IN THE MIDST OF LIFE The repertory of Latin sacred works by Tudor England over several decades, and the range Music from the Baldwin Partbooks I composers is one of the musical glories of of religious themes encompassed by the the Renaissance, but the survival of much of contents is extremely wide. Baldwin did not that repertory has hung by a strikingly slender organise his collection by composer or by genre. thread, namely a few manuscript collections Our approach in this series of recordings is of polyphony compiled late in the sixteenth twofold: first, to reflect in our selection of music century, at a time when a significant portion of for each disc the panoply of styles in the 1 Circumdederunt me dolores mortis William Byrd [5.04] the music concerned had lost its original partbooks, ranging across the half century or so 2 Libera me Domine Robert Parsons [7.29] liturgical and devotional contexts as a result of musical history which is represented there; of the Reformation in England. This recording second, so that each disc is coherent, we focus 3 Audivi vocem de cælo William Byrd [4.15] presents music from the greatest of these in turn on several of the prominent religious 4 William Mundy [3.31] Sive vigilem Elizabethan manuscript compilations, the themes represented in Baldwin’s anthology. 5 Peccantem me quotidie Robert Parsons [6.08] Baldwin partbooks, and is the first of a series On this first disc we perform works concerned 6 Quemadmodum John Taverner [6.30] of recordings by Contrapunctus which will with mortality: the fear of death and eternal 7 Nunc dimittis Thomas Tallis [3.14] present a broad selection of music from the torment, anticipation of the Day of Judgement, collection. This huge anthology – containing and the soul’s longing to meet God. 8 Sive vigilem Dericke Gerarde [6.13] almost 170 works – was copied by John 9 Robert Parsons [2.44] Credo quod redemptor meus vivit Baldwin between about 1575 and 1581, during The Baldwin partbooks are particularly 0 Media vita John Sheppard [23.09] the period that he held a tenor lay clerkship valuable because they preserve numerous in the choir of St George’s Chapel, Windsor. pieces which survive in no other source, and Total timings: [68.18] Baldwin would later go on to join the most also because the repertory covers such a long prestigious choir in Tudor England, the Chapel period, extending back well before the Royal, and as a Gentleman of that chapel he Reformation in England to the music of John sang at great state occasions such as the Taverner (d. 1545). Taverner – the foremost funeral of Queen Elizabeth I and the coronation of English composer active near the end of Henry King James I. He died in 1615. VIII’s reign – is abundantly represented in CONTRAPUNCTUS the partbooks. Without these partbooks we OWEN REES DIRECTOR The Baldwin partbooks present a wonderfully would have lost a major portion of the work rich survey of Latin-texted music composed in of John Sheppard (who was active in the 1540s www.signumrecords.com - 3 - and 1550s), including his epic Media vita which as in most of Media vita – the Tenor carries occurrences of it in the Lamentations of Tallis The three works by Robert Parsons on the is presented on this disc. Baldwin’s collection the chant associated with the relevant text and Robert Whyte and in motets by these recording, Libera me Domine, Credo quod also provides us with numerous pieces by a as a long-note cantus firmus, so that the two composers setting texts of mourning or redemptor meus vivit, and Peccantem me younger generation of musicians composing modern editor can simply rebuild the Tenor penitence. It is possible that Byrd’s Audivi quotidie, are all settings of responsories for the during the middle decades of the century and part using that chant melody, and be confident vocem, with its impassioned setting of ‘Blessed service of Matins of the Dead, and Libera me well into Elizabeth’s reign, such as Robert that the music has thus been faithfully restored. are the dead who die in the Lord’, was written also occurs during the ceremony of Absolution Parsons and William Mundy. However, by far to commemorate one of the Catholic martyrs after the Requiem Mass. Parsons was appointed the most famous composers represented are Awareness of mortality was a constant in Tudor executed in the early 1580s, at around the a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1563, and Thomas Tallis (whose extraordinarily long society, and the townscape and soundscape time that Baldwin was compiling his partbooks. died by drowning in the River Trent In January career stretched from the middle of Henry presented ubiquitous reminders of death. These Such use of music in support of the Catholic 1571/2. (William Byrd succeeded to his place VIII’s reign to the 1580s) and Tallis’s pupil included (to cite just a few) the tolling of cause was common in Byrd’s output: although in the Chapel Royal.) In Libera me Domine and William Byrd. The partbooks include a great funeral bells, public executions, and processions the composer served as Gentleman and Peccantem me quotidie Parsons incorporates many motets by Byrd, and a copy of Tallis’s taking the body of the deceased from their Organist of Elizabeth’s Chapel Royal, and was the relevant plainchant melody, laid out as and Byrd’s joint printed collection of motets, house through the streets to the church for clearly one of the most valued musicians in a cantus firmus in equal note-values, and Cantiones sacræ (1575), is bound into the end burial. In the period before the Reformation her household, he remained loyal to the Catholic assigned to the Tenor in Libera me Domine of the manuscripts. We are thus extraordinarily the fear of purgatory had led to a great faith, and maintained close associations with and to one of the Contratenor parts in Peccantem fortunate that Baldwin’s anthology survived proliferation in Requiem rites and the music Catholic members of the nobility and with me quotidie. It is likely that Parsons wrote (it is preserved today in the library of Christ associated with them. The texts of several of Jesuits working in England. More than any these works as liturgical items, before the Church, Oxford), although sadly one of the six the works on this recording – all three of the English composer of the period, Byrd was able relevant rites of the dead were swept away partbooks which made up the set – the Tenor items by Robert Parsons and one of those by to mould imitative polyphonic textures to with the reestablishing of the English Book of book – has been lost for some time. Since William Byrd – are from the Catholic liturgies project the sense of a text with rhetorical Common Prayer in 1559: although we do not many of the pieces in the collection are known for the dead. In setting Audivi vocem de cælo, power: in his motet Circumdederunt me the know when he was born, it seems probable only from this source, their Tenor parts have to an antiphon for Vespers of the Dead, Byrd marks prayer for release (‘libera animam meam’) that he was already active as a composer be reconstructed editorially, and this applies dramatically the point at which the ‘voice from when surrounded by the fear of death and during the brief reign (1553–1558) of to four of the ten works on this recording: heaven’ speaks the words ‘Blessed are the dead’, damnation which concludes the piece provides Elizabeth’s sister, Mary I, a period when the Peccantem me quotidie by Parsons, Gerarde’s introducing these words with a startling change a wonderful example of such music ‘framed official religion of the country returned to Sive vigilem, Tallis’s setting of the Nunc of harmony, and turning to chordal writing to the life of the words’, as Byrd himself put it. Catholicism. In his copy of Libera me Domine, dimittis, and Media vita by Sheppard. The task but with the topmost voice anticipating the made decades after the liturgical usefulness of reconstruction is made much easier when – others: his use of this specific device recalls of this piece had disappeared in England, John

