page_title: Early music of the British Isles
section_title: Henry VIII and James V
hierarchical_section_title: Early music of the British Isles / Renaissance c. 1450–c. 1660 / Henry VIII and James V
context_page_description: Early music of the British Isles, from the earliest recorded times until the beginnings of the Baroque in the 17th century, was a diverse and rich culture, including sacred and secular music and ranging from the popular to the elite. Each of the major nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales retained unique forms of music and of instrumentation, but British music was highly influenced by continental developments, while British composers made an important contribution to many of the major movements in early music in Europe, including the polyphony of the Ars Nova and laid some of the foundations of later national and international classical music. Musicians from the British Isles also developed some distinctive forms of music, including Celtic chant, the Contenance Angloise, the rota, polyphonic votive antiphons and the carol in the medieval era and English madrigals, lute ayres and masques in the Renaissance era, which would lead to the development of English language opera at the height of the Baroque in the 18th century.
context_section_description: Henry VIII and James V were both enthusiastic patrons of music. Henry (1491–1547) played various instruments, of which he had a large collection, including, at his death, seventy eight recorders. He is sometimes credited with compositions, including the part-song 'Pastime with Good Company'. In the early part of his reign and his marriage to Catherine of Aragon secular court music focused around an emphasis on courtly love, probably acquired from the Burgundian court, result in compositions like William Cornysh's (1465–1515) 'Yow and I and Amyas'. Among the most eminent musicians of Henry VIII's reign was John Taverner (1490–1545), organist of the College founded at Oxford by Thomas Wolsey from 1526–1530. His principal works include masses, magnificats and motets, of which the most famous is 'Dum Transisset Sabbatum'. Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–85) took polyphonic composition to new heights with works like his 'Spem in alium', a motet for forty independent voices. In Scotland James V (1512–42) had a similar interest in music. A talented lute player he introduced French chansons and consorts of viols to his court and was patron to composers such as David Peebles (c. 1510–1579?).
caption: Henry VIII of England
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