CORO The Sixteen Edition CORO

Other Sixteen An Eternal Harmony Carver, Cornysh, MacMillan Edition recordings COR16010 available on Coro "This 25th Anniversary CD is a delight, and like all great recordings it gets better the more you listen to it." Recording Producer: Mark Brown BBC RADIO 3, CD REVIEW Recording Engineer: Antony Howell CD mastering: Julian Millard Recorded at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Orford The Voices of Angels Originally released on the Collins label Music from the Eton Choirbook Vol. V Series programme devised by John Milsom COR16002 Pronunciation adviser: Charles Barber “Foreigners were astonished at the quality Cover artwork: of English choirs. Theirs were “the voices Victoria & Albert Museum (© V& A Images) of angels”, a tribute which The Sixteen Design: deserves no less today.” CLASSIC CD Richard Boxall Design Associates 2004 The Sixteen Productions Ltd. © 2004 The Sixteen Productions Ltd. Spem in alium Music for Monarchs and Magnates CORSACD16016 “A masterpiece of detective work, rare repertoire and artful editing, and a NTHE VOICES OF fitting celebration of The Sixteen's first quarter-century devoted to early music." BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE THE VOICES OF For further information about The Sixteen recordings on Coro or live performances and tours, call +44 (0) 1865 793 999 or email [email protected] www.thesixteen.com I remember well, some years ago, sitting in RICHARD DAVY THE SIXTEEN Davy: Ah, mine Davy: Ah, blessed the library at Eton College with Christopher (c.1465-c.1507) TREBLE heart, remember Jesu, how 1 O Domine caeli Page and recording a programme for BBC Fiona Clarke thee well fortuned this? terraeque creator Ruth Dean TREBLE TREBLE Radio 3 about the Eton Choirbook, by far the Carys Lane Carys Lane Ruth Dean Caroline Ashton* most outsanding of a handful of choirbooks WILLIAM CORNYSH (verse) (verse) Suzanne Pederson* Fiona Clarke Fiona Clarke to survive the Reformation. We turned the (d.1523) Alison Smart* parchment pages of this vast book, admiring 2 Ave Maria, Mater Dei Ruth Dean Carys Lane MEAN TENOR MEAN the vividly illuminated capitals, marvelling at Sally Dunkley Simon Berridge Sally Dunkley some of the, obviously frequently performed, RICHARD DAVY Deborah Miles Johnson (verse) (verse) Julia White motets, the corners of which were heavily (c.1465-c.1507) Philip Daggett Deborah Miles 3 Ah, mine heart, ALTO David Roy Johnson thumbed by fingers of a past century. My abiding thought was how remember thee well Andrew Giles BASS Alison Smart Michael Lees incredibly talented these sixteen choristers must have been to sing this Simon Birchall TENOR Philip Newton (verse) Simon Berridge highly complex music, difficult by any standard, while crowding around a WALTER LAMBE Christopher Royall Robert Evans (verse) lectern, straining to read by candlelight . Today we have modern editions, (c.1450/51 – d. after Andrew Carwood* Timothy Jones Philip Daggett Michaelmas 1499) Matthew Vine* electricity and aids for failing sight and it still seems difficult! David Roy 4 Our edition represents very much the grass roots of our work and our Stella caeli TENOR Simon Berridge overwhelming desire to rejoice in the survival of this great music. Wylkynson: Jesus RICHARD DAVY Philip Daggett Neil MacKenzie autem transiens/ (c.1465-c.1507) David Roy, Credo in Deum 5 Ah, blessed Jesu, Peter Burrows* how fortuned this? TENOR Angus Smith* Robert Evans (1) John New (8) BASS Neil MacKenzie (2) Philip Daggett (9) ROBERT WYLKYNSON Simon Birchall David Roy (3) Timothy Jones (10) (c.1450-1515 or later) Robert Evans Andrew Carwood (4) Angus Smith (11) 6 Jesus autem transiens/ Timothy Jones Donald Greig (5) Simon Berridge (12) Credo in Deum Francis Steele Peter Burrows (6) Mathew Vine (13) Donald Greig* Simon Birchall (7) 7 Salve Regina Michael McCarthy* *Only in Wylkynson (Salve Regina) 2 3 on which Spenser’s stanza is built. the nightmarish imagery of Ah, blessed Jesu. Here Archangels and Angels. One of those parts – the The Pillars of Eternity Spenser’s vision of divine order makes no mention Mutability is hard at work: ‘serpents seemeth me to tenors who act as the Powers – sings a plainchant Eton Choirbook Volume III of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the Protestant reformers tear, Great mountains falling over me, thus sleep do antiphon for the Feast of the Assumption of the had taken pains to discourage Christians from I in fear’. The only recourse is to Jesus himself: ‘do Virgin, ‘Assumpta est Maria in caelis’. Here too the Then `gin I think on that which Nature said focussing their faith on her person. This contrasts thou thy cure; With all good souls symbolic representation of the divine order is easy Of that same time when no more Change shall be. with late medieval thinking, which believed that the to cause me live in rest’. to understand: Mary is received into heaven But steadfast rest of all things, firmly stayed pillars of eternity could most effectively be scaled by In Robert Wylkynson’s Jesus autem transiens, surrounded by the angelic host, which appeals to Upon the pillars