Bibliography – General
Anon. (1086). Domesday Book. John Morris ed., 1984. Chichester, Phillimore. [Watchmen. See vol. 33 Norfolk for Norwich watchmen, p. 116 a, b]
Anon. (1915). The Waits. Notes on their origin and history. in: Hill AF ed. (1915) and republished by Crewdson HAF ed. (1971) in The Worshipful Company of Musicians. 162-173.
Anon. (1999). University of New Hampshire Music Department: Tielman Susato and the context of music in Renaissance Antwerp. April 17-18, 1999 at Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.
Teilman Susato, c. 1515-67, began his recorded career as a performer in the civic ensemble of Antwerp in 1530. Evidently of German origin, he chose to spend his most productive years in Antwerp, which in the first half of the sixteenth century was the dominant commercial center in northern Europe. This restless, highly gifted musician was not content with a one-dimentional career. Susato went on to establish himself as a dealer in musical instruments, as an editor, and as a composer. His skills in music and business, as well as his drive and ambition, are perhaps most visible to us now in his activities as a printer of music, for he founded one of the most productive and highly respected publishing houses of music of the 16th century. The conference considered the career of Susato and the context of the musical and economic life of Antwerp and the Low Countries in the 16th century. Contributors included:
Kristine Forney (California State University, Long Beach) Jane Bernstein (Tufts University) Trevor Herbert (Open University of Wales, Cardiff, UK) John Kmetz (Arthur Andersen Associates, New York) Kate Van Orden (University of California, Berkeley) Keith Polk (University of New Hampshire) William Prizer (University of California, Santa Barbara) Richard Sherr (Smith College) Peter Urquhart (University of New Hampshire) Rob Wegman (Princeton University)
Questions or comments to the University of New Hampshire Music Department (603) 862-2404.
Arras, J (1958). Musikanten in de Lierse Ommegangen der XVde eeuw. In ‘t Land van Ryen. 8, pp. 145-164, 9, (1959), pp. 25-51.
Ashbee, Andrew (1998). Biographical Dictionary of English Court Musicians, 1485-1714. Peter Holman (Compiler), Andrew Ashbee (Compiler), David Lasocki (Compiler), Fiona Losbu (Compiler), Andrew Ashbee (Editor), David Lasocki (Editor). Scolar Press. ISBN 1859280870
Ashbee, Andrew ed. (June 1991). Records of English Court Music. Scolar Press ISBN 0950720720.
Ashbee, Andrew ed. (July 1991). Records of English Court Music. Scolar Press ISBN 085967858X.
Ashbee, Andrew ed. (Jan. 1994). Records of English Court Music. Scolar Press ISBN 0859678601.
Ashbee, Andrew ed. (July 1992). Records of English Court Music: 1558-1603. Scolar Press ISBN 0859678598.
Ashbee, Andrew ed. (Oct. 1995). Records of English Court Music: 1485-1714. Scolar Press ISBN 1859282342.
Ashbee, Andrew compiler (June 1996). Records of English Court Music: (Index). Scolar Press ISBN 1859282741.
Awouters, M, de Keyser, I & Vandenberghe, S (1985), Catalogus van de Musikinstrumenten (Gruuthusemuseum, Brugge). Stat Brugge. See pp. 104-7 for three single + pair) of 16th century instrument cases (foedralen) belonging to the Bruges stadspijpers. A fourth, similar to the Gruuthuse pair, is on display in the Town Hall. Also see instrument case at feet of trumpeter on pictures page of this site.
Baeck-Schilders, Hedwige (1998). 19de-eeuwse uitlopers van de speellieden – traditie te Antwerpen. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 180-184.
Baines, Anthony (1957). Woodwind Instruments and their History. ?Faber? (1991 Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-26885-3) Has a couple of brief references to Waits, and a wealth of fascinating information on early instruments and early technique, for instance, on tonguing:
If a piper you’d live to be
learn you well your diridiride,
which belongs to the notes small,
lest you look a fool before all.
Baker, Joseph Brogden (1882). Folk lore and events. In: The History of Scarborough. London, Longmans, Green & Co. 466-7.
Baldwin, Elizabeth (2002) Paying the Piper: Music in pre-1642 Cheshire ISBN 1-58044-041-X. Early Drama, Art and Music Series 29, Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Contains musical information, including a lot on the Chester Waits, from the REED Cheshire volume
Bárdos, Kornél (1991). Town waits in the Hungarian royal free cities between the 16th and 18th centuries. Turner in den Königlichen Freistauml;dten Ungarns von 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert. Pannonische Forschungsstelle Obersch¨tzen: Arbeitsberichte Vol. II (Sept, 121-129.
The town waits (also known as “Turner”, “Stadtmusici”, “Stadtpfeiffer”, “Stadttrompeter”, “Tubicines Civitatis”) played at city festivities, public receptions, orchestral performances in church, and private entertainments, as well as giving alarms of fire and flood. A full list of the “Turner” paid by the town council of Sopron (ödenburg) between 1527 and the mid-19th c. is appended.
Becu, Wim & Arfken, Katharina (1998). Stadspijpers te Leuven. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 150-149.
Beukers, Mariëlla (1987). Stadsspeellieden in vijftiende-eeuws Utrecht.Utrecht.
Beukers, Mariëlla (1991). “For the honour of the city”: Utrecht city minstrels between 1377 and 1528. Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis Vol. XLI(1): 3-25. Charts, diagr.; ISSN: 0042-3874. In English.
A consideration of the minstrels who were in the service of the city of Utrecht until 1528, when Charles V assumed power in the bishopric, and the transcriptions of archival material cease. The scope and extent of their duties, participation in processions, activities in churches, their relationship to the army, and their activities as tower watchmen are examined, as well as their repertoire and instruments, and salary and status. A list of musicians who visited Utrecht between 1402 and 1527 is appended. netherlands / utrecht / musical life / minstrels / 1377-1528; minstrels / netherlands / utrecht / 1377-1528; charles v, holy roman emperor / relation to utrecht minstrels; salaries, pensions, etc. / netherlands / minstrels / 1377-1528
Bevan, Victoria (1991). The waits of Nottingham (1547-1702). Unpublished BA Thesis. University of Nottingham.
Bouckaert, B & Trio, P (1994). Trompers, pipers en lauders in de Gentse Sint-Baafsabidj (14de-16de eeuw). In: Music Antiqua. 11/4, pp. 150-155.
Bowles, Edmund A. (1962). Tower Musicians in the Middle Ages. Brass Quarterly Spring 1962: 91-103.
Boydell, Barra (1980). Dublin City Musicians in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, to 1660. Dublin Historical Records 34, 42-53.
Boydell, Barra (1993). The Earl of Cork’s musicians: a study in the patronage of music in early seventeenth century Anglo-Irish society. REED Newsletter 18(2): 1-15.
Brand, John (1789). The History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Newcastel upon Tyne. Vol.2.
Brandon, Stephen (1976). Waits. NACWPI journal, USA Vol. XXV(1): 7-11, 34-35.
Looks poor. Following text prob. derived from Bridge. The term ‘waits’ is a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon noun wacian, meaning watch or guard. There is no record of the appearance of the first ‘waits’ or watchmen-musicians in England, but they probably date from the 12th or 13th c. Four to six musicians was an average number. Instrumentation was inconsistent. In most towns, they were employed at a nominal wage and were also permitted to accept payment for playing at private weddings or other functions. Their duties may be classified into two categories: marching (which included the night watch), and concert performances. By the mid-1830s, they had all but vanished from the streets of England.
Brayshay, M. (2005) Waits, musicians, bearwards and players: the inter-urban road travel and performances of itinerant entertainers in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Journal of Historical Geography, Volume 31, Issue 3, July 2005, Pages 430-458 Click here for abstract. See also Notes & Queries
Brears, Peter CD (1987).The cooks of York. York Historian. 12-??
from Sir Arthur Ingram’s accounts for entertaining Charles I at his house in the Minster Close on 21 November, 1741:
pd. likewise to the waites of the Citty to play the Kings [Charles I] meate up
2.0.0
Brice, Douglas (1967). The folk-carol of England. London, Herbert Jenkins.
Bridge, JC (1928). Town waits and their tunes. Proc. Br. Mus. Assoc. 63-92.
