Misplaced Pages

#592407

165-589: Modern ethnicities Throughout the history of the British Isles , the land that is now the United Kingdom has been a major music producer, drawing inspiration from church music and traditional folk music , using instruments from England , Scotland , Northern Ireland , and Wales . Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has its own diverse and distinctive folk music forms, which flourished until

330-685: A seconda prattica (an innovative practice involving monodic style and freedom in treatment of dissonance, both justified by the expressive setting of texts) during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In the late 16th century, as the Renaissance era closed, an extremely manneristic style developed. In secular music, especially in the madrigal , there was a trend towards complexity and even extreme chromaticism (as exemplified in madrigals of Luzzaschi , Marenzio , and Gesualdo ). The term mannerism derives from art history. Beginning in Florence , there

495-512: A British-American collaboration, with trans-Atlantic genres being exchanged and exported to one another, where they tended to be adapted and turned into new movements. Britain's most significant contribution to popular music during the 20th century was towards the expansion of rock music . Progressive rock was predicated on the "progressive" pop groups from the 1960s who combined rock and roll with various other music styles such as Indian ragas , oriental melodies and Gregorian chants , like

660-496: A cappella, predominantly light in style, and generally began as either copies or direct translations of Italian models. Most were for three to six voices. Musica reservata is either a style or a performance practice in a cappella vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusivity, and intense emotional expression of sung text. The cultivation of European music in

825-634: A catastrophe. Cottiers (or farm labourers) were largely wiped out during what is known in Ireland as the " Great Hunger ". A significant minority elected Unionists , who championed the Union. A Church of Ireland former Tory barrister turned nationalist campaigner, Isaac Butt , established a new moderate nationalist movement, the Home Rule League , in the 1870s. After Butt's death the Home Rule Movement, or

990-460: A constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies in 1824. British merchants and financiers, and later railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations. The Whig Party recovered its strength and unity by supporting moral reforms, especially the reform of the electoral system, the abolition of slavery and emancipation of

1155-459: A far lesser role than his father, George III. His governments, with little help from the king, presided over victory in the Napoleonic Wars, negotiated the peace settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed. His brother William IV ruled (1830–37), but was little involved in politics. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour

1320-519: A few decades later in about 1476, the Flemish composer and music theorist Tinctoris reaffirmed the powerful influence Dunstaple had, stressing the "new art" that Dunstaple had inspired. Tinctoris hailed Dunstaple as the fons et origo of the style, its "wellspring and origin." The contenance angloise , while not defined by Martin le Franc, was probably a reference to Dunstaple's stylistic trait of using full triadic harmony (three note chords), along with

1485-732: A formal Empire based on British rule as well as an informal one based on the British pound. One nagging fear was the possible collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It was well understood that a collapse of that country would set off a scramble for its territory and possibly plunge Britain into war. To head that off Britain sought to keep the Russians from occupying Constantinople and taking over the Bosporous Strait , as well as from threatening India via Afghanistan . In 1853, Britain and France intervened in

1650-807: A great victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 (news took several weeks to cross the Atlantic before the advent of steam ships). The Treaty of Ghent subsequently ended the war with no territorial changes. It was the last war between Britain and the United States. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As industrialisation progressed, society changed, becoming more urban and less rural. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. Europe after 1815

1815-528: A harp. Having long been subordinate to English culture, Welsh musicians in the late 20th century had to reconstruct traditional music when a roots revival began. This revival began in the late 1970s and achieved some mainstream success in the UK in the 1980s with performers like Robin Huw Bowen , Moniars and Gwerinos. In the sense of commercial music enjoyed by the people, British popular music can be seen to originate in

SECTION 10

#1732870153593

1980-638: A liking for the interval of the third . Assuming that he had been on the continent with the Duke of Bedford, Dunstaple would have been introduced to French fauxbourdon ; borrowing some of the sonorities, he created elegant harmonies in his own music using thirds and sixths (an example of a third interval is the notes C and E; an example of a sixth interval is the notes C and A). Taken together, these are seen as defining characteristics of early Renaissance music. Many of these traits may have originated in England, taking root in

2145-700: A long and diverse history of folk music dating back at least to the medieval period and including many forms of music, song and dance. Through three periods of revival from the late nineteenth century much of the tradition has been preserved and continues to be practiced. It led to the creation of a number of fusions with other forms of music that produced subgenres such as British folk rock , folk punk and folk metal and continues to thrive nationally and in regional scenes, particularly in areas such as Northumbria and Cornwall . Ireland , including Northern Ireland, has vibrant folk traditions. The popularity of traditional instruments such as fiddles has remained throughout

2310-667: A navy to rival Britain's. Ever since Britain had wrested control of the Cape Colony from the Netherlands during the Napoleonic Wars , it had co-existed with Dutch settlers who had migrated further away from the Cape and created two republics of their own. The British imperial vision called for control over these new countries, and the Dutch-speaking "Boers" (or "Afrikaners") fought back in

2475-619: A new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society. In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in the Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . The government purchased the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar islands. Prime Ministers of the period included: William Pitt

2640-564: A prescriptive weight that overspecifies and distorts its original openness". Renaissance compositions were notated only in individual parts; scores were extremely rare, and barlines were not used. Note values were generally larger than are in use today; the primary unit of beat was the semibreve , or whole note . As had been the case since the Ars Nova (see Medieval music ), there could be either two or three of these for each breve (a double-whole note), which may be looked on as equivalent to

2805-515: A renewed feeling of optimism in the United Kingdom following the pessimistic tone of the 1970s and 1980s. The electronic subgenres trip hop , dubstep , and industrial originated in Britain during the 1990s. During the 21st century, blue-eyed soul came to be dominated by British singers, including Amy Winehouse , Duffy and most notably Adele , who has broken several sales and chart records. Adele has won more Grammy Awards than any other woman who

2970-478: A result of the increased use of paper (rather than vellum ), as the weaker paper was less able to withstand the scratching required to fill in solid noteheads; notation of previous times, written on vellum, had been black. Other colors, and later, filled-in notes, were used routinely as well, mainly to enforce the aforementioned imperfections or alterations and to call for other temporary rhythmical changes. Accidentals (e.g. added sharps, flats and naturals that change

3135-472: A sharp decline. The new Labour party , whose leader Ramsay MacDonald led two minority governments, swiftly became the Conservatives ' main opposition, and Britain's largest party of the left. King Edward VIII succeeded his father George V in January 1936, but was not allowed by the government to marry Wallis Simpson , a divorcee. In December, he abdicated in order to marry Simpson. His brother George VI

3300-462: A singer versed in counterpoint." (See musica ficta .) A singer would interpret his or her part by figuring cadential formulas with other parts in mind, and when singing together, musicians would avoid parallel octaves and parallel fifths or alter their cadential parts in light of decisions by other musicians. It is through contemporary tablatures for various plucked instruments that we have gained much information about which accidentals were performed by

