Orthodoxy and Cultural Identity through Music in the English Interregnum

After the Parliamentarian faction defeated, captured, and executed Charles I in the last years of the 1640s, their quest for political power shifted to establishing and maintaining a new cultural orthodoxy based in Calvinist morality and to solidifying their new-found political power. At the same time, the recently defeated and oppressed Royalist faction sought to maintain their own culture in the face of this new Calvinist orthodoxy. Chapter two examines and exposes how both of these groups made use of musical propaganda to support these conflicting agendas. Parliamentarians hired propagandists or otherwise sanctioned and promoted publications that endorsed psalm-singing (an integral part of the new orthodoxy) and defended it from the even more radical religious beliefs of the Quakers, who were even against psalm-singing in worship services. Royalists, on the other hand, kept the court culture of wine, pastoral imagery, and (now covert) support for the monarchy alive while also reliving their glorious antebellum period through the publication of old antebellum songs and masque libretti and the publication of new songs that comment on the current state of their community, urging perseverance and unity in the face of oppression.

Introduction

The introduction discusses the historiography of early modern England, the history of printing and censorship in that period, and the characteristics of the various musical genres used during that period as vehicles for propaganda. It shows that individuals across the social spectrum could access musical propaganda. It also shows that government censorship had a significant impact on print output. Finally, it provides an overview of the book’s content and exposes the author’s perspective on determining the propaganda designation of individual works.

Supporting the Monarchy and the Church of England during the Restoration

With rebellion and regicide an ever-present worry for the newly-restored monarchy and the new king Charles II, public opinion could not be ignored. Charles II was welcomed back to his kingdom with a mix of enthusiasm and relief, but his Church of England faced a more difficult restoration. After being outlawed for a decade, it faced the difficulties inherent in reconstituting the institution itself. It faced the challenge of countering the sentiments against it that had been spread during the Commonwealth. It also needed to establish religious harmony in a populace fractured into numerous denominations than it was before the war. Chapter three reveals how music was consistently pressed into service to maintain a favorable public opinion of Charles II and later James II and in the 1660s to support the restoration of the Church of England. It shows how musical propaganda was used to tout Charles II’s lack-luster victories over the Dutch as masterful triumphs, paint him as a benevolent father-figure to his people, and even give him a fictional victory over Oliver Cromwell. While these tactics recurred during the reign of James II, they were ultimately unable to overcome the public distaste for his Catholicism.

Conclusion

The conclusion provides a broad retrospective on the arguments presented and defended throughout the book. In addition, it also offers avenues of future research on the topic of musical propaganda in early modern England. For example, it suggests the presence of musical propaganda campaigns presenting moral instruction to individuals during the Elizabethan era, especially thorough broadside ballads. It also suggests a propaganda campaign prosecuted through the musical Birthday and New Year’s Day odes for William and Mary during their reign.

Printed Musical Propaganda in Early Modern England

Printed Musical Propaganda in Early Modern England exposes a relationship between music and propaganda that crossed generations and genres, revealing how consistently music, in theory and practice, was used as propaganda in a variety of printed genres that included or discussed music from the English Civil Wars through the reign of William and Mary. These bawdy broadside ballads, pamphlets paid for by Parliament, sermons advertising the Church of England’s love of music, catch-all music collections, music treatises addressed to monarchs, and masque and opera texts, when connected in a contextual mosaic, reveal a new picture of not just individual propaganda pieces, but multi-work propaganda campaigns with contributions that cross social boundaries. Musicians, Royalists, Parliamentarians, government officials, propagandists, clergymen, academics, and music printers worked together setting musical traps to catch the hearts and minds of their audiences and readers. Printed Musical Propaganda proves that the influential power of music was not merely an academic matter for the early modern English, but rather a practical benefit that many sought to exploit for their own gain.

Musical Propaganda in the Era of the Constitution

Focusing on the period 1783–1792, this chapter examines how music was used as a tool of propaganda in the early American republic. Americans used music to craft a central myth of the nation, the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Music was an important tool of propaganda as debates over how to address crucial financial problems impacting individuals, the states, and the federal government culminated in efforts to restructure the government through the Constitution. As advocates of a more powerful federal government repeatedly turned to musical propaganda, songwriters wrote music to contain popular protest, urge ratification, define the relationship between the people and the new federal government, and promote allegiance to the newly structured government during Washington’s first term as president.