BEWARE: misuse of texts and suspect arguments in what could have been a very useful paper. Transcript
Brimblecombe, Peter (1995). A meteorological service in fifteenth century Sandwich. Environment and History, 1, 241-9. Includes description of waits calling the weather for mariners (see Letts).
Brockhoff, Maria Elisabeth (1971). Musik in Paderborn bis zum Dreissigj�hrigen Krieg. [Music in Paderborn until the Thirty Years’ War.] Fragezeichen Vol. 26-27: 32-47. In German.
An historical survey, from the earliest source concerning music (the epic poem Carolus Magnus et Leo Papa of 799) to the Thirty Years’ War. Includes discussion of liturgical music and ‘town’ music: sources and music associated with the monasteries of Busdorf, Abdinghof, and Gaukirch, among other material; the bells of Paderborn from the 13th-17th c.; musicians at the cathedral school and educational music (musical plays, etc.); court music of the prince-bishops, with musicians’ names; tower music, Spielleute, music for solemn dinners in the town hall, music of night watchmen, etc.
Brockhoff, Maria Elisabeth (1982). Musikgeschichte der Stadt Paderborn. [Musical history of the town of Paderborn.] Studien und Quellen zur westfälischen Geschichte Vol. 20, (Paderborn: Bonifatius-Druckerei, 1982) xvi, 377 p. Illustration. In German.
Presents extensive material on the music of the Paderborn cathedral as well as of other churches; examines not only the musical life in the schools but also of the town council at the court of the prince-bishop.
Brown, Cornelius (1904, 1995). The History of Newark ISBN 0900943 70x Available online at http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/Brown1896/brown.htm.
Bruggiser-Lanker, Therese (1990), Die stadtpfeiffer von Nürnberg im 16. jahrhundert. [Town pipers from Nuremberg during the 16th century: Iconographic and source-critical evidence concerning performance practice.] Schweitzer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 43-72.
Nuremberg sources offer particularly good evidence of a many-faceted connection between executant musicians and composers, and between musicians, the citizenry, and the town council. Social conditions affecting artistic production in the urban milieu can be understood concretely, and are moreover vividly depicted in contemporary illustrations.
Brydson, John C. (1948). The Minstrels and Waits of Leicester. The Musical Times (May 1948): 142-44.
Bullock-Davies, Constance (1986). Register of Royal and Baronial domestic minstrels 1272-1327. Woodbridge, Suffolk, Boydell Press. ISBN 0 85115 431 X.
Burley, C. (1789). A General History of Music.
Burnley, James (1875). A Night with the Waits. In West Riding Sketches.
A chapter about an encounter with a band of Christmas waits in Bradford.
Busch-Salmen, Gabriele (1993). Neue Dokumente zur Geschichte der Stadttürmer in Freiburg. [New documents on the history of the town watchmen of Freiburg.] In: Musch, Hans ed. Musik am Oberrhein Hochschuldokumentation zu Musikwissenschaft und Musikpädagogik, Musikhochschule Freiburg, 3 (Kassel: Bosse, 1993) 30-37. Illus. ISBN: 3-7649-2415-2. See RILM 1994-01885-bs.
The office of town watchman (“Stadttürmer”) in Freiburg im Breisgau, the watchmen’s integration within the town, the multiplicity of their assigned tasks, and their training are recoverable in a practically seamless and complete dossier of documents dating from 1390. Until the end of the 19th c., they performed their duties from the watchmen’s room of the cathedral tower.
Chappell William 1859 Popular Music of the Olden Time. See references to Waits extracted by Alan Radford.
Chappell, W. (1861). Popular Music of the Olden Time. vols. I, II. London: Cramer. Also Kessinger Publishing: rare prints (www.kessinger.net). [ Available online: Vol 1; Vol 2, Ed. ]
Cheape, Hugh (1999). Burgh Pipers. In The Book of the Bagpipe. 55-61. Belfast, Appletree Press. A singular and very useful discussion of the Scottish town pipers who, in many cases were bagpipers (perhaps accompanied by a drummer) and whose function was the same as the English waits. Shows that there is a lot for us to learn from Scottish archives, as yet little plundered by waits researchers. Like the English waits, the burgh pipers also lost their posts in the early 19th century and their passing had social consequences.
Chevil, Elizabeth Jane (1993). Music Societies and Musical Life in Old Foundation Cathedral Cities 1700-60: PhD Thesis, King’s College, London.
Chew, Geoffrey Alexander (1974). The night-watchman’s song quoted by Haydn and its implications. Haydn-Studien, Germany III(2): 106-24. Music examples, bibliography.
The melody quoted by Haydn (in his symphony no. 60, etc.) and known elsewhere as Der Nachtwachter or Hajnal, is found in many sources from Central and Eastern Europe, including many Christmas pastorellas, and offers fresh insights into Haydn’s attitude toward folk music. It also suggests the possibility that 19th- and 20th-c. Central European folk music may have preserved some aspects of the musical practice of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Cohen, David (1981). The buskers, a history of street entertainment. London, David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8026 5.
Coldewey, John C (1982). Some Nottinghamshire waits: their history and habits. REED Newsletter. 1: 40-49.
Collins. Francis ed. (1897). Register of the freemen of the city of York from the city records: 1272-1558. London, The Surtees Society vol. XCVI.
Collins. Francis ed. (1899). Register of the freemen of the city of York from the city records: 1559-1759. London, The Surtees Society vol. CII.
Cooper, Thomas Parsons ‘TPC’ (1909). The Christmas Waits and Minstrels of Bygone York. York, Edwin Story.
Cooper, Thomas Parsons ‘TPC’ (c. 1934). The waits and minstrels of the City of York from the earliest times to the year 1835. Unpublished draft of book (TPC died in 1937). In York City Library.
Crewdson, Richard. Apollo’s Swan and Lyre – Five Hundred Years of the Musicians’ Company The Boydell Press 2000.
Sometime Master of the Musicians’ Company of London. The author discusses the close association between the Musicians’ Company of London and the City Waits.
Crompton, Richmal William and the Waits. Macmillan.
The Outlaws go carol singing and William devises an ingenious plot to ensure they don’t, after all, have to accept the usual boring presents from their relations.
Csiba, Gisela & Csiba, Jozsef (1994). Die Blechblasinstrumente in Johann Sebastian Bachs Werken. [Brass instruments in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach]. Kassel: Merseburger, 152 p. Illus., music ISBN: 3875372603.
The implementation of the parts composed by Bach for brass instruments is a problem that has not been solved even today. The brass parts of Bach’s works were primarily played by waits. However, there is no detailed report from that time about the waits, their playing technique, or their instruments. The only study from the 18th c. concerns the court trumpeters, who felt themselves superior to the waits. Certain problems concerning the performance of Bach’s brass music are considered. The corno and corno di caccia are defined as separate instruments, and a hypothesis is offered on the problem of the corno di tirarsi. Some old trumpets were played with a short slide (reconstructed) inside the mouthpipe. This slide, about one-third the length of the mouthpipe, permits intonation correction without lipping. The Leipzig “Stadtpfeifer” used the slide, while court trumpeters preferred lipping. The presence of these short slides (now lost) is evident from photographs of the interiors of the mouthpipes; the instruments display signs of abrasion produced by the slides
Cummings, James C. (2001). Contextual Studies of the Dramatic Records in the Area Around The Wash, c. 1350-1550, unpub.PhD Dissertation, (Leeds: University of Leeds, 2001).
Cuvelier, J (1946). La confrérie des musicians instrumentistes de Bruxelles sous l’Ancien régime. In: Acadèmie Royale de Belgique. Bulletin de la Lasse des Beaux-arts. 28, p. 38, pp. 40-43.
D’accone, Frank A (1997). The civic muse. Music and musicians in Siena during the middle ages and the renaissance. Chicago UP.
Davies, Robert ed. (????). Register of the freemen of the city of York from the city records: 1760-1835. In York City Library.
Davison, W. (1822). A Descriptive and Historical view of Alnwick.
Dekker, Thomas (1608). The belman of London. Title page illustration in: Molly Harrison & Mgt. E Bryant eds. Picture source book for social history – 16th century. London, George, Allen & Unwin (1951).
Denis, V (1952). Saint Job patron des musiciens. In: Revue belge d’Arch�ologie et d’histoire de l’art. 21, pp. 253-298.
