Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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394 SCOTTISH MUSIC SCOTTISH MUSIC
after his death Rizzio is not mentioned as having
composed music of any kind. Had he done so,
it would have been in the style of France or of
Italy, and it may be doubted whether Queen
Mary herself would have appreciated any other.
It must not be forgotten that she quitted
Scotland when little more than five years of
age, and returned Queen-Dowager of France,
a widow of nineteen, with all her tastes formed
and every association and recollection connected
with a more civilised country than her own.
Mr. Dauney, in his Dissertation prefixed to
the Skene MS. gives some interesting information
regarding the Chapel Royal in Stirling. It
was founded by James III., of whom Lindsay
of Pitsoottie says that he ' delighted more in
musick and in policies of Bigging (building)
than he did in the governance of his realm. . . .
He delighted more in singing and playing on
instruments, than he did in the Defence of the
Borders. ... He took great pleasour to dwell
thair (in Stirling) and foundet ane ooUige within
the said Castle eallit the Chappell Royal
also he bigget the great hall of Stirling ; also
he maid in the said Chappell Royal all kynd of
office men, to wit, the bishop of Galloway archdean,
the treasurer and sub-dean, the chanter
and sub-ohantor, with all other officieris pertaining
to a College ; and also he doubled thaim,
to that effect, that, they sohould ever be readie ;
the one half to pass with him wherever he
pleased, that they might sing and play to him
and hold him merrie ; and the other half should
remain at home to sing and pray for him and
his suocessioun' (ed. 1728). AH this was afterwards
abolished ; but in 1612 its restoration
was ordered by James VI., '— its place of residence
to be at Halyrudhous ' ' the palace of the
samyu, and the Chappell not to be called the
Chappell royall of Striveling as heretofore but
his majesties Chappell Royall of Scotland, and
the members to attend his majesty in whatever
part of Scotland he may happen to be.' In
1629 Charles I. granted an annual pension of
£2000 to the musicians of the Chapel, and
preparations were made for the celebration of
religious service according to the forms of the
Church of England. The nature of these
arrangements is very fully given in an Information
to the King by E. Kellie (1631) ; among
other things he was appointed to see that none
'
but properly qualified persons should have a
place there, and that they should all be kept at
daily practise, and for that effect your Majestie
appointed mee ane chambre within your pallace
of Halyrudhous wherein I have provided and
sett up, ane organe, two flutes, two pandores,
with vioUs and other instruments, with all
sorts of English, French, Dutch, Spaynish,
Latine, Italian, and Old Scotch music, vocall
and instrumentall.' The capitals are Mr.
Dauney's, who says, 'There can be no doubt
that this last expression referred to the popular
national music of Scotland. That sacred music
was here not meant is sufficiently obvious ;
the
metrical psalmody of the Reformed Church was
not old, and the music of the Church in Scotland
before the Reformation was identical with that
of Rome, and therefore not Scottish.' Here
Mr. Dauney surely applies to the music what
can only be said of the words of the service
the latter were the same throughout all Roman
Catholic countries, while the music, on the
contrary, varied in every locality, being frequently
the composition of the chapel-master
or of the organist of the church where it was
performed. Without insisting on the fact
already stated, that James I. of Scotland wrote
sacred music—
' cose sacre compose in canto '
reference may be made to the Scottish composers
mentioned by Dr. David Laing as having written
music for the church before the Reformation.
Among these are Andrew Blackhall, a canon of
Holyrood ; David Peblis, one of the canons of
St. Andrews, who in 1530 set the canticle 'Si
quis diliget me ' in five parts ; and Sir John
Futhy (the ' Sir ' denotes he was a priest), who
wrote a moral song, God ' abufe, ' in four
parts, ' baith letter and not, ' that is, both words
and miisic—as well as others whose names it is
unnecessary to mention. Besides, there need
not be a doubt that their predecessors were
occasional composers from the timewhen James I.
in 1424 set up organs in churches. That this
is the music called Old Scottish in Kellie's
InfoTTnation seems to be the only reasonable
explanation of these words. For though the
members of Kellie's choir in fitting time and
place might sing to the king ' to hold him
merrie,' this would not be the music which they
were called upon to practise twice a week in
preparation for the next service.
It is to the reign of Charles I. that we owe
the first certain glimpse of early Scottish folkmusic.
All that was known of it had come
down by tradition, till the discovery—only in
the 19th century—of two MSS. of this date,
which establish the existence of a number of tunes
whose age and form were previously entirely
conjectural. These are the Straloch and Skene
MSS. The first was written by Robert Gordon
of Straloch, Aberdeenshire, in 1627-29. (See
Straloch MS.)
The second is a much more important MS.
It was formed by or for John Skene of Hallyards,
Midlothian, and has no date ; but its
seven' parts, now bound together, seem from
internal evidence to have been written at various
times up to about 1635. In general it is much
more correct than the last, its versions are
occasionally excellent ; its Scottish airs, after
rejecting dances and everything else not of home
growth, are not fewer than forty. Above all,
it contains the ancient original melody of The
'
Flowers of the Forest' ;
whose simple pathos
forbids our believing it to be the expression