Men in Tights Part 2: The Art of Bardic Song

Yesterday at the Renaissance Festival, Brittney Rothal and I decided to go hear some story telling by Lady Merilee Effingham of England. She sang us the story of The Witch of The Westmoreland, and exciting tale about a wounded knight who seeks the Witch of the Westmoreland so he may be healed. She heals him with a goldenrod and three kisses, and the song ends with "There's none can harm the knight who's lain with the Witch of the Westmoreland." After this, I decided to do some research on the music of the renaissance.


The renaissance was a very exciting time for music and musicians alike because music printingbecame available in Europe, as opposed to music being copied by hand or learned by ear. Thebooks that were available before printing were very expensive due to time it took to copy the
music by hand, meaning that they were exclusive to religious establishments and the rich. But
Ottaviano Petrucci in 1501, published the first big collection of polyphonic music (music with 
mulitple tones or voices such as a chorale like this, Abasalon, fili mi) that was inexpensive, so 
more people could learn to read music and have it in their households.


At around 1550 in northern Italy, a brand new four stringed bowed instrument was developed 
and many, many people started to take up the instrument. It was originally called the viola de gamba, looking much like a modern cello. Other instruments around this time period included the 
lute, recorder, harpsichord (similar to piano, prominent in Baroque music), and the organ.