| Contents |
The life of John Taverner -- The sources of Taverner's music -- Some performance issues -- Music and worship, with a catalogue of Taverner's work -- Taverner's musical background -- Taverner's style and technique: Gaude plurimum -- Ave Dei patris filia and O splendor gloriae -- Mater Christi, O Christe Jesu pastore bone and the incomplete antiphons -- The masses Gloria tibi Trinitas, Corona spinea and O Michael -- The masses for five and four voices -- Music for the Office -- The songs, and Quemadmodum. |
| Abstract |
John Taverner was the leading composer of church music under Henry VIII. His contributions to the mass and votive antiphon are varied, distinguished and sometimes innovative; he has left more important settings for the office than any of his predecessors, and even a little secular music survives. This book provides a study of the composer, placing his music in context with the help of biographical information. The author discusses Taverner's place in society and explains how each piece was used in the pre-Reformation church services. The author investigates the musical language of Taverner's predecessors as background for a fresh examination and appraisal of the music in the course of which he traces similarities with the work of younger composers. Issues confronting the performer are considered, and the music is also approached from the listener's point of view, initially through close analytical inspection of the celebrated votive antiphon Gaude plurimum. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-318), discography (pages 319-322), and index. |
| LCCN | 2002034486 |
| ISBN | 0754601420 (alk. paper) |
