The Sun Most Radiant Music from the Eton Choirbook Volume 4 John Browne (fl. c.1490) 1 Salve regina I a 5 (SATBarB) 15.01 2 Salve regina II a 5 (TTTBarB)* 18.47 William Horwood (c.1430–1484) 3 Gaude flore virginali a 5 (SATTB)* 14.56 William, Monk of Stratford (fl. late 15th – early 16th century) 4 Magnificat a 4 (TTBarB) 19.54 68.42 *world premiere recordings The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Stephen Darlington Director of Music 2 Introduction It is not a surprise that this fourth volume of Eton Choirbook compositions should be so appealing to the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford. After all, we fulfil much the same function as the Eton College Chapel Choir did at the beginning of the 16th century, singing the daily offices with huge commitment and skill. A superficial glance at the structure and musical language of these four works might lead one to suppose that they are all written in a generic style, but each composer has a striking and distinctive voice, ranging from the consummate technical command of John Browne to the rhythmical ingenuity of William Horwood and the energetic imitative vocal interplay of William Stratford. The challenge for us is to revive not only the text but also the spirit of this music which is so glorious in its variety and complexity. Ꭿ Stephen Darlington, 2016 The Sun Most Radiant Of the 25 composers represented in the Eton Choirbook, one name stands out above the others: that of John Browne. He is widely acknowledged to be the finest composer of the collection, and his monumental eight-part antiphon O Maria salvatoris mater (recorded on Choirs of Angels, the second release in this series), has pride of place as the opening piece in the Choirbook. Not only did Eton originally contain more works by him (15) than by any other man, they exhibited a greater variety in their scoring: there were votive antiphons for four, five, six and eight voices and settings of the Magnificat for four, five and seven. A number of these have now unfortunately been lost, but of those that survive, no two employ exactly the same combination of voices. Frank Harrison, the first scholar to study the repertory in any detail, wrote in his magisterial study Music in Medieval Britain that ‘Browne’s technical command, the deeply penetrating quality of his imagination, and his capacity for strikingly dramatic expression place him among the greatest composers of his age.’ Although Browne used the full range of expressive gestures afforded by the florid votive antiphon style, his polyphony is tightly controlled and, unlike many of his contemporaries, he avoids note-spinning and cliché. If the style and character of the music of the Eton Choirbook can be said to be encapsulated in the work of any one man, then that man is surely John Browne. Frustratingly little evidence survives concerning Browne himself. Only one source other than the Eton Choirbook contains any of his church music; this manuscript, which transmits just the bass part of his Stabat mater, refers to him as ‘Johannes Browne Oxoniensis.’ No one of that name is known to have been employed by any of the choral foundations in Oxford at the time, but a John Browne was one of the chaplains to the household of the Earl of Oxford, John de Vere, and it has been suggested that this was the composer. Another of Browne’s compositions indicates that he may have had some royal connections. His remarkable six-part antiphon for men’s voices, Stabat iuxta Christi crucem, has as its cantus firmus the lowest voice of From stormy windes, a carol by Edmund Turges that was composed in 1501 to mark the journey of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, to Ludlow to undertake new duties as Prince of Wales. The text of Stabat iuxta, which describes the Virgin Mary mourning the death of Jesus, is taken from the Use of York, and Hugh Benham has suggested that the work was written in 1502 for Queen Elizabeth following the untimely death of Prince Arthur, her own son and the great hope of the new dynasty. 