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KING JOHN TO EDWARD I. |
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in some verses of Robert de Brunne, who flourished about the beginning of the next century, to have been very fond of the metre and music of the Minstrels. The good prelate had written a poem in the Romanse language, called Manuel Peche, the translation- of which into English, Robert de Brunne commenced in 1302, with a design, as he tells us himself, that it should be sung to the harp at public entertainments."
For Iewde [unlearned] men I undertoke That talys and rymys wyl blithly here, In Englysshe tunge to make thys boke, Yn gamys and festya, and at the ale For many ben of swyche manere Love men to listene trofevale. [triviality]
The following anecdote concerning the love which his author, bishop Grosteste, had for music, seems to merit a place here, though related in rude rhymes.
I shall yow telle as I have herde " The vertu of the Harpe, thurgh
Of the bysshope Seynt Eoberdc, [through] skylle and ryght,
Hys toname [surname] is Grostest " Wyll destrye the fendys [fiends] myght;
Of Lynkolne, so seyth the gest, " And to the Oros by gode skylle
He loved moche to here the Harpe, " Is the Harpe ylykened weyh
For mannes wytte it makyth sharpe. " Tharefore, gode men, ye shall lere, [learn]
Next hys chaumbre, besyde his study, "Whan ye any Gleman here,
Hys Harper's chaumbre was fast therby. " To wurschep God at your powere,
Many tymes, by nightes and dayes, " As Davyd seyth in the Sautere. [Psalter]
He had solace of notes and layes, ". In harpe and tabour and 'sy mphan* gle
One askede hym the resun why " Wurschep God : in trumpes and sautre,
He hadde delyte in Mynstralsy ? " In cordes, in organes, and bells ringyng:
He answerde hym on thys manere " In all these wurschepe the hevene
Why he helde the Harpe so dere: Kyng, &c."
Before entering on the reign of Edward I., I quit the Minstrels for awhile, to endeavour to trace the progress of music up to that period. It will be necessary to begin with the old Church Scales, it having been asserted that all national music is constructed upon them—an assertion that I shall presently endeavour to confute; and by avoiding, as far as possible, all obsolete technical, as well as Greek terms, which render the old treatises on Music so troublesome a study, I hope to convey such a knowledge of those scales as will answer the purpose of such general readers as possess only a slight knowledge of music. |
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CHAPTER H.
Music of the Middle Ages.—Music in England to the end of the Thirteenth Century.
During the middle ages Music was always ranked, as now, among the seven liberal arts, these forming the Trivium and Quadriviam, and studied by all those in Europe who aspired at reputation for learning. The Trivium comprised Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic; the Quadrivium comprehended Music, |
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• Either part-singing, or the instrument called the symphony. |
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