- 4 - - 5 - Baldwin nevertheless indicated the original contemplates the Day of Judgement. While in the (probably) 1591. Gerarde, a Flemish composer Collins suggested that the opening two verses liturgical repetition of part of the text (from first of these pieces the end of days is pictured working in England, was associated with two of the psalm could satisfactorily be fitted to ‘quando cæli movendi sunt’) after the ‘Dies with hope – ‘on the last day I shall arise of the most important musical patrons of the Taverner’s music, and that the piece should iræ’ verse. Parsons likewise allowed for such out of the earth, and in my flesh I shall see Elizabethan period, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of therefore be regarded as a vocal work rather a repetition in his setting of Peccantem me God’ – in Libera me Domine we are presented Arundel, and his son-in-law Lord Lumley, and than for instruments. In fact, although the piece quotidie, but here the verse has to be supplied with a frightful vision of the ‘day of wrath’ the composer’s music is mainly preserved in seems very likely to be vocal in origin, there in plainsong, as is done on this recording. The when God will come to judge the world manuscripts from their great collection which are passages in which it is far from obvious repeated final section of polyphony includes the through fire. Parsons’ setting of the ‘Dies illa, was held at Nonsuch Palace. The responses how best to fit the words to the music; this words ‘miserere mei Deus’ (‘Have mercy upon dies iræ’ verse builds to a mighty climax – of Mundy and Gerarde to the dramatic nature recording presents a fresh attempt to do so. me, O God’), the opening of Psalm 50: like displaying the muscular leaping contours of the Sive vigilem text are equally powerful, The work is unusual among those attributed many other Continental and English composers, frequently used in English polyphony of this although Gerarde is much more expansive in his to Taverner, maintaining fully-scored, equal- including Byrd, Parsons here refers to Josquin’s period – to highlight this dread-inspiring treatment of it. Gerarde highlights the sounding voiced, and largely imitative texture throughout. famous ‘miserere’ motif (with its simple but description of the end of the world. of the trumpet (‘sonum tubæ’), while Mundy The shaping of paragraphs is masterful, as for plaintive rise and fall of one note) used in his makes the summons of the angel to the example in the rising sequential repetition setting of Psalm 50, where the motif appears The Day of Judgement is also the theme of the dead – ‘surgite mortui’: ‘arise, ye dead’ – a of ‘ad te Deus’ towards the end of the first as an ostinato subject between every verse of text Sive vigilem (a version of a famous passage threefold climactic exhortation, each statement part, and at ‘quando veniam’ in the second. the psalm. Parsons follows this sombre attributed to St Jerome), in which the speaker higher and more commanding. gesture with an impassioned musical outburst seems constantly to hear, whether awake or The Baldwin partbooks are the only known to highlight the final words of his text, ‘et salva asleep, the sound of the Last Trumpet and the The opening of Psalm 42, ‘Quemadmodum source for a setting by Tallis of the Latin Nunc me’ (‘and save me’). Parsons’ Credo quod angelic summons for the dead to arise and desiderat cervus’, expresses the soul’s yearning dimittis, which is paired there with a setting redemptor meus vivit, richly scored for six come to be judged. Baldwin copied two settings for its final meeting with God: ‘Just as the hart of the Magnificat. The Nunc dimittis is the voices, is a freely-composed motet rather than of this text into his partbooks, composed desires springs of water, so longs my soul for ‘Canticle of Simeon’ from Luke’s Gospel: the a liturgical setting of a responsory: although respectively by William Mundy and Dericke Thee, O God. My soul has thirsted for God, the aged Simeon, having seen his Saviour (the the concluding section of text and music (from Gerarde. Mundy, who may have been of a living spring. When shall I come and appear Christ-child), expresses his contentment to ‘et in carne mea’) is once again repeated here, similar age to Robert Parsons, served as a vicar before the face of God?’ A six-voice work die in peace. The fact that Tallis sets the Latin the simple ABB structure used here is one that choral at St Paul’s Cathedral during the early attributed to John Taverner survives in its text rather than the English version of the was common in English motets and anthems years of Elizabeth’s reign, and then joined the various sources (one of which is the Baldwin Book of Common Prayer raises the question of the period. In the texts of both Credo quod Chapel Royal in 1564 (soon after Parsons), partbooks) without text, but with the title or of whether his setting was composed before redemptor and Libera me Domine the believer remaining in royal service until his death in incipit Quemadmodum, and in 1925 H. B. the reintroduction of that Prayer Book in 1559

