New Light on Early Tudor Composers. XXII. Nicholas Ludford Author(s): W. H. Grattan Flood Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 62, No. 946 (Dec. 1, 1921), pp. 837-838 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/908549 Accessed: 02-03-2016 14:52 UTC
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This content downloaded from 130.113.111.210 on Wed, 02 Mar 2016 14:52:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER I 1921 837
As it happens, the building is so placed that the 'Vic.' have flourished in the years 1495-I52I. A diligent
cannot extend except by disturbing its neighbour, the
search has revealed a few more facts regarding this
Morley College. Therefore the 'Vic.' must provide a new
early Tudor composer. It may be well to note, however,
home for that institution. A suitable building in the near
that he was not, as generally surmised, a member of neighbourhood is available if funds can be raised to acquire
the Chapel Royal. Doubtless a further investigation
it. To reinstate the Morley College and make the necessary
may bring to light more details, but meahtime the alterations and extensions will cost about ?30,000. Of this
sum the 'Vic.' can lay its hands on about ?to,ooo; for the following notes will be helpful, though the net result
remainder it must look to the interest and generosity of the has not been as fruitful as could be desired.
public. Nicholas Ludford first appears in an account book
In asking help on an occasion of very great stress we feel of the Steward of Ashby Leger, in March, 1520,
we are justified in appealing not only to the regular friends
printed in the 'Calendar of Letters and Papers of
of the ' Vic.' (who will certainly not fail it), but to allwho are
Henry VIII.' (vol. iii). At one time I was inclined
concerned for the humanities. The work of the 'Old Vic.'is
to believe that Ludford was a member of the Chapel
moral and spiritual, no less than artistic, and there is
Royal, and a friend told me that his name occurred abundant evidence of its actual influence for good.
in some accounts in the Public Record Office, in Contributions of any amount will be thankfully received
and can be sent to the Secretary of the 'Old Vic.' Appeal connection with the Dean of the King's Chapel,
Fund, Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Road, S.E.I. Dr. John Clark. An examination of the Calendar,
Cheques should be made payable to Sir W. P. Herringham
however, revealed the fact that although the accounts
(Chairman of the Governors).-We are, Yours obediently,
of the Dean of the Chapel are given for March, 1520,
H. H. AsQumITH L. C. F. CAVENDISH.
Ludford's name does not appear in them, yet his
DUNSANY. HERBERT FISHER.
name does occur in the succeeding entry recording
JOHN W. GILBERT. A. BONAR LAW.
the payment of 4I 19 8s. by a number of persons in
W. MANCHESTER. ARTHUR PINERO.
the Steward's Account of Ashby Leger (Northampton).
ETHEL SMYTH. CYRIL SOUTHWARK.
Moreover, in the detailed account of the Chapel J. H. THoOMAs. EVERARD G. THORNE.
Royal at the Field of Cloth of Gold, in 1520,
Ludford's name is not to be found.* In I520 he
NEW LIGHT ON EARLY TUDOR
seems to have been a contemporary of John Kite,
COMPOSERS
who had been sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, and
By W. H. GRATTAN FLOOD
was promoted to be Archbishop of Armagh. Con-
XXII.-NICHOLAS LUDFORD
sequently, he would then be about forty years of age,
Great as is the reputation of Robert Fayrfax, there from which we may safely place his birth as c. 1480.
is another early Tudor composer whose works may The next notice of Nicholas Ludford, who was
bear favourable comparison with his: this man is married in 1535, is on July 3, 1538, when he was
Nicholas Ludford. And yet it is only since the begin- granted an exemption 'from serving on juries and
ning of the present century that Ludford may be said from being made escheator, coroner, collector of
to have been 'discovered.' His compositions are taxes, constable, or other officer.' This notice is to
almost as numerous as those of Fayrfax, and hence be found in the 'Calendar of Letters,' &c., of
we are in a position to estimate their value. Even Henry VIII.,' and it may be assumed that the
Dr. Terry recently admitted that Ludford's works exemption arose from Ludford's connection with the
'show him to be a much bigger man' than he had Court, and was probably due to some serious accident
at first suspected ; and-stronger proof still-the or illness, for it could scarcely be on the score of old
general verdict of musical critics, who have been age, as he was then on the sunny side of sixty.
