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Home , Christopher Tye, Robert White (composer)

CORO The Sixteen Edition CORO The Sixteen Edition Other Sixteen Edition recordings on CORO The Collection Philip & Mary Slipcase of all 5 of The Sixteen's acclaimed A Marriage of England and Spain CDs of the Eton Music by Spanish and Choirbook English composers "Sit back and let including Tallis's great these glorious Mass Puer natus as it sounds fill your may have been ears and lift your performed by choirs spirits" from both countries on Christmas Day 1554. the gramophone cor16037 cor16040 Robert Carver The Flowering of Genius Treasures of Celebrating one of the great masters of the Guerrero, Tallis, Byrd, Victoria, Sheppard Scottish . • O bone Jesu "The Sixteen’s sound Tudor England • Missa Dum sacrum mysterium is distilled, ethereal – hard to imagine a more " …a momentum and sublime performance." expressive conviction Parsons • White • Tye that isn’t matched by bbc music magazine any other recordings." The Sixteen cor16051 the independent cor16001 The Voices of HARRY CHRISTOPHERS To find out more about The Sixteen, concert tours, and to buy CDs, visit www.thesixteen.com cor16056 Thy Muse lives on ... of both were cut short by misfortune - White died of the plague in Westminster and Parsons drowned in the River Trent – they, thankfully, The wealth of music emanating from left us works of extraordinary beauty. Listen to the soaring phrases of Tudor England deserves to be preserved Parsons' much-loved Ave Maria and his highly unusual devotion on the and this recording brings you some name of Jesus, O bone Jesu. But it is White's Lamentations that, I guarantee, remarkable works that will amaze you in will astound you. They are intimate yet searingly powerful and should surely their complexity, spirituality and sheer become recognised as one of the finest works of the Renaissance. size. Each one of these pieces is a real gem just waiting to be discovered by a I have devoted it to three composers wider audience. None of it would have been possible without the devoted born in, or just before, the reign of King scholarship of Sally Dunkley whose editions of these works have been a Henry VIII. They not only survived the delight to perform from. And in turn, Sally and I would never have felt so Reformation and the turbulent years of passionately about this period of music had it not been for the guidance and King Edward VI and Queen Mary, but pioneering work of Bernard Rose and David Wulstan during our student also lived to enjoy the relative security days at Oxford. of a more established church under This music is part of our great heritage and I look forward to you joining Queen . The oldest of the three composers, Christopher us on this discovery. Tye, is perhaps the best known. Although some of you may have heard his glorious Mass, Euge bone, few will have come across his deeply penitential and extended work Peccavimus cum patribus nostris, whose final section is ecstatically uplifting. His son-in-law and Robert Parsons deserve to be much better known. Although the lives

2 3 he turbulent period of religious Not only is there a perceptible move change in England that was towards expressive word setting, but initiated by Henry VIII and also one towards creating more succinct Tcontinued in very different ways by his imitative phrases and textures, features Treasures heirs Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I that were already established in much of of presented composers working in the the Continental music that was beginning church with the challenge of having to find its way over the sea from the busy Tudor England to adapt to rapidly changing musical printing presses of Antwerp, Venice and requirements. With the Act of Uniformity other European cities. passed early in the reign of Elizabeth I, and the subsequent publication of a new Between the expansive Latin festal Masses 1 Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1535-72) 4.28 Prayer Book, services were appointed that wrote in the 1520s and to be said in English, yet much of the the miniature English-texted anthems 2 O bone Jesu Robert Parsons 13.18 greatest sacred music from the 1560s and of the Edwardian years (1547-53) lay a 70s is indisputably that inspired by Latin complete turnaround of compositional 3 Lamentations a5 Robert White (c.1538-74) 22.24 texts. This apparent contradiction may technique, reflecting fundamental well be attributable to the exception that questions about the purpose and function 4 Christe qui lux es et dies IV Robert White 5.38 was granted to the and the of music in the liturgy: should its aim universities of Oxford and , be to inspire devotional thoughts in 5 Agnus Dei from Mass: Euge bone (c.1505-73) 6.26 presumably on the basis that these were its splendour, or should it be a vehicle places where Latin would have been to convey vernacular texts in a simple 6 Peccavimus cum patribus nostris Christopher Tye 10.45 understood. Although little is known style? Feelings ran high on both sides of about the personal religious affiliation of the religious debate, and unfortunately Total playing time 63.43 composers such as Parsons and White, much of the material that would inform their Latin music – whatever its intended and illuminate our study was destroyed use – surely represents by far the most along the way, with the extant music interesting and significant musical representing only a small portion of what thought of the generation senior to Byrd. must originally have existed: a grievous