3465-448: A solo instrument such as the lute, vihuela, harp, or keyboard. Such arrangements were called intabulations (It. intavolatura , Ger. Intabulierung ). Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of opera such as monody , the madrigal comedy , and the intermedio are heard. According to Margaret Bent : "Renaissance notation is under-prescriptive by our [modern] standards; when translated into modern form it acquires

SECTION 20

#1732870153593

3630-490: A texture dominated by the highest voice; the other two voices, unsupplied with text, were probably played by instruments. Du Fay was one of the last composers to make use of late-medieval polyphonic structural techniques such as isorhythm , and one of the first to employ the more mellifluous harmonies, phrasing and melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance. His compositions within the larger genres (masses, motets and chansons) are mostly similar to each other; his renown

3795-532: A time "when elaborate ceremonial practices emerged among some communities of subsistence agriculturalists of western Europe". As its name suggests, the British Iron Age is also characterised by the adoption of iron , a metal which was used to produce a variety of different tools, ornaments and weapons. In the course of the first millennium BC, and possibly earlier, some combination of trans-cultural diffusion and immigration from continental Europe resulted in

3960-857: A time when there was no sea barrier between Britain and Europe, but there was between Britain and Ireland. There were almost complete population replacements by migrations from the Continent at the start of the Neolithic around 4,100 BC and the Bronze Age around 2,500 BC. Later migrations contributed to the political and cultural fabric of the islands and the transition from tribal societies to feudal ones at different times in different regions. England and Scotland were sovereign kingdoms until 1603, and then legally separate under one monarch until 1707, when they united as one kingdom. Wales and Ireland were composed of several independent kingdoms with shifting boundaries until

4125-491: A variety of other sacred works. John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453) was an English composer of polyphonic music of the late medieval era and early Renaissance periods. He was one of the most famous composers active in the early 15th century, a near-contemporary of Power, and was widely influential, not only in England but on the continent, especially in the developing style of the Burgundian School . Dunstaple's influence on

4290-524: A vehicle for personal expression. Composers found ways to make vocal music more expressive of the texts they were setting. Secular music absorbed techniques from sacred music , and vice versa. Popular secular forms such as the chanson and madrigal spread throughout Europe. Courts employed virtuoso performers, both singers and instrumentalists. Music also became more self-sufficient with its availability in printed form, existing for its own sake. Precursor versions of many familiar modern instruments (including

4455-884: A volunteer army, the only great power in Europe to have no conscription. Some questioned whether the country was overstretched. The rise of the German Empire since its creation in 1871 posed a new challenge, for it (along with the United States), threatened to usurp Britain's place as the world's foremost industrial power. Germany acquired a number of colonies in Africa and the Pacific, but Chancellor Otto von Bismarck succeeded in achieving general peace through his balance of power strategy. When William II became emperor in 1888, he discarded Bismarck, began using bellicose language, and planned to build

4620-578: A wide variety of monuments in the landscape, many of which were megalithic in nature. The earliest of these are the chambered tombs of the Early Neolithic, although in the Late Neolithic this form of monumentalisation was replaced by the construction of stone circles , a trend that would continue into the following Bronze Age . These constructions are taken to reflect ideological changes, with new ideas about religion, ritual and social hierarchy. In

4785-505: Is an American form of music, British pop group Bee Gees were the most prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s, and came be to known as the " Kings of Disco " by media outlets. The Second British Invasion , which derived from the British Invasion of the US in the 1960s, consisted of music acts from the United Kingdom that became popular in the United States during

4950-545: Is best known for his well-written melodies, and for his use of three themes: travel, God and sex . Gilles Binchois ( c.  1400 –1460) was a Dutch composer, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian school and one of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century. While often ranked behind his contemporaries Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstaple by contemporary scholars, his works were still cited, borrowed and used as source material after his death. Binchois

5115-409: Is considered to be a fine melodist, writing carefully shaped lines which are easy to sing and memorable. His tunes appeared in copies decades after his death and were often used as sources for mass composition by later composers. Most of his music, even his sacred music, is simple and clear in outline, sometimes even ascetic (monk-like). A greater contrast between Binchois and the extreme complexity of

Music of the United Kingdom - Misplaced Pages Continue

5280-409: Is largely due to what was perceived as his perfect control of the forms in which he worked, as well as his gift for memorable and singable melody. During the 15th century, he was universally regarded as the greatest composer of his time, an opinion that has largely survived to the present day. During the 16th century, Josquin des Prez ( c.  1450/1455  – 27 August 1521) gradually acquired

5445-481: Is widely associated with David Bowie . Rolling Stone argued that the Sex Pistols , a prominent punk rock band, came to spark and personify one of the few truly critical moments in pop culture—the rise of punk during the 1970s. Music historian Vernon Joynson claimed that new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. Gothic rock emerged from post-punk in

5610-425: The ars subtilior of the prior (fourteenth) century would be hard to imagine. Most of his secular songs are rondeaux , which became the most common song form during the century. He rarely wrote in strophic form , and his melodies are generally independent of the rhyme scheme of the verses they are set to. Binchois wrote music for the court, secular songs of love and chivalry that met the expectations and satisfied

5775-616: The Allied forces in opposition to the Axis forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy . For the first time, civilians were not exempt from the war, as London suffered nightly bombings during the Blitz . Much of London was destroyed, with 1,400,245 buildings destroyed or damaged. The only part of the British Isles to be occupied by enemy forces were the Channel Islands. At the war's end in 1945, however,

5940-628: The Anglican Church . A campaign by the lawyer Daniel O'Connell , and the death of George III, led to the concession of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, allowing Roman Catholics to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. But Catholic Emancipation was not O'Connell's ultimate goal, which was Repeal of the Act of Union with Great Britain. On 1 January 1843 O'Connell confidently, but wrongly, declared that Repeal would be achieved that year. When potato blight hit

6105-560: The Auld Alliance with France. In 1296, England invaded Scotland, but in the following year William Wallace defeated the English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge . However, King Edward I of England came north to defeat Wallace himself at the Battle of Falkirk . In 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath , seen as an important document in the development of Scottish national identity, led to

6270-496: The Baroque , but for further explanation of this transition, see antiphon , concertato , monody , madrigal , and opera, as well as the works given under "Sources and further reading." Many instruments originated during the Renaissance; others were variations of, or improvements upon, instruments that had existed previously. Some have survived to the present day; others have disappeared, only to be recreated in order to perform music of

6435-529: The Counter-Reformation in the florid counterpoint of Palestrina ( c.  1525 –1594) and the Roman School . Music was increasingly freed from medieval constraints, and more variety was permitted in range, rhythm, harmony, form, and notation. On the other hand, rules of counterpoint became more constrained, particularly with regard to treatment of dissonances . In the Renaissance, music became

