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John Taverner
 
 
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Not to be confused with Sir John Tavener
John Tavener

Sir John Tavener is a United Kingdom composer,British honours systemed in 2000 for his services to music....


John Taverner (c. 1490 – 18 October 1545) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 and organist
Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ . An organist may play organ repertoire, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist....
, regarded as the most important English composer of his era.

rner was the first Organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church , is one of the largest Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. As well as being a college, Christ Church is also the cathedral church of the diocese of Oxford, namely Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford....
, appointed by Thomas Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey , who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner....
 in 1526. The college had been founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey, and was then known as Cardinal College.






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Not to be confused with Sir John Tavener
John Tavener

Sir John Tavener is a United Kingdom composer,British honours systemed in 2000 for his services to music....


John Taverner (c. 1490 – 18 October 1545) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 and organist
Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ . An organist may play organ repertoire, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist....
, regarded as the most important English composer of his era.

Career

Taverner was the first Organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church , is one of the largest Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. As well as being a college, Christ Church is also the cathedral church of the diocese of Oxford, namely Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford....
, appointed by Thomas Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey , who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner....
 in 1526. The college had been founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey, and was then known as Cardinal College. Immediately before this, Taverner had been a clerk fellow at the Collegiate Church of Tattershall
Tattershall

Tattershall is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, located on the A153 Horncastle, Lincolnshire to Sleaford road, east of the point where that road crosses the River Witham....
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a Counties of England in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire....
. In 1528 he was reprimanded for his (probably minor) involvement with Lutherans
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
, but escaped punishment for being "but a musician". Wolsey fell from favour in 1529, and in 1530 Taverner left the college.

As far as can be told, Taverner had no further musical appointments, nor can any of his known works be dated to after that time, so he may have ceased composition. It is often said that after leaving Oxford Taverner worked as an agent of Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was an England statesman who served as Henry VIII of England's chief minister from 1532 to 1540....
 assisting in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII of England disbanded all monastery, nunnery and friary in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed of their assets and provided f...
, although the veracity of this is now thought to be highly questionable. He is known to have settled eventually in Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire

Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Boston local government district and has a total population of 35,124....
 where he was a small landowner and reasonably well-off. He was appointed an alderman
Alderman

An alderman is a member of a Municipal government assembly or council in many jurisdictions. Historically the term could also refer to local municipal judges in small legal proceedings ....
 of Boston in 1545, shortly before his death. He is buried under the belltower at Boston Parish Church
The Stump

Boston parish church is a parish church in the Church of England in Boston, Lincolnshire....
. The 20th century composer Sir John Tavener is his direct descendant.

Works

Most of Taverner's music is vocal, and includes mass
Mass (music)

The Mass, a Musical form of sacred music, is a choir composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of Mass in Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship h...
es, Magnificat
Magnificat

The Magnificat is a canticle frequently sung liturgy in Christian church services. The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth....
s and motet
Motet

In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choir musical compositions.The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum", and the Italian mottetto was also used....
s. The bulk of his output is thought to date from the 1520s. His best-known motet is "Dum Transisset Sabbatum".

His best known mass
Mass

In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
 is based on a popular song, "The Western Wynde
The western wynde

The Western Wynde is an early 16th century song whose tune was used as the basis of masses by English composers John Taverner, Christopher Tye and John Sheppard ....
" (John Sheppard and Christopher Tye
Christopher Tye

Christopher Tye was an England composer and organist, who studied at University of Cambridge and in 1545 became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford University....
 later also wrote masses based on this same song). Taverner's Western Wynde mass is unusual for the period because the theme tune appears in each of the four parts at different times. Commonly his masses are designed so that each of the four sections (Gloria, Credo, Santus-Benedictus and Agnus) are the about same length, often achieved by putting the same number of repetitions of the thematic material in each. For example in the Western Wynde mass, the theme is repeated nine times in each section. As the sections have texts of very different lengths, he uses extended melisma
Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note....
ta in the movements with fewer words.

Several of his other masses use the widespread cantus firmus
Cantus firmus

In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphony composition .The plural of this Latin term is , though one occasionally sees the corrupt form canti firmi....
 technique, where a plainchant melody with long note values is placed in an interior part, often the tenor. Examples of cantus firmus masses include Corona Spinea and Gloria tibi Trinitas. Another technique of composition is seen in his mass Mater Christi, which is based upon material taken from his motet
Motet

In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choir musical compositions.The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum", and the Italian mottetto was also used....
 of that name, and hence known as a "derived" or "parody
Parody

A parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation....
" mass.

The mass Gloria tibi Trinitas gave origin to style of instrumental work known as an In nomine
In Nomine

In Nomine is a title given to any of numerous short pieces of English polyphony instrumental or vocal music during the 16th and 17th centuries....
. Although the mass is in six parts, some more virtuosic sections are in reduced numbers of parts, presumably intended for soloists, a compositional technique used in several of his masses. The section at the words "in nomine..." in the Benedictus is in four parts, with the plainchant in the alto. This section of the mass became popular as an instrumental work for viol consort. Other composers came to write instrumental works modelled on this, and the name In nomine was given to works of this type.

The life of Taverner was the subject of Taverner, an opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 by Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Order of the British Empire , is an English composer and Conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music....
.

Works list


Masses

  1. Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas (6 voices)
  2. Missa Corona Spinea (6 voices)
  3. Missa O Michael (6 voices)
  4. Missa Sancti Wilhelmi (5 voices), sometimes called Small Devotion (possibly a corruption of inscription "S Will Devotio" found in two sources)
  5. Missa Mater Christi (5 voices)
  6. The Mean Mass (5 voices)
  7. The Plainsong Mass (4 voices)
  8. The Western Wynde Mass (4 voices)


Mass fragments

  1. Christeleison (3 voices)
  2. Kyrie Le Roy (4 voices)


Votive antiphons

  1. Ave Dei Patris filia (5 voices)
  2. Gaude plurimum (5 voices)
  3. O splendor gloriae (5 voices)
  4. O Wilhelme, pastor bone (in honour of Cardinal Wolsey)

Office music

  1. Alleluya. Veni electa (4 voices)
  2. Alleluya (4 voices)
  3. Te Deum (5 voices)


Motets

  1. Audivi vocem de caelo (4 voices)
  2. Ave Maria (5 voices)
  3. Dum transisset sabbatum (I) (5 voices, also a 4 voice edition)
  4. Dum transisset sabbatum (II) (4 voices)
  5. Ecce carissimi
  6. Ex ejus tumba - Sospitati dedit aegro
  7. Fac nobis secundum hoc nomen (5 voices)
  8. Fecundata sine viro (3 voices)
  9. Hodie nobis caelorum rex
  10. In pace in idipsum (4 voices)
  11. Jesu spes poenitentibus (3 voices)
  12. Magnificat (4 voices)
  13. Magnificat (5 voices)
  14. Magnificat (6 voices)
  15. Mater Christi (5 voices)
  16. O Christe Jesu pastor bone (5 voices)
  17. Prudens virgo (3 voices)
  18. Sancte deus (5 voices)
  19. Sub tuum presidium (5 voices)
  20. Tam peccatum (3 voices)
  21. Traditur militibus (3 voices)
  22. Virgo pura (3 voices)


Secular works

  1. In trouble and adversity
  2. In women (2 voices)
  3. Quemadmodum (6 voices or recorders)


External links