The Forrest-Heyther partbooks (Oxford,
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
MS. Mus. Sch. e. 376–381) are a set of six manuscript
partbook
A partbook is a format for printing or copying music in which each book contains the part for a single voice or instrument, especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque. This format contrasts with the large choirbook, which included all ...
s copied in England in the sixteenth century. They are an important source of
polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
Mass Ordinary settings by composers from the reign of
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 ...
, including
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
and
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
.
Contents
All six partbooks (for
treble
Treble may refer to:
In music:
*Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass
*Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range
*Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands
*T ...
, mean, contratenor, tenor and bass voices as well as a sixth additional part or ''sexta pars'') contain eighteen five- and six-part
polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
Mass Ordinary settings for unaccompanied voices.
#
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
– ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas''
#
Avery Burton – ''Missa Ut re mi fa sol la''
#
John Merbecke
John Marbeck, Merbeck or Merbecke () was an English choral composer and theological writer whose musical setting of the early Anglican liturgy standardised the sung Anglican service until the late 20th century. He is also known today for his s ...
– ''Missa Per arma iustitiae''
#
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
– ''Missa Regali ex progenie''
#
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
– ''Missa Albanus''
#
William Rasar – ''Missa Christi Jesu''
#
Hugh Aston
Hugh Aston (also spelled ''Asseton'', ''Assheton'', ''Ashton'', ''Haston''; c. 1485 – buried 17 November 1558) was an English composer of the early Tudor period. While little of his music survives, he is notable for his innovative keyboard a ...
– ''Missa Te deum laudamus''
#
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
– ''Missa O bone Jesu''
#
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
– ''Missa Tecum principium''
#
Thomas Ashwell
Thomas Ashwell or Ashewell (c. 1478 – after 1513 (possibly 1527?)) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He was a skilled composer of polyphony, and may have been the teacher of John Taverner.
His admission to St. George's Chapel as ...
– ''Missa Jesu Christe''
#John Norman – ''Missa Resurrexit''
#
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
– ''Missa Corona spinea''
#
Thomas Ashwell
Thomas Ashwell or Ashewell (c. 1478 – after 1513 (possibly 1527?)) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He was a skilled composer of polyphony, and may have been the teacher of John Taverner.
His admission to St. George's Chapel as ...
– ''Missa Ave Maria''
#
Hugh Aston
Hugh Aston (also spelled ''Asseton'', ''Assheton'', ''Ashton'', ''Haston''; c. 1485 – buried 17 November 1558) was an English composer of the early Tudor period. While little of his music survives, he is notable for his innovative keyboard a ...
– ''Missa Videte manus meas''
#
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
– ''Missa O Michael''
#
John Sheppard – ''Missa Cantate''
#
Christopher Tye
Christopher Tye (c.1505 – before 1573) was an English Renaissance composer and organist. Probably born in Cambridgeshire, he trained at the University of Cambridge and became the master of the choir at Ely Cathedral. He is noted as the music ...
– ''Missa Euge bone''
#
Richard Alwood – ''Missa'' 'Praise him praiseworthy'
The ''sexta pars'' partbook (e. 381) contains in addition three English-texted
anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
s: ''Sing joyfully unto God'' (
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...
); ''Almighty God which by the leading of a star'' (attributed to
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
); and ''O Lord consider my distress'' (anonymous).
Physical characteristics
![John Taverner d 1545](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/John_Taverner_d_1545.jpg)
The treble, mean, contratenor, tenor and bass books are of identical appearance. They are bound in leather and the covers bear stamped images of the English royal coat of arms on one side, and a
Tudor rose
The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic badge, heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor ...
and a pomegranate on the other. The pomegranate was the symbol of Henry VIII's first wife
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
. John Bergsagel suggests that this shows the partbooks must have been bound before Henry and Catherine's divorce in 1533.
It is not known whose are the arms on the ''sexta pars'' book. However, the paper used in this partbook also appears in another source which dates from 1531.
In the treble, mean, contratenor, tenor and bass books, the initial letters of the ''Missa Gloria tibi trinitas'' are decorated with a face and a banner bearing the name of
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
. It has been assumed that this is a likeness of the composer.