Downs, Anneliese. (1963). The Tower Music of a Seventeenth-Century Stadtpfeifer. Brass Quarterly (Fall 1963): 3-33.
Drake, Francis (1736). Sheriffs’ Riding/Yoolgirthol. InEboracum. York. 196-7.
Duffin, Ross W. (1989). The trompette des menestrels of the 15-th century alta capella. Early Music. Vol. XVII no. 3, 397-402.
Duffin, Ross W. (2007). How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony. Norton, New York. ISBN 13: 978-0-393-06227-9/ISBN 10: 0-393-06227-9.
Durr, Walther (1958). Zwei neue belege für die-sogennannte “spielmännische” reduktion. Baden-Baden, Heitz.
Ernst, Fritz (1945). Die spielleute im dienste der stadt Basel im ausgehenden mittelalter (bis 1500). Basel, Karl Werner.
Farmer, Henry George (1950). Military Music. London, Max Parrish & Co Ltd.
Fawcett, Trevor (1979). Music in eighteenth century Norwich and Norfolk. Norwich, Centre for East Anglian Studies, Univ. of East Anglia.
Fellowes, Edmund (1925). Orlando Gibbons. Oxford, Clarendon.
Fleury, C (1891). Time-Honoured Lancaster.
Ford, Elliott (2019). A Study of the Musicians of Norwich, 1558-1660
Genesi, Mario-Giuseppe (1987).Tradizione bandistica a Piacenza e Provincia. [Wind bands of Piacenza and its province.] Strenna piacentina, Italy Vol. VII: 128-40. In Italian.
A historical survey of the Piacenza wind bands that flourished in the 19th c. As early as 1581 Montaigne was an eyewitness of a group of ‘pifferi’ playing the ‘diana’ or ‘révellier’ at the Piacenza Cittadella. With those of the the provincial capital, bands of neighboring resorts are also reviewed, such as the Pontedellolio formation launched in 1752, and those of Lugagnano in Val d’Arda, Fiorenzuola, Carpaneto, Borgonovo, Monticelli d’Ongina, Agazzano, Castell’Arquato, and Cortemaggiore. Playing as a bandsman is one of the most deep-rooted, popular and traditional musical pursuits in the Padania district.
Gifford, Robert M (1974). Performance practice and notation – to ca. 1600. Journal of band research [United States]; Vol. X/2, 25-32. Bibliography. ISSN: 0021-9207. Central Missouri State U., Warrensburg, USA
Documents the establishment of groups of municipal servants known as waits during the 14th c., the prominence of these groups as pipers in the 15th c., and their continued development during the 16th c. Explains how the medieval wind band came into existence, how the various groups functioned, the actual performance practices of these groups, and the eventual absorption of the wind band by new musical trends and practices. Discusses the possible early beginnings of the trombone, for it seems plausible that various types of instruments were undergoing experimentation and that several of these, such as the long, moveable trumpet, the trumpet with an actual slide, and even the small discant trombone, were developed either simultaneously or grew out of various combinations of each other.
Giles, W (????). York Corporation House Books. MS transciption of vols 39-50 (1631-1835). In York City Library. [carries on from where REED left off]
Gilchrist, I (2014). Waits – A living tradition that (almost) never went away. The Living Tradition Magazine, 2014.
Gilliodts-van Severen, L (1871-85). Inventaire des archives de la ville de Bruges. Societé d’Émulation: Chroniques) 4vv. Brugge.
Gilliodts-van Severen, L (1912). Les ménestrels de Bruges. Recueil de textes et analyses de documents inédits ou peu connus. Essais d’archéologie Brugeoise. II, Brugge.
Gregoir, EGJ (1869). Notice historique sur les societés et écoles de musique d’Anvers depuis les temps le plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, suivie de notices biographiques d’artistes musiciens anversois. Antwerp.
Gregoir, EGJ (1872). Notes tirées des archives de la cathédrale de N. Dame d’Anvers. In: Littérature musicale. Documents historiques relatifs a l’art musical et aux artiste-musiciens. 1 Brussel, pp. 57-76. (Possibly incorrect. See refs. in Spiessens G.).
Gregoir, EGJ (1876). Notes sur les mènétriers (speelieden). In: Littérature musical. 4, pp. 87-95.
Griffiths, David (nd. 1994?). A musical place of the first quality: a history of institutional music making in York c. 1550-1990. York, York Settlement Trust, 126 Holgate Road, York YO2 4DL. ISBN 0951 92293 9.
Hadland, FA (1915). The Waits. Musical News 106-107, 125-126, 149-150, 177-178, 198-200, 214-215.
Haid, Gerlinde (1972). Das Lied zum Neuen Jahr. Einige Beispiele aus Niederösterreich. [Songs for the New Year. Some examples from Lower Austria.] Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, Austria Vol. XXVII(9): 473-82. Music examples. In German.
The New Year celebration has a special place in musical customs; it takes the form of tower music (Turmblasen), songs of praise (Ansingen), games, hymns, and lieder (the Besinnungslied and the Brauchtumslied). The New Year’s music of Lower Austria shows the influence of Christmas music – a refrain from a pre-Reformation hymn, Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem, appears in many songs of praise for the New Year. In some melodies, the strong influence of music for wind instruments is evident. A special form of New Year’s music is the melodically archaic night-watchman’s call (Nachtwächterruf). Today New Year’s music is performed mainly because of interest in tradition, custom, and folklore.
Harley, John (1968). Music & (in?) Purcell’s London.
Includes:
The publick waites who liveryes do own,
And badges of a City, or some Town,
Who are retain’d in constant Yearly pay,
Do at their solemn publick meetings play.
And up and down the Streets, and Town in cold
Dark nights, when th’Instruments they can scarce hold
They play about, and tell what hour it is,
And weather too, this Course they do not miss,
Most part of Winter, in the Nights; and when
Some generous Persons come to Town, these Men
As soon as they’re Inform’d, do then repair
Unto their Lodgings play them some fine Ayre
Or brisk new tune, such as themselves think fit,
And which they hope, with th’ Gallants fancies hit,
They cry God Bless you Sirs; again then play,
Expecting Money, e’er they go away.
(Pecunia obediunt omnia.)
Anon. c.1680
Harley, John (1999). Orlando Gibbons and the Gibbons Family of Musicians. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot. ISBN 1 84014 209 X.
Four pages about William Gibbons, including his altercation with William Bird of the Cambridge University waits (see Miscellanea section).
Hatfield, Charles William (1868). Minstrels, waits and Christmas carols. In: Historical notices of Doncaster. Doncaster, Brook, White and Hatfield. 182-190.
Heaney, Michael (1986). Must every fiddler play a fiddle? REED Newsletter 11(1): 10-11.
Herbert, Trevor The Trombone Yale University Press (Yale Musical Instrument Series) 2006 ISBN0-300-10095-7
Hildebrandt, Maria Die Zunft der Munchner Stadtmusikanten Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung, 34. Jahrg., 1989 (1989), pp. 135-138 doi:10.2307/849200
Himmer, Otto (1992). Den tidlege klarinet i Danmark. Arhus: MUSA-Print 159-81.
The clarinet appears from the mid-18th c. among the city waits and the Life Guard, in the orchestra of the Kongelige Teater, and at court. The most prolific makers are Peter Apelberg, Friderich Coppy, Jacob Georg Larshoff and Johan Christoffer Selboe, and among the clarinettists are Joseph Rauch and Mozart Petersen. The clarinet is one of the main instruments used in the countryside. In this connection literary and iconographic sources, together with clarinet maker Mads Brems’s instruments, are described.
Hindley, C (2011). The Life and Time of James Catnach (Late of Seven Dials), Ballad Monger.
Hobbs, Mary (1975). John Wilson’s literary sources. Lute Society journal [United Kingdom]; Vol. XVII 6-16.
John Wilson left a collection of some 210 songs in Bodley MS Mus. b.1 [J.W.]. Many of the authors of the poems set have been identified, but the nature of Wilson’s connection with them was obscure until the Stroughton MS, a poetry anthology, came to light recently. This includes 34 poems set by Wilson in the first part of his song book. The same poems are found in only a few of the many similar collections of the period, three of which have been shown to have connection with the poet Bishop Henry King. King would have met Wilson, who was made Musician in Ordinary for the lute in 1635, at court, although they may have known one another earlier when Wilson was one of the city waits. Whether Wilson used a collection of poems in King’s possession, or alternatively King had copied the poems which Wilson had set to music, the conclusion is inescapable that some direct connection existed between the poet and the composer. A list is appended which correlates 57 of Wilson’s songs with manuscript sources for the poems.