6600-548: The Crimean War against Russia. Despite mediocre generalship, they managed to capture the Russian port of Sevastopol , compelling Tsar Nicholas I to ask for peace. It was a frustrating war with very high casualty rates—the iconic hero was Florence Nightingale . The next Russo-Ottoman war in 1877 led to another European intervention, although this time at the negotiating table. The Congress of Berlin blocked Russia from imposing

6765-585: The First World War by declaring war on Germany . Nearly a million Britons were killed in the war, which lasted until Germany's surrender on 11 November 1918. Home Rule in Ireland, which had been a major political issue since the late 19th century but put on hold by the war, was somewhat resolved after the Irish War of Independence brought the British Government to a stalemate in 1922. Negotiations led to

Music of the United Kingdom - Misplaced Pages Continue

6930-620: The Irish Parliamentary Party as it had become known, was turned into a major political force under the guidance of William Shaw and a radical young Protestant landowner, Charles Stewart Parnell . Parnell's movement campaigned for "Home Rule", by which they meant that Ireland would govern itself as a region within Great Britain. Two Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893) were introduced by Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone , but neither became law, mainly due to opposition from

7095-494: The Low Countries , along with a flourishing system of music education in the area's many churches and cathedrals allowed the training of large numbers of singers, instrumentalists, and composers. These musicians were highly sought throughout Europe, particularly in Italy, where churches and aristocratic courts hired them as composers, performers, and teachers. Since the printing press made it easier to disseminate printed music, by

7260-658: The Menai Strait and massacred the druids and burnt their sacred groves. At the moment of triumph, news came of the Boudican revolt in East Anglia . The suppression of the Boudican revolt was followed by a period of expansion of the Roman province, including the subjugation of south Wales. Between 77 and 83 AD the new governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola led a series of campaigns which enlarged

7425-734: The Parliament of Ireland . Before the Constitution of 1782 , the Irish parliament was also severely fettered , and decisions in Irish courts could be overturned on appeal to the British House of Lords in London. The Anglo-Irish ruling class gained a degree of independence in the 1780s thanks to Henry Grattan . During this time the effects of the penal laws on the primarily Roman Catholic population were reduced, and some property-owning Catholics were granted

7590-546: The Roman Empire . On Nero 's accession Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum ( Lincoln ). Gaius Suetonius Paulinus , the conqueror of Mauretania (modern-day Algeria and Morocco ), then became governor of Britain , where he spent most of his governorship campaigning in Wales. Eventually in 60 AD he penned up the last resistance and the last of the druids in the island of Mona ( Anglesey ). Paulinus led his army across

7755-656: The Treaty of Union , the Scottish Enlightenment and the formation of the First British Empire . The Kingdom of Ireland was a settler state; the monarch was the incumbent monarch of England and later of Great Britain. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland headed the government on behalf of the monarch. He was assisted by the Chief Secretary of Ireland . Both were responsible to the government in London rather than to

7920-545: The War in 1899–1902 . Outgunned by a mighty empire, the Boers waged a guerrilla war (which certain other British territories would later employ to attain independence). This gave the British regulars a difficult fight, but their weight of numbers, superior equipment, and often brutal tactics, eventually brought about a British victory. The war had been costly in human rights and was widely criticised by Liberals in Britain and worldwide. However,

8085-415: The cornett and sackbut , and the tabor and tambourine . At the beginning of the 16th century, instruments were considered to be less important than voices. They were used for dances and to accompany vocal music. Instrumental music remained subordinated to vocal music, and much of its repertory was in varying ways derived from or dependent on vocal models. Various kinds of organs were commonly used in

8250-675: The early music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods and the development of fully fledged and formalised orchestral classical music in the second half of the eighteenth century, was characterised by more elaborate musical ornamentation, changes in musical notation , new instrumental playing techniques and the rise of new genres such as opera . Although the term Baroque is conventionally used for European music from about 1600, its full effects were not felt in Britain until after 1660, delayed by native trends and developments in music, religious and cultural differences from many European countries and

8415-413: The formes fixes ( rondeau , ballade, and virelai), which dominated secular European music of the 14th and 15th centuries. He also wrote a handful of Italian ballate , almost certainly while he was in Italy. As is the case with his motets, many of the songs were written for specific occasions, and many are datable, thus supplying useful biographical information. Most of his songs are for three voices, using

SECTION 50

#1732870153593

8580-583: The lute song . Mixed forms such as the motet-chanson and the secular motet also appeared. Purely instrumental music included consort music for recorders or viols and other instruments, and dances for various ensembles. Common instrumental genres were the toccata , prelude , ricercar , and canzona . Dances played by instrumental ensembles (or sometimes sung) included the basse danse (It. bassadanza ), tourdion , saltarello , pavane , galliard , allemande , courante , bransle , canarie , piva , and lavolta . Music of many genres could be arranged for

8745-497: The ordinary of the mass which were thematically unified and intended for contiguous performance. The Old Hall Manuscript contains his mass based on the Marian antiphon , Alma Redemptoris Mater , in which the antiphon is stated literally in the tenor voice in each movement, without melodic ornaments. This is the only cyclic setting of the mass ordinary which can be attributed to him. He wrote mass cycles, fragments, and single movements and

8910-509: The polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school . The invention of the printing press in 1439 made it cheaper and easier to distribute music and music theory texts on a wider geographic scale and to more people. Prior to the invention of printing, written music and music theory texts had to be hand-copied, a time-consuming and expensive process. Demand for music as entertainment and as a leisure activity for educated amateurs increased with

9075-579: 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. Church music and religious music were profoundly affected by the Protestant Reformation which affected Britain from

9240-446: The triangle , the Jew's harp, the tambourine, the bells, cymbals , the rumble-pot, and various kinds of drums. Woodwind instruments (aerophones) produce sound by means of a vibrating column of air within the pipe. Holes along the pipe allow the player to control the length of the column of air, and hence the pitch. There are several ways of making the air column vibrate, and these ways define

9405-498: The 14th century, with highly independent voices (both in vocal music and in instrumental music). The beginning of the 15th century showed simplification, with the composers often striving for smoothness in the melodic parts. This was possible because of a greatly increased vocal range in music – in the Middle Ages, the narrow range made necessary frequent crossing of parts, thus requiring a greater contrast between them to distinguish

9570-597: The 16th century, which curtailed events associated with British music and forced the development of distinctive national music, worship and belief. English madrigals , lute ayres and masques in the Renaissance era led particularly to English language opera developed in the early Baroque period of the later seventeenth century. In contrast, court music of the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, although having unique elements remained much more integrated into wider European culture. The Baroque era in music, between

