AN EVENING CONCERT

AD CONVIVIUM QUINTUM SOCIETATIS SPENSERIANAE Sung by PEREGRYNE

Comprifing diverfe works compofed for ye Churche by

John BROWNE (c.1453-after 1503) Thomas MORLEY (1557/8-1602) William H. HARRIS (1883-1973) William BYRD (c.1540-1623) & Thomas TALLIS (1505-85) SATURDAY, ye 20th of JUNE, 2015 at half past six o clock in ye auncient ’ Churche of ST AUDOEN S on High Street, for ye worthie fumm’e of five euro DVBLIN Dire¢ed by Do¢or Kinfella 2015 www.facebook.com/peregryne THE PROGRESS

JOHN BROWNE (c.1453-after 1503), Stabat mater Marian antiphon

THOMAS MORLEY (1557/8-1602), Laboravi in gemitu Text from Psalm 6, verse 6.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRIS (1883-1973) Faire is the heaven Words by Edmund Spenser

WILLIAM BYRD (c.1540-1623) Oh that most rare breast: The second of the funerall songs of that honorable Gent. Sir Phillip Sidney, Knight Text by Thomas Watson (c.1557-92) or Edward Dyer (1543-1607)

THOMAS TALLIS (1505-85) Gaude gloriosa Dei mater Marion antiphon John Browne (c.1453-after 1503) was an English composer of the early Tudor period, probably from Coventry. He was elected a scholar at Eton in 1467 aged 14 and his surviving works can be found only in the Eton choirbook manuscript. His skilful ys compositions have been described as ‘extreme, adopting in wa innovativewhich apparently and unorthodox have no parallel, scoring either, imitation, in England dissonance, or abroad’ false relations, and unusually long melodic lines that almost produceStabat mater an effect crowns that Browne is ‘subtle,s reputationmystical, despite as a composer his colossal, charging textures’. dramatic and contemplative passages’ with a force which is both religious and emotional. Thomas Morley (1557/8-1602) was an English composer, theorist and singer, who rose He was highly involved into musicbecome publishing, organist of a leading St Paul’s composer cathedral of in the London. English madrigal school, and the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. He and Robert Johnson are the composers of the only surviving contemporary settings of verse by Shakespeare. His early works are more sombre affairs, deferring to Byrd with whom he studied. This is epitomised by his Laboravi in gemitu, a setting of Psalm 6, v.6. His later style mimicked the lighter more nimble Italianate madrigal form, ably demonstrated in his familiar Now is the month of maying from The First Booke of Balletts to Five Voyces (1595). Sir William Henry Harris (1883-1973) was an English composer and organist who began his career Wales, eventually movingat the ageto Lichfield of 14 as an cathedral assistant (1911 at St- David’s19), the Oxfordcathedral in colleges of New College (1919-29) and Christ Church (1929-33) and then St (1933-61). He was professor of organ and harmony at the RoyalGeorge’s College Windsor of Music in London (1921-55), and is best remembered for his two anthems for unaccompanied choir: Bring us O Lord God (1959) and this Faire is the heaven (1929). evening‘s setting of Edmund Spenser’s text, William Byrd (c.1540-1623) needs little introduction and was one of the great English masters of European Renaissance music composing over 470 known compositions in many forms such as sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the virginalist school), and consort music writing for both the Anglican and Catholic churches, the latter of which he identified with in later life. He assimilated and mastered the styles of the day, combining English and continental models in a highly personal synthesis. He was greatly admired by fellow English musicians, and his pupil Thomas Morley dedicated his 1597 treatise to him. His setting of Oh that most rare breast is one of two elegies in memory of Sir Phillip Sidney, son of Sir Henry Sidney, lord deputy of Ireland (1565-71, 1575-8), both of whom died in 1586. Thomas Tallis (1505-85) is considered one of England's greatest composers. He was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal from 1543, serving through the reigns of Henry VIII, EdwardVI, Mary and Elizabeth as organist and composer until his death in 1585. Tallis is also remembered for his religious tolerance as he, like his student William Byrd, were both unreformed Catholics. They published a considerable amount of music together, as Queen Elizabeth granted them a 21 -year monopoly on the publication of polyphonic music in 1575. Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater, is a votive antiphon for the Virgin Mary, an early work possibly from late Henry VIII , and consists of nine Gaudes. It has much ’sMaria reignn work heard this evening, and the gymels orin divided common voices with inBrowne’s the soprano and alto over the bass in the fifth Gaude are particularly fine.

MUSICIANS Sopranos: Judith Lyons Gráinne Logue* Jennifer McMahon Clare O’Brien Sue Hemmens Altos: Felicity McElroy Eoin Conway* Réiltín Nic Chárthaigh Dúill Tenors: Stuart Kinsella Raymond Tedders Jonathan Bull* Basses: Louis O’Carroll Matthew Day* Brian Dungan * Singers at 5.30pm services of Compline on Friday 19 June in Whitefriar Street and Sunday 21 June in the Lady chapel of

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. All welcome. SPECIAL THANKS TO: Canon Mark Gardner, Prior Brian McKay and Canon Charles Mullen for facilitating the use of the & churches of St Audoen’s, Whitefriar Street St Patrick’s cathedral respectively.