the relationship of high church to the festal prece and psalm

The Relationship of High Church to Festal

Preces and Psalms

An MA thesis as part fulfilment for MA in Music

by Christopher Davies

WXT 4011 Part II Project Submission Christopher Davies 30 September 2013

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DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ………………………………………….. (candidate) Date …………………………………………….. STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed …………………………………………. (candidate) Date ……………………………………………. STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed …………………………………………. (candidate) Date ……………………………………………. NB: Candidates on whose behalf a bar on access has been approved by the University should use the following version of Statement 2: I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by the University. Signed …………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………………………………


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Abstract

A detailed case study of the Easter festal psalms and the associated preces from

Durham cathedral and Peterhouse, Cambridge. Through a brief socio-cultural study,

tracks the concurrent relationship of monarch, clergy, and music. Going on from that,

how the figure of John Cosin brought far-reaching change wherever he went and the

implications this had on his context’s music. In addition, the influence the affiliated

participants in the Durham House group had on each other and what implications this

had for ecclesiastical and secular politics at the time. It discovers the turbulent

relationship Cosin had with some of his colleagues, but also supposes some musical

intentions written by the composers with Cosin in mind.


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Contents Page

Acknowledgements p.5

Introduction p.6

Chapter 1 p.8

Chapter 2 p.24

Chapter 3 p.39

Appendix p.66

Select Bibliography p.69


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Acknowledgements

My thanks and gratitude firstly go to the helpful library staff at Cambridge University

and Durham Cathedral where I went to visit the original Part books. I would also like

to thank the patient Bangor library staff, for their grace in helping me to find books

and scores. To get this far would not have been possible without the dogged

determination of Dr John Cunningham to see me through this and I thank him for his

exceptional advice. I would also like to offers thanks to Fr John Stark for a very

stimulating conversation and reading list and to Jason Smart for his exceptional

repertoire knowledge. Thank you to my fiancée Rebecca for her patience during

reading and writing periods and lastly, thanks to my Parents, without whom this

would not have been possible.


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INTRODUCTION

This thesis seeks to identify the relationship of High Church to the Festal preces and

psalm through a case study of the Easter music compositions found in Durham

Cathedral and Peterhouse, Cambridge by William Smith and Henry Palmer. William

Smith was a Durham Cathedral Chapter member, organist and composer. Henry

Palmer, was a Durham based singer, organist, sometime director of the cathedral

choir, copyist and occasional composer. John Cosin, prebendary of Durham

Cathedral, later became Master of Peterhouse Cambridge and Vice-Chancellor of the

University before having his status and titles revoked during the turbulent 1640's.

The High Church movement sustained and reinforced the composition and performance of sacred music at a time when the steady growth of Puritanism might have curtailed it.1

However, why these minor composers, in the Durham context, and why Easter

music? The Durham partbooks from this time are the most complete set now in

existence. Although there are additional compositions from Chapel Royal origins

these only now exist in part. For example, the Adrian Batten Easter festal psalm is

only evidenced through a Bass part book. However, it is this Easter music which

Cosin has requested more of at Peterhouse and so along with the complete liturgical

year from Durham, Palmer writes his festal preces and psalm.

Cosin was heavily influenced by the thoughts of William Laud, Archbishop of

Canterbury from 1633-1641. Graham Parry in his monograph of this period,

assesses the rise of Laudianism, and describes the expansion and elaboration of

church interiors and liturgy and the music, which develops with this movement.

In terms of existing literature about the festal preces and psalms there is very

little. The most comprehensive is a thesis by Simon John Anderson; second to that is

1 G. Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.157.


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John Cannell’s edition of Smith’s works; and most historically Brian Crosby’s thesis

for his detail historical survey. Cannell in his introduction certainly gave further this

assistance to these investigations.

Not having a background in editorial musicology it did not seem

appropriate produce my own editions alongside this work. Regradless of the

fact the Canell is a critical edition of the Smith and the Anderson thesis a

reliable source for the Palmer. Where musical examples appear they are either

a transcription or a copy of these musical sources. Chapter 1 is a brief overview

of the historical background of the period detailing key factors and figures up

until the revival of English church music, in the Restoration period. The specific

contextual analysis in Chapter 2 serves to build and pull out from chapter 1, the

High Church institutions, and influential clergy involved in the creation of the

festal prece and psalm repertoire. This then moves onto a detailed reading of

the set works in Chapter 3, which seeks to reach conclusions for the research

question.


