playing bagpipes at [[Rosslyn Chapel]].<ref>D. Mackinnon, "I now have a book of songs of her writing" in E. Ewan and J. Nugent, eds, ''Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland'' (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008), {{ISBN|0754660494}}, p. 43.</ref> There are literary references in Scotland to the fiddle, often called the fethill, fedhill or rybid.<ref>K. Ralls-MacLeod, ''Music and the Celtic Otherworld: From Ireland to Iona'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|1902930096}}, p. 57.</ref> In the Late Middle Ages several churches acquired [[pipe organ]]s.<ref name=Ewen2011p118>E. Ewen, "'Hamperit in ane hony came': sights, sounds and smells in the Medieval town", in E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson, ''A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland: 1000 to 1600'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), {{ISBN|0748621571}}, p. 118.</ref>



==Gaelic musicians==

==Gaelic musicians==

{{Main|Filidh|Bard}}

{{Main|Filidh|Bard}}

[[File:Trinity Altarpiece Bonkle.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail from the "Trinity Altarpiece" by [[Hugo van der Goes]], showing Sir Edward Bonkil, first Provost of [[Trinity College Kirk|Trinity College]], Edinburgh, with an angel playing a pipe organ]]

[[File:Trinity Altarpiece Bonkle.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail from the "Trinity Altarpiece" by [[Hugo van der Goes]], showing Sir Edward Bonkil, first Provost of [[Trinity College Kirk|Trinity College]], Edinburgh, with an angel playing a pipe organ]]

Giraldus Cambrensis noted that "Scotland and Wales, the latter by grafting the former by intercourse and kinship, strive to emulate Ireland in the practice of music".<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9/> Early Medieval Scotland and Ireland shared a common culture and language, that although reduced in significance from the High Middle Ages, both persisted in the society of the north and west. There are much fuller historical sources for early Medieval Ireland, which suggest that there would have been [[filidh]] in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge and culture in Gaelic to the next generation.<ref name=Crawford2009>R. Crawford, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0QV8zUv3Fy0C&pg=PT97&dq=bards+scotland+genealogy+praise+poetry&hl=En&ei=bjOQT8uoOM6F8gPUramLBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CFAQ6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=bards%20scotland%20genealogy%20praise%20poetry&f=false ''Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature''] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), ISBN 019538623X.</ref><ref name=Houston2002p76>R. A. Houston, ''Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity: Illiteracy and Society in Scotland and Northern England, 1600–1800'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), ISBN 0521890888, p. 76.</ref> At least from the accession of [[David I of Scotland|David I]] (r. 1124–53), as part of a [[Davidian Revolution]] that introduced French culture and political systems, Gaelic ceased to be the main language of the royal court and was probably replaced by French. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court, a less highly regarded order of [[bard]]s took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools, of which a few, like the one run by the [[MacMhuirich bardic family|MacMhuirich]] dynasty, who were bards to the [[Lord of the Isles]],<ref>K. M. Brown, ''Noble Society in Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture from the Reformation to the Revolutions'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), ISBN 0748612998, p. 220.</ref> existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century.<ref name=Houston2002p76/> Members of bardic schools were trained in the complex rules and forms of Gaelic poetry.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 60–7.</ref> They probably accompanied their poetry on the [[harp]].<ref>W. McLeod, ''Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland, C.1200-c.1650'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 0199247226, p. 102.</ref> Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century.<ref name=Crawford2009 />

Giraldus Cambrensis noted that "Scotland and Wales, the latter by grafting the former by intercourse and kinship, strive to emulate Ireland in the practice of music".<ref name=Budgey2002pp208-9/> Early Medieval Scotland and Ireland shared a common culture and language, that although reduced in significance from the High Middle Ages, both persisted in the society of the north and west. There are much fuller historical sources for early Medieval Ireland, which suggest that there would have been [[filidh]] in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge and culture in Gaelic to the next generation.<ref name=Crawford2009>R. Crawford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0QV8zUv3Fy0C&dq=bards+scotland+genealogy+praise+poetry&pg=PT97 ''Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature''] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|019538623X}}.</ref><ref name=Houston2002p76>R. A. Houston, ''Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity: Illiteracy and Society in Scotland and Northern England, 1600–1800'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), {{ISBN|0521890888}}, p. 76.</ref> At least from the accession of [[David I of Scotland|David I]] (r. 1124–53), as part of a [[Davidian Revolution]] that introduced French culture and political systems, Gaelic ceased to be the main language of the royal court and was probably replaced by French. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court, a less highly regarded order of [[bard]]s took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools, of which a few, like the one run by the [[MacMhuirich bardic family|MacMhuirich]] dynasty, who were bards to the [[Lord of the Isles]],<ref>K. M. Brown, ''Noble Society in Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture from the Reformation to the Revolutions'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0748612998}}, p. 220.</ref> existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century.<ref name=Houston2002p76/> Members of bardic schools were trained in the complex rules and forms of Gaelic poetry.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0748602763}}, pp. 60–7.</ref> They probably accompanied their poetry on the [[harp]].<ref>W. McLeod, ''Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland, C.1200-c.1650'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0199247226}}, p. 102.</ref> Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century.<ref name=Crawford2009 />