9735-503: The 1930s, the influence of American Jazz led to the creation of British dance bands , who provided a social and popular music that began to dominate social occasions and the radio airwaves. Britain has influenced popular music disproportionately to its size, due to its linguistic and cultural links with many countries, particularly the United States and many of its former colonies like Australia, South Africa, and Canada, and its capacity for invention, innovation and fusion, which has led to

9900-408: The 1970s. Renaissance music The period may be roughly subdivided, with an early period corresponding to the career of Guillaume Du Fay ( c.  1397 –1474) and the cultivation of cantilena style, a middle dominated by Franco-Flemish School and the four-part textures favored by Johannes Ockeghem (1410s or '20s–1497) and Josquin des Prez (late 1450s–1521), and culminating during

10065-416: The 20th century, influences from the music of the United States , including blues, jazz, and rock and roll , were adopted in the United Kingdom. The " British Invasion "—spearheaded by Liverpool band the Beatles , often regarded as the most influential band of all time —saw British rock bands become highly influential around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. Pop music, a term which originated in Britain in

SECTION 60

#1732870153593

10230-435: The 5th century. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed and, through wars with British states, gradually came to cover the territory of present-day England. Scotland was divided between the Picts , Dál Riata , the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Angles. Around 600, seven principal kingdoms had emerged, beginning the so-called period of the Heptarchy . During that period, the Anglo-Saxon states were Christianised (the conversion of

10395-564: The Americas began in the 16th century soon after the arrival of the Spanish, and the conquest of Mexico. Although fashioned in European style, uniquely Mexican hybrid works based on native Mexican language and European musical practice appeared very early. Musical practices in New Spain continually coincided with European tendencies throughout the subsequent Baroque and Classical music periods. Among these New World composers were Hernando Franco , Antonio de Salazar , and Manuel de Zumaya . In addition, writers since 1932 have observed what they call

10560-429: The Baroque era. The main characteristics of Renaissance music are: The development of polyphony produced the notable changes in musical instruments that mark the Renaissance from the Middle Ages musically. Its use encouraged the use of larger ensembles and demanded sets of instruments that would blend together across the whole vocal range. As in the other arts, the music of the period was significantly influenced by

10725-441: The Basilica San Marco di Venezia (see Venetian School ). These multiple revolutions spread over Europe in the next several decades, beginning in Germany and then moving to Spain, France, and England somewhat later, demarcating the beginning of what we now know as the Baroque musical era. The Roman School was a group of composers of predominantly church music in Rome, spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Many of

10890-423: The Beatles and the Yardbirds . According to AllMusic , the emergence of psychedelic rock in the mid-1960s resulted from British bands who made up the British Invasion of the US market. Many of the top British bands during the 1960s experienced art school during their youth, and espoused an approach based on art and originality—which came to create art rock . As a diverging act to the popular pop rock of

11055-533: The British Isles saw the region's first known habitation by early hominids, specifically the extinct Homo heidelbergensis . This period saw many changes in the environment, encompassing several glacial and interglacial episodes greatly affecting human settlement in the region. Providing dating for this distant period is difficult and contentious. The inhabitants of the region at this time were bands of hunter-gatherers who roamed Northern Europe following herds of animals, or who supported themselves by fishing. One of

11220-470: The British Isles, the Bronze Age saw the transformation of British and Irish society and landscape. It saw the adoption of agriculture, as communities gave up their hunter-gatherer modes of existence to begin farming. During the British Bronze Age, large megalithic monuments similar to those from the Late Neolithic continued to be constructed or modified, including such sites as Avebury , Stonehenge , Silbury Hill and Must Farm . This has been described as

11385-419: The British navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe. The Duke of Wellington argued that an outright victory over the U.S. was impossible because the Americans controlled the western Great Lakes and had destroyed the power of Britain's Indian allies. A full-scale British invasion was defeated in upstate New York. Peace was agreed to at the end of 1814, but unaware of this, Andrew Jackson won

11550-428: The British ones had begun much earlier). In the 9th century, Vikings from Scandinavia conquered most of England and the Scots and Picts were combined to form the Kingdom of Alba . Only the Kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great survived and even managed to re-conquer and unify England for much of the 10th century, before a new series of Danish raids in the late 10th century and early 11th century culminated in

11715-530: The Burgundian School around the middle of the century. Because numerous copies of Dunstaple's works have been found in Italian and German manuscripts, his fame across Europe must have been widespread. Of the works attributed to him only about fifty survive, among which are two complete masses, three connected mass sections, fourteen individual mass sections, twelve complete isorhythmic motets and seven settings of Marian antiphons , such as Alma redemptoris Mater and Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae . Dunstaple

11880-694: The Catholics. Catholic emancipation was secured in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform. They made Lord Grey prime minister 1830–1834, and the Reform Act of 1832 became their signature measure. It broadened the franchise and ended the system of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed power on

12045-626: The Conservative Party and the House of Lords . The issue was a source of contention throughout Ireland, as a significant majority of Unionists (largely based in Ulster ), opposed Home Rule, fearing that a Catholic Nationalist ("Rome Rule") Parliament in Dublin would discriminate against them, impose Roman Catholic doctrine, and impose tariffs on industry. While most of Ireland was primarily agricultural, six of

12210-420: The Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. A central event in American history, it was little noticed in Britain, where all attention was focused on the struggle with France. The British could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. American frigates also inflicted a series of embarrassing defeats on

12375-552: The Napoleonic Wars, whereas France's armies exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into the French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with

12540-716: The Norman elite to many positions of authority, building a system of castles across the country and ordering a census of his new kingdom, the Domesday Book . The Late Medieval period was characterized by many battles between England and France, coming to a head in the Hundred Years' War from which France emerged victorious. The English monarchs throughout the Late Medieval period belonged to the houses of Plantagenet, Lancaster, and York. Under John Balliol, in 1295, Scotland entered into

12705-543: The People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ruling class saw the movement as dangerous, so the Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as

12870-524: The Renaissance period, were masses and motets , with some other developments towards the end of the era, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular (non-religious) musical forms (such as the madrigal ) for religious use. The 15th and 16th century masses had two kinds of sources that were used: monophonic (a single melody line) and polyphonic (multiple, independent melodic lines), with two main forms of elaboration, based on cantus firmus practice or, beginning some time around 1500,

13035-410: The Renaissance, from large church organs to small portatives and reed organs called regals . Brass instruments in the Renaissance were traditionally played by professionals. Some of the more common brass instruments that were played: As a family, strings were used in many circumstances, both sacred and secular. A few members of this family include: Some Renaissance percussion instruments include

13200-437: The Renaissance, including masses, motets, madrigals, chansons, accompanied songs, instrumental dances, and many others. Beginning in the late 20th century, numerous early music ensembles were formed. Ensembles specializing in music of the Renaissance era give concert tours and make recordings, using modern reproductions of historical instruments and using singing and performing styles which musicologists believe were used during

