The Gate of Glory Music from the Eton Choirbook Volume 5 Hugo Kellyk (fl. late 15th century) 1 Gaude flore virginali a 7 (SATTTBarB) 19.10 John Browne (fl. c.1490–1500) 2 O regina mundi clara a 6 (TTTBarBarB) 15.58 Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521) 3 Magnificat ‘Regali’ a 5 (SATBarB) 18.30 Walter Lambe (?1450/1–a!er Michaelmas 1504) 4 Gaude flore virginali a 4 (TTBarB)* 11.20 Robert Hacomplaynt (1455/6–1528) 5 Salve regina a 5 (SATTB) 14.26 79.26 The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Stephen Darlington Director of Music *world premiere recording 2 Introduction It seems extraordinary that the Eton Choirbook should continue to provide enough glorious music for a fifth volume in this series of recordings, but it contains so many gems that deserve to be brought to a contemporary audience. The diversity of styles is particularly striking in this collection, ranging from the astonishing balance of harmony and counterpoint in John Browne’s O regina mundi, to the elegance and simplicity of Fayrfax’s setting of the Magnificat. This is liturgical music which truly gives the listener a glimpse of the mystery of the eternal. Ꭿ Stephen Darlington, 2017 The Gate of Glory As Willem Elders wrote in his book Symbolic Scores: Studies in the Music of the Renaissance, Tudor music is often ‘appreciated first and foremost for its aesthetic appeal.’ However, any approach which concentrates on surface beauty alone is apt to overlook other, less obvious qualities. This is particularly true of the symbolism underlying many compositions of the period. The number seven has long been associated with the Virgin Mary through the devotions of her Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows. The former was initiated by Philippe de Grève (c. 1160–1236), chancellor of Paris, in the early 13th century. The seven stanzas of Gaude flore virginali each begin with a celebratory ‘Gaude’ (‘Rejoice!’) and describe one of the joys: 1 Mary’s special place in the company of the saints; 2 Mary as spouse of God; 3 Mary’s veneration by all the courts of heaven; 4 Mary’s role as intercessor with Christ; 5 The benefits conferred on those who venerate Mary; 6 Mary’s place alongside the Trinity; 7 Mary’s certainty that these joys will remain with her for ever. The text achieved widespread popularity and was frequently included in Books of Hours (devotional texts used by the laity in private prayer) in medieval England, where it was commonly ascribed to St Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas Becket). Kellyk takes the heptadic design further, not just by writing in seven parts but also by making the number seven central to the work’s numerical structure. The first four stanzas, in triple time, last for 147 (3 × 7 × 7) breves, while the final three, in duple time, take 126 (3 × 6 × 7) longs. Edmund Turges’ setting of this text, recorded on Courts of Heaven (Avie AV2314), the third volume in this series, employs a similar mathematical plan. O regina mundi clara by John Browne, the pre-eminent composer of the Eton Choirbook, is scored for three tenors, two baritones and bass, and uses the melody of the hymn ‘Pange lingua’ as its cantus firmus. The term ‘celi scala’ in the first stanza of the text probably refers to the indulgence first associated with the chapel of St Maria Scala Coeli outside the walls of Rome, where the celebration of the Requiem Mass secured the immediate release of the soul of the deceased from Purgatory. This indulgence first appeared in England during the reign of Henry VII, when in 1476 it was authorised for the chapel of St Mary of the Pew in St Stephen’s, Westminster. Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry’s mother, founded a chantry there in 1496, and it is possible that O regina mundi clara was written for her. If so, it would not be the only piece that Browne may have written for a member of Henry VII’s household: his Stabat iuxta Christi crucem may have been composed for Henry’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, on the death in 1502 of her son, Prince Arthur. 