given an opportunity of hearing seven of Ludford's Evidently Ludford died in 1541, or early in 1542,
Masses sung during the past few years at Westminster as on June I, 1542, among the Life Grants in the
Cathedral, has confirmed the expert views of Messrs. King's Books (33 Henry VIII.), there is an entry of a
Collins, Davey, Terry, and Walker. I was hoping Lease for twenty-one years to Elizabeth Ludford,
that Mr. Orsmond Anderton, in his recent book on widow, of certain lands and a water-mill in
' Early English Music'(1920), would throw some new Birmingham Manor, Warwickshire. Through the
light on the biography of this important composer, courtesy of Mr. Collins, I am enabled to give the
but, alas! he writes thus: following list of Luidford's works, all as yet in MS.:
No information as to his life is available except that
Six Masses for solo and three-part chorus, each
he was about contemporaneous with, possibly a little
containing a Sequence (Brit. Mus., R. Appen., 45-47).
later than, Fayrfax. Several of his Masses are in use
Missa 'Benedicta,' for six voices (Lambeth and Caius).
at Westminster Cathedral, including seven for three
In the former MS. it is given anonymously.
voices, one for each day in the week. Of these perhaps
Missa 'Videte Miraculum,' for six voices (MS. at Caius
the finest is the 'Missa Sabbato.'
College).
Mr. H. B. Collins writes in an almost similar strain Missa 'Christi Virgo,' for five voices (MSS. at Caius,
in his excellent paper on 'Latin Church Music by Cambridge, an.d Peterhouse).
Early English Composers,' Part 2, in the Missa 'Inclina Domine,' for five voices (Peterhouse).
Missa 'Lapidaverunt Stephanum,' for five voices 'Proceedings of the Musical Association' (1916-17):
(Lambeth-but anonymously-and Caius).
Another composer of about the same period as
Missa 'Regnum mundi,' for five voices (Peterhouse).
Fayrfax, or slightly later, was Nicholas Ludford, with
Missa 'Le Roy '-only fragmentary (Brit. Mus. Add.
regard to whom I have been able to ascertain no
30,520).
particulars whatever. His name does not appear in
Magnificat, for six voices (Caius).
Grove, nor in the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' Ave Maria Ancilla, for five voices (Peterhouse). though he is mentioned at the end of Morley's 'Plaine
Ave Cujus Conceptio, for five voices (Feterhouse).
and Easie Introduction' as one of the composers whose
Domine Jesu Christi, for five voices (Peterhouse).
works the author had consulted.
Salve Regina (No. I), medius only (Harley, 1709).
Thus it may be briefly stated that hitherto the
Salve Regina (No. 2) (Hadey and Peterhouse).
biographical data regarding Ludford was nil, save
(N.B.-The Peterhouse MS. wants the Tenor.)
that he was more or less the contemporary of
Fayrfax: that is to say, we may assume him to
S* ee an article on this subject in the Musical Times for June, 1920.
This content downloaded from 130.113.111.210 on Wed, 02 Mar 2016 14:52:51 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 838 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER I 192I
Mr. Collins has scored many of these Masses- proportion of noumeautx riches and of foreigners. It was
to be feared that dramatic art was tottering to its fall, written in 'black void' notation-and he gives the
since one third of the public was unacquainted with the following estimate of the first of the six Masses for
French language, and another third with the merest
solo bass voice or unison chorus, alternating with a
rudiments of grammar and history. A reaction has
three-part choir. It is also worthy of note that the
come, however. And now what remains of our
Canto Fermo, in plainchant, is in 'strictly measured
intellectual ilfe shun the theatres that cater for the
music' like that of the chorus:
crowd, and assemble in smaller places to listen to plays
worthy of their attention. But operas, lyric dramas, The counterpoint is at least as fluent and facile as that
and ballets cannot be played on small stages, nor to of Fayrfax, and is also of a rather more advanced
small audiences. The people who applauded ' Pelleas character, the parts often entering one after another
et Milisande' in 1902 were not more than three with points of imitation, showing a transition to a later
hundred. To-day 'Pelleas' is consecrated by success. style. The whole composition is lighter in character
But had it been produced for the first time before the than Fayrfax's work, partly owing to the use of only
public of 1919 or 1920, those three hundred would three voices, and also owing to the fact that in most of
have sunk to two hundred. And instead of the people the movements the 'greater prolation' is substituted for
who scoffed at them, but whose good faith was ' perfect time,' though the latter is used for the Sanctus
amenable to persuasion, we should have had gloomy, and Agnus. The Mass is founded on the same melody
unconcerned boors staring at the enthusiasts without so as that used by Taverner in his Kyre entitled ' Ley Roy.'
much as a smile. Before the war, the Paris public The Credo is set complete without any omissions, and
was suspicious, restive, irreverent, but also capable of the Mass also includes a setting of a lengthy Sequence,
enthusiasm. Very little of all that remains. Even 'Ave pracelara Maris stella,' which occurs in the
of protesting against the most grotesque shows that Sarum Gradual on the Octave of the Assumption.
public is incapable. The Mass is altogether an interesting composition,
which makes one desire to know more of the author's
A SOLOIST'S INCOME AT PARIS
work.
