A Short History of English Music

Footnotes are numbered sequentially through the book, but presented at the end of each chapter in which they are referenced.
BY ERNEST FORD F.R.A.M.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK M c BRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 1912 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book is not, in any sense, technical.
It is an attempt to give a simple and rational, though in a volume of this size, necessarily incomplete, account of events that have led to the complex state of music existing in England at the present time.
Should it offer nothing to the musician or historian, I hope it will be found of interest to the general reader.
The desire to make each chapter as complete, on the subject with which it deals, as space would permit, has necessitated a certain amount of repetition, but I trust that the object will condone the fault.
THE AUTHOR.

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.
At least, if it be not too great a strain on our credulity, we must believe so.