13365-646: The South Asian diaspora. History of the British Isles The history of the British Isles began with its sporadic human habitation during the Palaeolithic from around 900,000 years ago. The British Isles has been continually occupied since the early Holocene , the current geological epoch , which started around 11,700 years ago. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers migrated from the Continent soon afterwards at

13530-480: The U.K. emerged as one of the victorious nations. Winston Churchill , who had been leader of the wartime coalition government, suffered a surprising landslide defeat to Clement Attlee 's Labour party in 1945 elections. Attlee created a Welfare State in Britain, which most notably provided free healthcare under the National Health Service . On the international stage, the second half of the 20th century

13695-417: The UK's biggest girl group and one of the best-selling girl groups in the world. Highlighting the influence of immigrants in the United Kingdom during the 21st century, British African-Caribbean people created grime , Afrobeats , and afroswing . Grime has been described as the "most significant musical development within the UK for decades." In addition, British Asians have popularised Bhangra within

13860-530: The United Kingdom in the late 1970s by bands including Siouxsie and the Banshees , Joy Division , Bauhaus , and the Cure . Other subgenres of rock invented by or radically changed by British acts include blues rock , ska , British folk rock , folk punk , shoegaze , and Britpop . In addition to advancing the scope of rock music, British acts developed avant-funk and neo soul and created acid jazz . Whilst disco

14025-421: The United Kingdom inherited European classical traditions of the eighteenth century (above all, in Britain, from the example of Handel) and saw a great expansion during the nineteenth century. Romantic nationalism encouraged clear national identities and sensibilities within the countries of the United Kingdom towards the end of the nineteenth century, producing many composers and musicians of note and drawing on

14190-678: The United States gave its support. The Boer republics were merged into the Union of South Africa in 1910; this had internal self-government, but its foreign policy was controlled by London and it was an integral part of the British Empire. Part of the agreement which led to the 1800 Act of Union stipulated that the Penal Laws in Ireland were to be repealed and Catholic emancipation granted. However King George III blocked emancipation, arguing that to grant it would break his coronation oath to defend

14355-619: The Victorian period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of the Reform Act 1832 . The era was preceded by the Regency era and succeeded by the Edwardian period . Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power, with

14520-590: The Younger , Lord Grenville , Duke of Portland , Spencer Perceval , Lord Liverpool , George Canning , Lord Goderich , Duke of Wellington , Lord Grey , Lord Melbourne , and Sir Robert Peel . The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901 which signified the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire . Scholars debate whether

14685-401: The adoption of agriculture and sedentary living . To make room for the new farmland, these early agricultural communities undertook mass deforestation across the islands, dramatically and permanently transforming the landscape. At the same time, new types of stone tools requiring more skill began to be produced; new technologies included polishing. The Neolithic also saw the construction of

14850-462: The basis of population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry, and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class, which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, the great majority of manual workers, clerks, and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. The aristocracy continued to dominate

15015-416: The centuries even as analogues in Great Britain died out. Perhaps the most famous modern musician from Northern Ireland influenced by folk tradition is Van Morrison . Scottish folk music includes many kinds of songs, including ballads and laments , sung by a single singer with accompaniment by bagpipes , fiddles or harps . Traditional dances include waltzes , reels , strathspeys and jigs . Alongside

15180-668: The colonies temporarily refused to join the Dominion despite pressure from both Canada and Britain; the last one, Newfoundland , held out until 1949. The second half of the 19th century saw a huge expansion of Britain's colonial empire, mostly in Africa . A talk of the Union Jack flying "from Cairo to Cape Town" only became a reality at the end of the Great War . Having possessions on six continents, Britain had to defend all of its empire and did so with

15345-565: The composers had a direct connection to the Vatican and the papal chapel, though they worked at several churches; stylistically they are often contrasted with the Venetian School of composers, a concurrent movement which was much more progressive. By far the most famous composer of the Roman School is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. While best known as a prolific composer of masses and motets, he

15510-425: The continent's musical vocabulary was enormous, particularly considering the relative paucity of his (attributable) works. He was recognized for possessing something never heard before in music of the Burgundian School : la contenance angloise ("the English countenance"), a term used by the poet Martin le Franc in his Le Champion des Dames. Le Franc added that the style influenced Dufay and Binchois . Writing

15675-519: The counties in Ulster were the location of heavy industry and would be affected by any tariff barriers imposed. Queen Victoria , who had reigned since 1837, died in 1901 and was succeeded by her son, Edward VII , who, in turn, was succeeded by his son, George V , when he died in 1910. The British Empire flourished but there was a bitterly fought Second Boer War in South Africa . In 1914, Britain entered

15840-399: The creation of ballad opera , to produce an indigenous tradition. However, arguably the most significant British composer of the era, George Frideric Handel , was a naturalised German, who helped integrate British and continental music and define the future of the classical music of the United Kingdom that would be officially formed in 1801. Musical composition, performance and training in

16005-455: The development of, or participation in, many of the major trends in popular music. Forms of popular music, including folk music , jazz , rapping / hip hop , pop and rock music , have particularly flourished in Britain since the twentieth century. In the early-20th century, influences from the United States became most dominant in popular music, with young performers producing their own versions of American music, including rock n' roll from

16170-463: The developments which define the Early Modern period: the rise of humanistic thought; the recovery of the literary and artistic heritage of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome ; increased innovation and discovery; the growth of commercial enterprises; the rise of a bourgeois class; and the Protestant Reformation . From this changing society emerged a common, unifying musical language, in particular,

16335-420: The different parts. The modal (as opposed to tonal , also known as "musical key", an approach developed in the subsequent Baroque music era, c. 1600–1750) characteristics of Renaissance music began to break down towards the end of the period with the increased use of root motions of fifths or fourths (see the " circle of fifths " for details). An example of a chord progression in which the chord roots move by

16500-756: The disruption to court music caused by the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Interregnum . Under the restored Stuart monarchy the court became once again a centre of musical patronage, but royal interest in music tended to be less significant as the seventeenth century progressed, to be revived again under the House of Hanover . British chamber and orchestral music drew inspiration from continental Europe as it developed into modern classical music . The Baroque era in British music can be seen as an interaction of national and international trends, sometimes absorbing continental fashions and practices and sometimes attempting, as in

16665-572: The earliest indisputably acknowledged languages spoken in the British Isles belonged to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family it is not known what language these early farming people spoke. These migrants brought new ideas, leading to a radical transformation of society and landscape that has been called the Neolithic Revolution . The Neolithic period in the British Isles was characterised by

16830-478: The early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, heavier-driven sound that came to define hard rock . Heavy metal was created by British musicians, including acts like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple . Glam rock , which was developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup , and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter —this

