page_title: Court music in Scotland
section_title: Early Modern Era
hierarchical_section_title: Court music in Scotland / Early Modern Era
context_page_description: Court music in Scotland is all music associated with the Royal Court of Scotland, between its origins in the tenth century, until its effective dissolution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the Union of Crowns 1603 and Acts of Union 1707.
  Sources for Ireland suggest that there would have been filidh in early Medieval Scotland, who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king. At least from the accession of David I a less highly regarded order of bards took over their functions. They probably accompanied their poetry on the harp and harpists are recorded in the reign of Alexander III. James I may have introduced English and continental styles and musicians to the Scottish court. James III's founded a new large hexagonal Chapel Royal at Restalrig near Holyrood and lutenists began to appear in the royal household accounts from this point. James IV refounded the Chapel Royal within Stirling Castle and is said to be constantly accompanied by music.
  Scotland followed the trend of Renaissance courts for instrumental accompaniment and playing.
context_section_description: Scotland followed the trend of Renaissance courts for instrumental accompaniment and playing. James V was a talented lute player and introduced French chansons and consorts of viols to his court, although almost nothing of this secular chamber music survives. The first indication of the use of viols is an entry in the Treasurer's accounts for 1535 for the making of viols. By 1538 there were four viol players in the household, dressed in red and yellow liveries. They were led by Jacques Collumbell, who seems to have been brought to Scotland to train the newly formed consort. James V's household contained two dozen musicians, including trumpeters, drummers and string players. These included Thomas de Avarencia, whose services were begged from the Duke of Milan.
  The outstanding Scottish composer of the first half of the sixteenth century was Robert Carver (c. 1488-1558), a canon of Scone Abbey. His complex polyphonic music could only have been performed by a large and highly trained choir such as the one employed in the Scottish Chapel Royal. James V was also a patron to figures including David Peebles (c. 1510–79?), whose best known work "Si quis diligit me" (text from John 14:23), is a motet for four voices. These were probably only two of many accomplished composers from this era, whose work has largely only survived in fragments. Also known to be active in this period is John Fethy (c. 1480-c. 1568), who introduced the new five-fingered organ playing technique to the country and was Precentor or Chanter of the Chapel Royal from 1545-66.
  Regent Arran, who ruled from 1543 to 1554, employed trumpeters and four viol players, and was entertained by a fool called Robesoun. The return of Mary, Queen of Scots from France in 1561 to begin her personal reign, and her position as a Catholic, gave a new lease of life to the choir of the Chapel Royal, but the destruction of Scottish church organs meant that instrumentation to accompany the mass had to employ bands of musicians with trumpets, drums, fifes, bagpipes and tabors. Like her father she played the lute and virginals, while unlike her father she was a fine singer. She brought French musical influences with her, employing lutenists and viol players in her household. She had a stand of musicians for singing part works. These included French, Italian and English musicians. Among these was David Rizzio, later her private secretary until his murder in 1566. Her marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in 1565 has the first references to members of the English Hudson family, with at least five members, who would be violers and singers at the court of James VI. Other named musicians included Scotsman James Lauder (b. c. 1535), who had studied music in France and returned with the queen from France. He later served her in her imprisonment in England, as did his illegitimate son John Lauder, who played the bass viol.
  James VI (r. 1566-1625) was a major patron of the arts in general. He rebuilt the Chapel Royal at Stirling in 1594 and the choir was used for state occasions like the baptism of his son Henry. He followed the tradition of employing lutenists for his private entertainment, as did other members of his family. He inherited a number of musicians from his mother's court, including James Lauder and members of the Hudson family. Robert Hudson became treasurer of the Chapel Royal in 1587 before retiring to Dunfermline about 1593. Thomas Hudson was an important member of the Castalian Band of poets that gathered around the king and became Master of the Chapel Royal in 1586. William Hudson acted as the young king's dancing master in 1579, indicating that dance music like the pavan and galliards, common in the English Court, had reached Scotland. James Hudson moved on to being an envoy, travelling for the king to London and back. No music can be unequivocally attributed to the family, but several later pieces may be reworkings of their compositions. John Norlie was appointed in their place in 1599.
  James VI also employed trumpeters, and one was given new clothes to serve on the ship,
caption: A 1564 portrait of David Rizzio, who arrived at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots as a musician
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