Virginal Music in Elizabethan England

English monarchs favored virginal music since the early 16th century. During Queen Elizabeth's reign in particular, many compositions appeared with unique keyboard idiom and brilliant technique. However, virginal music disappeared from music history after 1630. There is no record of any performance or research about virginal music after that time. Not until the end of 19th century did scholars pay much attention to this field again. Because of the popularity of virginal music in the late 16th and the early 17th century, when many composers appeared, such as Thomas Tallis, William Blitheman, William Byrd. John Bull and Orlando Gibbon, to mention a few. The extant sources on virginal music include the many surviving manuscripts and two published volumes from that time. The value of Elizabethan virginal music lies in the fact that it is the greatest expression of the "English character" in music.