IN 1603 James VI of Scotland acceded to the English throne, becoming James I of England. With his accession many aspects of court life changed. Unlike Elizabeth I, his predecessor, James was married, with children. The court structure had to change slightly to accommodate this, with the establishment of separate households for the Queen and the royal children. The musical establishment at court was also changing. James’s accession coincided with the coming of age of many of the best native composers of the early seventeenth century, such as John Coprario, Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Thomas Ford, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Lupo. (According to contemporary writers Coprario was originally John Cooper, who adopted the Italianate form after a visit to Italy; Ferrabosco and Lupo were English, of Italian descent.) Within the first decade or so of the new century musical fashions had moved on from the Elizabethan period, and James’s court became the centre of musical innovation and development. James’s sons, Henry and Charles, were more interested in music than was their father. Henry, created Prince of Wales in 1610, amassed an impressive retinue of musicians, mostly singer-lutenists and viol players; however, he died unexpectedly of typhoid in 1612. Charles, created Duke of York in 1605, inherited many of Henry’s musicians when he became Prince of Wales in 1616.

Most of the major scoring and formal innovations of the period were conceived and developed between the households of Prince Henry and Prince Charles. English music at the time was embracing many Italian traits; exploration of Italianinfluenced musical forms was especially fostered in Prince Henry’s household. Composers such as Coprario were experimenting with instrumentally conceived music for viols; also being developed were scoring and formal innovations such as lyra-viol trios and fantasia-suites with violins. Indeed, the introduction of the violin to serious consort music (which would find full expression in the consort music of William Lawes and John Jenkins in the 1630s and 1640s), was one of the most important musical developments of the period. Many of these musical innovations were developed in Prince Charles’s household.