Holman, Peter (1993) Four and Twenty Fiddlers. The violin at the English court 1540-1690. OUP, Oxford. ISBN 0.19.816145.X
Howey, Henry (1991). The lives of Hoftrompeter and Stadpfeiffer as portrayed in three novels of Daniel Speer. Historic Brass Society journal Vol. III: 65-78.
A discussion of passages from three novels by the composer Daniel Speer (1636-1707) which describe the lifestyle and responsibilities of town musicians in the 17th c. The novels are “Ungarischer oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus” (1683), “Türckischer Vagant” (1683), and “Simplicianisher, lustig-politischer Ungarischer Simplicissimus” (1684).
Huybens, Gilbert (1981). Bouwstenen voor een geschiedenis van de muziek te Leuven – 17de en 18de eeuw. In: Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring voor Leuven en omegeving, 21, pp. 5-93 (lijst van speelieden, trompetters, pp. 7-24).
Huybens, Gilbert (1982). Bronnen voor de geschiedenis van het muziekleven te Leuven in de 16de eeuw (1471-1594) – Stadspijpers, trompetters, speelieden.. In: Muziek te Leuven in de 16de eeuw (ed. G. Huybens), Leuven, pp. 20-23, 23-24, 24-25, 40-43 (lijst van de stadspeelieden).
Huybens, Gilbert (1985). Vier eeuven muziek in en voor de stad Leuven. In: Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis (de Brabantse stad), 68, afl. 1-4, pp. 113-126.
Huybens, Gilbert (1998). Antwerpse, Brugse, Brusselse, Gentse, Ieperse en Leuvense stadsspeellieden en – trompetters. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 160-169.
Huybens, G & Schreurs, E (19??). T’Haegelant. Quatre recueils de musique du XIIIe si�cle de Diest. Huybens, G & Schreurs, E eds. Peer, Belgium. ISBN 90 6853 094 1. [sold out, 11/11/99]
This music collection, which once belonged to the Di Martinelli family of musicians and lawyers in Diest, was only recently discovered. Of particular interest for research on local town musicians (‘speellieden’), are four small but exceptional music books, called ‘speelmansboekjes’. These contain a wealth of unique and typically local tunes, including Het Diester Bier (a well-known brown beer from the town of Diest), tdansken van Hogaerden (Hoegaarden Dance, another village famous for its beer), and Den Antwerpschen omganck (the Antwerp Procession). Music books for town musicians are very rare and this edition is particularly interesting for folk musicians, musicologists with an interest in fiddlers’ tunes and anyone interested in local history.
Hodgson, JC (1892). An account of the customs of the court leet and court baron of Morpeth, with the court roll of 1632. (extracted from Mr Woodman’s collection). Archaeologia Aeliana XVI (new series) 52- (see p.59).
Irving, Washington (1848). The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gentn.
Includes a description of ‘waits’, misquoted by Bridge, 1928 pretending it described true waits. The description is of some Chrismas Waits! (see discussion essay by Merryweather).
Janssen, Carole Ann (1979). The Waytes of Norwich and an Early Lord Mayor’s Show. RORD (Research Opportunities in Renaissance Drama) 22:57-64.
Janssen, Carole Ann (1978). The waytes of Norwich and renaissance civic pageantry. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of New Brunswick.
Jewett, Ll & Hope, WH StJ (1895). The corporation plate and insignia of office of the cities and towns of England and Wales. 2 vols. London & Derby, Bemrose & Sons.
Kelly, Ruth (1997). The lyra viol music of Simon Ives (1600-1662). MPhil, Univ. of Sydney. [88M377]
Kelly, William. (1865). Notices Illustrative of the Drama; and Other Popular Amusements at Leicester. London.
Kemp, William. (1600). Nine Daies Wonder. London. Complete reprints at e.g:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/kemp.html
http://eaasdc.de/history/shekempj.htm
Keynes, FA, Mrs (1947). Cambridge waits & Orlando Gibbons. In By-ways of Cambridge history. Cambridge, CUP. 57-80.
Kilbey, Maggie (2002). Curtal, Dulcian, Bajon: A History of the Precursor to the Bassoon. pp. 303, 147 b/w illustrations & line drawings. ISBN 0-9543492-0-2 www.curtalbook.com
Kisby, Fiona (2001). Music and Musicians in Renaissance Cities and Towns. Cambridge, CUP. ISBN 0 521 66171 4. Google Books
Knight, CB (1944). The Sheriffs’ Riding. In A history of York. 471-2.
Knight, Freda (1980). Cambridge Music. Cambridge, Oleander. ISBN 0 900891 51 3.
Knowles, John Ward (1924). York Musicians. Mss. and cuttings. In York City Library.
Koldewey, A (1990). In Buscoducis. Kunst uit de Bourgondische tijd te ‘s-Hertogenbosch. De cultuur van late middeleeuwen en renaissance. ‘s-Gravenhage.
Kossmann, FJ (1988). Stadsmuzikanten in de Ijsselsteden gedurende de late middleeeuwen. In: Overijsselse Historische Bijdragen. 103, pp. 25-43 (Deventer, Kampen, Zwolle).
Koudal, Jens Henrik (1994). Town waits and country fiddlers in Denmark. Historische Volksmusikforschung 285-294.
In early modern Denmark there existed a town wait organization of musicians who exerted a monopoly on playing. This organization was constantly competing with an unorganized, unprivileged musical sphere of activity. The privileged musicians in Denmark were called “instrumentister” or–after 1750–“stadsmusikanter”, the unprivileged were called “fuskere”, “bonhaser”, and “bier-fidlere”. The archive material concerning town waits can give us a view into the traditional music of the area, especially the sources concerning conflicts between the two musical orders.
Langwill, Lyndesay (1932). Town Musicians: The Edinburgh Waits. The Scotsman 21 December 1932, page 8.
Langwill, Lyndesay (1952). The Waits. A short history. Hinrichson’s Musical Year Book vol. VII: 170-183.
Langwill, Lyndesay (various dates). A significant number of Notes and articles were transcribed by Lyndesay G. Langwill (1897-1983) and given to Richard Rastall as carbon copies of typescripts. PDF version of this list.
Lasocki, David (1982). Professional recorder playing in England 1500-1740.Early Music [United Kingdom]; Vol. X/1; 2 23-29; 182-191. Illustration, portrait, music examples. ISSN: 0306-1078.
Describes the history of professional recorder playing in England by examining music at the court, theaters, opera houses, civic functions (by the waits, the City of London’s official musicians), and public concerts. Attempts to determine where recorders were played, what kind of music was played, who the players were, what kind of training they received, and what types of recorders they played. Discusses the Bassano family, who arrived from Venice in 1531 and dominated recorder music at the court and on the Continent. During the Civil War and the Commonwealth, many of the previous sources of employment for recorder players disappeared. The court was dismissed, public theaters were closed, and more musicians were forced to earn a living playing in taverns or teaching.
Lasocki, David (1983) Professional recorder players in England, 1540-1740. PhD thesis. University of Iowa.
Lasocki, David (1985) The Anglo-Venetian Bassano Family as Instrument makers and repairers. Galpin Society Journal 38, 112-132.
Lasocki, David (1986) The Bassanos – Anglo-Venetian and Venetian. Early Music 14, 558-560
Lasocki, David (1988) The French Hautboy in England, 1673-1730. Early Music 16, 339-357
Lasocki, David (2024) The English Waits and the Recorder in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. ISBN: 9798335177290.
This Essay discusses the Waits of all the cities and towns where recorders are documented: their duties, numbers, other instruments, sometimes singing and acting, training, pay, standard of living, and occasional follies. Biographies are included of all the members who played, or probably played, the recorder. Finally, there are reflections on the consorts, both pure and mixed, in which the Waits would have used recorders, and the sizes and numbers of instruments involved.
Available from Amazon and as a pdf from David’s website, www.instantharmony.net
Letts, Malcolm (ed.) 1957. The Travels of Leo of Rozmital / through Germany, Flanders, England, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy / 1465-1467. Hakluyt Society. Second series, part II, no. 108. Includes translation of observation of waits calling the weather for mariners by Leo Rozmital, a Bavarian traveller in 1466.
