Renaissance Music in Scotland's Historic Palaces

Harps and Stirling Heads in the Court of James V

Sep 11, 2009

The finest Renaissance building of Scotland and its famous Stirling Heads held the secret of what 16thC harp music in James V's court might have sounded like.

The first half of the 16th century was Scotland’s golden age of music and both James IV and his son James V after him were patrons to composers and performers. The Royal Palace, which James V started building within Stirling Castle in 1538, hosted Renaissance music performers who played harps and lutes in the sumptuous interiors of one of Scotland’s finest historic palaces.

Harps of Scotland

Harps, or clarsach, were very popular musical instruments in 15th and 16th-century Scotland and harpers were privileged performers in the employment of kings. Harpists played leading roles in Scottish royal palace ceremonies and poems were recited accompanied by harp music. The famous Queen Mary Harp is the best preserved of all old harps.

Harp tradition was primarily an oral tradition, wrote Cleary in 2009, and the earliest written musical sources of Gaelic harp tradition are from the early 17th century. However, during Historic Scotland’s major restoration of the historic palace of James V, a Stirling Head that adorned James V’s royal chambers revealed a musical sequence or notation. The notation helped recreate how 16thC Renaissance harp music would have sounded like.

Stirling Heads in James V Palace

The palace within the walls of Stirling Castle, arguably the finest Renaissance building in Scotland, was built by James V from 1538 to 1542. The King's Presence Chamber boasted an ornate ceiling of 56 oak-carved roundels, the Stirling heads, of which 36 survive. One of them is the portrait of an anonymous woman and on its frame is carved a notation, a sequence of I, II and O symbols.

The sequence or notation was an exciting discovery for music historians for it could give a “precious insight into the usually unwritten music of the medieval elite”. It is not a musical score but rather, as famous harp performer Bill Taylor writes a foundation for composing music, a notation that indicates points of harmonic range around which harp musicians could improvise.

Renaissance Music in the Court of James V

James V like his father James IV was fond of music and was a talented lute player himself. His royal court reverberated with the sounds of French chansons and consorts of viols. His father had already promoted the engagement of new and enlarged choir in the Chapel Royal and employed a band of Italian wind instrumentalists.

One of the great composers of Renaissance music of the time was Augustinian canon, Robert Carver (c.1487-1566); his successor David Peebles, "one of the principal musicians in the land", was reportedly under James V royal patronage. It is believed that the piece, which the notation on the Stirling Head revealed, must have been composed for King James V. Bill Taylor and Barnaby Brown performed the Renaissance music piece on August 27, 2009 in the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle.

MacDonald, Michael Lynch and Ian Cowan (eds.), The Renaissance of Scotland, Brill: Netherlands 1994.

Maria Christina Cleary, “Historical Harps”, Early Music 2009, 37 (2), pp. 328-330.

“Secret code etched in Stirling Castle revealed to be oldest written music in Scotland” by Cher Thornhill, Mail Online, 27 August 2009.

“How a wood carver cracked the code the secret royal Renaissance song”, Times Online, 27 August 2009.

BNC101

The copyright of the article Renaissance Music in Scotland's Historic Palaces in Historical Resources is owned by Lito Apostolakou. Permission to republish Renaissance Music in Scotland's Historic Palaces in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.