William Ellis and the transmission of continental keyboard music in restoration England

Abstract

During the mid‐seventeenth century, several new elements entered English keyboard style; most notably, perhaps, the broken style of writing known as style brisé became common in harpsichord music 1660, and a distinct change in organ writing, based on the Italian durezze e ligature can be seen at about the same time. These new elements have long been thought to be of continental origin, although their precise roots have not been pinpointed. The earliest examples of seventeenth‐century Italian keyboard music in England (Och 1113) and some of the earliest copies of French music in English keyboard sources (Och 1236) exist in manuscripts copied by a single scribe: William Ellis. Ellis's role in this transmission, as well as the possible paths these repertories took from the Continent to Oxford, are explored here. Ellis's manuscript Och 1236 provides an example of what was being played in Oxford during the last years of the Commonwealth and the early Restoration. The Italian pieces in Och 1113 are a further credit to Ellis in that his preservation of them provides us with an essential link in the transmission of Frescobaldi's keyboard language in England. This paper proposes that Froberger's visit to England provides the best explanation of how Frescobaldi ‘s music reached composers such as Christopher Gibbons and Locke. Of particular interest is Christopher Gibbons's role in bringing the music of Froberger, Frescobaldi, and others to English composers, for it is possible that Gibbons and Locke knew Froberger, a relationship that would account for the foreign music in Ellis's manuscripts.