Mackenzie, E (1827). A descriptive and Historical Account of the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Mackerness, Eric (1974). Somewhere Further North, a history of music in Sheffield. Sheffield, Northland.
McGee, T (2009). The Ceremonial Musicians of Late Medieval Florence. Indiana University Press, 2009. ISBN-10: 0253353041, ISBN-13: 978-0253353047. Includes an extensive chapter on civic musicians.
Malden, John (1989). Register of York freemen. York, William Sessions. Microfiches. ISBN 1 85072 054 1.
Malone Society (1980/1) Collections Volume XI, Records of Plays and Players in Norfolk and Suffolk. Oxford, The Malone Society Reprints No. 141. Contains many references to Waits from Town Council records, account books, etc. See the Malone page on this site.
Marsh, Christopher (2010) Music and Society in Early Modern England Published by Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-89832-4, with section on town waits pp 115-130.
McCandless, Brian E (2006) Town Pipers: A European Tradition Originally published in the Journal of The American Association of Lowland and Border Pipers. Falls into the common misconception that all pipers are bagpipers (even inferring that Bach’s orchestra used them!). Contains nothing of real interest to Waits researchers.
McGee, Timothy James (1992-95). Misleading iconography: The case of the “Adimari Wedding Cassone.” Imago musicae: International yearbook of musical iconography Vol. IX-XII: 139-157.
The “Adimari Wedding Cassone”, attributed to Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi (Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia di Belli Arte), was not intended as a wedding object: It alludes only generally to Florence, and not to a more specific location; its date (1443-65) was long after the actual wedding it supposedly represented (held 22 June 1420); and it has little reason to be associated with Adimari or any other specific Florentine family. Further, the scene depicted is not necessarily from a wedding: The painting portrays a typical festive occasion attended by aristocratic Florentines, a lavish banquet followed by dancing and accompanied by the civic “pifferi” (an ensemble of three shawms and a slide trumpet). The presence of the civic “pifferi”–which was only occasionally allowed to perform for private events–indicates that the sponsors of the event were from a high level of Florentine society. The dances featured are of a generic, processional type. The present frame is a part of the original construction, and suggests that the work was intended to function as an independent framed painting, although it might have functioned as one of a set of “spalliere”.
McGowan, Keith (1999). The Prince and the piper. Early Music 27(2): 211-232.
Merryweather, James W (1988). York Music. York, Sessions Book Trust. ISBN 1 85072 034 7.
History of waites in York, 1304-1896.
Merryweather, James W (1992). York Music – update. From author on request, or downloadable from this site. Click here.
Merryweather, James W (1993). The Waites’ Progress. From author on request.
An illustrated itinerary for a walk around historic York to visit the places where the city waites (ca. 1300-1836) lived and made their music.
Merryweather, James W (1994). The town waits. The Richmond (Yorkshire) Review. 17: 18-21.
Merryweather, James W (1999). Common grounds. Bagpipe Society Newsletter. Summer, 1999 10-12.
Merryweather, James W (1999). Debagging & rebagging or rebagging the debagged. Bagpipe Society Newsletter Autumn, 1999, 20-24.
Merryweather, James W (1999). The Minstrels’ Pillar in St Mary’s Church, Beverley – a Tudor portrait of the York Waites? York Historian Volume 16 1999 (ISBN 0 9519981 6 1 ISSN 0309 – 3743)
Merryweather, James W (1999). Why are they waiting? Early Music Today. December 1999/January 2000. 5-7.
Merryweather, James W (1999). Watchmen, gaytes, and waits. Unpublished.
Merryweather, James W (1999). Liber Niger Domus Regis, c. 1471. Unpublished. Eleven versions of the archetypal earliest definition of a wait. Not one is the same as another. Here is the beginning of the most authoritative:
“A WAITE that nightly from Michaelmas till Shere-thursday pypeth the watche within this Court fower Tymes, And in the summer nightes threetymes [sic] And he to make bon gayte and [sic (at)] euery chambre doore and office aswell for fuyre as for other pikers or perelles….” Stephen, George A (1933).
Merryweather, James W (1999). Prof. Bridge, Washington Irving & The Waits. Unpublished.
Bridge (1928) deliberately misquoted and misused a passage from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent for the first paragraph of his paper Town Waits and their Tunes. The passage referred to post-waits carol singers.
Merryweather, James W (1999). A much quoted (e.g. Anon, 1915; Bridge, 1928; Langwill, 1952), but so far unidentified passage in De Naturis Rerum by Alexander Neckam, often given as the first occurrence of the word waits (Assint etiam excubiae vigiles (veytes) cornibus suis strepitum et clangorum facientes.).(see discussion essay by Merryweather 1999).
Several people have hunted through the published text of this work and cannot find the passage (Carole Ann Janssen, 1978; James Merryweather, 1999; James Cummings, 2000). Therefore, we have no idea where the original quotation came from or who first quoted it making it so important a red herring.
Merryweather J.W. (2001). English two-chanter bagpipe. Galpin Society Journal. LIV 62-75.
Merryweather J.W. (2002). Two-chanter bagpipes revisited. Galpin Society Journal. LV 386-390.
Merryweather J.W. (2002). Regional bagpipes: history or bunk? EFDSS Newsletter Summer 200, 9-12.
Merryweather J.W. (2003). Geordie’s drones. Chanter. Winter 2003 12-13.
Merryweather J.W. (2004). Pipe Down. Early Music Today. 12 (2): 18-19.
Merryweather, James W (2004). The York Waits’ Chains. York Historian – vol. 20. Also on this site Click here
Merryweather J. W. (2005). Dr. Merryweather’s Song-Booke. Ruxbury Publications ISBN 1-904846-11-4.
A large and comprehensive collection of “Songs to be Sungen by Town’s Waites…”. Includes numerous relevant notes, and a section on Waits in the introduction.
Merryweather James (2013). Keepinge the Night Watches Tradition Today (The Journal of the Centre for English Traditional Heritage) December 2013, 52-54.
Munrow David Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Oxford University Press 1976 ISBN 0 19 321321 4.
Myers, A.R., ed. (1959) The Household of Edward IV; The Black Book and the Ordinance of 1498. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Quotes the Liber Niger Domus Regis Angliae, 1483 (see discussion essay by Merryweather).
Myers, Herbert W. (1989). Slide trumpet madness: fact or fiction?. Early Music. Vol. XVII no. 3, 383-389.
Neckam, Alexander (late 13th C). De naturis rerum. In: Alexandri Neckam De naturis rerum libro duo, with the poem of the same author, De laudibus divinae sapientiae. Thomas Wright ed. Longman, London, 1863. Kraus Reprint (facsimile) New York, 196-. “Rolls series” vol. 34.
(see discussion essay by Merryweather 1999)
Nichols, John Gough. (1837). London Pageants. London.
Noyes, Alfred. (1913). Drake. Collected Poems. vol. I. New York: Stokes. 246-426.
Ongaro, Giulio (1985). 16th-century Venetian wind instrument makers and their clients. Early music Vol. XIII/3: 391-97.
A description of a 1559 partnership contract between two instrument makers of the Bassano family and three of the pifferi del Doge, providing background information on the individuals mentioned. The contract, transcribed and translated in full in an appendix, includes a list of available wind instruments, complete with their prices.
Palmer, Kenneth Nicholls (1997). Ceremonial Barges on the River Thames A History of the Barges of the City of London Livery Companies and of the Crown. Published by Unicorn Press, London. ISBN 0 906290 17 1. Includes appendix (No. II) by Jane Palmer on Music in the Barges at the Lord Mayor’s Triumphs in the Seventeenth Century, in which she asserts that the City of London Waits did not perform on the water, but only in the land processions and at the banquet. See David Jackson’s comments in Notes & Queries
Peters, Gretchen (2012). The Musical Sounds of Medieval French Cities Players, Patrons, and Politics. Published by Cambridge University Press (November 12, 2012). ISBN-10: 1107010616. ISBN-13: 978-1107010611.
Polk, Keith (1968). Wind bands of medieval Flemish cities. Brass and Woodwind Quarterly. 1.
Polk, Keith (1969). Municipal wind music in Flanders in the late middle ages. Brass and Woodwind Quarterly. 2.
