Joseph M. Ortiz - On the Origin and Progress of the Art of Music by John Taverner

John Taverners lectures on music constitute the only extant version of a complete university course in music in early modern England. Originally composed in 1611 in both English and Latin, they were delivered at Gresham College in London between 1611 and 1638, and it is likely that Taverner intended at some point to publish the lectures in the form of a music treatise. The lectures, which Taverner collectively titled De Ortu et Progressu Artis Music (On the Origin and Progress of the Art of Music), represent a clear attempt to ground musical education in humanist study, particularly in Latin and Greek philology. Taverners reliance on classical and humanist writers attests to the durability of musics association with rhetoric and philology, an approach to music that is too often assigned to early Tudor England. Taverner is also a noteworthy player in the seventeenth-century Protestant debates over music, explicitly defending music against Reformist polemicists who see music as an overly sensuous activity.

In this first published edition of Taverners musical writings, Joseph M. Ortiz comprehensively introduces, edits, and annotates the text of the lectures, and an appendix contains the existing Latin version of Taverners text. By shedding light on a neglected figure in English Renaissance music history, this edition is a significant contribution to the study of musical thought in Renaissance England, humanism, Protestant Reformism, and the history of education.

Joseph M. Ortiz is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he teaches Renaissance and comparative literature. He is the author of Broken Harmony: Shakespeare and the Politics of Music (2011) and the editor of Shakespeare and the Culture of Romanticism (2013). He has written several articles and chapters on Renaissance literature, Renaissance musical thought, and the reception of classical culture in Renaissance Europe.

Music Theory in Britain, 15001700: Critical Editions

Edited by Jessie Ann Owens

University of California, Davis, USA

This series represents the first systematic attempt to present the entire range of theoretical writing about music by English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish writers from 1500 to 1700 in modern critical editions. These editions, which use original spelling and follow currently accepted practices for the publication of early modern texts, aim to situate the work in the larger historical context and provide a view of musical practices.

A Briefe and Short Instruction of the Art of Musicke by Elway Bevin

Denis Collins

John Birchensha: Writings on Music

Christopher D.S. Field and Benjamin Wardhaugh

The Temple of Music by Robert Fludd

Peter Hauge

Thomas Salmon: Writings on Music

Benjamin Wardhaugh

The Music Treatises of Thomas Ravenscroft

Ross W. Duffin

John Wallis: Writings on Music

David Cram and Benjamin Wardhaugh

The Praise of Musicke, 1586: An Edition with Commentary

HyunAh Kim

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/music/series/ASHMTB.

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Joseph M. Ortiz

The right of Joseph M. Ortiz to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Taverner, John, 15841638, author. | Ortiz, Joseph M., 1972 editor.

Title: On the origin and progress of the art of music / by John Taverner ; edited by Joseph M. Ortiz.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Series: Music theory in Britain, 15001700: critical editions | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018020022| ISBN 9781138633698 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315207193 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Music--History and criticism--Early works to 1800.

Classification: LCC ML159 .T39 2019 | DDC 781--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020022

ISBN: 978-1-138-63369-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-20719-3 (ebk)

The purpose of this series is to provide critical editions of music theory in Britain (primarily England, but Scotland, Ireland and Wales also) from 1500 to 1700. By theory is meant all sorts of writing about music, from textbooks aimed at the beginner to treatises written for a more sophisticated audience. These foundational texts have immense value in revealing attitudes, ways of thinking and even vocabulary critical for understanding and analyzing music. They reveal beliefs about the power of music, its function in society and its role in education, and they furnish valuable information about performance practice and the context of performance. They are a window into musical culture every bit as important as the music itself.

The editions in this series present the text in its original form. That is, they retain original spelling, capitalization and punctuation, as well as certain salient features of the type, for example the choice of front. A textual commentary in each volume offers an explication of difficult or unfamiliar terminology as well as suggested corrections of printing errors; the introduction situates the work and its author in a larger historical context.

Jessie Ann Owens

Professor of Music

Dean of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies

University of California, Davis, USA

My work on this edition owes a great deal to Jessie Ann Owens, who encouraged and aided it at many stages of its development. I also received insightful feedback at various times from Linda Phyllis Austern, Amanda Eubanks Winkler, and Ross Duffin. Their pioneering work has been indispensable for my forays into the field of Renaissance music history. Jane Ruddell and Donna Marshall at the Mercers Company graciously helped me navigate the companys Gresham archives. At Routledge, Heidi Bishop and Annie Vaughan helped shepherd the book through its various stages of production. I am very grateful to Minji Kim for her judicious copyediting and to Sarah Powell for her assistance with the Latin paleography. The Renaissance Society of America provided a timely grant that enabled me to conduct crucial archival research in the final stages of the project. Finally, I am grateful to the British Library and Folger Shakespeare Library, which generously allowed access to rare materials necessary for this edition, as well as providing an ideal environment for much of the work on this project.