John Tucke

Much valuable research has been accomplished in recent years on the "practical" manuscript sources, both complete and fragmentary, of music from later medieval Britain and the institutions in which it flourished. It has been much more difficult to draw out the theoretical context in which composers at the time operated, and the social and educational relationships through which a musical career could be constructed in this important period for British polyphonic music. The chance survival of a notebook from the early 16th-century, compiled by the musician and teacher John Tucke, enables one individual case-study to be examined in some detail. Taking this manuscript as its starting point, this book traces Tucke's career, in so far as it can be reconstructed from available archival sources, and presents the texts of some of the material from his notebook, attempting to relate its often enigmatic contents to the wider context of early Tudor music and its production.Table of ContentJohn Tucke - a career (re)constructed; John Tucke's notebook - British Library, Add. MS 10336 - description and contents, selected texts; coloration and typus - a preliminary investigation. Appendices: Tucke's appointment to St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester; lease of house and gardens to Tucke and his family; financial provisions of the proto-cathedral at Gloucester following the surrender of St Peter's Abbey.