==Church music==

==Church music==

{{Main|Church music in Scotland}}

{{Main|Church music in Scotland}}

In the early Middle Ages, ecclesiastical music was dominated by [[Monophony|monophonic]] [[plainchant]].<ref name="McKittericketal1995pp319-25">R. McKitterick, C. T. Allmand, T. Reuter, D. Abulafia, P. Fouracre, J. Simon, C. Riley-Smith, M. Jones, eds, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: C. 1415- C. 1500'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 319–25.</ref> The development of British Christianity, separate from the direct influence of Rome until the eighth century, with its flourishing monastic culture, led to the development of a distinct form of [[liturgical]] [[Celtic chant]].<ref name="Croinin2005p798">D. O. Croinin, ed., ''Prehistoric and Early Ireland: Prehistoric and Early Ireland'', vol I (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 798.</ref> Although no notations of this music survive, later sources suggest distinctive melodic patterns.<ref name="Croinin2005p798"/> Celtic chant is thought have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by more complex [[Gregorian chant]].<ref>D. Hiley, ''Western Plainchant: a Handbook'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 483.</ref> The version of this chant linked to the liturgy as used in the [[Diocese of Salisbury]], the [[Sarum Use]], first recorded from the thirteenth century, became dominant in England<ref>E. Foley, M. Paul Bangert, ''Worship Music: a Concise Dictionary'' (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), p. 273.</ref> and was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> It was closely related to Gregorian chant, but it was more elaborate and with some unique local features. The Sarum rite continued to be the basis of Scottish liturgical music in Scotland until the Reformation and where choirs were available, which was probably limited to the great cathedrals, [[collegiate church]]es and the wealthier parish churches it would have been used in the main ingredient of divine offices of [[vespers]], [[compline]], [[matins]], [[lauds]], [[mass]] and the [[canonical hours]].<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> In the later Middle Ages, the development of the doctrine of purgatory and the proliferation of altars meant that this music would have been joined by large numbers of [[requiem mass]]es, designed to speed the souls of the dead to heaven, although no traces of these masses have survived.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Over 100 collegiate churches of [[secular priest]]s were founded in Scotland between 1450 and the Reformation.<ref name=Foggie2003p101>J. P. Foggie, ''Renaissance Religion in Urban Scotland: The Dominican Order, 1450–1560'' (BRILL, 2003), ISBN 9004129294, p. 101.</ref> They were designed to provide masses for their founders and their families, who included the nobility and the emerging orders of the [[Lords of Parliament]] and the wealthy merchants of the developing [[burgh]]s.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>

