The period covered by this volume, roughly from Purcell to Elgar, has traditionally been seen as a dark age in British musical history. Much has been done recently to revise this view, though research still tends to focus on London as the commercial and cultural hub of the British Isles. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that by the mid-eighteenth century musical activity outside London was highly distinctive in terms of its reach, the way it was organized, and its size, richness, and quality. There was an extraordinary amount of musical activity of all sorts, in provincial theatres and halls, in the amateur orchestras and choirs that developed in most towns of any size, in taverns, and convivial clubs, in parish churches and dissenting chapels, and, of course, in the home. This is the first book to concentrate specifically on musical life in the provinces, bringing together new archival research and offering a fresh perspective on British music of the period. The essays brought together here testify to the vital role played by music in provincial culture, not only in socializing and networking, but in regional economies and rivalries, demographics and class dynamics, religion and identity, education and recreation, and community and the formation of tradition. Most important, perhaps, as our focus shifts from London to the regions, new light is shed on neglected figures and forgotten repertoires, all of them worthy of reconsideration.

'Jeremy Dibble has written a book which adds substantially to Stanford's reputation and which greatly enriches both British and Irish musical scholarship. It is brilliantly done.' -Irish TimesJeremy Dibble presents the first authoritative, comprehensive study of the life and works of Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), one of the most gifted and influential composers. Dibble reveals how, although perhaps best known for his church music, Stanford was also an eminent symphonist, songwriter, and author of many fine choral works. Cosmopolitan, ambitious, and pragmatic, he was untiring in his efforts to advance the cause of British music during its renaissance at the end of the nineteenth century, promoting the music of his contemporaries, and the many pupils he taught at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, including Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Howells, Bliss, Holst, and Gurney.

A dictionary containing 3500 biographical entries, each representing a composer whose work has been used within the worship of the church in Britain and Ireland.

Dowland's Lachrimae (1604) is perhaps the greatest but most enigmatic publication of instrumental music from before the eighteenth century. This new handbook, the first detailed study of the collection, investigates its publication history, its instrumentation, its place in the history of Renaissance dance music, and its reception history. Two extended chapters examine the twenty-one pieces in the collection in detail, discussing the complex internal relationships between the cycle of seven 'Lachrimae' pavans, the relationships between them and other pieces inside and outside the collection, and possible connections between the Latin titles of the seven pavans and Elizabethan conceptions of melancholy. The extraordinarily multi-faceted nature of the collection also leads the author to illuminate questions of patronage, the ordering and format of the collection, pitch and transposition, tonality and modality, and even numerology.