![]() Henry VIII died at Whitehall in January 1547. The painting expressed the power of the Tudors in a magnificent interior that echoed the gorgeous decoration of the palace itself. It was a portrait that would make him our most recognisable English king and perfectly captured his majesty and menace. ![]() Inside the Privy Chamber a mural by the artist Hans Holbein portrayed the definitive Henry VIII – immense, chest thrust out and hand on dagger. It was so colourful that it would look to us like something out of Disneyland. There was brickwork in red ochre, black and white timbering and the fanciful mural or sculptural decorative detail called grotesque (derived from the Italian grotteschi, in reference to decorated grottoes). All external surfaces were lavishly decorated. A pleasure complex was built on the other side with a tilt yard, tennis courts and spaces for games and amusements. It had state rooms, privy apartments, chambers and courtyards. The original palace on the riverside was the royal residence. From 1530 it was the centre of government, combining the functions of present-day Buckingham Palace, Downing Street and all the government offices of Whitehall. Henry had more than 50 great houses, but none were more important than his vast power base here. The Banqueting House is a remarkable survivor: the last part of Henry VIII’s lost Tudor Palace of Whitehall in London. The last image of the Palace of Whitehall by the Dutch artist Leonard Knijff, with the Banqueting House shown in the centre, c.1695 ‘His Majesty received us in a great hall newly built for public spectacles, royally adorned with marvellous tapestries and gold’Ī Venetian ambassador on a visit to the Banqueting House in 1625 Our expert, Siobhan Clarke, relates its story and the tale of why Parliament dared to kill a kingĬharles I painted by court favourite, the artist Sir Anthony van Dyck The building, a masterpiece of revolutionary architecture, was central to the Stuart dynasty – a space that denoted power. Player was a pioneering maker of the English bentside spinet, the successor instrument to the English virginals in the domestic context.On a frosty January morning in 1649, Charles I stepped from the Banqueting House at Whitehall to his execution. They represent a flourishing tradition of instrument building from a period when English composers were leaders in the development of keyboard technique and composition. In a harpsichord, the jacks are normally situated outside the soundboard area altogether.Īround twenty-four English virginals survive today, and in general they have larger compass than their European counterparts. The jacks and plectra must therefore emerge through apertures in the soundboard to pluck the strings. The recently discovered manuscript of keyboard music by Purcell, now in the British Library, was recorded by Virgin Classics entirely on this instrument, performed by Davitt Moroney the CD is available at Hatchlands.Īlthough a virginals possesses the same plucking mechanism as a harpsichord, it is of rectangular shape and only has one set of strings running from right to left instead of away from the performer. The daily maintenance of this instrument may well, therefore, have been carried out by the composer. ![]() In 1673, the instruments at Whitehall and in the Royal Household came under the care of the young Henry Purcell, who was appointed ‘keeper, mender, maker, repairer and tuner of the regals, organs, virginals… to His Majesty’. It would appear, therefore, that the instrument is a unique survival from the court of King Charles II, who had always maintained close ties with his musical aunt. This, his only surviving virginals, bears a brand ‘WP’, letters used to mark furniture for Whitehall Palace. John Player was Townsend’s senior apprentice and by 1660 was managing his workshop. ![]() After Hasard’s death, the patronage of Princess Elizabeth (later known as the Winter Queen) was extended to his son-in-law Gabriel Townsend, whose only surviving instrument is a virginals made for his royal patroness, now in the collection of the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels. Hasard’s only known surviving work is a harpsichord dated 1622, of which nothing but the lidless case survives now at Knole House, Kent. To her was dedicated in 1612 the first English printed keyboard music, Parthenia – a collection of pieces by William Byrd, John Bull and Orlando Gibbons. His practice originated from that of John Hasard, who in 1612 was listed as receiving a royal stipend as instrument-tuner to Princess Elizabeth, sister of King Charles I. John Player was born in Gloucestershire around 1634. ![]()
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