Polk, Keith (1975). Ensemble instrumental music in Flanders – 1450-1550. Journal of Band Research 11(2): 12-27.
Polk, Keith (1986). Civic patronage and instrumental ensembles in Renaissance Florence. Augsburger Jahrbuch f�r Musikwissenschaft Vol. III: 51-68.
Until the fall of the republic in 1532, the city of Florence was one of the most important employers of musicians. Sources from the Archivio di Stato in Florence shed light on the development of three different wind ensembles (pifferi, trombetti, trombadori) maintained by the city for official and ceremonial purposes. Singers, lutenists, harpists, and viol players apear occasionally in the 15th c. Although the sources contain no references to string ensembles, which came into fashion after 1490, it is possible that the members of the pifferi also played string instruments when requested.
Polk, Keith (1987). The trombone in archival documents. ITA Journal 25-31.
Polk, Keith (1987). Instrumental music in the urban centres of renaissance Germany. Early Music History. VII: 159-186.
Polk, Keith (1989). The trombone, the slide-trumpet and the ensemble traditon of the early renaissance. Early Music 17(3): 389-397.
Polk, Keith (1989). Vedel and geige – German string traditions in the 15th century. Journal of the American Musicological Society 42(3): 504-546.
Polk, Keith (1990). Voice and instruments, soloists and ensembles in the 15th century. Early Music 18(2): 179-198.
Polk, Keith (1992). German instrumental music of the late middle ages. Cambridge, CUP. ISBN 0 521 38521 0.BIBLIOGRAPHY pp. 252-266 is particularly important.
Polk, Keith (1994). Minstrels and music in the Low Countries in the fifteenth century. Musicology and archival research/Musicologie et recherches en archives/ Musicologie en archiefonderzoek (Bruxelles: Bibliotheca Regia Belgica, 1994) 392-410. See RILM 1994-01822-bs
Archival documents reveal that courts and cities in the Low Countries vigorously supported instrumental music played by both small, highly skilled ensembles, who were referred to very early as chamber musicians, and by wind bands, which were amply patronized, especially in the eastern regions. In Flanders wind-band ensembles were watchmen as well as musicians. The notion of evening concerts, the “lof”, evolved ca. 1470 in Flanders.
Polk, Keith (2005) Tielman Susato and the Music of His Time Print Culture, Compositional Technique and Instrumental Music in the Renaissance. BUCINA-THE HISTORIC BRASS SOCIETY SERIES No. 5 Pendragon No.: 581 ISBN: 1-57647-106-3
Price, M.A. (1964) The Status and Function of Minstrels in England between 1350 and 1400. This is an MA thesis from Birmingham University. On pp 113-142 it documents the Tutbury Guild of Minstrels from its formation by John of Gaunt in 1380 through to the 18th century. The Tutbury Guild exercised authority over minstrels from much of the Midlands:
initially Staffordshire but over time extending to cover Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. It met annually at Tutbury Castle on the Feast of the Assumption to elect its king and transact other business.
The thesis is on line at etheses.bham.ac.uk/6141/1/Price64MA.pdf
Prims, F (1936). De Sint-Jobsgilde der speelieden. In: Antwerpiensia. 10, 390-391.
Radford, Alan (1994). The Leeds Waits. from: the author at 40 Lee Lane East, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 5RE.
Radford, A. (2009). The Leeds Waits: official town musicians and peripatetic entertainers for over three centuries. Publications of the Thoresby Society, 2nd series, vol. 19, pp 59-76.
Rasch, Rudolph The role of the city in the musical life of the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic. Publication details unknown.
“Although musical life in the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic cannot, perhaps, be compared to that of Italy, France, England, or the German-speaking countries, it was nevertheless lively and multi-faceted, largely concentrated in the cities. Its origins can be traced back to the early years of the Dutch Republic, the first half of the seventeenth century, when the cities employed organists, carillon players, town waits, and trumpeters.”
see http://www.18e-eeuw.nl/tijdschrift/summaries/37-2.html
Rastall, George Richard (2023). Minstrels and Minstrelsy in Late Medieval England.
Book, 476 Pages, 23.4 x 15.6 cm, 10 music exx., 5 maps, 12 b/w illus.
A major new study piecing together the intriguing but fragmentary evidence surrounding the lives of minstrels to highlight how these seemingly peripheral figures were keenly involved with all aspects of late medieval communities.
Boydell Press
Rastall, George Richard (1968). Secular musicians in late medieval England. PhD diss., Musicology: U. of Manchester, 1968) 2v. xxxvi, 271; ii, 195 p. (typescript). Illustration, bibliography.
Surveys the sources of information concerning minstrelsy in England in the 14th-15th c., and discusses the subject under the following headings: the administration of minstrelsy, music in drama and processions, minstrelsy and the church, the royal minstrels, the haut and bas minstrelsy, the waferers, minstrelsy in non-royal households, and the town waits (not descended from the civic watch). Volume 2 contains calendars of accounts from royal and other households concerning minstrels.
SECULAR MUSICIANS IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Richard Rastal’s doctoral thesis now available online.
Rastall, G Richard (1980). “Wait”. In S Sadie ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London, MacMillan.
REED Records of Early English Drama. http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/index.html
PUBLISHED VOLUMES (Updated 11 Feb 2014)
1.1979 York A F Johnston and M Rogerson (eds).
2.1979 Chester L M Clopper (ed).
3.1981 Coventry R W Ingram (ed).
4.1982 Newcastle upon Tyne J J Anderson (ed).
5.1984 Norwich 1540-1642 D Galloway (ed).
6.1986 Cumberland/Westmorland/Gloucestershire A Douglas and P Greenfield (eds).
7.1986 Devon J Wasson (ed).
8.1989 Cambridge A H Nelson (ed). 9.1990 Herefordshire/Worcestershire D N Klausner (ed).
10.1991 Lancashire D George (ed).
11.1994 Shropshire J A B Somerset (ed).
12.1996 Somerset, including Bath J Stokes and R J Alexander (eds).
13.1997 Bristol M C Pilkinton (ed).
14.1999 Dorset/Cornwall R C Hays and C E McGee / S L Joyce and E S Newlyn (eds).
15.2000 Sussex C Louis (ed).
16.2002 Kent: Diocese of Canterbury J M Gibson (ed).
17.2004 Oxford J R Elliott, Jr, and A H Nelson (University); A F Johnston and D Wyatt (City) (eds).
18.2005 Wales D N Klausner (ed).
19.2007 Cheshire (including Chester) E Baldwin, L M Clopper, and D Mills (eds).
20.2008 Ecclesiastical London M Erler (ed).
21.2009 Lincolnshire J Stokes (ed).
22.2009 Lancashire including Isle of Man Addenda E Baldwin, D George, and D Mills (eds).
23.2010 Inns of Court A H Nelson and J R Elliott Jr (eds).
Also available from REED is the revised 1990 edition of the REED Handbook for Editors.
Collections in Progress (Updated 11 Feb 2014)
R J Alexander – Percy Papers
A Brannen – Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire
S Carpenter – Scotland Royal Court
J Cowling and P Greenfield – Hampshire
A Douglas – Salisbury
J Dutka and M Woodcock – Norwich
J Freeman, M C Erler and S Lindenbaum – Middlesex including Westminster
J M Gibson – Kent, Diocese of Rochester
P Greenfield – Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire
A F Johnston and A Brannen – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire; Northamptonshire
D N Klausner – Yorkshire North Riding
A Lancashire – Civic London
S-B MacLean – Dudley Family, Surrey
J J McGavin and E Williamson – Scotland Provinces
C E McGee and S Thomas – Derbyshire, Yorkshire West Riding
C E McGee and R C Hays – Wiltshire
J McKinnell – Durham
A H Nelson – Essex
D Postles – Nottinghamshire
J A B Somerset – Staffordshire, Warwickshire
J Stokes – Rutland, Suffolk
S Westfall – Northumberland
D Wyatt – Yorkshire East Riding
Richards, Paul (1998). Winter Festival. In King’s Lynn. Phillimore. pp. 109 & 128.
Rimmer, Joan (1994). Review Article: German instrumental music c. 1350-1520. Music & Letters. 75:1, 47-57.
