ABSTRACT
With the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart monarchy gave English life a more cosmopolitan outlook once again. In 1611, King Christian IV of Denmark sent four of his musicians to his sister Anne, James’s queen, as he was at war and had no use for them. They remained in England for three years, and the most talented of them, Mogens Pedersøn, whose madrigals bear comparison with those of Marenzio and Monteverdi, may have helped to spread the new expressive ‘baroque’ style of singing to England. Charles I’s marriage to Queen Henrietta Maria sparked a fashion for French music. In 1617, the lutenist and composer Jacques Gaultier fled from France, suspected of involvement in the murder of a young nobleman. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London pending extradition but was eventually freed, and he stayed in England, serving and outliving Charles I. Controversy continued to surround this volatile and rakish character, who was often either in debt or being accused of improper affairs. But he profoundly influenced lute-playing in England, was lutenist to the queen – even rumoured to be having an affair with her – and popularised the double-headed lute, which continued to be played for the rest of the century.