In the same periodical (November) Louis Charles
Battaille describes the prospects of the average
interpreter of good standing, singer or instrumentalist : Music in the Jforeifn Press
No fee for playing or singing at a symphony concert,
WHY DEBUSSY WROTE ' PELLEAS ET MELISANDE' or any concert given by the existing musical associations ;
no fee at charity and gala entertainments; at private
Comwedia (quoted in the Nouvelle Revue Musicale,
parties, no fee: of late, the fashion is to invite a
October) publishes a note written by Debussy, and composer to give a hearing of his works, and find his
entitled ' Why I wrote " Pellas "' own interpreters. Should the artist give a concert,
four times out of five the expenses, taxes, super-taxes,
I had wanted long ago to write music for the stage.
rights of various kinds, and so forth, will exceed the
But the form which I intended to adopt was so unusual
takings. The income derived from teaching is generally
that after various attempts I almost gave up the notion.
precarious, and at best unsatisfactory. In fact, the
Previous research in the domain of pure music had led
interpreter can hardly hope to make a living. We are
me to detest classical working-out, whose beauty is
in danger either of seeing their number decrease until it
solely technical, and can interest only our Mandarins.
becomes insufficient, or of their organizing into a trade
I desired for muic a freedom which belongs to that art
union--which will mean that financial questions will
more than to any other-music being founded not upon
relegate questions of art to the background.
mere imitation of nature, but upon mysterious
relations between nature and imagination. After
ON TRANSCRIBING BACH'S CANTATAS
several enthusiastic visits to Bayreuth, I began
to entertain doubts as to the Wagnerian formula; or
In the Szgnale (November 2) Hans Oppenheim
rather, to believe that it could be useful only to
criticises the pianoforte transcriptions of the instru-
Wagner's genius. Wagner was a great collector of
mental parts of Bach's Cantatas in the Breitkopf
formulx; those formulx he mustered into one formula
edition :
which is considered as personal for the sole reason that
music is not well known. Without denying Wagner's They correspond with what Bach has written neither
genius, one may say that what he did was in actual fact nor in character. They are often difficult
to set the seal on the music of his time. After to play, at times impossible. The 'Neue Bachgesell-
him, it became necessary to seek other resources. schaft' might well direct its activities towards publishing
Maeterlinck's ' Pellias' struck me as wonderfully an adequate edition of these masterpieces.
suited to my own purpose. The suggestiveness, the
ACOUSTICS AND MUSIC sensitiveness of the wording were things which would
find their natural extension in music. Also I tried to obey
The Rivzisla MAlusicale Italiana for October contains
a law of Beauty which writers of dramatic music often
a long instalment of Jean Marnold's 'Nature et
appear to overlook: I tried to make the characters sing
Evolution de 1'Art Musical,' devoted to the study of like living beings, not in an arbitrary style made of
threadbare conventionalities. Thence the allegation sound. The writer is one of the very few
that I sedulously aim at monotony. I do not pretend experts in acoustics whose concern is not with
to have discovered everything: but with 'Pellias' I the science per se, or as a means of prescribing to
have tried to open a path which will be followed by
music a certain course, but with the data which it
others whose discoveries will perhaps free dramatic
provides for the practical purposes of analysis and
music from her long durance.
criticism. The present part of his contribution is
instructive, clear, and thorough. Its continuation THE PARIS PUBLIC OF TO-DAY
will no doubt contain valuable conclusions, which will
In Le Courrier Musical (October) Louis Laloy
be recorded here when the time comes.
writes :
MONTEVERDI'S LOST 'ARIANNA' Since 19T4, and especially since 1918, the Paris public
has undergone a great change, and a change for the worse.
In the Revue Musicale (November), Xavier de
People seem no longer to know themselves, nor what
Courville analyses the poem by Rinuccini, which, they want. They have learnt little, and forgotten much.
Before the war, the Paris public comprised a strong except for the preserved 'Lamento,' is all that remains
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