英國伊利莎白時期的維吉諾音樂

Virginal Music in Elizabethan England

自十六世紀初，維吉諾音樂一直是都鐸王朝最喜愛的音樂。從亨利七世、亨利八世、愛德華六世、瑪麗皇后到伊利莎白女皇和詹姆士一世，尤其在伊利莎白時期維吉諾音樂更是達到顛峰。由於對樂曲的需求量相當大，造就不少作曲家，創作出豐富的作品。維吉諾音樂不只在宮廷流行，也傳遍於中產階級社會。作曲家為符合大眾品味，紛紛以炫技作為創作之表現，在質與量不對等下，英國人對維吉諾逐漸失掉興趣，至一六三○年後，維吉諾音樂在鍵盤史上逐漸消失匿跡，直至十九世紀末，二十世紀初，才又引起學者的注意，認為維吉諾音樂是「英國特性」最佳的表現者，而遺留下眾多的手抄本也成為研究維吉諾音樂最重要的證據來源。

English monarchs favored virginal music since the early 16^th century. During Queen Elizabeth's reign in particular, many compositions appeared with unique keyboard idiom and brilliant technique. However, virginal music disappeared from music history after 1630. There is no record of any performance or research about virginal music after that time. Not until the end of 19th century did scholars pay much attention to this field again. Because of the popularity of virginal music in the late 16^th and the early 17^th century, when many composers appeared, such as Thomas Tallis, William Blitheman, William Byrd, John Bull and Orlando Gibbon, to mention a few. The extant sources on virginal music include the many surviving manuscripts and two published volumes from that time. The value of Elizabethan virginal music lies in the fact that it is the greatest expression of the ＂English character＂ in music.