Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
Until quite recently music historians thought that the Chapel Royal was founded in the fifteenth century. In 1895, Henry Davey wrote: ‘We may … date the rise of English music about 1400–20, and suppose that a Chapel Royal was first set up by Henry IV or Henry V’. Since then, much pioneering archive work has been done by Mr. John Harvey, Dr. Frank Harrison and Dr. Brian Trowell. It was Grattan Flood who, in 1924, first revealed to musical scholars what the medieval historian had long known: that the Chapel Royal in England dates back at least a further three centuries. Taking his cue from Flood, Stanley Roper delivered a paper to this Association three years later, which he called ‘Music at the English Chapels Royal c. 1135–Present Day’.
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Mr. J. H. Denton, of Downing College, Cambridge, has advised me on this matter, and kindly passed on his material for my use.Google Scholar
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The author wishes to thank Professor Dart for invaluable help in the preparation of this paper, the singers who performed the musical examples — Messrs. J. M. Buttrey, C. M. F. Brooker, G. R. Rastall, M. L. Taylor, J. P. Tate—and Mr. R. L. Parker, who made the recordings.Google Scholar