of Eternity, enlisting her aid. In the Eton Choirbook she is the most bizarre work in the Eton Choirbook, her on behalf of mankind: ‘To you we sigh, as we That is contrare to Mutability: invoked constantly; Eton had, after all, been founded the central tenets of Christian belief are rehearsed mourn and weep in this valley of tears. Ah then, our For all that moveth doth in Change delight; by Henry VI as ’the College Roiall of Our Ladie’, with through the words of the Apostles’ Creed: ‘I believe advocate, turn those merciful eyes of yours upon us; But thenceforth all shall rest eternally statutes that laid out an elaborate sequence of services in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and and Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, show to With Him that is the God of Sabaoth hight. to be celebrated daily in her honour. Even a work that earth’. But this is no ordinary setting of the Creed. us after our exile here’. O thou great Sabaoth God, grant me that starts by addressing the Trinity, Richard Davy’s O The text is divided into twelve segments, preceded by A word about the composers and the likely dates Sabaoth’s sight. Domine caeli terraeque creator, soon turns into a plea a thirteenth line, ‘Jesus autem transiens’ (‘Jesus then of their compositions. According to a note in the to the Virgin: ‘Grant us, your servants in peril of passing through (their midst)’). This is notated as a Choirbook, Davy’s O Domine caeli terraeque creator he eloquence is Elizabethan, but in its death, pardon by your prayers’. William Cornysh’s single melodic line. To perform the piece, thirteen was written in the span of a single day at Magdalen adherance to fundamental tenets of faith, brief Ave Maria, mater Dei addresses Mary as the male voices sing the music in canon: first College, Oxford. This fixes it in the period 1490- T the great final stanza of Edmund Spenser’s mediatrix through whose agency the soul finds its way a solo voice intones the opening segment; then a 1492, when Davy served as the college’s organist and The Fairy Queen makes a fitting introduction to the to its resting-place: ‘Mother of God, Queen of heaven, second voice enters, while the first voice moves on to choirmaster. The original destination of his two music on this disc. By 1599, the year of Spenser’s Mistress of the World, Empress of Hell’. More the second segment; and so on, until thirteen voices songs is unknown. Ave Maria, mater Dei, by William death, the magnificent hundred-year-old choirbook alarming in its terms of reference, Walter Lambe’s are in play and all thirteen segments sound Cornysh, is a younger work probably by several copied for use by the choir of Eton College had been Stella caeli begs for earthly life to be protected from simultaneously. The net effect is a harmonious chaos; years. It may have come to Eton by way of the gathering dust for forty years: the accession of one of Mutability’s most feared and devastating but the sound is subservient to the work’s symbolic Chapel Royal repertory. Walter Lambe belonged to Queen Elizabeth in 1558 and the passing of the Act of weapons: plague. Comparing the Virgin to a celestial representation of Christ surrounded by Eton’s close neighbour, the choir of St George’s Uniformity in the following year had effectively body, it asks ‘that this star now be gracious and his twelve apostles. Through it the medieval listener Chapel, Windsor. Stella caeli could have been silenced the book, with its rich concentration of texts restrain the heavens, whose attacks bring our people could more vividly imagine part of the divine order written in the summer of 1479, when two of his that express overtly Catholic sentiments. low with fierce and deadly wounds.’ that rested on those pillars of eternity. colleagues died of plague. Robert Wylkynson was a But not everything in the choirbook would have Two songs by Richard Davy, composed around Another part of that order, the ninefold hierarchy clerk at Eton in 1496, and master of the choristers seemed outmoded to an Elizabethan Protestant the same time as the Eton music, make their appeal of the angels, is suggested by Wylkynson’s nine-part there from 1500 until at least 1515. Both Jesus autem reader. Many of the Eton pieces also touch on for salvation through routes that the Protestant setting of the Salve Regina. In the Eton Choirbook, transiens and the nine-part Salve Regina are likely to themes that survived the Reformation. In those reformers would have preferred. In Ah, mine heart, the voice-parts are even labelled (in approximately have received their first performances in Eton that address divine order, the fickleness of human remember thee well the poet makes a direct petition descending order of range) according to their College Chapel itself. existence and a longing for eternity, we can to God for mercy, imagining as he does ‘the paine’s angelic rank: Seraphs, Cherubs, Thrones, recognize the same ancient foundations as those that been in hell’. Its language, however, pales beside Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, JOHN MILSOM 4 5 1 O Domine Caeli Terraeque Creator

