Grade 6, Unit 3, Lesson 4

The Elizabethan era of England refers to the period from 1558 to 1603 when Queen Elizabeth ruled the country. Under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth, England experienced a huge increase of interest the arts, music, literature, science, exploration, and more. Combined with economic and political success, England became a real leader in the world.

Then as now, folk songs were an important part of the English people’s lives, whether they were very poor or royal-born. Folk songs are songs that do not have a known composer and are not typically written down—they are simply memorized and passed from person to person orally.

Folk songs could be heard in many different places in Elizabethan England. Traveling folk singers went from village to village to entertain with song and share news of the outside world. These songs often found their way into theater, such as plays by William Shakespeare. Even Queen Elizabeth danced to folk tunes taught by a dancing master.

Much of what we know about Elizabethan folk songs comes from folk song collections compiled after the Elizabethan era. Compositions by English composers are another useful source of information. Composers like Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and John Dowland incorporated folk melodies into their music, or adapted a folk song to include harmony for a choral or instrumental performance.

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