Music of the Tudor Period
Click here to hear the service music
Crossing the street from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century leads us to reflect on the memory makers of our last stop and to contemplate the complexity of the musical scenery now ahead.
The door closes on the Tudor style of music at the beginning of the seventeenth century. We can see a bit of fabric from the cloak of Orland Gibbons caught in the doorway as it closes. Dunstable (1385-1453) stood at the threshold of the Tudor period. Robert Fayrfax (c. 1464-1521) led the procession followed by John Tavener (c. 1494-1545), John Merbecke (c. 1510-1525), Christopher Tye (1500-1573), Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585), William Byrd (1543-1623) and Thomas Tompkins (1571-1656). Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was the last to pass through the doorway. He was the last great composer of the English Renaissance. Gibbons was a master of rhythm, imitation, and melodic line.
Stained Glass images of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Edward VII from the Monarch of England Series in the Great Hall at Rochdale Town Hall; Found on Geograph; license CC by SA 2.0.
Stained Glass image of Elizabeth I from the Monarch of England Series in the Great Hall at Rochdale Town Hall; Found on Geograph; license CC by SA 2.0.
The Tudor Period (1485-1603) began the great era of English Music. Owen Tudor, a Welsh nobleman, married the widow of Henry V. English monarchs during the Tudor Period were Henry VII (reg. 1485-1509), Henry VIII (reg. 1509-1547), Edward VI (reg.1547-1553), Mary I (reg. 1553-1558) and Elizabeth I (reg. 1558-1603).
Last week we visited Richard Farrant at Windsor. We learned that during his time the Anglican Church was established by Henry VII, breaking ties with Roman Catholicism. Until Elizabeth I's ascendancy, composers were in a period of disorder, skepticism and confusion. Because monasteries, schools and choirs had been disbanded, many musicians were without employment. Those who held positions needed to comply with new rules: no Latin, one syllable per note, no chant.
The principal forms of Anglican Music were the service and the anthem. The service refers to music for the morning and evening offices and the Eucharist. The GREAT SERVICE used five or six voice parts and many notes to a syllable in an imitative style (something like singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in a round). The SHORT SERVICE used chords and was more likely to use one note per syllable. There were two types of anthems. The FULL ANTHEM used chorus throughout. It was possible to perform them unaccompanied. Toward the end of the Tudor Period the VERSE ANTHEM came into vogue. It used one or more soloists with organ or Viol accompaniment with brief passages for full choir. This was perhaps an outgrowth of the carol style blended with new influences from the Continent. It is primarily within these forms the Service and the Anthem that Tudor Composers made their home.
Portrait of Henry Purcell engraved by R. White from the second edition of Orpheus Britannicus, London: William Pearson 1706; found on Wikimedia Commons; license CC by SA 3.0 unported.
Toward the end of the sixteenth century, some composers were traveling to the continent. The souvenirs with which they returned revolutionized English compositional style. The basic new idea was that of solos with accompaniment. In the Old style music, each voice part was important and the music could be sung unaccompanied. In the New Style, the music was incomplete without instruments. Solo writing became florid (intricate or complicated). By the middle 1660's, one could hear anthems in which entire orchestra sections would be heard in response to a choral section. One particular composer writing in this style was Henry Purcell (1659-1695) who was organist at Westminster Abbey. Music of Purcell is represented in today's Prelude and Postlude as well as the special music, "Lord, What is
Man" sung by Mimi Munroe. By the end of Purcell's life, the influences of Italian and French style had taken over. The first opera was performed in Italy in the year 1600. By the middle of the century, opera spread through Italy and beyond to other countries. The dramatic style of opera influenced English composers. The path was laid for such works as the famous G.F. Handel's “Messiah."