O Domine caeli terraeque creator, O Lord the creator of heaven and earth O Maria sanctissima, testis vera Christi, O most holy Mary, true witness of Christ, Totius humani generis redemptor, and redeemer of all mankind, Salutante Gabriele statim accepisti at Gabriel’s greeting you at once accepted Nos hic tuos servulos una congregatos make us, your servants gathered here Orthodoxe fidei summam religionem, the most high religion of the true faith, In laudem tui nominis fac tibi devotos, to the praise of your name, Devota mente capiens sacram receiving holy communion in the devotion Ut Trinitatem in unitate digne venerantes, truly faithful to you, communionem. of your heart. Mariam Deo dignissimam simus recolentes that in our rightful veneration of the One-in-Three Nobis tuis famulis in mortis periculo Grant us, your servants in peril of death, Quae virtutis praebuit exemplum viventibus, we may also contemplate His most worthy Mary Tua prece veniam dones in hoc saeculo, pardon by your prayers in this world; Deum Patrem et Filium unum who has shown to all who live an example Aut nobis morientibus non desit communio, and let not that communion be lacking for us esse credentibus of virtue, teaching all who believe the Father Sed quae tuis meritis, quae mater pudica at the hour of our death, but by your great merit, Sic et Sanctum Spiritum eundem and the Son to be one that so also the Holy Spirit Exstitisti et sacra virgo in hac vita, who stood out a chaste mother and holy virgin in cum Patre docuit, is one with the Father, laying before us the true Nos imitari condones ut tecum this life, grant us grace to imitate you, that with Deum verum et unum in personis retulit: God, one in His persons: Vivamus cum gaudio in perenni gloria. you we may live joyfully in everlasting glory. In deitate unitas, in personis pluralitas, a unity in godhead, a plurality in persons, Unum fore in essentia, sic est credenda one in being, this should be our belief in the Amen. Amen. Trinitas. Trinity.

Nos ergo te Domine, quem in Trinitate We therefore pray you Lord, whom in the Trinity Trine Deum colimus in una maiestate, we worship as threefold God but one in majesty, Ut cunctis huius saeculi defendas periculis, to save us from all the perils of this world, Ut post huius terminum that when it is past we may be united with the iungamur caelicolis. saints in heaven.

O Maria mundi decus, ecclesiae tutamen, O Mary the glory of the world and protector of Sis pro tuis famulis continuum iuvamen, the church, be to your servants an ever-present aid, Ut quos apud Filium that those you judge to have offended against your offensos perpendas Son may receive the defence of your holy prayers Tuis piis precibus orantes defendas, as they beseech you, and as they strive faithfully Devotos atque servulos tibi famulantes to wait on you, if only in some way by giving Aut tui memoriam quomodo laudantes. praise to your memory.