4 5 loss indeed. In fact much of it owes its Robert Parsons, were both cut short by choirboy plays that were a feature of life devotions, though Parsons was the only survival solely to the activities of a few misfortune: White and his family died at the Elizabethan court; a quantity of English composer known to have set this anthologists in the 1580s who must have in a virulent outbreak of plague in the his instrumental consort music survives one (which continues with altogether recognised its intrinsic value despite its Westminster area in 1574, and Parsons too, its contrapuntal techniques clearly different words from the votive O bone very restricted suitability for use in the drowned in the River Trent at Newark informing some of his vocal writing. The Jesu of Fayrfax and Carver). Curiously, liturgy by that time. in January 1572, his place in the Chapel young must have known for its sentiments seem universal enough, Royal being filled by the young William him and his music, since various points it was among the ‘superstitious’ devotions As the oldest of the three composers Byrd. (Was his journey connected with the of connection between them can be that attracted the specific disapproval represented here, Christopher Tye lived recruitment of choristers?) Both of them identified, notably their related settings of Thomas Cranmer, archbishop and through the reign of Edward VI, to whom composed music to English texts, yet are of the burial text Libera me, Domine. reformer in the reign of Edward VI. In he is thought to have acted as music tutor. best represented by their Latin works. his music Parsons highlighted each of It is likely that his own sympathies lay Parsons’s much-loved Ave Maria would It must be noted that Parsons and White, the acclamations in block chords, with the Protestant church, for which have been sung at a time of reflection, the born c.1535 and c.1538 respectively, framing the verses whose expansive he composed a number of works, but in end of the evening service of Compline, were too young to have written all imitative phrases are developed with different circumstances he also produced and conveys a sense of complete serenity their distinguished Latin-texted works characteristically oblique harmonic the wonderfully idiosyncratic Mass Euge as it gradually unfolds through a rising during the Catholic revival of Mary’s movement. The vocal scoring is enriched bone and several large-scale antiphons pedal point in the top voice to an Amen reign (1553-8), so their output provides by the division into two of the bass part and motets such as Peccavimus cum whose soaring lines seem to make the confirmation that Latin in the section ‘clamavi ad te, Domine’ ('I patribus nostris, whose musical roots perfect counterpart to the ecclesiastical continued to be cultivated in Elizabethan have cried to you, O Lord'), where the lie in an older form, the votive antiphon. architecture of the time. times. Both composers were active in voices assertively stride up through ten After a long tenure as master of the London in their maturity, White having The text of his motet O bone Jesu was notes of the scale. choristers at , 'Dr Tye' was left his job as master of the choristers at known as the Verses of St Bernard, a ordained towards the end of his life, Chester for one at in compilation of psalm verses each Verses drawn from the Old Testament though he then suffered the indignity 1569, and Parsons becoming a Gentleman prefaced by an acclamation (‘O bone Lamentations of Jeremiah are specified as of being described as 'not very skilful at of the Chapel Royal (the monarch’s own Jesu’, ‘O Adonai’, ‘O Messias’ etc.); such Lessons at Matins during Holy Week, and preaching'. musical establishment) in 1563. As well texts were frequently included in the as such, claimed the attention of many The lives of Tye's son-in-law Robert as writing sacred vocal music, Parsons Books of Hours or Primers used by Continental composers from the mid- White, and White's contemporary was involved in providing songs for the the wealthy and literate for their private 15th century onwards. The existence of