In the early Middle Ages, ecclesiastical music was dominated by [[Monophony|monophonic]] [[plainchant]].<ref name="McKittericketal1995pp319-25">R. McKitterick, C. T. Allmand, T. Reuter, D. Abulafia, P. Fouracre, J. Simon, C. Riley-Smith, M. Jones, eds, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: C. 1415- C. 1500'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 319–25.</ref> The development of British Christianity, separate from the direct influence of Rome until the eighth century, with its flourishing monastic culture, led to the development of a distinct form of [[liturgical]] [[Celtic chant]].<ref name="Croinin2005p798">D. O. Croinin, ed., ''Prehistoric and Early Ireland: Prehistoric and Early Ireland'', vol I (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 798.</ref> Although no notations of this music survive, later sources suggest distinctive melodic patterns.<ref name="Croinin2005p798"/> Celtic chant is thought have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by more complex [[Gregorian chant]].<ref>D. Hiley, ''Western Plainchant: a Handbook'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 483.</ref> The version of this chant linked to the liturgy as used in the [[Diocese of Salisbury]], the [[Sarum Use]], first recorded from the thirteenth century, became dominant in England<ref>E. Foley, M. Paul Bangert, ''Worship Music: a Concise Dictionary'' (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), p. 273.</ref> and was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> It was closely related to Gregorian chant, but it was more elaborate and with some unique local features. The Sarum rite continued to be the basis of Scottish liturgical music in Scotland until the Reformation and where choirs were available, which was probably limited to the great cathedrals, [[collegiate church]]es and the wealthier parish churches it would have been used in the main ingredient of divine offices of [[vespers]], [[compline]], [[matins]], [[lauds]], [[mass (liturgy)|mass]] and the [[canonical hours]].<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> In the later Middle Ages, the development of the doctrine of purgatory and the proliferation of altars meant that this music would have been joined by large numbers of [[requiem mass]]es, designed to speed the souls of the dead to heaven, although no traces of these masses have survived.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Over 100 collegiate churches of [[secular priest]]s were founded in Scotland between 1450 and the Reformation.<ref name=Foggie2003p101>J. P. Foggie, ''Renaissance Religion in Urban Scotland: The Dominican Order, 1450–1560'' (BRILL, 2003), {{ISBN|9004129294}}, p. 101.</ref> They were designed to provide masses for their founders and their families, who included the nobility and the emerging orders of the [[Lords of Parliament]] and the wealthy merchants of the developing [[burgh]]s.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>



From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments, with figures like the musical theorist Simon Tailler studying in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music.<ref name="Elliott1973">K. Elliott and F. Rimmer, ''A History of Scottish Music'' (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), ISBN 0563121920, pp. 8–12.</ref> The ''Wolfenbüttel 677'' manuscript contains a large number of French compositions, particularly from [[Notre Dame de Paris]], beside inventive pieces by unknown Scottish composers.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Monophony was replaced from the fourteenth century by the ''[[Ars Nova]]'', a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex [[polyphony]].<ref>W. Lovelock, ''A Concise History of Music'' (New York NY: Frederick Ungar, 1953), p. 57.</ref> The tradition was well established in England by the fifteenth century.<ref name="McKittericketal1995pp319-25"/> The distinctive English version of polyphony, known as the ''[[Contenance Angloise]]'' (English manner), used full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth, which was highly influential in the fashionable [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundian]] court of [[Philip the Good]], where the [[Burgundian School]] associated with [[Guillaume Dufay]] developed.<ref name="Fritze2002">R. H. Fritze and W. B. Robison, ''Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272–1485'' (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2002), ISBN 0313291241, p. 363.</ref> In the late fifteenth century a series of Scottish musicians trained in the Netherlands before returning home, including John Broune, Thomas Inglis and John Fety, the last of whom became master of the song school in Aberdeen and then Edinburgh, introducing the new five-fingered organ playing technique.<ref name="Wormald1991">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 58 and 118.</ref> Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century from St. Andrews and [[St Giles' Cathedral|St. Giles, Edinburgh]], and post-Reformation works from composers that were trained in this era from the abbeys of [[Dunfermline Abbey|Dunfermline]] and [[Holyrood Abbey|Holyrood]], and from the priory at St. Andrews, indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>

From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments, with figures like the musical theorist Simon Tailler studying in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music.<ref name="Elliott1973">K. Elliott and F. Rimmer, ''A History of Scottish Music'' (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), {{ISBN|0563121920}}, pp. 8–12.</ref> The ''Wolfenbüttel 677'' manuscript contains a large number of French compositions, particularly from [[Notre Dame de Paris]], beside inventive pieces by unknown Scottish composers.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> Monophony was replaced from the fourteenth century by the ''[[Ars Nova]]'', a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex [[polyphony]].<ref>W. Lovelock, ''A Concise History of Music'' (New York NY: Frederick Ungar, 1953), p. 57.</ref> The tradition was well established in England by the fifteenth century.<ref name="McKittericketal1995pp319-25"/> The distinctive English version of polyphony, known as the ''[[Contenance Angloise]]'' (English manner), used full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth, which was highly influential in the fashionable [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundian]] court of [[Philip the Good]], where the [[Burgundian School]] associated with [[Guillaume Dufay]] developed.<ref name="Fritze2002">R. H. Fritze and W. B. Robison, ''Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272–1485'' (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2002), {{ISBN|0313291241}}, p. 363.</ref> In the late fifteenth century a series of Scottish musicians trained in the Netherlands before returning home, including John Broune, Thomas Inglis and John Fety, the last of whom became master of the song school in Aberdeen and then Edinburgh, introducing the new five-fingered organ playing technique.<ref name="Wormald1991">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0748602763}}, pp. 58 and 118.</ref> Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century from St. Andrews and [[St Giles' Cathedral|St. Giles, Edinburgh]], and post-Reformation works from composers that were trained in this era from the abbeys of [[Dunfermline Abbey|Dunfermline]] and [[Holyrood Abbey|Holyrood]], and from the priory at St. Andrews, indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/>



