Superstar singer-songwriters aren’t hard to find nowadays, from Taylor Swift to Bob Dylan to who knows how many others. But is this just a modern phenomenon? Probably not. Nicholas Lanier, who was born (or at least baptised) September 10, 1588, may have been the first. His family had come from France, escaping persecution because they were Huguenots. Nicholas was probably born in Greenwich, England. In addition to being French Huguenots, his father, grandfather, and possibly his mother had been musicians.
Nicholas learned to play and write music from his father, who played an ancestor of the trombone called a “sackbut.” Nicholas, though, concentrated on stringed instruments like the lute and viola, possibly because he was also a singer. He started composing music when he was still in his teens, and wrote the music to accompany the marriage of the Earl of Somerset in 1613. There were, at the time, plays that were also musicals, and Lanier wrote music for plays written by Thomas Campion and Ben Jonson. He also worked on stage sets — which would eventually lead to another artistic pursuit.
But musically, he thrived, and became the lute player (“lutenist”) in the King’s orchestra when he was in his early 20s. He was also appointed as a singer in the King’s Consort. That led to him being named the “Groom of the Chamber” for the Queen’s Privy Chamber in 1639. That was probably not a musical appointment; the Groom of the Chamber was something like a chief of staff.
King Charles I sent Lanier to Italy around 1625 to collect paintings, and while there he heard a new innovation in Italian music — technically known as “monody” (that’s a recent term; Lanier wouldn’t have recognized it), it’s very much like modern singer songwriters who accompany themselves on just one instrument. Lanier introduced that style of music to England — or at least introduced it to the upper-crust aristocratic musical society he was part of. The King evidently liked it, because the next year he created the title “Master of the King’s Music” and bestowed it on Lanier. The post still exists, with Lanier the first in a long line of Masters. It’s the musical equivalent of being the Poet Laureate.
Remember that bit about Lanier working on stage sets? He continued that where he could, and also became a painter. At least one of his paintings hangs in Oxford University; there may be others still in existence but they haven’t been identified for sure. Lanier moved to the Netherlands for about ten years when England became a commonwealth and Charles I was executed. But the monarchy was restored in 1660, Charles II took the throne, and Lanier returned to England — and was again named Master of the King’s Music by Charles II. If tours and roadies had existed in the 1600s, Lanier would definitely have been involved. But what was the 1600s equivalent of merch like t-shirts and posters?
