William Mundy Sacred Chor Al Music
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WILLIAM MUNDY SACRED CHOR AL MUSIC Maria virgo sanctissima Vox patris caelestis In exitu Israel Motets Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh Duncan Ferguson Notes on the music Younger than Sheppard and Tallis but older (from 1558). It is Mundy’s music, today all WILLIAM 1 Beatus et sanctus [2:07] than Byrd, William Mundy belonged to what too frequently overlooked in favour of works 2 Maria virgo sanctissima [14:58] we might now consider to be an ‘in-between’ by his elders and the younger William Byrd, generation of English sixteenth-century which is therefore fundamental to a special MUNDY 3 Alleluia. Per te Dei genitrix I [2:37] composers, not just because their working understanding of the age. Through his music, (c.1529–1591) 4 Sive vigilem [2:39] lifetime was concentrated in the middle of the Mundy speaks as a precise contemporary century. Unable to call on any adult experience witness to the events, changes and liturgical 5 Alleluia. Per te Dei genitrix II [3:15] SACRED of the established musical traditions of the demands of his time. 6 Vox patris caelestis [17:21] pre-Reformation church, they also lacked any clear idea of the what the future would hold Mundy was a chorister at Westminster Abbey 7 Adolescentulus sum ego [4:57] CHOR AL for church musicians in the reformed Church during the 1540s with religious change in 8 In exitu Israel [17:17] of England, or even of whether music was to England already well underway. Relatively MUSIC Part I John Sheppard (c.1515–1558) have a place in the church at all, an issue that modest reforms enacted during the later Part II William Byrd (1539/40–1623) must have hung over the early part of their years of Henry VIII’s reign were accelerated Part III William Mundy Choir of St Mary’s careers regardless of their own religious views from the middle of the decade, with direct Cathedral, Edinburgh Total playing time [65:15] or affiliations. Of this generation of composers consequences for music. A major new Mundy was the only significant one who lived requirement was for the liturgy to be said (and Duncan Ferguson Tracks 2, 3 and 5 are premiere recordings beyond early adulthood, and in the face of the sung) in English and increasingly to follow religious turmoil and uncertainty of his age, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s now-notorious he proved adept at responding to the religious rubric that there should be simple textual change that took place during his lifetime. declamation and, so far as possible, ‘for every With thanks to St Mary’s Cathedral Music Society. The Choir of St Mary’s Mundy’s closest contemporaries Robert syllable, a note’. Cranmer himself had already Cathedral, Edinburgh would like to thank Magnus Williamson for providing White and Robert Parsons left a number of demonstrated this in his own setting of the several of the editions together with much support for this recording. The edition and reconstruction of Maria virgo sanctissima was made by Magnus Williamson fine pieces but they both died young (White Litany in 1544, and such edicts had huge as part of Tudor Partbooks: The Manuscript Legacies of John Sadler, John from the dreaded plague, Parsons – even more implications for the place of music within Baldwin and their Antecedents (Arts & Humanities Research Council, 2014–17). unfortunately – by drowning in the River Trent), worship. In 1548 Mundy became a parish and so their work does not span the same clerk at Tallis’s church of St Mary-at-Hill and, Recorded on 15-16 November 2016 Booklet editor/translations: Henry Howard Join the Delphian mailing list: breadth of period as Mundy’s, taking in as it although this was an administrative position and 9-11 May 2017 in St Mary’s Cover image © Colin Dickson www.delphianrecords.co.uk/join does the first experiment with Protestantism in the church where Mundy’s father had also Cathedral, Edinburgh by kind Choir photography © Susan Torkington permission of the Provost Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK Like us on Facebook: under the young King Edward (1547–53), worked, it seems clear that the church’s Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter www.delphianrecords.co.uk www.facebook.com/delphianrecords 24-bit digital editing: Matthew Swan Queen Mary’s restoration of Catholicism known links with Chapel Royal musicians and 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Follow us on Twitter: (1553–8), and then the revival of the Protestant its strong tradition of musical provision were @delphianrecords Design: John Christ Church of England under Queen Elizabeth central to Mundy’s development. Mundy’s Notes on the music time here coincided first with the Edwardine providing a two-part structure. They are both