These thoughts, expressed by the great Dutch humanist Desiderius
Erasmus, aptly illustrate the growing controversies to which church
music had become subjected by the turn of the sixteenth century. It is
not a flattering account; nevertheless, it arises from music's
ever-increasing penetration into the liturgy of the late-medieval
church. The Salisbury — or the bastardised Latin abbreviation
'Sarum' — Rite in England had matured into a highly complex
ritual with constantly changing rules and regulations; lengthy services
were further augmented with special devotions to particular saints, the
selection of which varied from one parish to another. For the religious
foundations able to maintain a choir, especially where singing men and
boys were trained in
polyphony or 'pricksong', music played a dominant part in the
devotional exercise. Erasmus, however, was no doubt harkening back to
the monastic ideal of silence he had grown accustomed to as a student
in the Augustinian monastery at Steyn. But for the laity, notably those
who were not well versed in scripture, the theatre and music of the
liturgy greatly illuminated their religious experience. These wonderful
mysteries of the Church virtually consumed the lives of the clergy and
laity alike, where true redemption was dependent on the adherence to
superstitious ceremonials and the obedient recitation of private
devotions. © 1993 David Skinner
SOURCES © 1993 Andrew Carwood
AS&V Gaudeamus 133
1994
MISSA CHRISTI VIRGO DILECTISSIMA
with Plainsong Propers for the Feast of the Annuntiation
01 - Introitus. Rorate celi [4:10]
02 - Kyrie. Lux et origo [1:56]
03 - MISSA CHRISTI VIRGO DILECTISSIMA. Gloria [8:13]
04 - Gradualis. Tollite portas [3:08]
05 - Alleluya. Ave Maria [2:13]
06 - Sequencia. Ave mundi spes Maria [3:53]
07 - MISSA CHRISTI VIRGO DILECTISSIMA. Credo [8:51]
08 - Offertorium. Ave Maria [1:56]
09 - MISSA CHRISTI VIRGO DILECTISSIMA. Sanctus · Benedictus
[9:49]
10 - MISSA CHRISTI VIRGO DILECTISSIMA. Agnus Dei [6:57]
12 - Communio. Ecce virgo concipiet [1:20]
11 - DOMINE IHESU CHRISTE [10:04]
13 - Responsorium. Christi virgo dilectissima [4:28]
THE CARDINALL'S MUSICK
Andrew Carwood
Mass
Sopranos: Carys Lane, Rebecca Outram
Altos: David Gould, Michael Lees, Stephen Taylor
Tenors: Philip Cave, Andrew Gant, Tom Phillips, Matthew Vine
Baritones: Robert Evans, Edward Wickham
Basses: Bruce Hamilton, Robert Macdonald, Michael McCarthy
Domine Ihesu Christe
Sopranos: Fiona Clarke, Ruth Dean, Carys Lane
Altos: David Gould, Michael Lees, Stephen Taylor
Tenors: Andrew Gant, Steven Harrold, Tom Phillips, Matthew Vine
Basses: Bruce Hamilton, Robert Macdonald
Plainsong
Tenors: Andrew Gant, Steven Harrold, Tom Phillips, Nicholas Smith
Baritones: Stephen Alder, Andrew Rupp, Edward Wickham
Basses: Jonathon Arnold, Bruce Hamilton, Robert Macdonald, Michael
McCarthy, Adrian Peacock
Producer: David Skinner
Recording Engineer: Martin Haskell
Recorded in All Saint's Church, Petersham
Inside front: St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, (left) from Wyngarde's Panoramic Views of London ( c.1550),
courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum
Front cover painting: "The Annunciation", by Botticelli, courtesy of the Bridgeman Art Library, London
THE WORKS OF NICHOLAS LUDFORD
Volume III
"In college or monastery it is still the same: music, nothing but
music ... money must be raised to buy organs and train boys to squeal.
They have so much of it in England that the monks attend to nothing
else; a set of creatures who ought to be lamenting their sins fancy
they can please God by gurgling in their throats."
Erasmus's criticisms of church music in England could well have been
directed towards services celebrated in Henry VIII's own collegiate
chapel at St Stephen's, Westminster, where Nicholas Ludford was
employed. St Stephen's was indeed an elaborate foundation, and early
sixteenth-century Westminster must have been a most inspiring place to
visit. Despite Erasmus's aversion to church music, he must have been
impressed by the thriving cultural life at the King's royal palace and
the grand ceremonies of his royal chapels. Henry was obsessed with
learning and, unlike his father, enlightened his court with
wide-ranging cultural events and scholarly debate. He surrounded
himself with the finest minds of his time, versed in all facets of art,
literature, theology and music. Henry himself was very musical (a gift
which was shared with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the
Princess Mary) and a somewhat accomplished composer, with no less than
34 extant compositions to his credit. His leading court musicians were
Robert Fayrfax and William Cornysh, both of whom held positions in the
Chapel Royal. Nicholas Ludford's status was far less notable, at least
as far as contemporary references suggest, but in holding so prominent
a position in the royal palace he must have been highly favoured by
Henry.
Although there is certainly no lack of sources for Ludford's music,
very little is known of his personal life. The surname of Ludford
rarely occurs in early Tudor royal household accounts. Entries mainly
pertain to the composer himself while other contemporary documents tell
us of his actions of piety in later life (around 1551 Ludford is known
to have paid one shilling for 'the foote of the tabernacle that stode
in the Trinitye Chapelle' at St Margaret's, Westminster). The fullest
account of Ludford's biography is still that by Hugh Baillie in 1958
(Musical Quarterly, Vol.44, p.196). However, unpublished references to
other Ludfords have been recently uncovered but await thorough
examination. The most significant of these is an entry dated September
1523, where a certain Christina Ludford was paid 15 1/2d. as a
seamstress in the household of the seven year-old Princess Mary for the
'hemming of 44 ells of linen cloth, made into napkins and towels, and
12 napkins of diaper" (1). The fact that two Ludfords were under royal
employment at the same time strongly suggests that they might have been
in some way related, perhaps as husband and wife or brother and sister.
