In the Tudor period, music flourished, patronised by royalty and adopting new harmonious compositional techniques from mainland Europe. Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey competed to recruit the best singers and organists for their private chapels. Elizabeth I’s court was filled with foreign and English musicians. William Byrd (AD 1542/3-1623), the greatest English composer of the period, and Thomas Tallis (about 1505-85) were joint organists there and composed both sacred and secular (non-religious) music.

Under the early Stuarts, singing and dancing were part of court masques (musical spectacles) written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. During the Commonwealth (1649-59) church and secular music, dancing and theatre were banned, but flourished again in Charles II’s reign (1660-88). Henry Purcell (1659-95), Keeper of the King’s Instruments, wrote the first English operas as well as hymns, psalms and anthems. In the 18th century, George I employed Handel (1685-1759) to write operas and oratorios as well as the famous Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Music making was popular at all levels of society. The diarist, Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), son of a tailor, was brought up in a family where singing and playing – the viol, the violin, the lute, virginals and flageolets (recorders) – were part of everyday life.