6 7 2 Ave Maria, Mater Dei 4 Stella Caeli

Ave Maria, Mater Dei, Hail Mary, Mother of God, Stella caeli exstirpavit A Star of heaven, Regina caeli, Domina mundi, Queen of heaven, Mistress of the world, Quae lactavit Dominum she who suckled the Lord, Imperatrix inferni: Empress of hell Mortis pestem quam plantavit rooted out the deadly plague Miserere mei et totius populi Christiani, have mercy on me and on all Christ’s people, Primus parens hominum. which mankind’s first father planted. Et ne permittas nos mortaliter peccare and let us not fall into mortal sin Ipsa Stella nunc dignetur May this Star now be gracious Sed tuam sanctissimam voluntatem adimplere. but let us fulfil your most holy will. Sidera compescere, and restrain the heavens, Amen. Amen. Quorum bella plebem caedunt whose attacks bring our people low Dirae mortis ulcere. with fierce and deadly wounds.

O gloriosa Stella Maris O glorious Star of the Sea, 3 Ah, Mine Heart, A peste succurre nobis; come to save us from this plague: Remember Thee Well Audi nos, nam te Filius hear us, for your Son in respect Nihil negans honorat. will never deny your prayer. (Original sung in English) Salva nos Jesu pro quibus Save us Jesus, for whom Burden: Verse 2: Virgo mater te orat! your Virgin mother pleads to you! Ah, mine heart, remember thee well, With weeping tears most lamentable And think on the paines that been in hell. To God above I call and cry; I will axe grace while I am able, Verse 1: I have offended so grievously; Ah, mine heart, remember me well, Me to amend I will me hie, * how greatly thou art bound indeed; For all my life-days I have mispend: Thou thinkest on Him never a deal I cry God mercy, I will amend. That helps thee ever at thy most need. Alas, for sorrow mine heart doth bleed, * hasten To think how grievously I have offended; I cry God mercy, I will amend.

8 9 5 Ah, Blessed Jesu, How Fortuned This? 7 Salve Regina (Original sung in English) Salve Regina, mater misericordiae, Hail O Queen, mother of mercy, Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve. our life, our sweetness and our hope, hail. Verse 1: Verse 3: Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae. To you we cry, exiled children of Eve. Ah, blessed Jesu, how fortuned this? My voice is so troubled, my sickness then feel I, Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes To you we sigh, as we mourn and weep My mood is changed in every wise, My sleeps be so fearful, I think then sure to die; in hac lacrimarum valle. in this valley of tears. Nature of acquaintance is turned to a guest, My dream is so marvellous, serpents seemeth Eia ergo, advocata nostra, Ah then, our advocate, So shortly am I bidden to a grievous fest, me to tear, illos tuos misericordes oculos turn those merciful eyes of yours Whereas I am in ybid with all bodily rest; Great mountains falling over me, ad nos converte; upon us; thus sleep do I in fear; Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, and Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, Refrain: So waking, ne sleeping, find I no rest: nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. show to us after our exile here. Thus troubled am I, yet I trust it shall be for the best: Verse 4: Virgo mater ecclesiae, Virgin mother of the church, Sicut domino placuit, ita factum est. * Now, merciful Jesu, to thee make I my moan; Aeterna porta gloriae, everlasting gate to glory, Nature hath forsaken me, and left me thus Esto nobis refugium be our refuge Verse 2: alone. Apud Patrem et Filium. before the Father and the Son. Where art thou, Nature, “Remember thee, my creature, thou must that wont were me to store needes die, I thee ensure.” O clemens! O gentle! To lusty pleasure? Now lying in the floor, Alas, to die thou mak’st me sure; yet then, Gentle virgin, loving virgin My taste disordered, all reason far passing, Virgo clemens, virgo pia, good Lord, do thou thy cure; Virgo dulcis o Maria, O sweet virgin Mary,

My face disfigured, mine eyes full dazzling, HITE With all good souls to cause me live in rest. Exaudi preces omnium hear the prayers of all Thou, Nature, hast left me; W who humbly cry to you. by thee find I no rest: * As it pleased the Lord, so it is accomplished. Ad te pie clamantium. EREMY

O pia! O loving! J 6 Credo Funde preces tuo nato, Pour out prayers to your Son, Crucifixo, vulnerato, the crucified, the wounded, Et pro nobis flagellato, scourged for our sake, Spinis puncto, felle potato. pierced with thorns, given gall to drink. RANSLATIONS BY

O dulcis Maria, salve! O sweet Mary, hail! © T 10 11