==Song schools==

==Song schools==

Line 35: Line 35:

==Court music==

==Court music==

{{Main|Court music in Scotland}}

{{Main|Court music in Scotland}}

The captivity of [[James I of Scotland|James I]] in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release.<ref name="Elliott1973"/> The story of the execution of [[James III of Scotland|James III]]'s favourites, including the English musician William Roger, at Lauder Bridge in 1482, may indicate his interest in music. Renaissance monarchs often used chapels to impress visiting dignitaries. James III also founded a new large hexagonal Chapel Royal at [[Restalrig]] near [[Holyrood Palace|Holyrood]], that was probably designed for a large number of choristers.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> In 1501 his son [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] refounded the Chapel Royal within [[Stirling Castle]], with a new and enlarged choir meant to emulate [[St. George's Chapel]] at [[Windsor Castle]] and it became the focus of Scottish liturgical music. [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundian]] and English influences were probably reinforced when [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]'s daughter [[Margaret Tudor]] married James IV in 1503.<ref name="Gosman2003">M. Gosman, A. A. MacDonald, A. J. Vanderjagt and A. Vanderjagt, ''Princes and Princely Culture, 1450–1650'' (Brill, 2003), ISBN 9004136908, p. 163.</ref> No piece of music can be unequivocally identified with these chapels, but the survival of a Mass based on the Burgundian song ''L'Homme armé'' in the later ''[[Robert Carver (composer)|Carver Choirbook]]'' may indicate that this was part of the Chapel Royal repertoire. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving secular music can be unequivocally attributed to his court.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> An entry in the accounts of the Lord [[Treasurer of Scotland]] indicates that when James IV was at Stirling on 17 April 1497, there was a payment "to twa fithalaris [fiddlers] that sang Greysteil to the king, ixs". ''[[Greysteil]]'' was an [[Epic poetry|epic romance]] and the music survives, having been placed in a collection of lute airs in the seventeenth century.<ref>R. Chambers, [http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/april/17.htm ''Chambers Book of Days (The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character)''] (W. and R. Chambers, London and Edinburgh, 1864).</ref>

The captivity of [[James I of Scotland|James I]] in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release.<ref name="Elliott1973"/> The story of the execution of [[James III of Scotland|James III]]'s favourites, including the English musician William Roger, at Lauder Bridge in 1482, may indicate his interest in music. Renaissance monarchs often used chapels to impress visiting dignitaries. James III also founded a new large hexagonal Chapel Royal at [[Restalrig]] near [[Holyrood Palace|Holyrood]], that was probably designed for a large number of choristers.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> In 1501 his son [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] refounded the Chapel Royal within [[Stirling Castle]], with a new and enlarged choir meant to emulate [[St. George's Chapel]] at [[Windsor Castle]] and it became the focus of Scottish liturgical music. [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundian]] and English influences were probably reinforced when [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]'s daughter [[Margaret Tudor]] married James IV in 1503.<ref name="Gosman2003">M. Gosman, A. A. MacDonald, A. J. Vanderjagt and A. Vanderjagt, ''Princes and Princely Culture, 1450–1650'' (Brill, 2003), {{ISBN|9004136908}}, p. 163.</ref> No piece of music can be unequivocally identified with these chapels, but the survival of a Mass based on the Burgundian song ''L'Homme armé'' in the later ''[[Robert Carver (composer)|Carver Choirbook]]'' may indicate that this was part of the Chapel Royal repertoire. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving secular music can be unequivocally attributed to his court.<ref name="Baxter2001bpp431-2"/> An entry in the accounts of the Lord [[Treasurer of Scotland]] indicates that when James IV was at Stirling on 17 April 1497, there was a payment "to twa fithalaris [fiddlers] that sang Greysteil to the king, ixs". ''[[Greysteil]]'' was an [[Epic poetry|epic romance]] and the music survives, having been placed in a collection of lute airs in the seventeenth century.<ref>R. Chambers, [http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/april/17.htm ''Chambers Book of Days (The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character)''] (W. and R. Chambers, London and Edinburgh, 1864).</ref>



