Robert Carver (composer)
Encyclopedia
Robert Carver was a Scottish
Renaissance
monk
and composer of Christian
sacred music.
He spent much of his life at Scone Abbey
in Perthshire
and is regarded as Scotland's greatest sixteenth-century composer. He is best known for his sacred choral
music, of which there are five surviving masses
and two surviving motet
s. The works that can definitely be attributed to him can be found in the Carver Choirbook, previously known as the Scone Antiphonary, held in the National Library of Scotland
. These include the mass L’homme armé and his motet for 19 voices, O bone Jesu.
His work, noted for the gradual build-up of ideas towards a resolution in the final passages, is still performed and recorded today. Unusually, Carver was influenced by continental Europe
, and his surviving music differs greatly from that produced by many of his contemporaries in Scotland
or England
at the time.
He was the subject of the 1991 radio play Carver
by John Purser
.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
and composer of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
sacred music.
He spent much of his life at Scone Abbey
Scone Palace
Scone Palace is a Category A listed historic house at Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. It was constructed in 1808 for the Earls of Mansfield by William Atkinson...
in Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
and is regarded as Scotland's greatest sixteenth-century composer. He is best known for his sacred choral
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
music, of which there are five surviving masses
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
and two surviving motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology: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...
s. The works that can definitely be attributed to him can be found in the Carver Choirbook, previously known as the Scone Antiphonary, held in the National Library of Scotland
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...
. These include the mass L’homme armé and his motet for 19 voices, O bone Jesu.
His work, noted for the gradual build-up of ideas towards a resolution in the final passages, is still performed and recorded today. Unusually, Carver was influenced by continental Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and his surviving music differs greatly from that produced by many of his contemporaries in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
or England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at the time.
He was the subject of the 1991 radio play Carver
Carver (play)
Carver is a radio drama by the Scottish composer and writer John Purser about the 16th century Scottish composer Robert Carver. It premiered on BBC Radio 3 on 31 March 1991, in a production recorded on 2 December 1990, produced by Stewart Conn and with music by the Taverner Consort conducted by...
by John Purser
John Purser
John Purser, born in 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland, is an eminent composer, musicologist, and music historian. He is also a playwright.He initiated the reconstruction which commenced in 1991 of the Iron Age Deskford Carnyx, producing a replica which was first played in 1993 by trombonist John Kenny.The...
.
External links
- Digitised scores can be viewed through the Five Centuries of Scottish Music collection hosted by AHDS Performing Arts
- Classical.net
- Cappella Nova - The Complete Works of Robert Carver
- James MacMillan interview On his own O Bone Jesu, and Carver's music