16995-461: The early-to-mid 1980s primarily due to the cable music channel MTV . These synthpop and new wave associated acts often featured on the American pop charts, and according to Rolling Stone , brought "revolution in sound and style". New Pop became an umbrella term used by the music industry to describe young, mostly British, androgynous , and technologically oriented artists such as Culture Club and Eurythmics . Boy George of Culture Club

17160-440: The emergence of a bourgeois class. Dissemination of chansons , motets , and masses throughout Europe coincided with the unification of polyphonic practice into the fluid style which culminated in the second half of the sixteenth century in the work of composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , Orlande de Lassus , Thomas Tallis , William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria . Relative political stability and prosperity in

17325-549: The end of the 16th century, Italy had absorbed the northern musical influences with Venice , Rome, and other cities becoming centers of musical activity. This reversed the situation from a hundred years earlier. Opera, a dramatic staged genre in which singers are accompanied by instruments, arose at this time in Florence. Opera was developed as a deliberate attempt to resurrect the music of ancient Greece. Principal liturgical (church-based) musical forms, which remained in use throughout

17490-684: The era of industrialisation when they began to be replaced by new forms of popular music, including music hall and brass bands . Many British musicians have influenced modern music on a global scale, and the UK has one of the world's largest music industries . English , Scottish , Irish , and Welsh folk music as well as other British styles of music heavily influenced American music such as American folk music , American march music , old-time , ragtime , blues , country , and bluegrass . The UK has birthed many popular music genres such as beat music , psychedelic music , progressive rock / pop , heavy metal , new wave , and industrial music . In

17655-572: The era. One of the most pronounced features of early Renaissance European art music was the increasing reliance on the interval of the third and its inversion, the sixth (in the Middle Ages , thirds and sixths had been considered dissonances, and only perfect intervals were treated as consonances: the perfect fourth the perfect fifth , the octave , and the unison ). Polyphony  – the use of multiple, independent melodic lines, performed simultaneously – became increasingly elaborate throughout

17820-508: The establishment of Celtic languages in the islands, eventually giving rise to the Insular Celtic group. What languages were spoken in the islands before is unknown, though they are assumed to have been Pre-Indo-European . In 55 and 54 BC, the Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar launched two separate invasions of the British Isles, though neither resulted in a full Roman occupation of the island. In 43 AD, southern Britain became part of

17985-699: The folk tradition. These traditions, including the cultural strands drawn from the United Kingdom's constituent nations and provinces, continued to evolve in distinctive ways through the work of such composers as Arthur Sullivan , Gustav Holst , Edward Elgar , Hubert Parry , Ralph Vaughan Williams , Benjamin Britten , Michael Tippett , Peter Maxwell Davies and Harrison Birtwistle . Notable living British classical composers include Michael Nyman , James MacMillan , Jeremy Peyton Jones, Gavin Bryars , Andrew Poppy , Judith Weir , Sally Beamish and Anna Meredith . Each of

18150-559: The formation of the Irish Free State . However, in order to appease Unionists in the north, the north-eastern six counties remained as part of the U.K., forming Northern Ireland with its own Parliament at Stormont in Belfast. Liberals were in power for much of the early 20th century under Prime Ministers Campbell-Bannerman , Asquith and Lloyd George . After 1914, the Liberal party suffered

18315-487: The four countries of the United Kingdom has its own diverse and distinctive folk music forms. Folk music flourished until the era of industrialisation when it began to be replaced by new forms of popular music, including music hall and brass bands . Realisation of this led to three folk revivals , one in the late-19th century, one in the mid-20th century and one at the start of the 21st century which keeps folk music as an important sub-culture within society. England has

18480-561: The franchise in 1794; however, they were still excluded from becoming members of the Irish House of Commons . This brief period of limited independence came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which occurred during the British war with revolutionary France . The British government's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite

18645-480: The government, the Army and Royal Navy, and high society. After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833. Chartism emerged after the 1832 Reform Bill failed to give the vote to the working class. Activists denounced the "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued

18810-476: The harmonization used a technique of parallel writing known as fauxbourdon , as in the following example, a setting of the Marian antiphon Ave maris stella . Du Fay may have been the first composer to use the term "fauxbourdon" for this simpler compositional style, prominent in 15th-century liturgical music in general and that of the Burgundian school in particular. Most of Du Fay's secular (non-religious) songs follow

18975-671: The harsh Treaty of San Stefano on the Ottoman Empire. Despite its alliance with the French in the Crimean War, Britain viewed the Second Empire of Napoleon III with some distrust, especially as the emperor constructed ironclad warships and began returning France to a more active foreign policy. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), British leaders favoured the Confederacy, a major source of cotton for textile mills. Prince Albert

19140-702: The institution of slavery, there was no possibility of European intervention. The British sold arms to both sides, built blockade runners for a lucrative trade with the Confederacy, and surreptitiously allowed warships to be built for the Confederacy. The warships caused a major diplomatic row that was resolved in the Alabama Claims in 1872, in the Americans' favour. In 1867, Britain united most of its North American colonies as Canada , giving it self-government and responsibility for its own defence, but Canada did not have an independent foreign policy until 1931. Several of

19305-420: The interval of a fourth would be the chord progression, in the key of C Major: "D minor/G Major/C Major" (these are all triads; three-note chords). The movement from the D minor chord to the G Major chord is an interval of a perfect fourth. The movement from the G Major chord to the C Major chord is also an interval of a perfect fourth. This later developed into one of the defining characteristics of tonality during

19470-619: The introduction of steam ships, railroads, photography, and the telegraph. Britain again remained mostly inactive in Continental politics. The Great London Exhibition of 1851 clearly demonstrated Britain's dominance in engineering and industry; that lasted until the rise of the United States and Germany in the 1890s. Using the imperial tools of free trade and financial investment, it exerted major influence on many countries outside Europe, especially in Latin America and Asia. Thus Britain had both

19635-480: The island in 1846, much of the rural population was left without food, because cash crops were being exported to pay rents. British politicians such as the Prime Minister Robert Peel were at this time wedded to the economic policy of laissez-faire , which argued against state intervention. While funds were raised by private individuals and charities, lack of adequate action let the problem become

19800-459: The late 1950s and developing a parallel music scene. During the early 1960s, the British Invasion , led by the Beatles , further entrenched British performers as major drivers of the development of pop and rock music . According to the website of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , the term " pop music " "originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock and roll and

19965-530: The level of the breve–semibreve relationship, "perfect/imperfect prolation" at the level of the semibreve–minim, and existed in all possible combinations with each other. Three-to-one was called "perfect," and two-to-one "imperfect." Rules existed also whereby single notes could be halved or doubled in value ("imperfected" or "altered," respectively) when preceded or followed by other certain notes. Notes with black noteheads (such as quarter notes ) occurred less often. This development of white mensural notation may be

