Musicians of the Scottish Reformation, with special reference to Crown Policy c.1560-c.1650

Approximately half of the material used in the present work is from unpublished and hitherto apparently unused sources. By correlating this material with that commonly used by writers on the history of Scottish music, it is possible to trace in some detail the policy formulated by the Reformers with regard to music. The existence of such a policy has been a matter of some doubt, and the question has not been elucidated by even the most recent works on the subject. For example, Dr. Henry Farmer's massive work, like its predecessors, relies on data of the kind used by several generations of writers, of whom the chief were Dauney, Livingston, Rogers and Laing. Farmer excels by using a wider variety of sources, which, unfortunately for the student as opposed to the general reader, he does not name. His book is a weighty contribution to the general literature on the subject, rather than an original thesis. This is not to say that he does not propound a thesis, in the looser sense of the word for he is concerned to show the interplay of national characteristics historical vicissitudes on the one hand and national art on other.