==Popular music==

==Popular music==

{{Main|Scottish folk music}}

{{Main|Scottish folk music}}

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland the late Middle Ages. This includes the long list of songs given in ''The Complaynt of Scotland'' (1549). Many of the poems of this period were also originally songs, but for none has a notation of their music survived. Melodies have survived separately in the post-Reformation publication of ''The Gude and Godlie Ballatis'' (1567),<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> which were spiritual satires on popular songs, adapted and published by the brothers [[James Wedderburn (poet)|James]], [[John Wedderburn|John]] and [[Robert Wedderburn (poet)|Robert Wedderburn]].<ref name=Wormald1991pp187-90>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 187–90.</ref> The only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song".<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> Some surviving Scottish [[ballad]]s may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century, including "[[Sir Patrick Spens]]" and "[[Thomas the Rhymer]]".<ref>E. Lyle, ''Scottish Ballads'' (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2001), ISBN 0-86241-477-6, pp. 9–10.</ref> They remained an oral tradition until the increased interest in [[folk song]]s in the eighteenth century led collectors such as Bishop [[Thomas Percy (bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]] to publish volumes of popular ballads.<ref name=Broadview2006>"Popular Ballads" ''The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century'' (Broadview Press, 2006), ISBN 1551116111, pp. 610–17.</ref>{{clear}}

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland the late Middle Ages. This includes the long list of songs given in ''[[The Complaynt of Scotland]]'' (1549). Many of the poems of this period were also originally songs, but for none has a notation of their music survived. Melodies have survived separately in the post-Reformation publication of ''The Gude and Godlie Ballatis'' (1567),<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> which were spiritual satires on popular songs, adapted and published by the brothers [[James Wedderburn (poet)|James]], [[John Wedderburn (poet)|John]] and [[Robert Wedderburn (poet)|Robert Wedderburn]].<ref name=Wormald1991pp187-90>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0748602763}}, pp. 187–90.</ref> The only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song".<ref name="Baxter2001app130-33"/> Some surviving Scottish [[ballad]]s may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century, including "[[Sir Patrick Spens]]" and "[[Thomas the Rhymer]]".<ref>E. Lyle, ''Scottish Ballads'' (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2001), {{ISBN|0-86241-477-6}}, pp. 9–10.</ref> They remained an oral tradition until the increased interest in [[folk song]]s in the eighteenth century led collectors such as Bishop [[Thomas Percy (bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]] to publish volumes of popular ballads.<ref name=Broadview2006>"Popular Ballads" ''The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century'' (Broadview Press, 2006), {{ISBN|1551116111}}, pp. 610–17.</ref>{{clear}}



==Notes==

==Notes==

Line 45: Line 45:


{{Medieval Scotland}}

{{Medieval Scotland}}

{{Scottish music}}

{{Music of Scotland}}

{{Medieval music}}

{{Medieval music}}



[[Category:Medieval music|Scotland]]

[[Category:Culture of medieval Scotland]]

[[Category:Medieval Scotland]]

[[Category:Scottish music history|Medieval]]

[[Category:Scottish music history|Medieval]]


Latest revision as of 00:48, 18 December 2023

The Queen Mary Harp, preserved in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Music in Medieval Scotland includes all forms of musical production in what is now Scotland between the fifth century and the adoption of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century. There are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. Instruments included the cithara, tympanum, and chorus. Visual representations and written sources demonstrate the existence of harps in the Early Middle Ages and bagpipes and pipe organs in the Late Middle Ages. As in Ireland, there were probably filidh in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court in the twelfth century, a less highly regarded order of bards took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Scottish Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century.

In the Early Middle Ages there was a distinct form of liturgical Celtic chant. It is thought to have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by the more complex Gregorian chant. The English Sarum Use was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland. From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments. Monophony was replaced from the fourteenth century by the Ars Nova, a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex polyphony. Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period. In the High Middle Ages, the need for large numbers of singing priests to fulfill these obligations led to the foundation of a system of song schools. The proliferation of collegiate churches and requiem masses in the Late Middle Ages would have necessitated the training of large numbers of choristers, marking a considerable expansion of the song school system. A stress was placed on the technique of Faburden, which allowed easy harmonisation according to strict rules.

The captivity of James I in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release. James III founded a Chapel Royal at Restalrig near Holyrood and his son James IV refounded the Chapel Royal within Stirling Castle, with a new and enlarged choir. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving secular music can be unequivocally attributed to his court.

