16th July 2024, 1:15pm
Winchester Cathedral
A concert of Tudor polyphony and chant sung by Antiquum Documentum as part of Winchester Cathedral’s lunchtime recital series.
Today’s programme spans the English Reformation, from Cardinal College, Oxford in the depths of the Late Medieval church to Laudian Ely Cathedral on the brink of civil war. This period is commonly viewed as one of total change. Yet, today’s repertoire show that there is some consistency – that not only before and after the Reformation, but also during, we can see complex sacred music flourishing. The works by Taverner and Tallis are examples of late Henrican polyphony. Byrd’s Prevent Us is an example of the dense and intricate style composers adopted under Elizabeth, and Amner’s Now Doth the Citie, despite probably being written in the early 17th century under Charles I, is written a style more reminiscent of the much older Josquin than the contemporary emerging Baroque style of some continental composers such as Monteverdi, echoing the conservative aims of the Laudian and Arminian churchmen. The English plainsong by Merbecke shows that even something that seems very “Catholic” formed a central part of the musical landscape in the Reformed English church.
We have included a French work, by Josquin, to highlight the cross-fertilisation between England and France. There are English manuscripts like “Anne Boleyn’s Songbook” (1530s) which contain works only by French composers. Events such as the Field of the Cloth of Gold of 1520, happening within the lifetime of both Taverner and Josquin, saw the meeting of the courts of both Henry VIII of England and Francis the I of France, including their respective Chapels Royal.
This French connection is pertinent for Weelkes’ Laboravi which is not an original composition but an arrangement of an older motet by French composer, Phillipe Rogier. Another arrangement of the same exists by Thomas Morley, included in his Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. Together with Weelkes’ version (which was likely submitted for his Oxford degree), these indicate that continental compositional models remained the norm well after the Reformation. Moreover, it suggests what was sung in school and university chapels, where the liturgy remained in Latin using Latin translations of the Book of Common Prayer.
Programme
Prevent Us, O Lord – William Byrd (c.1539–1623)
“I Am the Resurrection”, from the Funeral Sentences – John Merbecke fl. Early 16th C
Laboravi in Gemitu – Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623)
Virgines Proles, Contrafactum of Chorus Vatum – Thomas Tallis (d. 1585)
“I Know My Redeemer Liveth”, from the Funeral Sentences – John Merbecke
De Profundis à 5 – Josquin DesPrez (d. 1521)
Mater Christi – John Taverner (d. 1545)
“I Heard a Voice from Heaven”, from the Funeral Sentences – John Merbecke
Now Doth the Citie – John Amner (1579–1641)