In Paying the Piper Elizabeth Baldwin studies the early music situation in a single county, Cheshire, from the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the Civil War, focusing on music outside the regular control of the church and looking not only at the trained professional but at music makers, from the performers at guild feasts to the gentleman who takes music lessons and the alehousekeeper who plays the pipes. Baldwin attempts to set the performer of music in a social, economic, legal, and possibly political context. Who was performing music, where, when, and why? What instruments were played, and by whom? What attitudes were there towards music, and how did they vary according to circumstances and religious affiliation? Did Cheshire's special status with respect to the Statute of Vagabonds really make any difference to the performers in the county?
- ISBN13 9781580440417
- Publish Date 31 December 2002 (first published 1 July 2002)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 26 August 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Medieval Institute Publications
- Format Paperback
- Pages 299
- Language English