VII. ORATORIO IN ENGLAND 150 VIII. OPERA IN ENGLAND 176 IX. DISTINGUISHED MUSICIANS IN ENGLAND DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 201 X. GENERAL SURVEY 244 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS HENRY PURCELL _Frontispiece_ PAGE QUEEN ELIZABETH 32 CALVIN 76 G. F. HANDEL, BY HUDSON 154 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN 228 SIR EDWARD ELGAR 246 SHORT HISTORY OF MUSIC IN ENGLAND CHAPTER I MUSIC BEFORE AND DURING THE REFORMATION England at one time musical and "merrie"--England before the Reformation--Out-door life--Natural dramatic instincts--Isolation of country districts in early days--Performances of itinerant minstrels--Ban of the Church--Gradual improvement--Effect of the wars of the Roses--Early perfection of sacred music--Difficult times after repudiation of Rome by Henry VIII.--His policy and that of Queen Elizabeth--Edward VI. and his sisters--Popular anger against the monks--Dissolution of monasteries natural result amongst uneducated people--Tallis entrusted to write music for reformed services--Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell--Early secular music--Old-time music occasionally traceable now in country districts--Ancient instruments--Effect on English music by those returning from the Crusades--Effect on criminal population--The status of the musical composer compared with that of the "musician"--Conclusion. England was musical--once upon a time.[1] At least, if it be not too great a strain on our credulity, we must believe so. England was "merrie"[2]--once upon a time. At least, we read so. It must have been long ago, and the art long lost. * * * * * And yet there was, undoubtedly, a time when England was both musical and "merrie." Yes. When music and "dauncing" were as essential to the life of the people as ranting and canting apparently became in those dismal days after the Reformation, when the spirit of Calvinism stalked abroad, strangling all the rational joys of life. Yes. Those were, indeed, the merrie days of England. The pageants and plays, which arrived at such a pitch of splendour and magnificence in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were but the successors of more primitive ones whose history is lost in the long and silent past. It is, however, quite clear that, like nearly everything else of healthy vitality, we must look to the Church, if not for their origin, at least for the shape and form they came to assume during the Christian era.