- 6 - - 7 - under Queen Elizabeth, or whether it reflects common in such chant-based works by these TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS when the heavens and the earth shall be moved, the appearance in 1560 of the Liber precum composers, lending the piece its extraordinarily when you shall come to judge the world by fire. publicarum, a Latin version of the Book of expansive character. The English delight in 1 Circumdederunt me dolores mortis That day, the day of wrath, calamity, and misery: Common Prayer. The piece follows the common varied sonority is exemplified by the verses William Byrd that terrible and exceedingly bitter day. practice – in settings of Latin canticles both which follow the Nunc dimittis, the first two on the Continent and in England before the of which are for lower voices, while the last Circumdederunt me dolores mortis, 3 Audivi vocem de cælo Reformation – of providing polyphony for uses the characteristic English technique of et pericula inferni invenerunt me. William Byrd alternate verses only, leaving the others to gimell, dividing both the Treble and Mean Tribulationem et dolorem inveni. be chanted (as on this recording) or possibly voices into two, and supporting these just Et nomen Domini invocavi. Audivi vocem de cælo dicentem mihi: played instrumentally. Tallis’s exuberant with the bassus line: this sound-world evokes O Domine, libera animam meam. Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur. treatment of the text includes a particularly – and surely evoked for John Baldwin – the I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: powerful threefold declamation of the phrase musical splendours of the pre-Reformation The sorrows of death have encompassed me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. ‘et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel’ (‘and for the church in England which his collection did so and the perils of hell have found me. glory of your people Israel’). much to preserve. I have met with trouble and sorrow. 4 & 8 Sive vigilem And I called upon the name of the Lord. William Mundy and Dericke Gerarde The monumental work by Sheppard which Owen Rees © 2014 O Lord, deliver my soul. concludes the present recording, Media vita, Sive vigilem, sive dormiam, is a setting of an antiphon to the Nunc dimittis 2 Libera me Domine sive edam aut bibam, – beginning with the words ‘In the midst of life Robert Parsons semper videor mihi audire sonum tubæ et vocem we are in death’ – sung during the final part of angeli clamantis et dicentis: the penitential season of Lent. The Nunc dimittis Libera me Domine de morte æterna, Surgite mortui, et venite ad judicium. appears in chanted form in the midst of this in die illa tremenda, Vigilemus et oremus, quia nescimus diem vast polyphonic edifice. As is the case with so quando cæli movendi sunt et terra, neque horam quando Dominus veniet. much of the liturgical polyphony by Sheppard dum veneris judicare sæculum per ignem. and Tallis preserved in the Baldwin partbooks, Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitatis et miseriæ: Whether I am awake or asleep, Sheppard here builds his rich polyphonic dies magna et amara valde. whether I eat or drink, textures and soaring lines around a slow-moving always I seem to hear the sound of the trumpet chant (in the Tenor part), but in Media vita Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death, and the voice of an angel calling out and saying: the chant moves at half the pace that is on that fearful day, Arise, ye dead, and come to be judged.

