EDECXEL ADVANCED LEVEL
NOTES
John Taverner (c.1490-1545), O Wilhelme pastor bone
|
Background
John Taverner is the most important English composer of sacred music from
the first part of the sixteenth century. His work spans the end of the ‘Gothic’
or ‘Medieval’ period and the beginning of the Renaissance. Some characteristics
of each style in the context of England are listed below.
| |
Gothic |
Transitional |
Renaissance |
| Typical composer(s) |
John Dunstable (1390-1453) |
Nicholas Ludford (1490-1557); John
Taverner (c.1490-1545) |
John Dowland (c.1563-1626);William
Byrd (1543-1623) |
| Liturgy |
Catholic: Sarum (i.e. Salisbury)
Rite |
Initially Catholic (including O
Wilhelme), but the Church of England was founded in the 1530s by Henry
VIII. |
Protestant, but brief period of
Catholic monarchy 1553-8 (Mary Tudor). Some composers wrote Catholic music for
private consumption, and others emigrated to Catholic or tolerant areas of the
Continent. |
| Part-writing |
Independent: Some works, e.g.
Dunstable’s isorhythmic motets, even have different words for each voice
part |
Less independent: parts move together
more of the time. Cf. Confer opem, bar 16-19. It is very rare to find
all the parts singing the same words at the same time (homophony) in the Gothic
period |
|
| Rhythmic complexity |
Very complex and intricate rhythmic
constructions: unparalleled until the twentieth century (e.g. Michael Finnissy,
Edgard Varèse) |
Less complex, although some of the
rhythmic interest is maintained in this Taverner piece. The work is correctly
transcribed into 4/4 because of the presence of minims, but there are many
three-beat units going against this, e.g. O Wilhelme and Cleri
Pater |
Can be relatively foursquare. Cf.
Sweelinck’s Pavana lachrimae |
| Imitation |
Very little |
Imitation both between groups of
voices and individual voices |
Common feature of Renaissance
music |
| Melodic style |
Florid |
More restrained and economical |
More restrained and economical |
| Word-underlay |
Usually several notes per
syllable |
Often set syllabically |
Usually set syllabically, in order to
be able to declaim the words clearly |
| Response to words |
Often no reflection in music,
especially when setting three sets of words at once |
Structural rather than pictorial.
Important words are emphasised, e.g. et coronae Coelestis da gloriam, in
which all the parts join in |
Some pictorial setting or emotional
response. Cf. Dowland Flow my teares. |
| Nature of musical
sections |
Continuous music until section (e.g.
Sanctus part of mass or whole motet) finishes |
Choir continually divides and
re-groups |
Choir continually divides and
re-groups |
Cardinal College, now Christ Church, Oxford. It was here that he composed
the short votive antiphon O Wilhelme pastor bone, a prayer for the
founder of the college, Cardinal Wolsey. Taverner’s earlier and longer works
include qualities associated with the Gothic period, but his shorter, later
works rely more heavily on modern innovations from Continental composers. These
include antiphony, where one choir or group of parts answers another;
imitation, a form of altered and consequential repetition; and homophony, where
all the parts sing at once.
The music of O Wilhelme pastor bone survives in four part-books,
which are now in the library of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. Harrison’s
Music in Medieval Britain (London 1958, page 34) shows that in the
Peterhouse copy, the work begins with the words ‘Christe Jesu pastor bone’, and
the second stanza begins ‘Fundatorem specialem serva regem nunc Henricum’,
rather than ‘Fundatorem specialem serva Thomam Cardinalem’. An alteration
occurred after the Reformation; since Cardinal Wolsey lost his power and
influence, the words were changed to make the first part (bars 1-32) appear to
be a Jesus-antiphon, with the remaining music a prayer for Henry VIII.
Translated, the words read:
O William, good shepherd,
Father and patron of the clergy,
To us in the trials of the world
Grant help and remove
Life’s baseness, and give us
The joy of a heavenly crown.
Save our very own founder Cardinal Thomas;
And watch over the Church
O protector of these the devout;
And to both let be allowed
The reward of eternal life.