It is also interesting to note that an Elizabeth Ludford, widow, was
awarded 'lands and a watermill in Byrmyngham, parcel of Byrmyngham
manor (2) in June 1542, perhaps another relation of the composer,
although certainly not his wife as it is known that Nicholas lived well
into the 1550s.
The present series of Ludford's collected works continues with his
masses for five voices. Missa Christi virgo dilectissima is
based on the ninth matins respond for the feast of the Annunciation.
The feast is of a lesser rank (minor double), and correspondingly the
music is much lighter in character than his two surviving six-part
masses, both set for the highest ranking liturgical feasts (recorded on
CDGAU 131 and 132). Still evident in this smaller-scaled work, however,
are the sensuous melodies and rich harmonic textures, decorated with
the occasional sprinkle of unauthorised dissonance, so inherent in
Ludford's musical autograph. The respond, Christi virgo dilectissima
[track 13], is stated once in each movement (the Sanctus and Benedictus
are unified with the former being set to the first half of the respond
and the latter appropriating the tune from 'Subveni domina'). The short
head-motif is interestingly similar, albeit harmonically, to that used
in Fayrfax's Mass O bone Ihesu. The languid and haunting chord
progressions are in stark contrast to the bold and intricately arranged
statements normally associated with Ludford's head-motifs.
Domine Ihesu Christe is an unusual work which survives in a
single source dating from the end of Henry's reign. Technically the
work is not devotional, but rather an anguished petition to Christ for
intercession at life's end. The composition is constructed on a grand
scale, divided into four main sections each notated within different
mensurational devices. Most impressive is Ludford's conversant
application of musical drama in setting this extraordinary text, such
as when the imploring cries to Christ ('Te invocamus, te adoramus') are
greeted with a climactic surge at 'tibi gratias'. The literary origin
of Ludford's text is unknown, although portions of it closely resemble
a prayer frequently found in Books of Hours of several Uses as early as
the fifteenth century. According to the rubric, the prayer is
prescribed to be recited 'in the agonie and laste ende of man and woman
labourynge agaynst the dethe.'
(1) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry
VIII, ed. Brewer, Gairdner and Brodie (London, 1862-1910), Vol. 3,
p.1405.
(2) Ibid., Vol.17, p.695.
Polyphony:
Missa Christi virgo dilectissima
Cambridge University Library: Gonville and Caius MS 667, p.18; also in
Peterhouse MSS 471-74, ff 57v, 54v, 65, 52 (lacks Tenor 2).
Domine lhesu Christe
Peterhouse MSS 471-74, if 85v, 78, 94v, 77 (Tenor 2 editorially
supplied).
Plainsong:
Oxford, Christ Church Library,
Graduate secundum morem et consuetudinem preclare ecclesie Sarum
politissimis formulis (ut res ipsa indicat) in alma Parisiorum Academia
impressum (Paris, 1527). Antiphonale ad usum Sarisburiensis
(Paris, 1519).
Music edited by David Skinner, and published by The Cardinall's Musick
Edition, P.O. Box 243, Oxford, ENGLAND
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LADY
Instituted in eighth-century Byzantium, the Annunciation is the
earliest recorded feast of the Virgin; since when its popularity has
grown to make it one of the most frequently represented scenes in art.
Mary is often shown with her face discreetly turned away from Gabriel,
usually with her hands across her bosom, sometimes with a distaff (an
Eastern tradition) weaving the veil of the Temple which will be rent in
twain at the Crucifixion.
St Luke's description (1.26-38) contains more information about Mary
than any other biblical passage. At first she is 'greatly troubled at
the saying'; she asks for explanation ('How shall this be since I have
no husband'); and she accepts ('Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word'). Mary's qualities shine
through her humility, prudence, and obedience.
The date of the Annunciation (nine months before the celebration of the
birth of Christ) has more significance than simply representing the
period of human pregnancy. The 25th of March in the Julian calendar was
the vernal equinox, that is, when day and night are of equal length.
For the medieval mind, eager to find significance and explanations for
divine power in nature, this day became a celebration of creation. For
when God (who is perfect) created the world and first divided day from
night, surely they became two equal halves. This was the day when Adam,
the first man, was formed and therefore appropriately the day of the
conception of the one who will atone for Adam's sin. Conceived on the
spring solstice, the second Adam will be born on the winter solstice
(December 25), as a new light shining in the darkness: Ave virginum
lucerna per quam fulsit lux superna, his quos umbra tenuit (Hail
Mary, light of all virgins, by whom the splendour from on high has
shone on those Death's shadow held in darkness).
As Christ is the new Adam so Mary is the new Eve. Mary's obedience to
the will of God will atone for Eve's disobedience in eating and
persuading Adam to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: Eve harkened
to the serpent, Mary to the Angel: Nova! Nova! Ave fit ex Eva
(News! News! 'Ave' is made from 'Eva').
In the modern calendar, the Annunciation is a feast of Our Lord:
the Salisbury propers, however, emphasise Mary (only the Introit and
the Communion deal with Christ). The feast always falls in Lent or Holy
Week, which, according to liturgical practice, means that the Gloria is
not sung and the Gradual and Alleluia are replaced by a Tract. For the
purposes of this recording, it has been decided to invoke a rule of
transference. When the Annunciation falls during Holy Week, it is
transferred to the week after Easter so that it might not interfere
with the liturgical development of the Passion. In such a case the
Gloria, Gradual, and Alleluia are reinstated and Alleluias are added
top the other propers.