Scotland's place in the history of European music suffered two near-fatal body blows in 1560 and 1603. The ancient universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen were founded in the 15th century, and music played a vital role. Collegiate chapels cultivated, besides Scottish music, English decorative composition, music by the Burgundian Dufay and Flemish-inspired polyphony. Scottish liturgists travelled to Rome, Paris and the Netherlands, absorbing the fashionable musical traits of the day.
In 1560, the Scottish Reformation stopped this all abruptly. The liturgy became a principal battleground, involving a violent repudiation of the past and of foreign influences. The second blow came with the departure of the Scottish court in 1603. At the very time when aristocratic courts all over Europe were becoming central in sponsoring great composers, Scotland lost the main arena where great music could be created and thrive. The result was an absence from our culture which has damaged the national soul and psyche, and the reverberations of this are still apparent today. Scotland's history is littered with such absences, and facing up to them honestly should be part of our modern identity surgery.
Dealing with these ruptures should involve a dispassionate examination of the errors of the past. It would be markedly different from the sentimental, saltire-waving orgy of identity politics in which we are now embroiled. It would involve facing up to the difficult truth that our conscious destruction and abandonment of various heritages, musical and otherwise, was religiously inspired. It might even involve an embrace of things that have hitherto repelled us.
I rather doubt that a lack of musical inspiration is one of our greatest problems. But even if it were, there is not a lot we can do to bring back a royal court or reverse the Reformation. Instead, let us celebrate the fact that for at least two weeks in the year we can see and hear a festival of some great music.
Then there's T in the Park.
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