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Chapter 1

Introduction

This thesis seeks to explain the intrinsic relationship of clergy and liturgy to the Festal

preces and psalm in the first half of the Seventeenth Century. There are several key

factors, which cause the existence of the music in certain institutions, and so this

thesis seeks to identify key figures and possible reasons for this. Festal preces and

psalms as a genre, starts from the post-reformation in compositions by Byrd, and are

distributed, and added to, particularly in Durham, where, by c.1630, there is a full

liturgical year of compositions. These compositions were written to be sung on

principal feast days in the revised calendar of observance designed by Thomas

Cranmer in his Prayer Books of 1549 onwards. These feast days included Christmas

and Easter but also Ascension, All Saints Day and Epiphany. The works open with a

strong contrast to the norm, which was spoken or chanted text, with the opening

responses set in harmony. These opening responses are widely sung today to begin

worship in places with choral offices, without the realisation that day to day services

and Sundays in “Ordinary” time would not have included the festal preces repertoire.

Following the preces, the choir then break into an extended form of psalm setting

which later developed into the now more widely known, verse and/or full anthem.

Most typically, the psalm settings were sung antiphonally between one side of the

choir and the other.

Festal music is to be in contrast with Feria music. Feria comes from a Latin root

and means a weekday on which no feast is celebrated. Festal is also of Latin

derivation, meaning literally festival day and includes Sundays. However, the

significance of Sunday week by week is down played with Thomas Cranmer

stipulating, in his 42 articles of religion, that communion should be administered at


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least 3 times a year, Christmas, Easter, and Trinity Sunday. However, this to a

degree became the maximum rather minimum celebration, particularly in a Parish

church context.

Arminian in its English form and usage at this time, like many nomenclatures

throughout history, was intended as an insult. When they are applied to minority

groups, it becomes the name by which they are known. The term Arminian was used

by Puritanical (also an insult in its origin) and more Calvinistic learned men and

clergy as a means for easy identification and not as a means of describing an actual

inscription to Arminian dogma and theology.

High Church is in many respects a modern term coming after the Catholic

Revival and Oxford Movement in the mid-1800s. It is still used today to describe a

method of expressing faith, liturgy, and worship, which allies itself closely to the

Roman Catholic church. However, I am applying this term to describe the church

practices of William Laud, John Cosin and others. Applying this term retrospectively

to churchmen in the pre-Restoration period is common as Graham Parry also makes

this his point of reference for the modern reader, as the practices are not dissimilar in

our age to that of the pre-Restoration church.

These factors can be collected together and collectively known as High Church;

so to understand High Church, the whole church from this period must be placed in

some context. The massive liturgical developments of the period are reflected in the

rapid changes in music used for worship, and the repertoire is constantly added to

during the short 90-year period between the break with Rome and the Civil War, so

background information about the composers and also information about the musical

environment for which they composed is required.


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This chapter will describe the socio-cultural history of the Tudor and Stuart

periods of ecclesiastical politics, briefly describing from the time of the establishment

of the Church of England to just before the time of the Civil War, c.1534 - c.1640. The

reason for starting relatively early is this; the reforms made to liturgy and to the

design and pattern of service, are integral in understanding how the genre of festal

preces and psalm settings comes into being. The Palmer setting of Psalm 118 and

the transfer of the Smith settings of Psalm 85 and Psalm 111, date from the pre- Civil

war period, c1625-1640. In addition, what it is necessary to highlight in this brief

survey is that certain aspects receive slightly more discussion than others and please

refer to the end notes to gain a fuller picture of the events discussed below. As the

origins of this genre are from Chapel Royal contexts, the relationship of monarchical

church governance, the relevant Archbishops and monarchs own specific treatment

of the Chapel, is raised here and given more detail in chapter 2. Also weaved into

this account, at certain points, are brief summaries of the music at a certain times.