6 7 a handful of Lamentations from the first they present very different musical Non ita moesta sonant plangentis verba and accented than any other composition 20 or so years of the reign of Elizabeth I approaches. The five-part setting is prophetae in the collection’ (he was referring to (by Parsley, Byrd, White x2, Tallis x2 the more forward-looking of the two, Quam sonat authoris musica moesta mei. its manuscript source, the Forrest- and Ferrabosco I) may suggest that their its music moving between expressive ‘Not even the words of the gloomy Heyther partbooks). Most probably composers valued these melancholy contrapuntal writing and block chords prophet sound so sad as the sad music dating from the reign of Mary – it has texts that invited an expressive response, where one voice leads the others; in the of my composer’. been speculated that it might have been recognised in them particular significance course of this lengthy and impassioned written to celebrate the return from exile for their own times if they had Catholic text White introduces some remarkably The Compline hymn Christe qui lux es of the leading Catholic, Cardinal Pole, in sympathies, and were familiar with each bold harmonic shifts. The music's et dies follows the established pattern 1554 - the Mass is concise, imitative in other’s work; examples of what Thomas structure is governed by that of the text, of alternating plainchant verses with texture and in a resolutely ‘major’ mode; Morley termed ‘friendly emulation’ where each verse is prefaced by a Hebrew polyphonic ones that incorporate the it also makes use of distinctive pairs of are often found amongst this circle letter, presented in alphabetical sequence. chant, in this instance in the tenor part. repeated notes. All these characteristics of musicians. Whether the music was These letters afforded the composer an Its text, an evening prayer for peaceful could be regarded as rather modern, and intended for use in a liturgical context is opportunity to show his skill at writing rest, full of imagery of light and darkness, they certainly sound so when juxtaposed not known, but the imagery of Jerusalem abstract music, their elaboration in some seems to have held special appeal for with the more conservative (and equally and its destruction had a well-known ways not dissimilar to the decorative White, who made four separate settings of idiosyncratic) writing of White and metaphorical association with ‘Rome’, the art practised by the medieval scribe it. This one is a gem: the beautifully judged Parsons. The title Euge bone would Catholic Church, under threat in England illuminating initial capitals. The verses vocal scoring, the sense of spaciousness seem to suggest a musical connection at this time. of the Lamentations culminate with contained within a miniature framework, with either a plainchant or a polyphonic the exhortation ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and most of all, the final polyphonic verse work of that title, but although a chant Robert White made two exceptionally convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum’ which opens out from absolute simplicity beginning Euge serve bone (‘Well done, fine settings of the same portion of text ('Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord into exquisitely gentle flowing quaver good and faithful servant’) does exist, from the Lamentations, scoring them your God') which in White’s setting patterns. there are only fleeting references to it for five and six voices respectively. While is heard twice, at the halfway point as Writing in the 1770s, the historian in the music. A closer, if tantalising, they share the distinctive Phrygian mode well as at the conclusion. The sustained evidently recognised relationship has been identified with some (which has two plaintive-sounding emotional power of White’s music was that Tye’s Mass Euge bone represented a passages in Tye's own motet Quaesumus semitones, immediately above the key- noted in the 1580s by the copyist Robert very different style of writing when he omnipotens, but many questions - such note and the 5th), in other respects Dow, who wrote: described it as ‘much more clear, correct, as the origin of the distinctive opening

8 9 bars shared by each movement of the when listening to these works is why Texts & Translations Mass - remain unanswered, and suggest a they are not much more widely known. more complex relationship than can now The answer, I believe, lies mainly in be traced. The Euge bone Mass has four the vagaries of 20th-century music 1 Ave Maria Robert Parsons rather than the usual three settings of the publishing. Parsons’ music, along with Ave Maria, gratia plena, Hail Mary, full of grace, Agnus Dei, with the second one scored that of Tye and Sheppard, was a casualty Dominus tecum. the Lord is with you; for low voices, and the third for four high of the financial problems that truncated Benedicta tu in mulieribus, blessed are you among women, voices following each other in canonic the plans for the great Tudor Church et benedictus fructus ventris tui. and blessed is the fruit of your womb. pairs above a bass anchor; perhaps these Music library series supported by the Amen. Amen. settings were envisaged as alternatives. Carnegie Trust in the 1920s and 30s, from which many performing offprints Another aspect of Tye’s musical output were derived in the following decades. is displayed in the large-scale motet 2 Although performing editions of all O bone Jesu Robert Parsons Peccavimus cum patribus nostris, whose this music have long been in private penitential text elaborates on a verse O bone Jesu. O Good Jesus. circulation, their commercial viability is from Psalm 105 and most probably Illumina oculos meos, Give light to my eyes, somewhat restricted, either because of owes its origin to a Book of Hours or ne umquam obdormiam in morte: that I never fall asleep in death: their texts or their taxing vocal ranges. similar source. Here the vocal textures nequando dicat inimicus: lest the enemy say: Making these treasures accessible to are differentiated in the manner of the Praevalui adversus eum. 'I have prevailed over him'. a wider public in our own times can pre-Reformation votive antiphon, with perhaps be regarded as a kind of musical O Adonai. O Supreme Being. clearly defined sections for three and four In manus tuas Domine Into your hands O Lord regeneration, in that they are enabled voices contrasting with sonorous passages commendo spiritum meum: I commend my spirit: once again to flourish, albeit in a context for full seven-part choir, building up a redemisti me, Domine Deus veritatis. you have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. altogether different to the one in which tremendous sense of momentum in the they were conceived. O Messias. O Anointed Deliverer. final tutti. Locutus sum in lingua mea: I have said with my tongue: A question that surely comes to mind Sally Dunkley © 2007 notum fac mihi finem meum, 'Let me know my end,

