Text a from the history of english music

Like every other country, Britain has rich musical traditions.

The earliest surviving English song is said to be “Summer is Coming in”, written at Reading Abbey, supposedly by John of Fornsete, about 1240. It is an important document in the history not only of English but also European music, since it is the earliest extant composition in six simultaneous vocal parts and is the earliest extant example of the art of canon. Almost two centuries later the next landmark was made – the work of John Dunstable (d. 1453) and Leonel Power (d. 1445), who were much admired abroad as well as in England. Manuscripts of their works have been found in France and Italy. They wrote a great deal of church music. Several English kings were skilled musicians. They fostered the art of music through the Chapel Royal, dating from the 12th century, in which most of the country's best musicians found employment.

The music of that period reached its height in the Masses and other choral works of John Taverner (d. 1545).

The second half of the 16th century is the so-called Elizabethan Period – after Queen Elizabeth I who reigned from 1558 to 1603. The Queen herself played the virginal. The period was called the Golden Age of English music (and not only music, but literature as well: let us recall that William Shakespeare wrote his famous plays at that time). John Marbeck, Thomas Tallis, Christopher Туе and William Byrd wrote church music. Marbeck, who was a Protestant, adapted the melodies of the Roman Catholic liturgy to the accents of the English liturgical text, and Tallis was among those who harmonized Marbeck's melodies. Tallis’ own Masses and other church music have been overshadowed by those of his pupil and friend, William Byrd. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth granted the two composers jointly the right to print music in England. During that period of religious strife in England, Byrd was spared persecution because of his musical genius and was favoured by Queen Elisabeth in spite of his Roman Catholic faith (which did not prevent him from writing English as well as Latin church music).

In Byrd's time – instrumental and secular vocal music became more widely cultivated. In addition to church music Byrd wrote chamber music for stringed instruments and keyboard music. He was one of the first in England to write madrigals, solo songs and fantasies. His followers in these genres were Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, John Wilbye and Orlando Gibbons. The supreme master of the solo song with lute accompaniment was John Dowland, and of keyboard music John Bull.

The reign of the Puritans probably had the effect of slowing down the development of music in England, but the Restoration brought a new stimulus. Charles II (1660 – 1685) started an orchestra on the French model and revived the Chapel Royal, in which such brilliant composers as Pelham Humfrey and Henry Purcell received their musical training.

The important form in English art in the middle decades of the 17th century, however, was the masque. Music was second to spectacle in this art, but it paved the way for the opera proper.

Henry Purcell was the first English composer to gain international fame. Among his masterpieces were church anthems, secular odes and cantatas for state and ceremonial occasions, violin sonatas, harpsichord suites, and a set of fantasies for viols. During Pircell's life public concerts were started in England.