3 Robert Fayrfax may well have benefited from the influence of Lady Margaret Beaufort, his family’s neighbour and landlord. By the end of 1497 he had become a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was present at the funerals of Henry VII’s third son, Prince Edmund, and wife, Queen Elizabeth. His name later headed the lists of Gentlemen present on four other highly notable occasions: the funeral of Henry VII himself and the coronation of Henry VIII, both in 1509; the funeral of the infant Prince Henry in 1511 and the meeting of Henry VIII and King Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. The Eton Choirbook originally contained six of his works. Three are now lost from the manuscript, including his Magnificat Regali, which has been edited from other, slightly later sources. If Fayrfax’s music had to be summed up in a single word, it might well be ‘restraint’: none of his surviving works is in more than five parts and he avoided the virtuosic display of Cornysh and Davy. Nevertheless, he was not averse to intellectual or notational complexity. His Mass O quam glorifica, which was submitted in supplication for the degree of Doctor of Music at Cambridge in 1504, is perhaps the most astonishing work of the period on both counts. As was the usual English practice at the time, only the even-numbered verses of the Magnificat are set to polyphony, and in this case are based on the faburden to the eighth plainsong tone. (Faburden is a simple form of three-part polyphony improvised over a plainchant melody. The melody itself is carried in the middle voice and duplicated a fourth higher in the top voice. The bottom voice is pitched a third below the plainsong, but falls to a fifth below at cadences. It is this lowest voice, often ornamented, which then forms the cantus firmus of other, more elaborate polyphony.) There is no obvious reference to the plainsong melody ‘Regali ex progenie’ in the work, nor to Fayrfax’s own Mass Regali, so the reasons for its title remain unclear. Walter Lambe was born in Salisbury and elected a scholar at Eton at the age of 15 or 16 in 1467. He was later installed as a clerk at the nearby St George’s, Windsor in January 1479. Later that year he was appointed informator choristarum (instructor of the choristers), a post he held until his departure in 1484–5. He resumed his clerkship at St George’s in 1492, and was still there in 1503–4. He was clearly a highly skilled composer, and his work is notable for its variety, comprising both the longest work in the Eton Choirbook, O Maria plena gracia (Choirs of Angels, Avie AV 2184), and one of the shortest, Nesciens mater. The four-part Gaude flore virginali employs a cantus firmus that has yet to be identified; it is very probably not plainsong. Lambe uses a number of unnecessarily complex notational devices in the piece; the cantus firmus is written in augmentation, meaning that the singer has to double the length of the written notes in order to perform the part correctly, while the other voices use a variety of proportional devices: three in the time of one, three in the time of two, six in the time of two and six in the time of four all make an appearance, as do void and filled red notes, which have different durations from the more usual black notes. Much of this could have been written out more simply, and it is probably no coincidence that Lambe displays his learning in a piece for men’s voices, as adult singers would have been more experienced in the performance of abstruse notation than choristers. Robert Hacomplaynt was elected a scholar at Eton in 1469 at the age of 13, and a scholar at Eton’s sister foundation of King’s College, Cambridge in 1472. Only three years later he became a fellow of the college and finally, in 1509, its provost. His setting of Salve regina, his only surviving work, is notable for the variety and the resourcefulness of its imitation, as well as rhythmic complexity, particularly in the sections for reduced voices. An inventory dated 1529 from King’s College contains a reference to ‘Hacomplaynes Gaude,’ presumably a setting of either Gaude flore virginali or Gaude virgo mater Christi, which, like so much other music from this glorious period of English musical history, has since been lost. Ꭿ Timothy Symons, 2017 4 Gaude flore virginali 1/4 De septem gaudiis deiparae virginis Of the .vii. spirituall joyes of our Lady Gaude mater miserorum, Rejoice, O mother of wretches all, spiritualibus Quia pater saeculorum For the Father, that is eternal, Dabit te colentibus To them that do thee reverence Gaude flore virginali, Rejoice, O flower of virgins all, Congruentem hic mercedem In this world gives them wages Honoreque speciali In thine honour and grace especial Et felicem poli sedem And a place in the heavenly stages Transcendens splendiferum Exceeding a thousandfold Regnis in caelestibus. In the kingdom of excellence. Angelorum principatum The principality of angels eminent Et sanctorum decoratum And the dignity of saints refulgent, Gaude virgo mater Christi, Rejoice, O mother of Jesu Christ, Dignitate numerum. More than can be told. Quia sola meruisti, Which wast alone most worthiest, O virgo piissima, O virgin immaculate, Gaude sponsa cara dei, Rejoice, O spouse of God most dear, Esse tantae dignitatis To be of such high dignity Nam ut clara lux diei For as the light of the day so clear Quod sis sancte trinitatis That next to the blessed Trinity Solis datur lumine, Comes of the sun most radiant, Sessioni proxima.