3 Browne’s first setting of the Salve regina is the only one of his surviving works to employ what might be called the ‘standard’ five-part choir of the pre-Reformation period, consisting of treble, mean, countertenor, tenor and bass (the countertenor and tenor have much the same range). It uses as its cantus firmus the plainsong antiphon Maria ergo unxit pedes, which describes how Mary Magdalene washed and anointed the feet of Jesus. In the Use of Sarum this text was sung during the Pedilavium, or foot-washing ceremony, on Maundy Thursday, but the Use of Hereford, like many Continental rites, assigned it to the feast of Mary Magdalene (22 July). The cantus firmus is sung twice, and the two statements are carefully balanced so that the first, in triple time, lasts for 45 breves, while the second, in duple time, takes 45 longs. (The number 45 is an interesting one mathematically: it is the product of three, three and five, which are all prime numbers; it is also a triangular number, being the sum of the integers from one to nine, and the sum of 36 and nine, which are both square numbers.) The use of two statements of a cantus firmus, of the same or similar length, is common to many of the Eton antiphons. Of the nine works by Browne that survive completely or almost intact in Eton, five are for men’s voices. These include his second setting of Salve regina, which is recorded here for the first time. It has as its cantus firmus the melody Venit dilectus meus, the antiphon to the sixth psalm at Matins on the Feast of the Assumption (15 August). This would have made the work ideal for performance at Eton, where Henry VI had sought to create a ‘church in honour of her incomparable festival in which Holy Mother Church might commemorate her reception into the heavenly bridal-chamber.’ Although the idea of word-painting, at least as applied to the later form of the madrigal, was essentially foreign to composers of the 15th century, they did nevertheless have some means at their disposal to illustrate certain passages of text, and Browne highlights the word exsules (exile) by having the cantus firmus fall temporarily silent. William Horwood is among the earliest composers represented in Eton. He was appointed informator choristarum (instructor of the choristers) at Lincoln Cathedral in March 1477 and was required to teach them plainsong, the standard methods of improvising upon it (faburden, discant and counter) and composed polyphony (pricksong). One of the more old-fashioned features of his Gaude flore virginali, which also receives its first recording on this release, is the ‘under-third’ cadence, where the melody falls by step from the leading-note before rising to the tonic. This figure, beloved of older composers such as John Dunstaple, can be heard in the top part at the very end of the work. Like the music of Dunstaple (one of whose pieces was copied into, but later lost from, Eton), Horwood’s Gaude was circulated and performed long after its composer’s death: in 1529 ‘Horwods Gaude’ was listed in an inventory of music books used at Eton’s sister foundation of King’s College, Cambridge. The Eton Choirbook originally contained 24 settings of the Magnificat. Only six now exist in a performable state, and the one in four parts by William, monk of Stratford, is his only surviving work. Prominent use is made of imitation, together with some vigorous counterpoint. Ꭿ Timothy Symons, 2016 The author would like to express his thanks to Dr Magnus Williamson for his assistance with the preparation of these programme notes. 4 Salve regina Gaude flore virginali 1/2 Salve regina, mater misericordiae: Hail queen, mother of mercy; our life, 3 De septem gaudiis deiparae virginis Of the .vii. spirituall joyes of our Lady vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. our sweetness, our hope, all hail. Unto spiritualibus Ad te clamamus, exules, filii Evae. thee do we cry, which are the banished Ad te suspiramus, gementes et children of Eve. Unto thee do we sigh, Gaude flore virginali, Rejoice, O flower of virgins all, flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.† weeping and wailing in this vale of Honoreque speciali In thine honour and grace especial Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos lamentation. Come, therefore, our Transcendens splendiferum Exceeding a thousandfold misericordes oculos ad nos converte. patroness. Cast upon us those pitiful eyes Angelorum principatum The principality of angels eminent Et Jesum, benedictum fructum of thine. And after this our banishment, Et sanctorum decoratum And the dignity of saints refulgent, ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium show unto us the blessed fruit of thy Dignitate numerum. More than can be told. ostende. womb, Jesu. Virgo mater ecclesiae, Virgin mother of the congregation, Gaude sponsa cara dei, Rejoice, O spouse of God most dear, Aeterna porta gloriae, Gate of glory that never is done [closed], Nam ut clara lux diei For as the light of the day so clear Esto nobis refugium Be for us a reconciliation Solis datur lumine, Comes of the sun most radiant, Apud patrem et filium. Unto the father and the son. Sic tu facis orbem vere Even so dost thou cause questionless O Clemens. O merciful. Tuae pacis resplendere The world to flourish in quietness Virgo clemens, virgo pia, Virgin merciful, virgin holy, Lucis plenitudine.