Four and Tenty Fiddlers The Violin at the English Court, 1540-1690 [Paperback]

The royal string band at the English court had its origins in a six-man viol consort from Italy brought to England by Henry VIII in the spring of 1540. This book, written by the director of the acclaimed early music group, The Parley of Instruments, charts the history of the royal string band from its beginnings to the time of Purcell. Drawing on a wealth of documentary evidence, much of it new, Holman considers the previous history of instrumentalists at court and recounts the band's establishment at court in the context of the violin's place in sixteenth-century Europe. The first thorough treatment of this subject, Holman's book will be welcomed for the light it sheds on large areas of music history.

Extremely ambitious, and the results successful in nearly every respect....This is a fascinating and very readable work of musicology, and it is not likely to be supplanted in the foreseeable future. --Choice

Fills a gaping void in the available modern literature on the early violin....[Holman's] fascinating, stimulating and splendidly produced volume will be of great value not only to scholars of Tudor and Stuart music, but also to historians, string players and anyone involved in performing music of the period. It is a veritable mind of information and adds considerably to our sympathy and interest in an undeniably remarkable period of transformation in English music. --Strad

Nearly a quarter century ago, when Peter Holman was still a student, Thurston Dart told him that the history of the origin of the violin in England could not be written for lack of surviving historical sources, music, and instruments. Now Holman triumphantly proves his distinguished teacher wrong with a seminal study that generously maps for the first time a fascinatingterra incognita. This is required reading for anyone interested in Renaissance and Baroque instrumental music, or in the art of piecing together a convincing historiclC!