Talks
Forthcoming talks
Past talks
‘By Instruments her powers appeare’: Music and Authority in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Where: Reading Early Modern Studies Conference: 'Authority and Authorities' Dates: 6th July 2009 - 8th July 2009
Queen Elizabeth I’s musical talents and the elaborate music of her courtly entertainments are widely acknowledged. However, although the effect of Elizabeth’s gender on her authority as a ruler has been the subject of much historical research, the impact of this musical activity on the creation and representation of her authority has not been recognised.
As the quotation (from Sir John Davies’ Hymnes of Astraea) suggests, music had a multiplicity of meanings that made it an appropriate and useful tool in representations of female authority. The order of the heavens, the political world and the human soul were each believed to be a musical harmony, like that of audible music. Music was therefore believed to have the power to alter a person’s behaviour and to create political harmony. Furthermore, music also was seen as a feminine activity, and the music of women was considered particularly powerful.
The paper will explore how poets, musicians, and authors of progress entertainments drew on beliefs in musical power to represent and legitimate Elizabeth’s female rule, and demonstrate how Elizabeth herself used music-making as a source of political power. With music, gender stereotypes were both exploited and subverted to affirm Elizabeth’s authority.
Like‘By Instruments her powers appeare’: Music, Queenship and the Case of Queen Elizabeth I
Where: Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Utrecht Dates: 1st July 2009 - 4th July 2009
Royal and noble women of the sixteenth century were commonly educated in music with the aim of attracting a suitable husband. They were to become the eloquent, attractive centrepieces of Renaissance courts with a duty to charm and entertain foreign visitors and ambassadors. However, Elizabeth I became a ruling Queen and, rather than finding herself a husband, she remained sole monarch of England. Accordingly, her music-making also took on greater significance.
Now in total control of her own musical performances, Elizabeth could use their connotations of marriageability, youth and female attractiveness to manipulate political and diplomatic situations. Her poets and courtiers also drew inspiration from her music-making, combining traditional notions of the erotic power of female music with the idea of a musical harmony which governed the heavens, the political world and the human soul to legitimise female power. Gender stereotypes were both exploited and subverted as music became a symbol and tool of queenship.
Drawing on the poetry of men such as Edmund Spenser and Sir John Davies (author of the above quotation), progress entertainments, diplomatic records of Elizabeth’s performances and courtly songs, this paper will explore the role of music in queenship. It will show how by blending the talents of Elizabeth’s natural body with those of her political body and by merging practical musicianship with speculative harmony, Elizabeth and her courtiers used music as a source of political authority.
Complaints, Criticism and Advice: Musical Messages for the Queen in Elizabethan Progresses
Where: Royal Musical Association Research Students’ Conference, King’s College, London Dates: 8th January 2009 - 10th January 2009
Elizabeth I’s summer progresses – tours during which she visited towns and stayed with noblemen- provided an opportunity for prominent individuals to devise musical and dramatic entertainments for the Queen. These entertainments could serve as a vehicle to convey both political views and personal grievances. An account of Elizabeth’s visit to Woodstock (1575) challenges the reader that ‘you shoulde finde no lesse hidden then uttered, and no lesse uttered then shoulde deserue a double reading ouer.’ Political and literary historians have begun to uncover these hidden agendas within progress entertainments; however little attention has been paid to the music.
This interdisciplinary paper will draw together contemporary accounts of progresses, printed music, Elizabethan ideas of ‘counsel’ and attitudes to musical communication to explore how and why noblemen communicated political messages through music. The songs are often more explicit in their complaints or criticisms than the surrounding dramas and speeches. Yet the songs’ specific meanings can only be interpreted in relation to both their immediate dramatic framework and their wider historical context. By conveying their comments artistically through poetry and music, and serving them with a good dose of flattery and praise, noblemen were able to assert their views whilst showing respect for Elizabeth’s authority.
Philisides the Shepherd Knight: Music and Noble Identity in Tournaments for Elizabeth I
Where: Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Bangor Dates: 24th July 2008 - 27th July 2008
The most prominent tournaments of Elizabeth’s reign were those commemorating her Accession Day on 17th November. Combining military sport and spectacular pageantry, the identities of the nobility and the monarch were shaped and enhanced in these spectacles, which were open to paying spectators. The crowds yearned for a glimpse of their Queen, the nobility displayed its military prowess and magnificence to reaffirm its elite status, and the lavish pageantry dramatised the knights’ submission and service to Elizabeth. Yet in tension with these communal identities was the individual knight’s desire for honour and prestige. A knight’s entry was his opportunity to shape his political identity and to seek personal fame.
Music was as much a tool as visual spectacle and poetry in these multiple performances of identity, although it tends to survive only in isolated fragments. Using the example of Sir Philip Sidney’s tournament appearances, both real and fictional, I will demonstrate how music functioned in the creation of his individual knightly persona and in his flattery of Elizabeth. However, the relationship between music and martial pursuits also raises broader issues of masculinity and ideals of nobility. Music was considered to be potentially effeminising, yet equally a noble who was too soldierly in his talents could be mocked as too masculine. Music could therefore function as a counterbalance to the very masculine martial sports to follow.
‘It seemed to me that I had become one of the paladins who used to go to those enchanted palaces.’ Music, Intimacy and Diplomacy and the Court of Elizabeth I
Where: Royal Holloway, University Of London Music, Royal Holloway Music Department Postgraduate Day When: 4th June 2008
In an age where musical women might be compared to Sirens or even prostitutes, one might not expect a Queen who presented herself as a chaste Virgin Goddess to emphasise her musical talents. It is true that princesses and aristocratic women were increasingly receiving a musical education, but writers agreed that the primary purpose of this was to make a good marriage. Elizabeth, however, had a distinctly ambivalent attitude towards marriage, never found a husband, and yet sustained her music and dancing until her death. Why then did Elizabeth continue to foster a public image of musicality despite the possible criticisms? What role did her music-making play in her governance of England?
This paper will argue that Elizabeth’s musical abilities became a diplomatic tool. Her performances were ‘games of secrecy.’ Although presented as spontaneous and intimate glimpses beyond the public, stately image of the Queen to her private person, they were carefully-staged events designed to shape Elizabeth’s image and influence the course of negotiations. Elizabeth drew on traditional associations of music and feminine attractiveness and marriagability to charm foreign visitors and draw out marriage negotiations. A musical performance could flatter ambassadors as a sign of her personal favour, and yet it would give no promises or concessions. In her use of musical performance Elizabeth incorporated the conventional powers of women’s music to influence men into her divinely-given monarchical authority to rule over men: through music Elizabeth demonstrated both her personal and political powers.
Add Comment