W. de Wycombe (Wicumbe, and perhaps Whichbury) (late 13th century) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

composer and copyist of the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

era. He was precentor of the priory of

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is t ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

. It is possible that he was the composer of one of the most famous tunes from medieval England, '' Sumer is icumen in''.

Life and career

Wycombe is variously identified as W de Wyc, Willelmus de Winchecumbe, Willelmo de Winchecumbe or William of Winchcomb.

Sanders Sanders may refer to: People Surname * Sanders (surname) * Bernie Sanders, US presidential candidate and senator * Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary and daughter of Mike Huckabee * Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC (Kentuc ...

(in Grove) considers the identification of the composer with Willelmus de Winchecumbe improbable. He appears to have been a secular scribe and

precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...

employed for about four years at the priory of Leominster in

during the 1270s. He is also thought to have been a sub-deacon of the cathedral priory as listed in the Worcester Annals or possibly a monk at St Andrew's in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. Wycombe left a number of documents with his signature, including a collectarium, a precentor's workbook, two rotuli (scrolls) containing music, a summary and treatise on music, a history to which Winchecumbe added music, and other books. His name also appears in a

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

manuscript including the rota '' Sumer is icumen in'', and on one of seven sets of four-part compositions in the Wintonia collection. Two of these compositions are partially preserved and parts of others are to be found in the Worcester Fragments. Of these compositions, only ''Alleluia, Dies sanctificatus'' is completely restorable. The works have a four-part polyphonic structure. One more fragment is found copied in the

Montpellier Codex The ''Montpellier Codex'' (''Montpellier, Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire, Section Médecine, H196'') is an important source of 13th-century France, French polyphony. The ''Codex'' contains 336 polyphonic works probably composed c. 1250–1300 ...

. Wycombe's main period of activity was probably the 1270s and 1280s. He is best known as the composer 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 ...

alleluia Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...

s. Over 40 settings have been identified in several sources, a group of compositions almost equal in size to that of

Léonin Léonin (also Leoninus, Leonius, Leo; ) was the first known significant composer of polyphonic organum. He was probably French, probably lived and worked in Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral and was the earliest member of the Notre Dame school ...

, the earlier composer of the continental

Notre Dame school The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names hav ...

, but only one of the 40 can be restored completely; the others exist only in fragments. Some of his work appears in the Worcester Fragments, a collection of 59 manuscript leaves that represents about a third of the total surviving polyphony from 13th-century England. Each of Wycombe's

s is in four sections. The second and fourth contain the solo respond and verse sections, while the first and third consist of free polyphony. Stylistically they are similar to the Reading Rota itself (''Sumer is icumen in''), emphasizing tonic and

supertonic In music, the supertonic is the second degree () of a diatonic scale, one whole step above the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the supertonic note is sung as ''re''. The triad built on the supertonic note is called the supertonic chor ...

, and showing the English preference for the harmonic interval of the third.

Life and career

References

Further reading