MELODIOUS DIVERSIONS

 

Music was always in the background as patrons enjoyed thier favorite pastimes in renaissance England. Renaissance singers, musicians, and composers used music to enhance theatre, poetry, sacred acts of worship, and sometimes for pure musical entertainment. New instruments were developed to create a fuller and more diverse sound. The innovation and dissemination of printed broadsides allowed for more people to have access to printed music. While ingenuity may have allowed for more people to have access to different types of music, renaissance England’s music culture still saw heavy class divisions. Edward Lowinsky, in his article, Music in the Culture of the Renaissance, comments, “…each institution served a different social function…this difference of function was responsible for the difference of musical forms and styles,” (Lowinsky 521). Further exploration of this site will offer a more in depth analysis of the function of church music, masques, and ballads. To the right: woodcut of Lady Music surrounded by various types of musicians

 

In his ballad "Pastime with Good Company" (below) Henry VIII expresses the joy of sharing in his favorite leisure activities with the company of those around him. This site will continue to explore ballads, masques, and church music as an escape for renaissance England, as well as give an analysis of what types of "company" participated in musical artforms.

 

PASTIME WITH GOOD COMPANY

Pastime with good company I love, and shall until I die;
Grudge who lill but none deny so this live will I
For my pastance, hunt sing and dance; My heart is set,
All goodly sport, to my comfort, who shall me let?

Youth must have some dalliance, of good or ill some pastance;
Company me thinketh best allthoughts and fancies to digest;
For idleness is chief mistress of vices all:
Then who can say but mirth and play is best of all?

Company with honesty is virtue sure; and vice to flee,
Company is good or ill, but every man has his free will.
The best I sue, the worst eschew; My mind shall be
Virtue to use, vice to refuse, I shall use me.

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Whose company do you desire to escape with? Would you like to...

Sing a ballad with the commoners?

See a masque with the courtiers?

Or go to church?

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