Copying history
It is not known who copied Masses 1–11 in the collection. It has been suggested that these Masses were copied at Cardinal College (now
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
). This college had been founded in 1525 by
Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
, Henry VIII's
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
. John Taverner was employed as Master of the Choristers at Cardinal College from 1527 until 1530, and it is possible that the partbooks were begun and bound at the college under his influence.
Masses 12–18 are in the handwriting of
William Forrest and an inscription in the contratenor book reveals that he owned all the books in 1530. At that time, Forrest was a petty canon of Cardinal College. It is not known exactly when he copied the Masses, however. The presence of music by Sheppard and a reference to Tye's doctorate in the collection suggests that they were not added until at least 1545. It has been suggested that Forrest copied the Masses in the reign of
Mary I of England
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
, while acting as her personal chaplain.
Forrest died in c. 1581, leaving the last four Masses incomplete.
Forrest's copies of Masses 15–18 were completed by
John Baldwin, a singing-man at
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...
and later a member of the English
Chapel Royal
The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...
. Baldwin was a prolific copyist who also copied the
Baldwin Partbooks (Oxford, Christ Church MS. Mus. 979–983), part of the
Dow Partbooks
The Dow Partbooks (Christ Church, Mus. MSS 984–988) are a collection of five partbooks compiled by Robert Dow in Oxford around 1581–88. The collection includes mostly choral but also some instrumental pieces. At the end is an instrumental ''L ...
(Oxford, Christ Church MS. Mus. 984–988), and ''
My Ladye Nevells Booke
''My Ladye Nevells Booke'' (British Library MS Mus. 1591) is a music manuscript containing keyboard pieces by the English composer William Byrd, and, together with the ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'', one of the most important collections of Renais ...
''. He probably had the ''sexta pars'' rebound in the 1590s.
The three anthems in the ''sexta pars'' were added much later, probably in the 1610s or 1620s.
['Source Description: "''GB-Ob'' MS. Mus. Sch. e. 380"'](_blank)
''Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music''. Retrieved 5 February 2016 It is possible that they were copied by
William Heather
William Heather (c. 1563 – 1627) was a musician, and founder of the position of the Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford.
Life and career
William Heather was born in Harmondsworth,DNB and sang in the choir of Westminster Abbey ...
(who joined the Chapel Royal in the year that Baldwin died) or
Richard Nicholson, organist at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
and later Professor of Music at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
William Heather donated the partbooks to Oxford in 1627.
[Bergsagel (1963) 248]
See also
*
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 ...
*
Lambeth Choirbook The Lambeth Choirbook – also known as the Arundel Choirbook – is an illuminated choirbook dating to the sixteenth century. It contains music for 7 Masses, 4 Magnificats, and 8 motets. Much of the music is by Tudor-period composers. The majo ...
*
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 ...
*
Gyffard partbooks The 'Gyffard' Partbooks (British Library Great_Britain">GB- Great_Britain">GB-British_Library">Lbl.html" ;"title="British_Library.html" ;"title="Great_Britain.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Great Britain">GB-British Library">Lbl">British_Library.html" ;"t ...
*
Peterhouse partbooks
*
Baldwin partbooks
*
Dow partbooks
The Dow Partbooks (Christ Church, Mus. MSS 984–988) are a collection of five partbooks compiled by Robert Dow in Oxford around 1581–88. The collection includes mostly choral but also some instrumental pieces. At the end is an instrumental ''L ...
*''
My Ladye Nevells Booke
''My Ladye Nevells Booke'' (British Library MS Mus. 1591) is a music manuscript containing keyboard pieces by the English composer William Byrd, and, together with the ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'', one of the most important collections of Renais ...
'', a collection of keyboard works by William Byrd
References
Sources
* Bergsagel, J
'The Date and Provenance of the Forrest-Heyther Collection of Tudor Masses'''Music & Letters'' 44 (1963), 240–248.
{{Anglican church music
Renaissance music manuscript sources
16th-century books