- 8 - - 9 - Let us keep watch and pray, for we do not know Just as the hart desires springs of water, 9 Credo quod redemptor meus vivit et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. the day or the hour when the Lord will come. so my soul longs for Thee, O God. Robert Parsons Ne projicias nos in tempore senectutis; My soul has thirsted for God, the living spring. cum defecerit virtus nostra 5 Peccantem me quotidie When shall I come and appear before the face Credo quod redemptor meus vivit, ne derelinquas nos, Domine. Robert Parsons of God? et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum, Noli claudere aures tuas ad preces nostras. et in carne mea videbo Deum. Qui cognoscis occulta cordis, Peccantem me quotidie, et non pœnitentem, 7 Nunc dimittis parce peccatis nostris. timor mortis conturbat me, Thomas Tallis I believe that my Redeemer lives, quia in inferno nulla est redemptio. and that on the last day I shall arise out of the In the midst of life we are in death. Miserere mei Deus, et salva me. Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine earth, Whom can we seek as our helper except you, Deus in nomine tuo salvum me fac Domine: secundum verbum tuum in pace. and in my flesh I shall see God. Lord, who because of our sins are justly angry? et in virtute tua libera me. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum, Holy God. Holy and strong. Holy and merciful quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum. 0 Media vita Saviour, do not deliver us to bitter death. Sinning every day, and not repenting, Lumen ad revelationum gentium, John Sheppard Now you dismiss your servant in peace, Lord, the fear of death troubles me, et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel. in accordance with your word. for in hell there is no redemption. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Media vita in morte sumus. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you Have mercy upon me O God, and save me. sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, Quem quærimus adjutorem nisi te, Domine, have prepared before the face of all nations. Lord God, in your name save me, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris? A light for the revelation of the gentiles and deliver me through your strength. Sancte Deus. Sancte fortis. Sancte et misericors and for the glory of your people Israel. Now you dismiss your servant in peace, Lord, Salvator, amaræ morti ne tradas nos. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 6 Quemadmodum in accordance with your word Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning John Taverner For my eyes have seen your salvation, which secundum verbum tuum in pace. and is now and ever shall be, you have prepared before the face of all nations. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum, throughout all ages. Amen. Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, A light for the revelation of the gentiles quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum. Do not cast us away in our old age; ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus. and for the glory of your people Israel. Lumen ad revelationem gentium, when our strength fails Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fontem vivum: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel. do not abandon us, Lord. quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning and is now Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Do not close your ears to our prayers. and ever shall be, throughout all ages. Amen. sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, You who know the secrets of our hearts, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. forgive our sins.

