Add. MS 10336 in the British Library has hitherto been regarded as an unpromising-looking document dating from c. 1500, transmitting random notes by one John Tucke, an obscure scholar whose connection with the musical profession is unclear. As Dr Woodley disarmingly tells us in his preface, 'John Tucke is hardly a name which springs immediately to the lips of many historians of Tudor music, nor is he dignified with an entry in the standard musical dictionaries'.
No longer. From this material, Dr Woodley constructs a masterly 'case-study', as he modestly calls it, moving deftly between biography, palaeography, translation and analytical musicology to conjure up a fascinating picture, not only of Tucke, his notebook, its relevance to other composers' music and the role of music in the Quadrivium but also of many aspects of social life and behaviour in the early Tudor period.
The study is divided into three parts: an examination of Tucke's career, a translation and explanation of selected passages from the manuscript, and finally an attempt to apply Tucke's analytical approaches to some of the music of the period. The biographical section of the book is a lesson not only in how to pursue your subject but also in how to try to adduce the reason behind his actions. At every turn, with every scrap of evidence, Woodley is at hand to explain why, ask if this is normal, and discuss what the motivation may have been.
So, as with faltering steps we accompany Tucke to Winchester College in 1495, our parents have already been advised by Uncle Woodley that their action in renting property in Burford as tenants of New College, Oxford, despite (probably) living in London is perfectly reasonable, it being quite common practice for ambitious Tudor parents to ensure their sows education by becoming tenants of institutions such as New College with a view to his being admitted to …