John Marbeck, Merbeck or Merbecke () was an English choral composer and
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
writer whose
musical setting of the early
Anglican liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
standardised the sung Anglican service until the late 20th century. He is also known today for his setting of the
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
, ''Missa Per arma justitiae''.
Life
Probably a native of
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...
in Yorkshire, Merbecke appears to have been a
boy chorister at
St George's Chapel, Windsor
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 Gart ...
, and was employed as an organist there from about 1541. Two years later he was convicted with
four others of heresy and sentenced to be
burnt at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment ...
, but received a pardon owing to the intervention of
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner (27 July 1483 – 12 November 1555) was an English Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip.
Early life
Gardiner was b ...
,
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...
, who said he was "but a musitian". An English
Concordance of the Bible
A Bible concordance is a concordance, or verbal index, to the Bible. A simple form lists Biblical words alphabetically, with indications to enable the inquirer to find the passages of the Bible where the words occur.
Concordances may be for the ...
which Merbecke had been preparing at the suggestion of
Richard Turner, was however confiscated and destroyed. A later version of this work, the first of its kind in English, was published in 1550 with a dedication to
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
.
In the same year, Merbecke published his ''Booke of Common Praier Noted'', intended to provide for musical uniformity in the use of the
First Prayer Book of Edward VI. This set the liturgy to semi-rhythmical melodies partly adapted from
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
; it was rendered obsolete when the Prayer Book was revised in 1552. Merbecke wrote several devotional and controversial works, and a number of his musical compositions are preserved in manuscript in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, and at
Oxford
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 ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. He died, probably while still organist at Windsor, about 1585.
His son,
Roger Marbeck
Roger Marbeck (1536–1605), son of organist John Marbeck, was a noted classical scholar, was appointed public orator in the University of Oxford in 1564, and in 1565 became a canon of Christ Church and was elected Provost of Oriel College; h ...
(1536–1605), was a noted classical scholar and physician.
Legacy
In the first half of the 19th century, the
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
inspired renewed interest in liturgical music within the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
John Jebb first drew attention to Merbecke's Prayer Book settings in 1841. In 1843, William Dyce published
plainsong
Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgy, liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in La ...
music for all the Anglican services, which included nearly all of Merbecke's settings, adapted for the
1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''. During the latter half of the 19th century, many different editions of Merbecke's settings were published, especially for the
Communion service
Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term ''Mass'' is commonly used in the Catholic Church, in the Western Rite Orthodox, in Old Catholic, and in Independent Catholic churches. The term is ...
, with arrangements by noted musicians such as Sir
John Stainer
Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some churches of the Anglican Communi ...
,
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...
and
Basil Harwood
Basil Harwood (11 April 1859 – 3 April 1949) was an organist and composer in the English church music tradition, best known today for his liturgical works, particularly his anthem ''O How Glorious is the Kingdom'' (1898) and his ''Service in ...
, Merbecke's Communion setting was very widely sung by choirs and congregations throughout the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
until the 1662 Book of Common Prayer began to be supplanted by more modern liturgy in the late 20th century. Parts of his service, notably the Nicene Creed, have been adapted to "modern" wording. His setting has also been adapted for the liturgy of many other denominations; the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
drew on it for the new English-language form of the
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 1970 ...
following the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
of 1962–65.
His complete Latin Church music was recorded by
The Cardinall's Musick
The Cardinall's Musick is a United Kingdom-based vocal ensemble specialising in music of the 16th and 17th centuries and contemporary music.Ivan March, Edward Greenfield, Robert Layton - The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music - 2008 Page 28 ...
under the direction of
Andrew Carwood
Andrew Carwood (born 30 April 1965) is the Director of Music at St Paul's Cathedral in London and director of his own group, The Cardinall's Musick.
Biography
He was educated at The John Lyon School, Harrow and was a choral scholar in the Choir ...
in 1996.
A voluntary choir for young men and women at
Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. ...
in London is named the Merbecke Choir in his honour,
Merbecke Choir, Southwark Cathedral – Welcome
/ref> because Merbecke's heresy trial had been partly held at the church in 1543.
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
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* http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/MerbeckeDiscography.html
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Merbecke, John
1510s births
1580s deaths
English classical organists
British male organists
People from Windsor, Berkshire
English prisoners sentenced to death
Recipients of English royal pardons
16th-century English composers
English male composers
Musicians from Berkshire
Male classical organists