- 10 - - 11 - CONTRAPUNCTUS Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking OWEN REES scholarship, Contrapunctus presents music by Director Owen Rees the best known composers as well as unfamiliar Owen Rees is both performer and scholar, Soprano Esther Brazil, Amy Haworth*, Katy Hill, Roya Stuart-Rees masterpieces. The group’s repertoire is drawn from his scholarship consistently informing his Alto Rory McCleery, Matthew Venner England, the Low Countries, Spain, Portugal performances. Through his extensive work as a Tenor Guy Cutting, Ashley Turnell and Germany, particularly in the sixteenth and choral director, he has brought to the concert Bass Greg Skidmore, Giles Underwood seventeenth centuries. The scholarly facet of hall and recording studio substantial repertories *Tracks 8, 9 & 10 the group’s work – including the discovery of of magnificent Renaissance and Baroque long-lost music and reconstructions of original music, including many previously unknown or performing contexts – allows audiences to little-known works from Portugal and Spain. His experience the first performances of many works interpretations of these repertories have been in modern times. Since its foundation in acclaimed as ‘rare examples of scholarship 2010, the group has appeared in the AMUZ and musicianship combining to result in Festival in Antwerp, the Utrecht Early Music performances that are both impressive and Festival, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Mechelen, immediately attractive to the listener’, and he the Eboræ Musica Festival and Setúbal Festival has been described as ‘one of the most energetic in Portugal, the concert series at De Bijloke and persuasive voices’ in this field. in Ghent, and the Martin Randall Festival of Spanish Music (Seville Cathedral). The ensemble’s He has been Director of Music at The Queen’s debut recording, Libera nos, was shortlisted for College, Oxford, since 1997, and is Professor the Gramophone Early Music Award 2014. As in Music at the University of Oxford. He began Vocal Consort in Residence at the University his conducting career while studying at of Oxford, the group is a collaborator in the Cambridge, and after graduating directed the Tudor Partbooks Project, the aim of which is to Cambridge Taverner Choir from 1987 and A study the Baldwin partbooks and other sets of Capella Portuguesa from 1990. He has conducted Tudor partbooks, to restore the missing voice at festivals worldwide, and is in demand as a parts of the repertories they contain, and to leader of workshops on performance of broaden public knowledge of this repertory. Renaissance polyphony. His numerous CD www.contrapunctus.org.uk recordings encompass a wide variety of choral

- 12 - - 13 - repertory from the Renaissance to contemporary Recorded in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Oxford, 18–20 January 2014 music, and his work has twice been shortlisted for Producer – Adrian Peacock the Gramophone Early Music Award. Recording Engineer – David Hinitt Editing – Will Brown & David Hinitt

Editions by Owen Rees, except as follows: Sive vigilem (Gerarde): edition by Anthony Milledge Nunc dimittis: edition from Tudor Church Music Media vita: reconstructed Tenor part in two of the verses adapted from that by David Wulstan

Cover image – The tomb of Mary Queen of Scots, south isle of the Lady Chapel, c.1612-13 (marble), Cure, Cornelius (d.1607) and Cure, William (d.1632) / Westminster Abbey, London, UK / Photo © James Brittain / Bridgeman Images

Page 15 – Image from the Baldwin partbooks (Mundy, Sive vigilem, Ms 979, p. 152) reproduced by kind permission of the Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford

Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk

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- 14 - - 15 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

Royal Rhymes and Rounds Libera Nos: The Cry of the Oppressed The King’s Singers Contrapunctus, Owen Rees SIGCD307 SIGCD338

“... this disc from the King’s Singers is a notably intelligent, “... this exemplary disc ... Anguished masterpieces are juxtaposed enjoyable Jubilee offering.” with discoveries, including a convincing new vocal version of Tallis’s BBC Music Magazine (hitherto instrumental) Libera nos. Pristine performances by Owen Rees’s Contrapunctus choir ...” The Times

Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 - 20 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN MAGENTA Customer SignumClassics YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD408 BLACK Job Title: IN THE MIDST OF LIFE

SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD408

IN THE MIDST OF LIFE

Music from the Baldwin Partbooks I LIFE OF MIDST THE IN

1 Circumdederunt me dolores mortis William Byrd [5.04] 2 Libera me Domine Robert Parsons [7.29] 3 Audivi vocem de cælo William Byrd [4.15] 4 Sive vigilem William Mundy [3.31] 5 Peccantem me quotidie Robert Parsons [6.08] 6

Quemadmodum John Taverner [6.30] REES / CONTRAPUNCTUS

CONTRAPUNCTUS / REES 7 Nunc dimittis Thomas Tallis [3.14] 8 Sive vigilem Dericke Gerarde [6.13] 9 Credo quod redemptor meus vivit Robert Parsons [2.44] 0 Media vita John Sheppard [23.09]

Total timings: [68.18] IN THE MIDST OF LIFE

CONTRAPUNCTUS OWEN REES DIRECTOR

LC15723

Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth SIGCD408 CLASSICS Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, United Kingdom. P 2015 Signum Records DDD SIGCD408 © 2015 Signum Records www.signumrecords.com 24 bit digital recording 6 35212 04082 9 SIGNUM