The Creation of a British Musical Identity: The Importance of Scotland’s Music in Eighteenth-Century Aesthetic and Philosophical Debates

While this rationalisation is in some respects accurate, it may be, however, that these commonly stated reasons mask a far more complex objective—in other words there is far more than ‘popularity,’ ‘exoticism,’ and ‘simplicity’ at stake. Historically, the relationships between England and the nations of the so-called ‘Celtic Fringe’—Scotland, Ireland and Wales—have often been hostile and are still constantly changing.2 Often perceived as the most powerful element in the British union, England has at all times possessed both its own monarchy and government, whilst over the centuries the other three nations conceded their monarchies and political autonomy after varying degrees of struggle. Wales was partially incorporated into England as early as the sixteenth century;3 Scotland’s monarchy was adopted by the English in 1603, then deposed in 1688 prior to political unification in 1707;4 and in Ireland (then a united country) political union was finally achieved