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland during the Late Middle Ages, but the only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song". Some surviving Scottish ballads may date back to the Late Middle Ages and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. They remained an oral tradition until they were collected as folk songs in the eighteenth century.

Sources[edit]

The harper on the Monifeith Pictish Stone, 700 – 900 AD

The sources for Scottish Medieval music are extremely limited. These limitations are the result of factors including a turbulent political history, the destructive practices of the Scottish Reformation, the climate[1] and relatively late arrival of music printing.[2] What survives are occasional indications that there was a flourishing musical culture. There are no major musical manuscripts for Scotland from before the twelfth century.[1] Neither does Scottish music have an equivalent of the Bannatyne Manuscript in poetry, giving a large and representative sample of Medieval work.[2] The oldest extant piece of Church music written in Scotland is in the Inchcolm Fragment.[3] Musicologist John Purser has suggested that the services dedicated to St. Columba in this manuscript and the similar service in the Sprouston Breviary, dedicated to St. Kentigern, may preserve some of this earlier tradition of plain chant.[1] Other early manuscripts include the Dunkeld Music Book and the Scone Antiphoner.[3] The most important collection is the mid-thirteenth century Wolfenbüttel 677orW1 manuscript, which survives only because it was appropriated from St Andrews Cathedral Priory and taken to the continent in the 1550s. Other sources include occasional written references in accounts and in literature and visual representations of musicians and instruments.[1]

Instruments[edit]

In the late twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis noted that "Ireland uses and delights in two instruments: the cithara and the tympanum; Scotland three: the cithara, tympanum and chorus; Wales three: cithara, tibiae and chorus." The chithara is probably the clarsach or Celtic harp[4] and the typanum probably a string instrument rather than a form of drum.[5] The identity of the chorus is debated. It has been suggested that the chorus is an early form of bagpipe, but John Bannerman suggested that this was the Crwth or Crowd, a stringed instrument similar to a lyre and played with a bow, which is mentioned in later Scots poetry and English minstrel lists. Giraldus Cambrensis also notes that these instruments used steel strings, rather than cat gut, but exactly to which instruments he refers is unclear.[4] Stone carvings indicate the instruments known in Scotland, including the harpists on the early Medieval Monifeith Pictish stone and the Dupplin Cross.[6] Two of the three surviving Medieval Celtic harps are from Scotland: the Lamont Harp, dated to about 1500 and the highly elaborate Queen Mary Harp, from around 1450.[7] From the late Middle Ages there is a gargoyle of a pig playing the bagpipes at Melrose Abbey[6] and the carving of an angel playing bagpipes at Rosslyn Chapel.[8] There are literary references in Scotland to the fiddle, often called the fethill, fedhill or rybid.[9] In the Late Middle Ages several churches acquired pipe organs.[10]

Gaelic musicians[edit]

Detail from the "Trinity Altarpiece" by Hugo van der Goes, showing Sir Edward Bonkil, first Provost of Trinity College, Edinburgh, with an angel playing a pipe organ

Giraldus Cambrensis noted that "Scotland and Wales, the latter by grafting the former by intercourse and kinship, strive to emulate Ireland in the practice of music".[4] Early Medieval Scotland and Ireland shared a common culture and language, that although reduced in significance from the High Middle Ages, both persisted in the society of the north and west. There are much fuller historical sources for early Medieval Ireland, which suggest that there would have been filidh in Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge and culture in Gaelic to the next generation.[11][12] At least from the accession of David I (r. 1124–53), as part of a Davidian Revolution that introduced French culture and political systems, Gaelic ceased to be the main language of the royal court and was probably replaced by French. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court, a less highly regarded order of bards took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools, of which a few, like the one run by the MacMhuirich dynasty, who were bards to the Lord of the Isles,[13] existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century.[12] Members of bardic schools were trained in the complex rules and forms of Gaelic poetry.[14] They probably accompanied their poetry on the harp.[15] Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century.[11]

Church music[edit]

