Edmund Turges (c. 1450–1500) thought to be also Edmund Sturges (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1507–1508) was an English

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

era composer who came from

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...

, was ordained by Bishop Ridley in 155 0, and joined the Fraternity of St. Nicholas (the London Guild of Parish Clerks) in 1522. Several works are listed in the name of Turges in the

Eton Choirbook The Eton Choirbook (Eton College MS. 178) is a richly illuminated manuscript collection of England, English sacred music composed during the late 15th century. It was one of very few collections of Latin liturgical music to survive the English R ...

, which survived

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1541. Turges also has a ''Magnificat'' extant in the

Caius Choirbook The Caius Choirbook is an illuminated choirbook dating to the early sixteenth century and containing 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 ...

, and compositions in the Fayrfax Boke. A ''Kyrie'' and ''Gloria'' are ascribed to Sturges in the Ritson Manuscript. At least two masses and three Magnificat settings have been lost, as well as eight six-part pieces listed in the 1529 King's College Inventory. It is quite possible that his setting of 'Gaude flore virginali' was written with the choir of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

in mind, especially since a man by the name of Sturges served as a chaplain in the choir between 1507-08. Its unorthodox vocal scoring for TrTrATB suggests the choral forces found in the college at the time where the boys (16 in total) outnumbered the men (of whom there were likely to have been no more than four).

Works

Selected works include: *''Gaude flore virginali'' *''Magnificat'' *''Kyrie'' *''Gloria''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turges, Edmund Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown English classical composers Renaissance composers Year of birth uncertain 16th-century English composers English male classical composers