10 11 3 O Agios. O Holy One. Lamentations Robert White Et numerum dierum meorum quis est: And the number of my days: that I may Heth ut sciam quid desit mihi. know how much longer I have to live'. Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem, Jerusalem has committed a great sin, O Heloi. O Lord. propterea instabilis facta est. and therefore she has become inconstant. Dirupisti, Domine, vincula mea: You, Lord, have broken my chains: Omnes qui glorificabant eam All who used to praise her tibi sacrificabo hostiam laudis, I will offer you a sacrifice of praise, spreverunt illam, have spurned her, et nomen Domini invocabo. and invoke the name of the Lord. quia viderunt ignominiam eius; because they have seen her shame; ipsa autem gemens and she groans O Emmanuel. O 'God with us'. et conversa est retrorsum. and has turned away her face. Periit fuga a me, I cannot flee, et non est qui requirat animam meam. and nobody cares about my soul. Teth O Christe. O Christ. Sordes eius in pedibus eius, Her own filth is upon her feet, Clamavi ad te, Domine, dixi: I have cried to you, O Lord, saying: nec recordata est finis sui. and she has given no thought to her fate. Tu es spes mea, 'You are my hope, Deposita est vehementer, She has been brought very low, portio mea in terra viventium. my share in the land of the living'. non habens consolatorem. and has none to comfort her. Vide, Domine, afflictionem meam, 'Look, Lord, upon my suffering O Rex noster. Our King! quoniam erectus est inimicus. and see how my enemy is exalted'. Fac mecum signum in bonum, Make me a standard for good, ut videant qui oderunt me, so that those who hate me may see it Iod et confundantur: and be overthrown: Manum suam misit hostis The foe has laid hands quoniam tu Domine adiuvisti me because you Lord have helped ad omnia desiderabilia eius, on all that was dear to her, et consolatus es me. and consoled me. quia vidit gentes for she has seen the foreigner O Rabbi. O Teacher. ingressas sanctuarium suum enter her sanctuary – Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui The light of your face has shone upon us, de quibus preceperas the men you decreed should Domine: dedisti laetitiam in corde meo. O Lord: you have given joy to my heart. ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam. never be admitted into your assembly. Amen. Amen. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. return again to the Lord your God.

12 13 Caph 4 Christe qui lux es et dies Robert White Omnis populus eius gemens All her people are groaning et quaerens panem; as they search for bread; Christe qui lux es et dies, O Christ who are light and day, dederunt preciosa quaeque pro cibo they have given anything of value for food noctis tenebras detegis, you disperse the shadows of the night, ad refocillandum animam. to keep them alive. lucisque lumen crederis, and we believe in you as light from light Vide, Domine, et considera 'Look, Lord, and mark lumen beatum praedicans. who speak to us of the heavenly light. quoniam facta sum vilis. how low I have sunk. Precamur, Sancte Domine, We pray you, Holy Lord, defende nos in hac nocte, defend us this night, Lamed sit nobis in te requies, let our rest be in you O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, All you who pass by on the road, quietam noctem tribue. and grant to us a quiet night. attendite et videte stop and see Ne gravis somnus irruat, Let no burdensome dream invade us, si est dolor sicut dolor meus, if there be any grief like my grief, nec hostis nos surripiat, nor let the enemy surprise us quoniam vindemiavit me, for the Lord has pressed me like the grape, nec caro illi consentiens, lest our flesh in yielding to him ut locutus est Dominus as he said he would nos tibi reos statuat. should render us guilty in your sight. in die irae furoris sui. on the day of his furious rage. Oculi somnum capiant, Let our eyes win sleep, Mem cor ad te semper vigilet, but let our hearts always watch for you, De excelso misit ignem From on high he has sent a fire dextera tua protegat and let your right hand protect in ossibus meis, et erudivit me; into my very bones, and has taught me; famulos qui te diligunt. the servants who love you. he has spread a net to snare my feet, expandit rete pedibus meis, Defensor noster aspice, Look on us, our defender, and has reversed my course. convertit me retrorsum. insidiantes reprime, repulse all who lie in wait for us, He has left me abandoned, Posuit me desolationem, guberna tuos famulos, and direct us, your servants, exhausted from mourning all day long'. tota die maerore confectam. quos sanguine mercatus es. whom you have redeemed by your blood. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Memento nostri, Domine, Remember us, Lord, return again to the Lord your God. convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. in gravi isto corpore, burdened by this body, qui es defensor animae, and as defender of our souls adesto nobis Domine. be present to us Lord.

