Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/149

 service on the Continent, even when the existence of good English compositions was but slightly known.

Whether or not at the opening of the 15th century true counterpoint was first invented by Englishmen and by them handed over to the industrious Netherlanders may be a question. But in the 16th century England deserves credit for much progress peculiarly her own. She seems to have led the way in writing for keyboard instruments. Her development of counterpoint early in the century was distinct from that of the later Netherlanders or their disciples, and quite as remarkable. In the remodeling of styles under the influence of Protestantism she made an original combination of polyphony with the new materials of Protestant liturgies. The English cultivation of the madrigal and its relatives was also strikingly original.

The pre-Reformation period ended under Henry VIII. (1509-47) with his impulsive break with Rome about 1535 and the suppression of the monasteries and religious houses in 1536-40. An outbreak of iconoclastic zeal against the old order followed, which wrought havoc in choir-libraries and organs and which condemned all elaborate service-music. Then came, especially under Edward VI. (1547-53), the first steps in the full organization of the Anglican Church, with the drafting of new liturgies in English. Under Mary (1553-8) the old usages were somewhat revived. During the long reign of Elizabeth (1558-1603) sacred music again became notable in connection with the new Prayer Book, leading to contrapuntal achievements of remarkable power. The encouragement then given brought out a long line of talented madrigalists which continued into the troubled time of the first Stuarts.

The number of early composers known is large, among whom the following may be mentioned:—

Henry Abyngton (d. 1497), organist at Wells in 1447, Mus. D. at Cambridge in 1463, Master of the Chapel Royal from 1465; Gilbert Banastir, Master of the Chapel in 1482-1509; Richard Davy, organist at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1490, who is said to have written the earliest Passion known; Robert Fayrfax (d. 1529), the leading genius of the earliest group, Mus. D. at Cambridge in 1501 and at Oxford in 1511, Master of the Chapel from 1510, later organist at St. Alban's; Nicholas Ludford, probably in the Chapel about 1510-20; and John Taverner, organist at Boston till 1530 and then at Oxford, who was one of the few to write a mass on a secular melody after the Netherland style. Hugh Aston (d. 1522), probably in the service of the Countess of Richmond, later Archdeacon of York, is known by instrumental pieces (before 1510) that are the first of the kind anywhere. Henry VIII. (d. 1547) was not only a patron of music, but played on several instruments and composed masses, motets and ballads (probably before 1530).