Robb, Candace M (1994). FICTION The Lady Chapel. New York, St Martin’s Press. ISBN 0 312 11409 5. It is 1365. Character Ambrose Coats is given as a “Town Wait” (York is a city). Inadequate definition of wait at rear of book.
Round, J.H. (1885). The Antiquary 12:225.
Ruhnke, M (1966). Stadtpfeifer. In: Riehmann Musik Lexikon. 3, pp. 896-897.
Salmen, Walter. (1971). Der Sozialstatus des Berufmusikers vom 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Kassel.
Salmen, Walter. (1971). Der Sozialstatus des Berufmusikers vom 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Kassel.
Scholes, Percy (1934). The waits and the puritans. Musical Times. July, 1934.
Scholes, Percy (1938 on). Wait or Wayte. In: The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press.
1960 edition (prob others) contains his briefest thoughts on Puritans and music: “There is not the slightest warrant for the statement sometimes made that under the puritan regime of the Commonwealth and Protectorate the English Waits were suppressed. They were in full activity, just before and after this period. At Newcastle-upon-Tyne when the mayor entertained Cromwell the Town Waits played before the house”. I might add that in 1652 York was unable to pay their wages (In regard of the extreame poverty of this citty) and the waits were put out of office until 1666 – no question of puritan suppression, just lack of money.
Schwab, Heinrich W. (1983). The social status of the town musician. In: W Salmen, ed. The social status of the professional musician from the middle ages to the nineteenth century. Pendragon Press, New York. p. 56.
Translation of Salman’s 1971 book by Kaufmann & Reiser.
Schwab, Heinrich W. (1993). Der Stadtmusicus als Amtsträger. (The office of city musician.) Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums. 98-106. Illus. ISSN: 0934-5191. in German.
During the 14th to 18th c., town musicians in Germany had a variety of official responsibilities and performed a number of functions. Their social status, the distinguishing attributes of their office, their coats of arms, and their costume are discussed. germany / musical life / town musicians / 14th-18th c.; performers-general / germany / town musicians / 14th-18th c.; costumes / germany / town musicians / 14th-18th c.; visual and plastic arts / germany / town musicians / coats of arms / 14th-18th c.
Semmens, Richard (1984). The Bassoons in Marin Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636). Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Vol. X. https://www.idrs.org/Publications/DR/DR10.2/DR10.2.Semm.html
Seitz, Cheryl Glenn (1997). Sounds and sweet airs: city waits of medieval and renaissance England. Essays in Medieval Studies 4, Proceedings of the Illinois Medieval Association. West Virginia University Press. ISSN 1043-2213.
Online version: http://www.luc.edu/publications/medieval/vol4/seitz.html
A rather good overview of waits history, unfortunately based on limited source material and, at the beginning, heavily dependent upon the usual set of inaccuracies and misapprehensions put about by Bridge & Langwill. (e.g. Liber Niger; Washington Irving – see discussion essays by Merryweather), so reader enjoy, be well informed, but beware.
Sharp, Thomas (1825). A dissertation on the pageants or dramatic mysteries anciently performed at Coventry. Reprint by EP Publishing, 1973.
Simpson, Justin (1885) The Stamford Waits and their predecessors: an historical sketch Published in The Reliquary Vol. XXVI
Smits van Waesberghe, J (1969). Een 15de-eeuws muziekboek van de stadsministrelen de Maastricht? Renaissance-muziek 1400-1600, Donum natalicum Ren� Bernard Lenaerts. Leuven, pp. 247-273.
Southworth, John (1989). The English medieval minstrel. Woodbridge, Suffolk, Boydell Press. ISBN 0 85115 536 7.
Southey, Roz (2006). Music-making in North-East England during the eighteenth century. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot. ISBN 0-7546-5097-9.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1968-90). Geschiedenis van de Gilde van de Antwerpe speelieden, bijgenaamd Sint-Job en Sint-Maria Magdalena. Inleiding en dl 1: XVde eeuw; dl 2: 1600-1650; dl 3:1650-1700; dl 4: 1700-1750; dl 5: 1740-1794. In: Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap. 1: 22 (1968), pp. 5-50; 2: 28-30 (1974-1976), pp. 24-111; 3: 36-37 (1982-1984), pp. 88-127; 4: 41-42 (1987-1988), pp. 79-95, pp. 149-192; 5: 44 (1990), pp. 79-122.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1970-74). De Antwerpse stadspeelieden (1) XVde en de XVIde eeuw. In: Noordgouw. X (1970), pp. 1-53; (2) 1600-1650, ibidem, XVIII (1978), pp. 107-185; (3) 1650-1700 In: Provincilae Commissie voor Geschiedenis en Volkskunde. Provincie Antwerpen. Jaarboek 1991-1992, Antwerpen, 1994, pp. 5-71.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1975). Bijdrage tot de studie van de Antwerpss speelieden in de XVIde eeuw. In: Antwerpen in de XVIde eeuw. Antwerpen, 1975, pp. 521-531.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1978). Gommaer van Oisterwyck. Van Antwerps stadspeelman tot Engels hofmuzikant. In: Noordgouw, XVIII, pp. 213-223.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1982). Statuair aspect van de Antwerpse Gilde der speelieden. In: Muziek te Leuven in de 16de eeuw (ed. G. Huybens), Leuven, pp. 48-50.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1985). De Antwerpse stadspeelieden (1415-1794). In: Bijdragen tot de Gesciedenis (de Brabantse stad), 68, afl. 1-4, pp. 113-126.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1986). seger Pylken. De rentjes van een Antwerps stadspeelman in de 16de eeuw. In: Bijdragen tot de Gesciedenis (de Brabantse stad), 69, pp. 209-230.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1998). Stadsspeellieden in de Nederlanden 1415-1794. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 170-179.
Spiessens, Godelieve (1998). De Antwerpse stadsspeellieden. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 153-159.
Spruyt, JE (1960). De speelman in de Nederlanden van de 13e-15e eeuw. In: Mens en Melodie. 15, pp. 332-336.
Spruyt, JE (1969). Van vedelaars, trommers en pijpers. Utrecht. pp. 95-107.
Stephen, George A (1933). The waits of the city of Norwich through four centuries to 1790. Proceedings of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society. vol. xxv.
Stewart, Peter WELCOME HOME MY DEARIE – PIPING IN THE SCOTTISH LOWLANDS 1690-1900. The Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society. Tells the story of the bagpipe of the Scottish Lowlands from its heyday in the late 17th century to its gradual decline in the 19th century. Once known as ‘the common bagpipe’ but later consigned to museum collections, displaced by its Great Highland brother, its full history is told here for the first time.
Stilz, Bernhard (1995). “Stadtpfeiffern” und “Hoboisten”: Holzbläser als Berufsmusiker in der frühen Neuzeit. [“Stadtpfeiffer” and “Hoboisten”: Wind players as professional muscians in early modern times.] Rohrblatt X(1): 2-7.
The organization of the town musicians’ guild for the 15th through the 17th c. is described (rights, duties, privileges, training), with emphasis on the wind instruments (instruments used and duties of players in connection with private occasions, town council meetings, guard duty, and church activities). The military role of woodwind peformers (the so-called Burgundian pipers, “Schallmeyer”, and oboists) is considered as the origin of later oboe bands and “Harmonie” ensembles.
Stockmann, Doris & Erler, Annette (eds.), Town Waits and Country Fiddlers in Denmark, Historische Volksmusikforschung. Studiengruppe zur Erforschung historischer Volksmusikquellen im ICTM. vol. 10. Göttingen 1994, pp. 285-294.
Stokes, James (1998). The Waits of Lincolnshire. Early Theatre. 1: 75-111.
Strohm, Reinhard (1990). Music in late medieval Bruges. Oxford, Clarendon. ISBN 0 19 316418 3.
Szomjas-Schiffert, György (1978). Stredoevropská písen ponocného. [A night watchman’s song in Central Europe.] Hudební veda, Czechoslovakia Vol. XV:3 247-57. Music examples. In Czech.
An extract from a monograph entitled Hajnal vagyon szép piros…Énekes v&iarvirrasztók es orakiáltók that was published in Budapest in 1972 (see RILM 1976-06743).
Theunissens, L (1906). La musique � Anvers au XIVe, XVe et XVIe si�cle. Copie du ms de M. le Chevalier de Burbure. In: Annales de l’Academie royale de Belgique. 58, pp. 243-244.