14 15 Deo Patri sit gloria, To God the Father be glory Respice in nos ingratissimos miseros, Look on us ungrateful wretches, eiusque soli Filio, and to his only Son, salus et misericordia publica, nam O salvation and mercy of all, for as cum Spiritu Paraclito, with the Spirit, the Comforter, despecti ad omnipotentem venimus, contemptibles we come before your power, et nunc et in perpetuum. Amen. both now and for ever. Amen. vulnerati ad medicum currimus, like the wounded we run to our healer, deprecantes ut non secundum peccata begging that you deal with us not nostra facias, neque secundum iniquitates according to our sins, nor repay us 5 Agnus Dei Christopher Tye nostras retribuas nobis. according to our faults. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Quin potius, misericordiae tuae antiquae No: rather, mindful of your mercy of old, the world, have mercy on us. miserere nobis. memor, pristinam clementiam serva: continue in your former kindness: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, ac mansuetudine adhibe incrementum and show us still greater gentleness, the world, have mercy on us. miserere nobis. qui tam longanimiter you who with such forebearance Lamb of God, you take away the sins of Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, suspendisti ultionis gladium; have withheld your sword of vengeance: the world, have mercy on us. miserere nobis. ablue innumerositatem criminum cleanse away the countless number of our Lamb of God, you take away the sins of Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, qui delectaris multitudine misdeeds, you who delight in the multitude the world, grant us peace. dona nobis pacem. misericordiarum. of your mercies.

Arouse in our hearts a most holy love for 6 Ingere cordibus nostris tui sanctissimum Peccavimus cum patribus nostris Christopher Tye amorem, peccati odium you, hatred for sin Peccavimus cum patribus nostris; We have sinned like our fathers; ac caelestis patriae ardens desiderium, and a burning desire for our heavenly home, injuste egimus, iniquitatem fecimus: we have dealt unjustly and done what is wrong: quod magis ac magis crescere faciat and let it grow more and more tuae tamen clementiae spe animati yet, moved by hope in your kindness, tua omnipotens bonitas. Amen. by your almighty goodness. Amen. ad te supplices confugimus, we humbly fly to your feet, benignissime Jesu, qui, most gracious Jesus, who, Translations: © Jeremy White ut omnia potes, ita omnibus as you are able to do all things, so also te invocantibus vere praesto es. are you truly near to all who call on you. Respice itaque in nos infelices Look therefore on us miserable sinners, peccatores, bonitas immensa. O measureless goodness.

16 17 he Sixteen is recognised as one of the world’s greatest vocal ensembles. Its special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance and a diversity of 20th-century music is drawn from the passionsT of conductor and founder, Harry Christophers. Over ninety recordings reflect The Sixteen’s quality in a range of work spanning the music of five hundred years, winning many awards including a Grand Prix du Disque for Handel’s Messiah, numerous Schallplattenkritik, the coveted Gramophone Award for for The Eton Choirbook and the prestigious Classical Brit Award for Renaissance. The Sixteen tours throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the Americas and has given regular performances at major concert halls and festivals worldwide, including the Barbican Centre and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Sydney Opera House, and Vienna Musikverein; also at the BBC Proms, and the festivals of Salzburg, Granada, Lucerne and Istanbul. The group promotes The Choral Pilgrimage in some of The the UK’s finest cathedrals, bringing music back to the buildings for which it was Sixteen written. The Sixteen are Associate Artists of London’s Southbank Centre and also Harry Christophers www.thesixteen.com well known as the ‘The Voices of Classic f M’. The Sixteen’s own CD label CORO now releases most of the group’s recordings. Recording Producer: Mark Brown 2008 The Sixteen Productions Ltd. Recording Engineer: Mike Hatch (Floating Earth Ltd) © 2008 The Sixteen Productions Ltd. Soprano Julie Cooper*, Grace Davidson, Julia Doyle, Sally Dunkley Recorded at St Paul's Church, Deptford, London, For further information about recordings Ruth Massey**, Charlotte Mobbs, Rebecca Outram in October 2007 on CORO or live performances and tours by The Sixteen, call + 44 (0) 20 7488 2629 Alto Ian Aitkenhead, David Clegg, William Missin, Christopher Royall Cover image: Elizabeth I. Reproduced by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Bedford or email [email protected] Tenor Simon Berridge, Steven Harrold, Nicolas Robertson, David Roy and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates www.thesixteen.com Photograph of The Sixteen: Mark Harrison Bass Jonathan Arnold, Ben Davies, Eamonn Dougan, Timothy Jones The Voices of Design: Andrew Giles – [email protected] * not Tye: Peccavimus ** Tye: Peccavimus only -ADEIN'REAT"RITAIN

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