King Henry VIII loved music of all kinds and was skilled with the lute, the organ, flute and other keyboard instruments. Until the Reformation the most widely-heard music in England, at least in the counties, was liturgical choir-singing of motets and five-part masses.
Generous with his stipend the King attracted the finest English musicians and as a
self-styled Renaissance prince he was able to entice musicians from abroad, chiefly from Italy, France, Flanders and Germany. Of these the most popular was the Italian organist named Denis Memmo, a Venetian friar who Henry VIII appointed as his chief musician in 1516 for which Memmo was able to command a high salary.
The King himself was a prodigous composer of ballads including the two motets O Lord the maker of all things and Quam pulchrea es, composed in 1530 and still regularly sung. (Williams, pp. 36-38)
The traditional English folk song Greensleeves is popularly-associated with the Henrician era however it did not appear until later, in 1580 when the ballad was formally dedicated to Lady Grene Sleves and presented by Richard Jones. Legend persists however that Greensleeves was a romantic song composed in honour of Henry's tender enchantment with Anne Boleyn, and hence it is still associated with all of the Tudor monarchs. The song is mentioned twice by William Shakespeare in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (Weir, p. 131)
Greensleeves – Keyboard; Mozart, Richard Jones
Inspired Music
Published on
Jul 24, 2012
- Weir, A. Henry VIII: The King and His Court. New York: Ballantine Books. 2002. p. 131.
- Williams, N. Henry VIII and His Court. London:
Weidenfield & Nicholson. 1973. pp. 36 -40.
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