Tringham, Nigel K (1989). The Whitsuntide commemoration of St William of York: a note. REED Newsletter 14(2): 10-12.
Turner, J. Horsfall. (1890). Yorkshire Folklore Journal. Vol 1.
van Aerde, R (1911). Ménestrels communaux & instrumentistes divers établis ou de passage à Malines, de 1311 à1790. Mechelen. Verscheen ook in Bulletin du Cercle archéologique, littéraire et artistique de Malines. 21 (1911). pp. 133-239, met alfabetische naamlijst op pp. I-XI.
van de Casteele, D (1868). Préludes historiques sur la ghilde des ménéstrels de Bruges. Annales de la Societé d’éemulation pour l’étude de l’histoire et des Antiquités de Flandre. 3de reeks, 3/20, pp. 53-144.
van Heyghen, Peter & Selhost, Karolien (1998). Stadspijpers te Leuven. Een reconstructie door Wim Becu en Katharina Arfken. Musica Antiqua. Actuele informatie over oude musiek. 15/4 150-149.
van Waesberghe, Josef Smits (1969). Een 15e eeuws musiekboek van de stadsminstrelen van Maastricht? In: Renaissance-Muziek 1400-1600. Josef Robijns ed. Leuven. 247-273 (facsimiles).
Vander Straeten, E (1878). Les ménestrels aux Pays-Bas avant le XIXe siécle. Brussel, (reprint: Genève, 1972).
Vente, MA (1982). Het stadspeelmanschap in de Nederlanden. In: Muziek te Leuven in de 16de eeuw (ed. G. Huybens), Leuven, pp. 44-47.
Verner, Jensen (1992). Dulcianen og fagotten i Danmark i 1600- og 1700-tallet. Arhus: MUSA-Print 182-209.
The dulcian appears from the second half of the 17th c. The accounts and inventories of grammar schools yield information about the instrument, as do the stock lists of the city waits. About 1700 bassoons were found in the orchestra of the Kongelige Teater, and were later heard in military music and among amateurs of the musical societies. Among the many bassoonists in the period 1770-1824 is Gottlob Schicht. Thirteen bassoons from the 18th c. with connections to Denmark are described, together with several Danish bassoon builders.
Verner, Jensen (1992). Dulcianen og fagotten i Danmark i 1600- og 1700-tallet. Arhus: MUSA-Print 182-209.
The dulcian appears from the second half of the 17th c. The accounts and inventories of grammar schools yield information about the instrument, as do the stock lists of the city waits. About 1700 bassoons were found in the orchestra of the Kongelige Teater, and were later heard in military music and among amateurs of the musical societies. Among the many bassoonists in the period 1770-1824 is Gottlob Schicht. Thirteen bassoons from the 18th c. with connections to Denmark are described, together with several Danish bassoon builders.
Vlam, CC (1963). Stadspijpers, staadspeelieden en stadstrompers. In: Algemene Muziekencyclopedie. 6, p. 406.
Vlam, CC (1963). Bouwstenen voor een geschiedenis der toonkunst in de Nederlanden. 1, pp. 212-245. (speelieden te Utrecht e.a.).
Vlam, CC & Vente, MA (1965-80). Bouwstenen voor een geschiedenis der toonkunst in de Nederlanden. 3 dln. Amsterdam.
Wainwright, Jonathan P (1997). Musical patronage in seventeenth-century England. Christopher, First Baron Hatton (1605-1670). Aldershot, Scholar.
Walker, J.H. The History of Wakefield (The Brotherton Library).
Ward, Ned [Edward]. (1698). The London Spy. London: Folio Society, 1955.
Ward, Ned (1709). The Waits. In: The London Spy Compleat. London, J. How. In: The London Spy. (1993) Paul Hyland ed. East Lansing, Colleagues Press.
Warwick, Alan R (1968). A noise of music. London, Queen Anne Press in association with the Corportation of London. SBN 362 00033 6 (? ISBN 9 0362 00033 6)
Weinpahl, Robert W. (1979). Music at the Inns of Court. N.p.: University [?] Microfilms.
Weir, Christopher (1981). Village and town bands. Shire Album 61. Aylesbury, Shire Publications.
Welford, Richard (1896). The waits of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A paper read at the annual meeting of the Northumbrian Small-Pipes Society. 16-36 plus illus.
Wilshere, John (1970) Leicester Waits Heart of Albion Press, 2 Cross Hill Close, Wymeswold Loughborough, LE12 6UJ, UK
Whitwell, David The History and Literature of the Wind Band and Wind Ensemble, 9 volumes. ‘Winds’, Box 513, Northridge, California 91328. V A Austin of Gainesville University, Florida, USA says: I have volume 2, “The Renaissance Wind Band and Wind Ensemble”, and volume 3, “The Baroque Wind Band and Wind Ensemble”. I ordered one on line from www.Amazon.com. Whitwell comes from the ‘band’ side of things. The books seem to be self-published and draw heavily upon the work of others. It is a nice feature to have numerous references to wind music together in a single source by chronological period.
Whitwell, David On Renaissance Civic Music, Essays on the Origins of Western Music, no. 133. Available on line at www.whitwellessays.com/docs/DOC_129.doc : This is particularly valuable for information on the Norwich Waits accompanying Drake on his ill-fated raid on Cadiz in 1589.
Wiedling, Lieselotte (1971). Zwei alte badische Fastnachtsrufe und ihr musikalischer Umkreis. [Two early Shrove Tuesday calls from Baden and their musical context.] Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung, Germany Vol. XVI: 81-90. Music examples. In German.
Briefly describes the function of 2 Shrove Tuesday calls that originated in Wolfach and Elzach. Examines the musical structure of both calls and the historical context of their melodic forms. Demonstrates their origins in hourly calls of the night watchmen. On the basis of music examples from Josef Wichner’s study Stundenrufe und Lieder der deutschen Nachtwächter [Hourly calls and songs of the German nightwatchmen], as well as many other examples from printed collections and tape recordings, it is shown in 3 comparative tables that all of the calls examined are related to a very early call formula. Several examples of narrative songs that use melodic material found in these examples lead us to conclude that such narrative songs could have been part of the night watchmen’s repertory. (Author)
Weinandt, Elwyn A. (1983). Johann Pezel (1639-1694) A Thematic Catalogue of His Instrumental Works. Pendragon Press. ISBN 0918728231.
A German town bandsman and composer, one of a humble yet privileged class of musicians. The works Pezel is most remembered for are his 5 part cornet and trombone ensembles performing twice daily from the Rathaus tower in Leipzig. One of his publications is a collection of 76 pieces, mostly intradas and examples of various dance forms such as sarabande, courante, allemand, bal, and gigue.
According to The New Penguin Dictionary of Music, Johann Pezel (also known as Petzold) was variously a trumpeter and violinist, had employed musicians at Leipzig and Bautzen and was a composer and publisher of suites and other works for string ensembles.
Werner, Kaden (1994). Stadtpfeifen, lehrlingskapellen, orchesterschulen. Der Orchester: Zeitschrift f�r Orchester und Rundfunk-Chorwesen 11-17. [about modern stadtpfeiffer]
Whistler, Lawrence (1947). The English Festivals. London, Heinemann. p. 53.
White Eileen (1986). Waits and musicians in York, 1554-1661. Entries not included in REED-York. Typescript pers. comm. Author or James Merryweather.
White Eileen (1987). Hewet, the wait of York. REED Newsletter 12(2): 17-23.
White, Eileen (1989). Elizabethan York. York, Yorkshire Architectural Society and Yorkshire Archaeological Society. ISBN 0 9503519 7 0.
Wilshere, JEO (1970). Leicester town waits. Leicester, Leicester research services.
Winn, VA (1965). A Bibliography of Contemporary Source Works for the Social History of English Music 1543-1748. Thesis July 1965. Copy in the JB Morrell Library at the University of York (Quarto LM 0.94205 WIN).
Woodfill, Walter L (1969). Musicians in English society. New York, Da Capo Press.
Wulstan, David (1985) Tudor Music. Dent, London. 1985 ISBN 0.460.04412.5
Young, AA (1984). Plays and players: the latin terms for performance [part 1]. REED Newsletter 9(2): 56-62.
Young, AA (1985). Plays and players: the latin terms for performance [part 2]. REED Newsletter 10(1): 9-16.