Performance Preparation for
THE WESTERN WYNDE MASS
John Taverner
(c.1490-1545)
© Dr. Jeffrey Carter
The performance
A challenge: the Concert Choir at the University of Kansas--60-voice mixed ensemble--auditioned, but primarily undergraduate students who "just want to sing"
Event: three choirs concert featuring music about wind and sky--performance in at First United Methodist Church in Lawrence
Historical context
The 150 years prior to the English Reformation are perhaps the richest period in the history of English church music
Polyphony became a daily feature of worship sung by full choir in cathedrals and monasteries, and increasingly in collegiate churches, college and household chapels
Choirs grew larger and more competent
What evolved is a national style of dramatic tonal contrast and brilliant melodic elaboration, a counterpart to the "perpendicular" style of architecture
Henry VIII on throne
Movement toward a break with Rome
Taverner: biography and history
Born around 1490, probably at Tattershall in Lincolnshire, a little market town on the river Bane
1439: a College was established in town, with music an important part, most likely including a choir school
Taverner received training in singing and composition under John Gygur, Master of the College (1478-1500), and likely also studied clavichord
Oxford 1512--records of payment to him under the name Johannis Tabourner for playing during the week of Epiphany
Left for London, a small walled city, recently grown prosperous through commercial ties to continent
Wealthy citizens poured money into parish churches, which paid them back with extravagant rituals and great ceremony and, eventually, with memorials
Stimulating musical life also included foreign musicians, first from the Low Countries and then from Italy
Tattershall 1525--mentioned as a clerk in the record of a visitation to the College by the Bishop of London
Cardinal College, Oxford established 15 July 1525
November 1526--Taverner accepts invitation to be informator at Cardinal College, the head of the most elaborate musical establishment in all of England (sixty senior canons, forty petty canons, thirteen priests, twelve clerks, sixteen boy choristers, and "very skilled" master)
Became organist of the Chapel of St. Frideswide's, which in 1546 became the Cathedral Church of Christ: responsible for providing music for the liturgy, teaching the boy choristers, leading musical services in the chapel
April 1530--Taverner leaves Oxford, in part because of political and religious controversy and the growing winds of discontent with "Popish"-ness
Eventually returns to Lincolnshire, settling in Boston (Botolph's Town) and marrying Rose, who bears him two daughters, Isabell and Emma
One song which has come down complete is "In Women No Season is Rest or Patience"
1537--member of the Guild of Corpus Christi; later treasurer; most likely enhanced its music with his own compositions; but no documented proof
Involved in political machinations surrounding Henrican dissolution of monasteries, c.1536-1538
After 1540 apparently retired and living quietly in Boston
Dies 25 October 1545
New Grove: "The only respect in which Taverner/s career departed from that of any conventional church musician of his period lies in the way in which he achieved sufficient wealth and esteem to be able eventually to retire from a career in active music, and spend the last years of his life as a respected burgher of his adopted town." (p. 600)
Taverner: musical style
Carefully planned scheme of sections for full or reduced choir
Frequent huge spans of melisma
Hollow scoring for high and low voices
Occasional use of conflicting rhythmic patterns as a climactic device
Often scalic vocal part-writing
Rhythmic tension
Most characteristic habit: developing a selected rhythmic or melodic fragment by means of imitation or canon or as a sequential ostinato within a single voice or pair of voices
Heighway: "Taken as a whole, [Taverner's music] represents the final development of the florid late-medieval English style, coupled with the assimilation of the new aesthetic and technical features which indicate the growing influence of continental thought and practice." (p. 2)
Taverner: Western Wind Mass
Importance
Probably first English Mass based on secular cantus firmus
Tuneful
Clarity and ingenuity of structure
Emulation by Sheppard and Tye--no tradition of linked series of masses in English Renaissance music
Aplin: Famous because of "obsessive dependence upon its secular cantus firmus, which is subjected to a deliberately calculated series of variation techniques." (p. 305)
Date of composition
Josephson argues that it was written while in London in an attempt to attract the attention of Court
Other commentators take no definite position on date, although many mention its advanced design and progressive style and note that it would be even more remarkable if written early in Taverner's life
Phillips: Taverner likely came first because "Taverner was the senior figure both in reputation and in age. . . ; the Taverner setting was placed first in the main source [the Gyffard part-books], followed by the Tye and Sheppard in that order; Taverner at some point gave the . . . melody to every voice but the mean, while Tye gave it only to the mean, suggesting that he was deliberately completing a scheme; Taverner was the most likely figure of the three to experiment with secular melody--neither of the others seems to have written any secular songs--and indeed the most likely to do something as untraditional as use one in a sacred context." (pp. 1-2)
Other notes
Probably purposeful emulation of famed continental mass-settings like Dufay's "L'homme arme"
Cantus firmus of unknown origin, although other melody for similar text exists ("Westron wynde") in British Library
Taverner could have written the melody himself, as he did write many secular songs as well
Tune structure ABB1
Tune in dorian transposed
Melody occurs nine times in each of four movements: 21 statements in the top part (most audible), ten in the tenor, and five in the bass (easily overlooked)
Tune treated as scaffolding for series of variations rather than as a more tradition cantus firmus: only four times is the melody varied (dropping the third and last phrase in one statement in each movement)
Melody is occasionally ornamented, and of course there is musica ficta
Movements also unified through broadly similar changes of scoring and meter
Almost invariably each statement defines a scoring and a type of figuration--over thirty different figurations and counterpoints
Kyrie not set, as was custom in England--text varied from season to season
Credo "Et in Spiritum sanctum" . . . "in remissionem peccatorum" also left out
Methods for teaching
Teach melody from British Library manuscript
Teach melody in mass; underlay unknown
Attempt to put work in place and time--show pictures or video of "perpendicular" architecture; discuss performance practice approach
Establish tonal concept early--pure, spinning tone; connected to breath; flutey and warm but pointed high; at only four voice-parts, lean and easily grasped by ear, so go for clarity
Listen to and compare recordings
Rhythmic precision--linear melodies must work within the vertical design
Muscular energy--final great flowering of the style
Never teach one voice alone--always in pairs
Italianate vowels
Always talk "space, space, space" in the sound, along with "stance, foundation, and clarity"
Communicate decisions about musica ficta
Alternate soloists and full choir--select soloists through audition according to blend and proximity to desired tonal quality; use different soloists in various trio and duet sections
Rehearse facing inward (either collegiate-style or in a diamond) so all parts are clear and heard
Decide on Latin pronunciation (Benham preface to Taverner edition, p. xv)
Conclusion
Aplin: "It is ironic that the best known of Taverner's works is in many respects also his least characteristic." (p. 305)
Josephson: ". . . an audible structure unique in Taverner's music. It is technically accomplished and undeniably attractive. But I find it the least interesting of Taverner's major works, in good part because of its unbalanced choral sonority. Four of the five duos and ten of the twelve trios--a total of fourteen of the seventeen variations for reduced voices--involve the treble voice, whose high register tends in many cases to make it the dominant part.