20130-410: The lower parts; all of his sacred music is vocal. Instruments may have been used to reinforce the voices in actual performance for almost any of his works. Seven complete masses, 28 individual mass movements, 15 settings of chant used in mass propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (six of them Marian antiphons ), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 of these isorhythmic in

20295-538: The major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of Britain. In 1806, Napoleon set up the Continental System to end British trade with French-controlled territories. However Britain had great industrial capacity and mastery of the seas. It built up economic strength through trade and the Continental System

20460-568: The medieval period. The British monarch was head of state of all of the countries of the British Isles from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 until the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act in 1949. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic , also known as the Old and Middle Stone Ages, were characterised by a hunter-gatherer society and a reliance on stone tool technologies. The Lower Palaeolithic period in

20625-470: The mid-15th century. Du Fay composed in most of the common forms of the day, including masses , motets , Magnificats , hymns , simple chant settings in fauxbourdon , and antiphons within the area of sacred music, and rondeaux , ballades , virelais and a few other chanson types within the realm of secular music. None of his surviving music is specifically instrumental, although instruments were certainly used for some of his secular music, especially for

20790-400: The mid-1950s as a description for " rock and roll and the new youth music styles that it influenced", was developed by British artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones , whom among other British musicians led rock and roll's transition into rock music. Music in the British Isles, from the earliest recorded times until the Baroque and the rise of recognisably modern classical music ,

20955-491: The modern "measure," though it was itself a note value and a measure is not. The situation can be considered this way: it is the same as the rule by which in modern music a quarter-note may equal either two eighth-notes or three, which would be written as a "triplet." By the same reckoning, there could be two or three of the next smallest note, the "minim," (equivalent to the modern "half note") to each semibreve. These different permutations were called "perfect/imperfect tempus" at

21120-482: The more angular, austere 14th-century style which gave way to more melodic, sensuous treble-dominated part-writing with phrases ending in the "under-third" cadence in Du Fay's youth) and 87 chansons definitely by him have survived. Many of Du Fay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, probably as substitutes for the unadorned chant, and can be seen as chant harmonizations. Often

21285-409: The most combined success in the UK album and singles charts in the 2010s. Globally, Spotify named Sheeran the second most streamed artist of the decade. London formed English-Irish pop boy band One Direction were one of the biggest teen idols of the 2010s. Little Mix , a pop girl group and the winner of the eight series of the British version of The X Factor , established themselves as

21450-735: The most prominent archaeological sites dating to this period is that of Boxgrove Quarry in West Sussex, southern England . By the Mesolithic, Homo sapiens , or modern humans, were the only hominid species to still survive in the British Isles. There was then limited occupation by Ahrensburgian hunter gatherers, but this came to an end when there was a final downturn in temperature which lasted from around 9,400 to 9,200 BC. Mesolithic people occupied Britain by around 9,000 BC, and it has been occupied ever since. By 8000 BC temperatures were higher than today, and birch woodlands spread rapidly, but there

21615-406: The new style of "pervasive imitation", in which composers would write music in which the different voices or parts would imitate the melodic and/or rhythmic motifs performed by other voices or parts. Several main types of masses were used: Masses were normally titled by the source from which they borrowed. Cantus firmus mass uses the same monophonic melody, usually drawn from chant and usually in

21780-443: The new youth music styles that it influenced". The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pop's "earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience [...] since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the special meaning of non-classical mus[ic], usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones , ABBA [a Swedish act], etc." Since then, rock music and popular music contributed to

21945-461: The notes) were not always specified, somewhat as in certain fingering notations for guitar-family instruments ( tablatures ) today. However, Renaissance musicians would have been highly trained in dyadic counterpoint and thus possessed this and other information necessary to read a score correctly, even if the accidentals were not written in. As such, "what modern notation requires [accidentals] would then have been perfectly apparent without notation to

22110-488: The original practitioners. For information on specific theorists, see Johannes Tinctoris , Franchinus Gaffurius , Heinrich Glarean , Pietro Aron , Nicola Vicentino , Tomás de Santa María , Gioseffo Zarlino , Vicente Lusitano , Vincenzo Galilei , Giovanni Artusi , Johannes Nucius , and Pietro Cerone . The key composers from the early Renaissance era also wrote in a late Medieval style, and as such, they are transitional figures. Leonel Power (c. 1370s or 1380s–1445)

22275-632: The other areas of the United Kingdom, Scotland underwent a roots revival in the 1960s. Cathy-Ann McPhee and Jeannie Robertson were the heroes of this revival, which inspired some revolutions in band formats by groups like The Clutha , The Whistlebinkies, The Boys of the Lough and the Incredible String Band . Wales is a Celtic country that features folk music played at twmpathau (communal dances) and gwyl werin ( music festivals ). Welsh music also includes male voice choirs and songs accompanied by

22440-543: The period on authentic instruments. As in the modern day, instruments may be classified as brass, strings, percussion, and woodwind. Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self-accompanied with a drone, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut (loud, shrill, outdoor instruments) and bas (quieter, more intimate instruments). Only two groups of instruments could play freely in both types of ensembles:

22605-611: The preceding Medieval era, and probably a rich store of popular music of the late Middle Ages is lost. Secular music was music that was independent of churches. The main types were the German Lied , Italian frottola , the French chanson , the Italian madrigal , and the Spanish villancico . Other secular vocal genres included the caccia , rondeau , virelai , bergerette , ballade , musique mesurée , canzonetta , villanella , villotta , and

22770-461: The province significantly, taking in north Wales, northern Britain, and most of Caledonia (Scotland). The Celts fought with determination and resilience, but faced a superior, professional army, and it is likely that between 100,000 and 250,000 may have perished in the conquest period. The Early medieval period saw a series of invasions of Britain by the Germanic -speaking Saxons , beginning in

22935-761: The recognition of Scottish independence by major European dynasties. In 1328, the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton with England recognised Scottish independence under Robert the Bruce . Major historical events in the early modern period include the English Renaissance , the English Reformation and Scottish Reformation , the English Civil War , the Restoration of Charles II , the Glorious Revolution ,

23100-544: The reputation as the greatest composer of the age, his mastery of technique and expression universally imitated and admired. Writers as diverse as Baldassare Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his reputation and fame. In Venice , from about 1530 until around 1600, an impressive polychoral style developed, which gave Europe some of the grandest, most sonorous music composed up until that time, with multiple choirs of singers, brass and strings in different spatial locations in

23265-511: The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the arrival of the broadside ballad , which were sold cheaply and in great numbers until the nineteenth century. Further technological, economic and social changes led to new forms of music in the 20th century, including the brass band , which produced a popular and communal form of classical music. Similarly, the music hall sprang up to cater for the entertainment of new urban societies, adapting existing forms of music to produce popular songs and acts. In

