“Of the Organs of Her Minde”: The Keyboard Diplomacy of Elizabeth I

Abstract

Themusical talents of Elizabeth I are widely known. Less acclaimed, however, is the fact that she employed her musical abilities in the service of a globally expanding political agenda. During her reign, elaborate keyboard instruments were dispatched to foreign rulers in order to cultivate strategic diplomatic and commercial relationships. Two organs were gifted through theMuscovy and Levant Companies, intended to solidify English alliances with the Russian and Ottoman Empires. The choice of an organ in both instances highlights the desirability of keyboard instruments in the global marketplace, especially as these lavish gifts reflected Elizabeth’s majestic status and the viability of England as a trading and diplomatic partner. A gilt and enameled organ was transported to Russia when Russia had minimal connection to the Anglo world; the goal of this present was to cement ties with the newly crowned Tsar Feodor I, son of Ivan “the Terrible.” Elizabeth later gifted another organ—this time, to Mehmed III, who had also succeeded his father as sultan of the Ottoman Empire several years earlier. Its expansive musical range, animatronic trumpeters, clock, and nest of singing blackbirds made this organ constructed by Thomas Dallam especially magnificent. Letters from the Russian and Ottoman embassies document that Feodor andMehmed and their courts were astonished by these musical gifts, reacting with