In the early Middle Ages, ecclesiastical music was dominated by monophonic plainchant.[16] The development of British Christianity, separate from the direct influence of Rome until the eighth century, with its flourishing monastic culture, led to the development of a distinct form of liturgical Celtic chant.[17] Although no notations of this music survive, later sources suggest distinctive melodic patterns.[17] Celtic chant is thought have been superseded from the eleventh century, as elsewhere in Europe, by more complex Gregorian chant.[18] The version of this chant linked to the liturgy as used in the Diocese of Salisbury, the Sarum Use, first recorded from the thirteenth century, became dominant in England[19] and was the basis for most surviving chant in Scotland.[1] It was closely related to Gregorian chant, but it was more elaborate and with some unique local features. The Sarum rite continued to be the basis of Scottish liturgical music in Scotland until the Reformation and where choirs were available, which was probably limited to the great cathedrals, collegiate churches and the wealthier parish churches it would have been used in the main ingredient of divine offices of vespers, compline, matins, lauds, mass and the canonical hours.[1] In the later Middle Ages, the development of the doctrine of purgatory and the proliferation of altars meant that this music would have been joined by large numbers of requiem masses, designed to speed the souls of the dead to heaven, although no traces of these masses have survived.[1] Over 100 collegiate churches of secular priests were founded in Scotland between 1450 and the Reformation.[20] They were designed to provide masses for their founders and their families, who included the nobility and the emerging orders of the Lords of Parliament and the wealthy merchants of the developing burghs.[1]

From the thirteenth century, Scottish church music was increasingly influenced by continental developments, with figures like the musical theorist Simon Tailler studying in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music.[21] The Wolfenbüttel 677 manuscript contains a large number of French compositions, particularly from Notre Dame de Paris, beside inventive pieces by unknown Scottish composers.[1] Monophony was replaced from the fourteenth century by the Ars Nova, a movement that developed in France and then Italy, replacing the restrictive styles of Gregorian plainchant with complex polyphony.[22] The tradition was well established in England by the fifteenth century.[16] The distinctive English version of polyphony, known as the Contenance Angloise (English manner), used full, rich harmonies based on the third and sixth, which was highly influential in the fashionable Burgundian court of Philip the Good, where the Burgundian School associated with Guillaume Dufay developed.[23] In the late fifteenth century a series of Scottish musicians trained in the Netherlands before returning home, including John Broune, Thomas Inglis and John Fety, the last of whom became master of the song school in Aberdeen and then Edinburgh, introducing the new five-fingered organ playing technique.[24] Survivals of works from the first half of the sixteenth century from St. Andrews and St. Giles, Edinburgh, and post-Reformation works from composers that were trained in this era from the abbeys of Dunfermline and Holyrood, and from the priory at St. Andrews, indicate the quality and scope of music that was undertaken at the end of the Medieval period.[1]

Song schools[edit]

The Chapel Royal, Stirling Castle, a major focus for liturgical music

In the High Middle Ages, the need for large numbers of singing priests to fulfil the obligations of church services led to the foundation of a system of song schools, to train boys as choristers and priests, often attached to Cathedrals, wealthy monasteries and collegiate churches.[1] The proliferation of collegiate churches and requiem masses in the later Middle Ages would have necessitated the training of large numbers of choristers, marking a considerable expansion of the song school system.[20] The only indications of what these choristers were expected to be able to perform are in the chance survival of some sheet music in a book binding, probably from the Inverness song school. These confirm that a later work produced as part of James VI's attempt to revive the burgh song schools after the Reformation: The Art of Music, Collectit Out of all Ancient Doctours of Music (1580), was based on earlier works. A stress was placed on the technique of Faburden, associated with the Burgundian School, by which plainsong melodies, usually in the tenor voice, were harmonised according to strict rules that meant that rehearsal was unnecessary.[1]

Court music[edit]

The captivity of James I in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release.[21] The story of the execution of James III's favourites, including the English musician William Roger, at Lauder Bridge in 1482, may indicate his interest in music. Renaissance monarchs often used chapels to impress visiting dignitaries. James III also founded a new large hexagonal Chapel Royal at Restalrig near Holyrood, that was probably designed for a large number of choristers.[1] In 1501 his son James IV refounded the Chapel Royal within Stirling Castle, with a new and enlarged choir meant to emulate St. George's ChapelatWindsor Castle and it became the focus of Scottish liturgical music. Burgundian and English influences were probably reinforced when Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor married James IV in 1503.[25] No piece of music can be unequivocally identified with these chapels, but the survival of a Mass based on the Burgundian song L'Homme armé in the later Carver Choirbook may indicate that this was part of the Chapel Royal repertoire. James IV was said to be constantly accompanied by music, but very little surviving secular music can be unequivocally attributed to his court.[1] An entry in the accounts of the Lord Treasurer of Scotland indicates that when James IV was at Stirling on 17 April 1497, there was a payment "to twa fithalaris [fiddlers] that sang Greysteil to the king, ixs". Greysteil was an epic romance and the music survives, having been placed in a collection of lute airs in the seventeenth century.[26]