At the scholehouse in Palles church ther was certayn representation in the Gyffard Partbooks, a period and then the restoration of Catholicism in the same tone and even begin with the children and men sung dyverse staves in gratefying collection of music provided for Sarum use and under Queen Mary, which entailed the return same motif sung by two voices. Sections the quene; ther she stayed a goode while and gave named after the books’ first owner. Mundy is of long, elaborate and ceremonial pieces of for reduced voices alternate with extended dilligent ere to their song.1 the most represented composer in Gyffard music unencumbered by demands for textual full-choir sections, thereby providing textural after Sheppard and Taverner, ahead of Tye, clarity or modesty of scale, and with a wealth contrast over the works’ long time spans. The allegorical possibilities of a text connecting Tallis, and Byrd. Here we find Mundy’s two of texts (not merely Biblical passages) to Melismas abound and the pieces recall the the Virgin Mary and the new Queen Mary are settings of the Eastertide Lady Mass Alleluia draw on. Here there was a vast repository florid English polyphonic style. Vox patris clearly strong. While Maria virgo sanctissima’s Per te Dei genitrix and his collaborative of pre-Reformation music and a fine English and Maria virgo could have been written in anonymous text would similarly be appropriate work with Sheppard and Byrd for the Easter tradition from which to gain inspiration different years for the patronal festival at St for a St Mary-at-Hill Assumption performance, procession to the font, In exitu Israel, a setting for new writing; and Mundy excelled at it, Mary-at-Hill on 15 August. It is known through it can be read as even more overtly political, of the Vulgate Psalm 113 with antiphon. The becoming a leading proponent of England’s the churchwardens’ accounts that on this day, offering counter-Reformation justification for two Alleluia settings use four-part polyphony counter-Reformation style. the Feast of the Assumption, extra payments Marian devotion on the one hand (‘we may not for soloists (the first setting sung here by were made each year in 1556–8 for the call you goddess, but the gentlest creature and two trebles, alto and tenor, the second by Along with many of the traditions of the pre- provision of music and – as was customary handmaid of God; but whatever good the world two trebles and two tenors) followed by the Reformation church to make a comeback for big occasions – singers were hired from holds it holds through you, out of whom the plainsong verse for full and then solo voices. was the distinctively English votive antiphon. outside to augment the existing musical fount of our salvation abides’) and promoting The attribution of In exitu Israel to all three Mundy wrote two of these large-scale six- forces of the church. The praise of the Virgin Mary Tudor’s legitimacy on the other (‘the composers stands out as a highly unusual voice pieces in praise of the Virgin Mary: Mary and the supplications made through Father chose you as his daughter before the example of collaboration, although the practice Vox patris caelestis, his best-known work the texts of each piece are clearly appropriate foundation of the world’). It therefore seems of two or more composers working together today and generally considered to be his for Assumptiontide, when the Church marks probable that the two pieces were to some was not unheard of; it is likely for instance finest achievement, and the almost entirely Mary’s earthly body being taken up to heaven. degree conceived or performed in conjunction, that Taverner and Tye both contributed to overlooked Maria virgo sanctissima, now On the other hand, John Milsom first put and with a purpose that went beyond the O splendor gloriae in the 1530s, and copyists complete with a newly reconstructed tenor forward a ‘Coronation Theory’ that Vox patris – purely liturgical. It would have perhaps occasionally added a part or section to a work. part thanks to the work of Magnus Williamson. its text written by a prominent supporter of the surprised the participants and onlookers at the In the case of In exitu it appears that the young As with all Mundy’s surviving works, there Catholic line of succession, William Forrest, time of the coronation – not to mention Mundy William Byrd (previous attempts to suggest is no recorded date of composition. These who also claimed to be one of Queen Mary’s himself – that despite their ambition, powerful this is the work of one ‘Thomas Birde’ have two pieces are however inextricably linked chaplains – was performed on 30 September imagery and sheer confidence, these would be now largely been discredited) was given an through their musical construction, texts, and 1553, the day before her coronation.