| Summary: | The Jacobean Court has previously been the subject of musicologists' work on ensembles and repertory, but the actual place of music and musicians in the institution of the court has been neglected. This thesis draws on recent work by historians on the structure and nature of the court. Chapter 1 takes in the new historiographical methodologies to examine the place of royal musicians within the wider structure of court culture, leading to a re-drafting of the picture of London's musical spheres. Chapter 2 provides a close examination of the royal household, and the changes in structure and style wrought by the succession of a new dynasty. The implications for musicians are examined in terms of the organisation of their work, and their roles in ceremony as a tool in James's new strategies for Kingship. Chapter 3 examines the structure and nature of the City of London, the context for the outer layers of court culture. The complex relationship between the City and the Court is explored through the medium of ceremony and its use both in projecting idealised images of the City and mediating between the two jurisdictions. The role of music and musicians is examined at the practical and theoretical interface between the City and the Court. Chapter 4 considers the place of royal musicians beyond the confines of their professional domain, at the different interfaces of London life and as agents of the outward-spreading networks of court culture. Court musicians are examined in relation to their physical setting, in terms of social spheres and interactions, and in the ways in which they were integrated into the urban fabric of London. The musicians' backgrounds and profession and personal networks are explored, in addition to modes of employment, identities and status, and implications caused by the accession of James 1.
|
|---|
