The current UK Collaboration of the Fortnight is Classical music of the United Kingdom. Every fortnight a different UK-related topic, stub or non-existent article is picked. Please read the nomination text and improve the article any way you can.

This article, Classical music of the United Kingdom, includes a history of the form and discussion of its most notable composers and musicians. Well known composers such as Edward Elgar, Vaughan Williams and John Williams were all from the British Isles. The United Kingdom also has a history of orchestras and venues. Image File history File links Uk_flag_large. ... Jump to: navigation, search A composer is a person who writes music. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... Sir Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 â€“ 23 February 1934) was an English composer, born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann. ... Ralph Vaughan Williams (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was an influential British composer. ... There have been a number of noteworthy men named John Williams: John Williams (actor) (1903-1983), actor John Williams (archer) American archer and Olympic gold medallist John Williams (author) (1922-), wrote historical novel Augustus John Williams (accordionist), Chicago-born accordion player John Williams (archbishop) (1582-1650), archbishop John Williams (composer... The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and a number of much smaller surrounding islands. ... Jump to: navigation, search Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Orchestra at City Hall (Edmonton). ...

Music before 1500

The earliest surviving piece of composed music in the UK is the setting of the folk song "Sumer Is Icumen In" ("Summer is a-coming in"), sometimes known as the Reading rota because the manuscript comes from Reading Abbey, although it was not necessarily written there. Its composer is anonymous, possibly W. de Wycombe, and it is estimated to date from around 1260. It is notable for its elaborate six-part structure for such an early piece. Jump to: navigation, search Sumer Is Icumen In is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. ... Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in Reading, Berkshire, founded by Henry I in 1121 for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors. // History... W. de Wycombe (Wicumbe, and perhaps Whichbury) (late 13th century) was an English composer and copyist of the Medieval era. ...

In the fourteenth century, the Franciscan friar Simon Tunsted is believed to have been one of the music theorists who influenced the "Ars Nova"—the movement which freed European music from its earlier restricted styles. He is generally credited with the authorship of "Quatuor Principalia Musicae": a treatise on musical composition. Jump to: navigation, search The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ... The ars nova was a stylistic period in music of the Late Middle Ages, centered in France, which encompassed the period from the publication of the Roman de Fauvel (1310 and 1314) until the death of Machaut (1377). ...

In the fifteenth century, John Dunstable was England's most celebrated composer. Nearly all his manuscript music in England was lost during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but some of his works have been reconstructed from copies found in continental Europe, particularly in Italy. The existence of these copies is testament to his widespread fame within Europe. John Dunstable or Dunstaple (c. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Dissolution of the Monasteries (referred to by Roman Catholic writers as the Suppression of the Monasteries) was poo the formal process, taking place between 1538 and 1541, by which King Henry VIII confiscated the property of the Roman Catholic monastic institutions in England and took...

John Hothby (ca. 1410–1487), was an English Carmelite monk, who travelled widely and left little composed music but wrote several theoretical treatises (eg La Calliopea legale), and is credited with introducing innovations to the mediaeval pitch system. These allowed the introduction of additional chromatic pitches into the scales (what we would think of as the black notes of the piano keyboard). The Order of Our Lady of Mt. ...

Music of the 16th and early 17th centuries

In the early 16th century, Henry VIII was a keen patron of music. He played various instruments himself and an inventory, taken after his death in 1547, reveals that he owned a large collection, including 78 recorders. He is sometimes credited with compositions, including the part-song Passetyme With Good Companye but, although it is likely that he learnt the rudiments of composition, no music has been unequivocally attributed to him. Jump to: navigation, search Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Various recorders The recorder is a flute-like woodwind musical instrument. ...

The 16th century was the period of composition of some of Europe's greatest polyphonic choral music and, in Britain, the works of Thomas Tallis stand amongst the best. His Spem In Alium is a magnificent motet for 40 independent voices—an amazing polyphonic tour-de-force which is almost without parallel. His legacy also includes the harmonised versions of the plainsong responses of the English church service, still in use by the Church of England. Jump to: navigation, search Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (c 30 January 1505–23 November 1585) was an English composer. ... Spem in Alium is a forty-part motet composition by Thomas Tallis. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...

During this period, music printing (technically more complex than the printing of text) became possible. Although Britain was not leading the music printing revolution, a collection of songs was published in England in 1530 and A forme of Prayers (with music) was published in Edinburgh in 1564. Elizabeth I granted the monopoly of music publishing to Tallis and his pupil William Byrd which has ensured that their works were widely distributed and have survived in various editions, but arguably limited the potential for music publishing in Britain. Byrd wrote church music and instrumental music for viols and keyboard, as well as being one of the founders of madrigal composition. Jump to: navigation, search Edinburghs location in Scotland Edinburgh viewed from Arthurs Seat. ... Jump to: navigation, search Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... Jump to: navigation, search William Byrd William Byrd (1540? – July 4, 1623) was one of the most bitchin ass hoe composers in the Renaissance. ... Jump to: navigation, search Various sizes of viol, from Michael Praetorius Syntagma musicum (1618) The viol or viola da gamba family of musical instruments is related to the vihuela, rebec, etc. ... Jump to: navigation, search A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played with a musical keyboard. ... Jump to: navigation, search A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ...

The English madrigal (based on a form of music imported from Italy) reached its peak with composers such as Thomas Morley, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Campian, and Thomas Tomkins. A collection of 29 madrigals, edited by Thomas Morley and entitled The Triumphs of Oriana was published in 1603 in honour of Queen Elizabeth. Jump to: navigation, search Thomas Morley (1557 or 1558 – October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, editor and organist of the Renaissance, and the foremost member of the English Madrigal School. ... Jump to: navigation, search John Dowland (pronounced to rhyme with Roland) (1563 – February 20, 1626) was an English, possibly Irish-born composer, singer, and lutenist. ... Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons (baptised December 25, 1583 – June 5, 1625) was an English composer and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. ... Thomas Campion, sometimes Campian (February 12, 1567 – March 1, 1620) was an English composer, poet and physician. ... Thomas Tomkins (1572 – June 9, 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. ... One of the books that Thomas Morley, a Renaissance composer, printed and put together was The Triumphs of Oriana. ... Jump to: navigation, search Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ...

The Civil War and Commonwealth period (1642-1660)

During much of this period, church music was prohibited (except for the singing of Psalms) and the theatres were closed. This stifled much of the musical creativity which had blossomed during the previous era. Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ...