Eton Choirbook
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
sacred music composed during the late fifteenth century. It was one of very few collections of Latin liturgical music to survive the Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, and originally contained music by 24 different composers; however, many of the pieces are damaged or incomplete. It is one of three large choirbooks surviving from early-Tudor England (the others are the Lambeth Choirbook
Lambeth Choirbook
The Lambeth Choirbook is an illuminated choirbook dating to the sixteenth century and containing much music by Tudor-period composers. The major contributors are Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford; between them they contributed at least ten of its nineteen pieces...
and the Caius Choirbook
Caius Choirbook
The Caius Choirbook is an illuminated choirbook dating to the early sixteenth century and containing much music by Tudor-period composers. The book appears to originate from Arundel in Sussex, and to have been created sometime in the late 1520s; the then Master of Arundel College, Edward Higgons,...
).
The Choirbook was compiled between approximately 1500 and 1505 for use at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
; its present binding dates from the mid 16th century. 126 folios remain of the original 224, including the index. In the original, there were a total of 93 separate compositions; however only 64 remain either complete or in part. Some of the 24 composers are known only because of their inclusion in the Eton Choirbook. John Browne
John Browne (composer)
John Browne is first among the composers of the Eton Choirbook both in size of contribution and excellence of achievement. It is astonishing that work of such exceptional interest should be known to us only from the Eton Choirbook, even given the paucity of late fifteenth- and early...
has the most compositions (10), followed by Richard Davy
Richard Davy
Richard Davy was a Renaissance composer, organist and choirmaster, one of the most represented in the Eton Choirbook.-Biography:...
(9) and Walter Lambe
Walter Lambe
Walter Lambe was an English composer.His works are well represented in Eton Choirbook. Also Lambeth and Caius Choirbook include his works.-List of works in Eton Choirbook:* Ascendit Christus...
(8).
Stylistically, the music contained in the Eton Choirbook shows three phases in the development of early Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
in England. The first phase is represented by the music of Richard Hygons
Richard Hygons
Richard Hygons was an English composer of the early Renaissance. While only two compositions of this late 15th century composer have survived, one of them, a five-voice setting of the Salve Regina Marian antiphon, has attracted interest from musicologists because of its close relationship to...
, William Horwood
William Horwood (composer)
William Horwood was an English polyphonic vocal composer in the late-medieval period . In 1470, he was a singer at Lincoln Cathedral, in 1476, he was a vicar choral at Lincoln, and from 1477 until 1484, he was the Cathedral choirmaster...
and Gilbert Banester
Gilbert Banester
Gilbert Banester was an English composer. Possibly a native of London, he was Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal beginning in 1478. His works are found in a number of Tudor manuscript collections of church music, including the Pepys Manuscript; there is also an antiphon by his hand in...
. Most of the music of this early phase is polyphonic but non-imitative
Imitation (music)
In music, imitation is when a melody in a polyphonic texture is repeated shortly after its first appearance in a different voice, usually at a different pitch. The melody may vary through transposition, inversion, or otherwise, but retain its original character...
, with contrast achieved by alternation of full five-voice texture
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
with sections sung by fewer voices. The second phase, which includes music by John Browne
John Browne (composer)
John Browne is first among the composers of the Eton Choirbook both in size of contribution and excellence of achievement. It is astonishing that work of such exceptional interest should be known to us only from the Eton Choirbook, even given the paucity of late fifteenth- and early...
, Richard Davy
Richard Davy
Richard Davy was a Renaissance composer, organist and choirmaster, one of the most represented in the Eton Choirbook.-Biography:...
and Walter Lambe
Walter Lambe
Walter Lambe was an English composer.His works are well represented in Eton Choirbook. Also Lambeth and Caius Choirbook include his works.-List of works in Eton Choirbook:* Ascendit Christus...
, uses imitation, cantus firmus
Cantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
techniques, and frequent cross-relations (a feature which was to become a distinctive sound in early Tudor polyphony). The final phase represented in the choirbook includes music by William Cornysh
William Cornysh
William Cornysh the Younger was an English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet.-Life:...
and Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.-Biography:...
, composed around 1500. Points of imitation are frequent, cantus firmus techniques disappear, and in general the sound of the music is more Continental.
All of the compositions in the book are sacred vocal music in Latin. There are 9 settings of the Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
, 54 motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s, and one setting of the Passion.
Sources
- Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X
- "Sources, MS, Renaissance Polyphony", from Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed April 24, 2005), (subscription access)
- Gustave ReeseGustave ReeseGustave Reese was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications Music in the Middle Ages and Music in the Renaissance ; these two books remain the standard reference works for these two eras,...
, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
External links
- The Eton Choirbook on hoasm.org
- Free access to high-resolution images of this manuscript from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
- List of contents of Eton Choirbook (published in Musica BritannicaMusica BritannicaMusica Britannica was founded in 1951 as an authoritative national collection of British music. It is designed to stand alongside existing library editions, and to explore the vast heritage of material still largely untouched by them, thus making available a representative survey of the British...
, Vols. X, XI and XII)
Recordings
- The Rose and The Ostrich Feather, Eton Choirbook Volume I. Harry ChristophersHarry ChristophersHarry Christophers is an English conductor. He attended the King's School, Canterbury and was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral under choirmaster Allan Wicks and played clarinet in the school orchestra alongside Andrew Marriner...
: The SixteenThe SixteenThe Sixteen are a choir and period instrument orchestra; founded by Harry Christophers in 1979.The group's special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early Classical music and a diversity of 20th century...
. COROCoroCoro or CORO may refer to:*Santa Ana de Coro, a Venezuelan city, the capital of Falcón State*Coro region, a geographical region of Venezuela*Coro Province, historic province of Gran Colombia*Coro , Italian for choir...
: CD COR16026. - The Crown of Thorns, Eton Choirbook Volume II. Harry Christophers: The Sixteen. CORO: CD COR16012.
- The Pillars Of Eternity, Eton Choirbook Volume III. Harry Christophers: The Sixteen. CORO: CD COR16022.
- The Flower of All Virginity, Eton Choirbook Volume IV. Harry Christophers: The Sixteen. CORO: CD COR16018.
- Voices of Angels, Eton Choirbook Volume V. Harry Christophers: The Sixteen. CORO: CD COR16002.