Popular music[edit]

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland the late Middle Ages. This includes the long list of songs given in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549). Many of the poems of this period were also originally songs, but for none has a notation of their music survived. Melodies have survived separately in the post-Reformation publication of The Gude and Godlie Ballatis (1567),[2] which were spiritual satires on popular songs, adapted and published by the brothers James, John and Robert Wedderburn.[27] The only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song".[2] Some surviving Scottish ballads may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century, including "Sir Patrick Spens" and "Thomas the Rhymer".[28] They remained an oral tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the eighteenth century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy to publish volumes of popular ballads.[29]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n J. R. Baxter, "Music, ecclesiastical", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 431–2.
  • ^ a b c d J. R. Baxter, "Culture: Renaissance and Reformation (1460–1560)", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 130–33.
  • ^ a b C. R. Borland, A Descriptive Catalogue of The Western Medieval Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (University of Edinburgh Press, 1916), p. xv.
  • ^ a b c A. Budgey, "Commeationis et affinitatis gratia: Medieval musical relations between Scotland and Ireland" in R. A. McDonald, History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700–1560 (University of Toronto Press, 2002), ISBN 0802036015, pp. 208–9.
  • ^ S. Harper, Music in Welsh Culture Before 1650: A Study of the Principal Sources (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), ISBN 0754652637, p. 36.
  • ^ a b J. R. Allen and J. Anderson, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland: (pts. 1 and 2) (Edinburgh, 1904), 1874012032, p. 1.
  • ^ H. Cheape, "Art, Highland", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-211696-7, pp. 29–31.
  • ^ D. Mackinnon, "I now have a book of songs of her writing" in E. Ewan and J. Nugent, eds, Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008), ISBN 0754660494, p. 43.
  • ^ K. Ralls-MacLeod, Music and the Celtic Otherworld: From Ireland to Iona (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), ISBN 1902930096, p. 57.
  • ^ E. Ewen, "'Hamperit in ane hony came': sights, sounds and smells in the Medieval town", in E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson, A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland: 1000 to 1600 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), ISBN 0748621571, p. 118.
  • ^ a b R. Crawford, Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), ISBN 019538623X.
  • ^ a b R. A. Houston, Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity: Illiteracy and Society in Scotland and Northern England, 1600–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), ISBN 0521890888, p. 76.
  • ^ K. M. Brown, Noble Society in Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture from the Reformation to the Revolutions (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), ISBN 0748612998, p. 220.
  • ^ J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 60–7.
  • ^ W. McLeod, Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland, C.1200-c.1650 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 0199247226, p. 102.
  • ^ a b R. McKitterick, C. T. Allmand, T. Reuter, D. Abulafia, P. Fouracre, J. Simon, C. Riley-Smith, M. Jones, eds, The New Cambridge Medieval History: C. 1415- C. 1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 319–25.
  • ^ a b D. O. Croinin, ed., Prehistoric and Early Ireland: Prehistoric and Early Ireland, vol I (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 798.
  • ^ D. Hiley, Western Plainchant: a Handbook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 483.
  • ^ E. Foley, M. Paul Bangert, Worship Music: a Concise Dictionary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), p. 273.
  • ^ a b J. P. Foggie, Renaissance Religion in Urban Scotland: The Dominican Order, 1450–1560 (BRILL, 2003), ISBN 9004129294, p. 101.
  • ^ a b K. Elliott and F. Rimmer, A History of Scottish Music (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), ISBN 0563121920, pp. 8–12.
  • ^ W. Lovelock, A Concise History of Music (New York NY: Frederick Ungar, 1953), p. 57.
  • ^ R. H. Fritze and W. B. Robison, Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272–1485 (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2002), ISBN 0313291241, p. 363.
  • ^ J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 58 and 118.
  • ^ M. Gosman, A. A. MacDonald, A. J. Vanderjagt and A. Vanderjagt, Princes and Princely Culture, 1450–1650 (Brill, 2003), ISBN 9004136908, p. 163.
  • ^ R. Chambers, Chambers Book of Days (The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character) (W. and R. Chambers, London and Edinburgh, 1864).
  • ^ J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, pp. 187–90.
  • ^ E. Lyle, Scottish Ballads (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2001), ISBN 0-86241-477-6, pp. 9–10.
  • ^ "Popular Ballads" The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (Broadview Press, 2006), ISBN 1551116111, pp. 610–17.

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