. . .Changes of meter, skillful fresh counterpoints, and imaginatively varied accompaniments do not mask the rigidity of the scoring scheme.
"The Western Wind Mass can hardly be judged a failure. Each variation is masterly in its own right, part-writing could not be more elegant, and the variety of colorings within the dominant transposed Dorian mode are wonderfully imagined. The pacing of the Mass, from smallest rhythmic detail to its consideration as a four-movement cycle, is beautifully judged. But there remains above all a discrepancy between the material chosen and the structure built upon it." (pp. 141-142)
Available performing edition: Chester JWC 55433, ed. Petti
Early English Church Music editions of Taverner's music
(London: Stainer and Bell)
20: Six-Part Masses
25: Votive Antiphons
30: Ritual Music and Secular Songs
35: Four- and Five-Part Masses
36: Five-Part Masses
Taverner's Oxford Masses:
Gloria Tibi Trinitas, six voices
Corona Spinea, six voices
O Michaell, six voices (parody of antiphon)
Christe Jesu Pastor Bone (also known as Small Devotion),
five voices (parody of antiphon)
Other Taverner Masses:
Mater Christi, five voices
Mean Mass (Missa Sine Nomine), five voices (cf. Sheppard and Tye)
Plainsong, four voices (cf. Sheppard)
Western Wynde, four voices (cf. Sheppard and Tye)
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Taverner, John. Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [CD] Harry Christophers conducts The Sixteen. Hyperion CDA 66507, 1992. CD 1973
Sixteen singers (6+10); rich and spacious acoustic; robust singing; rich, warm tone; choral approach to score; rhythmic solidity, but not much contrast; easy sound to like, but not as flavorful as Tallis
Taverner, John. Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [CD] George Guest conducts St. John's College, Cambridge. Classics for Pleasures CFP CDCFP 465, 1988.
Taverner, John. Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [CD] Peter Phillips conducts The Tallis Scholars. Gimmell CDGIM 027, 1993.
Eight singers (4+4); warm and sympathetic acoustic; clear and pungent singing; brilliant, highly focused tone; soloist approach to score; rhythmic vitality and precision; strong tempo and dynamic contrasts; listener must like this sound in order to appreciate it
Taverner, John. Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [LP] David Willcocks conducts King's College, Cambridge. Argo ZRG 5316, 1962. ST L-1962
Men and boys; highly resonant acoustic; glossy, shining, pristine tone; full choir sings throughout; burnished, flowing rhythmic sense--one is more aware of beautiful sound rather than rhythmic complexities; in comparison to recent CDs, suffers from 35-year-old recording technology; warm and loving performance
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Benham, Hugh. "The Formal Design and Construction of Taverner's Works." In Musica Disciplina, 26. Florence: American Institute of Musicology, 1972. A complex and highly detailed study of organization and formal design in Taverner's works.
Bowers, Roger and Paul Doe. "John Taverner." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 18, ed. Stanley Sadie. New York: MacMillan, 1980.
Hand, Colin. John Taverner: His Life and Music. New York: Da Capo, 1982.
Heighway, John. Booklet accompanying Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [CD] Hyperion CDA 66507, 1992.
Josephson, David. "John Taverner: An English Renaissance Master." American Choral Review 9 (Winter 1967): 6-15. Good short introduction to Taverner's life. Brief mention of several works.
Josephson, David S. John Taverner: Tudor Composer. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1975. Re-written doctoral thesis, published as part of "Studies in Musicology" series. Tremendous bibliography, thoroughly documented. ML410.T186 J7
Messenger, Thomas. "Texture and Form in Taverner's 'Western Wind' Mass." Music Review 33 (August 1972): 167-170. Detailed analysis of this mass without reference to other Taverner settings.
Phillips, Peter. Booklet accompanying Western Wynde (mass) for 4 voices. [CD] Gimmell CDGIM 027, 1993. Concise, well-written and informative.
Taverner, John. John Taverner: Four- and Five-Part Masses. Ed. Hugh Benham. London: Stainer and Bell, 1989. M2.E12 Vol. 35
Review: Aplin, John. In Journal of the Royal Music Association 116 (1991): 304-306.