23430-593: The sound of instrumental ensembles. During the 15th century, the sound of full triads became common, and towards the end of the 16th century the system of church modes began to break down entirely, giving way to functional tonality (the system in which songs and pieces are based on musical "keys"), which would dominate Western art music for the next three centuries. From the Renaissance era, notated secular and sacred music survives in quantity, including vocal and instrumental works and mixed vocal/instrumental works. A wide range of musical styles and genres flourished during

23595-519: The taste of the Dukes of Burgundy who employed him, and evidently loved his music accordingly. About half of his extant secular music is found in the Oxford Bodleian Library. Guillaume Du Fay ( c.  1397 –1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. The central figure in the Burgundian School , he was regarded by his contemporaries as the leading composer in Europe in

23760-413: The tenor and most often in longer note values than the other voices. Other sacred genres were the madrigale spirituale and the laude . During the period, secular (non-religious) music had an increasing distribution, with a wide variety of forms, but one must be cautious about assuming an explosion in variety: since printing made music more widely available, much more has survived from this era than from

23925-414: The two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated for with Catholic Emancipation , i.e. by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland. However, King George III

24090-408: The violin, guitar, lute and keyboard instruments) developed into new forms during the Renaissance. These instruments were modified to respond to the evolution of musical ideas, and they presented new possibilities for composers and musicians to explore. Early forms of modern woodwind and brass instruments like the bassoon and trombone also appeared, extending the range of sonic color and increasing

24255-600: The wholesale subjugation of England to Denmark under Sweyn Forkbeard and Canute the Great . Danish rule was overthrown and the local House of Wessex was restored to power under Edward the Confessor for about two decades until his death in 1066. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy claimed the English throne and invaded England. He defeated King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings . Proclaiming himself to be King William I, he strengthened his regime by appointing loyal members of

24420-444: Was a cold spell around 6,200 BC which lasted about 150 years. The British Isles were linked to continental Europe by a territory named Doggerland . The plains of Doggerland were thought to have finally been submerged around 6500 to 6000 BC, but recent evidence suggests that the bridge may have lasted until between 5800 and 5400 BC, and possibly as late as 3800 BC. Around 4000 BC migrants began arriving from central Europe. Although

24585-426: 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 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

24750-779: Was a leading figure in the new romantic movement which became a major part in the Second British Invasion of the US. British rock bands, most notably Def Leppard and Iron Maiden , also became part of the renewed popularity of British music. Newsweek magazine ran an issue which featured Scottish singer Annie Lennox of Eurythmics and Boy George on the cover of its issue with the caption Britain Rocks America ;– Again , while Rolling Stone would release an "England Swings: Great Britain invades America's music and style. Again." issue in November 1983. Pop-star George Michael

24915-545: Was also an important madrigalist. His ability to bring together the functional needs of the Catholic Church with the prevailing musical styles during the Counter-Reformation period gave him his enduring fame. The brief but intense flowering of the musical madrigal in England, mostly from 1588 to 1627, along with the composers who produced them, is known as the English Madrigal School . The English madrigals were

25080-401: Was an English composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance music eras. Along with John Dunstaple , he was one of the major figures in English music in the early 15th century. Power is the composer best represented in the Old Hall Manuscript , one of the only undamaged sources of English music from the early 15th century. He was one of the first composers to set separate movements of

25245-437: Was an attempt to revive the dramatic and musical forms of Ancient Greece, through the means of monody , a form of declaimed music over a simple accompaniment; a more extreme contrast with the preceding polyphonic style would be hard to find; this was also, at least at the outset, a secular trend. These musicians were known as the Florentine Camerata . We have already noted some of the musical developments that helped to usher in

25410-410: Was being driven back in the east by the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned, but when he escaped back into France in 1815, the British and their allies had to fight him again. The armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once and for all at Waterloo. Simultaneous with

25575-423: Was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his government's attempts to introduce it. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806) provided strong leadership in London. Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions, the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796. After a short peace, in May 1803, war

25740-414: Was born outside the US. This wave of popular British soul singers led to a consideration of whether a third British Invasion was taking place—this time a soul invasion —in contrast to the 1960s rock and pop , and 1980s new wave and synthpop invasions . English singer Ed Sheeran was the foremost folk -orientated artist of the 2010s; the Official Charts Company named him artist of the decade, with

25905-414: Was crowned king. In order to avoid another European conflict, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attempted to appease German Chancellor Adolf Hitler , who was expanding his country's territory across Central Europe. Despite proclaiming that he has achieved "peace for our time", Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, following Hitler's invasion of Poland two days earlier. The U.K. thus joined

26070-408: Was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy. In 1805 Lord Nelson's fleet decisively defeated the French and Spanish at Trafalgar , ending any hopes Napoleon had to wrest control of the oceans away from the British. The British Army remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of

26235-529: Was dominated by the Cold War between the Soviet Union and its socialist allies and the United States and its capitalist allies; the U.K. was a key supporter of the latter, joining the anti-Soviet military alliance NATO in 1949. During this period, the U.K. fought in the Korean War (1950–1953). The Cold War shaped world affairs until victory was achieved in 1989. The major parties largely agreed on foreign and domestic policy—except nationalization of some industries—in an era of Post-war consensus that lasted into

26400-423: Was effective in defusing a war scare in late 1861 . The British people, however, who depended heavily on American food imports, generally favoured the Union. What little cotton was available came from New York, as the blockade by the US Navy shut down 95% of Southern exports to Britain. In September 1862, Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation . Since support of the Confederacy now meant supporting

26565-435: Was largely ineffective. As Napoleon realized that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia, he invaded those two countries. He tied down his forces in Spain, and lost very badly in Russia in 1812. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington and his army of British and Portuguese gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon

26730-474: Was on guard against a return of Jacobinism, and even liberal Britain saw the passage of the Six Acts in 1819, which proscribed radical activities. By the end of the 1820s, along with a general economic recovery, many of these repressive laws were repealed and in 1828 new legislation guaranteed the civil rights of religious dissenters. A weak ruler as regent (1811–1820) and king (1820–1830), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs, playing

26895-410: Was one of the first to compose masses using a single melody as cantus firmus . A good example of this technique is his Missa Rex seculorum . He is believed to have written secular (non-religious) music, but no songs in the vernacular can be attributed to him with any degree of certainty. Oswald von Wolkenstein (c. 1376–1445) is one of the most important composers of the early German Renaissance. He

27060-402: Was one of the most popular acts of the MTV Generation , cementing this position with his hugely successful Faith album in 1987. During most of the 1990s, Cool Britannia —a period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom , inspired by the 1960s Swinging Sixties —was coined due to the success of the girl band Spice Girls and Britpop acts Blur and Oasis , which led to

27225-431: Was restricted, slavery was abolished in nearly all the British Empire , and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. There were no major wars until the Crimean War (1853–1856). While Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies, tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur, the British came to terms with new ideas. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend

#592407