Uses the rare depictions of musical instruments and musical sources found on the Eglantine Table to understand the musical life of the Elizabethan age and its connection to aspects of culture now treated as separate disciplines ofhistorical study. The reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) has often been regarded as the Golden Age of English music. Many works of high quality, both vocal and instrumental, were composed and performed by native and immigrant musicians, while balladry and minstrelsy flourished in hall, street and alehouse.
No single source of the sixteenth century presents this rich musical culture more vividly than the inlaid surface of the Eglantine Table. This astonishing piece of furniture was made in the late 1560s for the family of Elizabeth or 'Bess' of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury (1527-1608). The upper surface bears a wealth of marquetry that depicts, amidst the briar roses and other plants, numerous Elizabethan musical instruments in exquisite detail together with open books or scrolls of music with legible notation. Given that depictions of musical instruments and musical sources are rare in all artistic media of the Elizabethan period, the Eglantine Table is a very important resource for understanding the musical life of the age and its connection to aspects of culture now treated separately in disciplines such as art history, social and political history or the study of material culture.
This volume assembles a group of leading scholars in the history of instruments and associated fields to ground future research upon the most expert assessment of the depicted instruments, the music and the decorative imagery that is currently attainable. A final section of the book takes a broad view, placing the Table and the musical components of its decoration in relation to the full range of Elizabethan musical life.
By:
Michael Middeke
Edited by:
Michael Fleming (Royalty Account),
Christopher Page
Imprint: The Boydell Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 240mm,
Width: 170mm,
Spine: 31mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9781783274215
ISBN 10: 1783274212
Pages: 309
Publication Date: 16 April 2021
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Foreword Acknowledgements Note to the Reader Abbreviations Introducing the Eglantine Table The Table: models and artistic context Botany, the Table and Hardwick New Hall The playing cards and gaming boards The writing implements The music in staff notation The book of lute tablature 'A full and lively pourtraiture': The Table as evidence for Tudor musical instruments The bowed instruments and bows The gittern or guitar The cittern The lute The harp The wind instruments The Table and the music of the 1560s Pipers, Fiddlers and the Musical Lives of the Majority Tables of the Mind Appendix 1: The renovation of the Eglantine Table by Tankerdale Ltd, 1996 Appendix 2: The Table in the context of furnishings in Bess of Hardwick's houses Glossary List of Contributors Select Bibliography Index
MICHAEL FLEMING focused his instrument-making career principally on viols and was awarded a PhD by the Open University in 2001 for his research into English viol-making. Since 2005 he has produced the leading international journal of organology, The Galpin Society Journal, and he was Chair of the Viola da Gamba Society from 1997-2017. His recent publications include Early English Viols: Instruments, Makers and Music (Routledge, 2017), co-authored with John Bryan. CHRISTOPHER PAGE is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Academia Europaea, Emeritus Professor of English in the University of Cambridge and from October 2014 until May 2018 was Gresham Professor of Music at Gresham College, London (founded 1597). An Emeritus Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, he holds the Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association awarded for outstanding services to musicology.
Reviews for Music and Instruments of the Elizabethan Age: The Eglantine Table
The book is beautifully produced [...] copiously illustrated throughout [...] the book represents a major contribution to knowledge of the cultural history of England during the early years of Elizabeth I's reign. * JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SOCIETY * It is a delight to see an entire book devoted to this one item from myriad viewpoints. -- JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES
