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The aural experience
Bells and bagpipes shatter the silence
I
n modern times there have been
various brave attempts to recreate the
‘authentic’ sounds of the past by playing
the music on instruments constructed to
contemporary designs. As you will soon
realise from experiencing sensations in
Elizabethan England, even if you can recre-
ate the authentic sound, you cannot recre-
ate the experience of hearing that sound- because listening to music takes place in
a different context in Elizabethan times.
There is no backdrop of motor, train
and air traffic; there are no blaring sirens,
no recorded music or radio, and no hum of
electrical appliances. In fact, there are very
few loud noises. There is thunder; occa-
sionally there is the report of a gun or can-
non; and certain instruments such as large
bells, trumpets and shawms (woodwind
instruments like early oboes) can create a
striking impression, as can the galloping
of many horses together. But these things
are heard only occasionally or in specific
situations. The general range of aural ex-
perience is therefore much narrower, and
sounds are normally heard in isolation.
Elizabethans notice when a church bell
rings the hour – they sometimes refer to
a time as ‘ten of the bell’, rather than ‘ten
of the clock’ – because they are used to
listening out for the time. People also listen
to music more intently because it stands
out from their normal day-to-day silence.
A large number of people play an
instrument of some sort. At the
bottom end of society, you will
most often encounter the
bagpipes and fiddle. Walk into an
alehouse in London at the end of
the day and you will frequently beencouraged to dance by a smiling
musician or two.
Most large towns employ their own
small bands of musicians – called ‘waits’ –
who regularly play in public. The wealthy
employ their own bands to perform the
airs and madrigals that comprise the most
popular musical entertainment of the day.
For most ordinary Elizabethans,
however, it is a rare privilege to hear
a five-part air by Anthony Holborne,
John Dowland or Thomas Morley,
played on a selection of viols and
violins, citterns (like mandolins),
recorders, flutes and keyboard
instruments (harpsichord, spinet
and virginal). That is why they stand
and gape while you, with your far
greater aural experience, might
consider the music quite ordinary.Musicians entertain listeners in a detail from an
embroidered valance, c1570–99. Tudor ears simply
didn’t encounter most of the noises we hear todayA 16th-century
woodcut
shows a man
ringing a bellThere is no
backdrop of
motor, train
and air traffic;
there are no
blaring sirens