A socio-cultural context for the festal preces and psalm

Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the church in Western Europe was

going through a period of religious turmoil. In 1517, Martin Luther (1483-1556), a

Catholic monk, pinned a list of grievances on the door of All Saints Church,

Wittenburg, Saxony, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation.3 and thus beginning

the Protestant Reformation.1 Luther, and other reformers such as John Calvin (1509-

1564), and John Wycliffe (c.1320-1384), wished to have the services conducted and

1 C. Methuen, Luther and Calvin: Religious Revolutionaries, Oxford, 2011 pp.19-29

http://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=bd2bcbdfa4&view=att&th=1416a67c6df0a3d8&attid=0.2&disp=vah&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_kAZULLAQvZcVS7WCykxTZ&sadet=1380486267943&sads=-4GIz4D2wTEOr_BD4u9DYy97RqI#0.2_footnote3


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the Bible read in the vernacular rather than Latin, and the liturgy delivered in a

simple, easily understood manner.2

In England, there were theologians and scholars working on biblical

translations, such as John Wycliffe (1320-1384) in Oxford, who preceded the

Protestant reformation and William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale who were

contemporaneous to Henry VIII, but the move to reform the English church had a

different catalyst. This was due to Henry VIII’s desire to marry Anne Boleyn and

Thomas Cromwell, secretary to Henry VIII, failing to persuade Pope Clement VII to

grant Henry a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. One of the results of the ‘break with

Rome’, which directly affected music and liturgy in all churches and cathedrals in

England, was the need to have services in a language ‘understanded by the people’.3

The break with Rome and the establishment of the Church of England created an

organisation whose overriding governance came from the reigning monarch. Thomas

Cromwell became ‘vicegerent in spirituals’ and ‘vicar general’ to Henry VIII and was a

prominent supporter of the Great Bible, translated by William Tyndale and Myles

Coverdale. All churches were required to have a copy of this Bible and have it read

out in services.4

The Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, the King’s own chapel, became the centre

and standard, which all were expected to follow for liturgy and music in the realm.

Composers such as Thomas Tallis, although composers continued to compose

Masses and set Latin texts, composed in a reformed style under Henry. With the

2 Anne Hudson, Anthony Kenny, ‘Wyclif , John (d.1384)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30122, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 3 Book of Common Prayer Article XXIV, Cambridge, p. 4 B C. Pardue, Printing, power and piety: appeals to the public during the early years of the English Reformation, Leiden, 2012. p.183


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dissolution of the monasteries (1536 – 1541), England lost its Benedictine

connections and monastic lifestyle from its cathedrals. This changed both the prayer

life and the musical provision in these institutions with a move to increased

involvement of lay musicians, as opposed to the obliged ordained clergy and

formalised life style of religious people. Milsom rightly describes ‘during Edward VI’s

reign composers were required to set English texts in a sober, declamatory manner

that ensured intelligible delivery of the words.’5 Word setting became more

homophonic and was required to be syllabic rather than use florid, melismatic

polyphony. The expectation was that when music was included in services, it should

be from a biblical text, in English with audible words.6

On Edward VI’s accession to the throne in 1547, the practice and ordering of

Churches took a harder, Protestant style, under the direction of the Duke of

Somerset, Edward’s regent. Parish churches and cathedrals removed their altars and

replaced them with simple tables, stained glass was removed, and walls were lime-

washed. However, the Chapel Royal continued in all its medieval splendour.7

In 1549, during the reign of Edward VI, the first Book of Common Prayer in

English was published; it was devised mainly by Thomas Cranmer, then Archbishop

of Canterbury. The services were trialled in the Chapel Royal during the autumn of

1548.8 In the new prayer book, Morning Prayer or Matins was drawn from the

monastic offices of Matins and Lauds. Evening Prayer was drawn from the offices of

Vespers and Compline. The preces were different from the Catholic offices and were

5 J. Milsom, English Polyphonic Style in Transition: A Study of the Sacred Music of Thomas Tallis, PhD Thesis, Oxford, 1983. p.6 also see Le Huray 6 Hugh Benham. ‘Latin church music in England, c. 1460-1575’ p164 7 http://www.chapelroyal.org/tudor.html 8 Ed. B. Cummings The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662, Oxford, 2011 p.lxx

http://www.chapelroyal.org/tudor.html


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repeated at Morning and Evening Prayer whereas in the Catholic services, the

responses differ for morning and evening offices.9 There was also a focus on the

canticles used: the Benedictus, Jubliate and Te Deum at Morning Prayer in ordinary

time and the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis at Evening Prayer.10 The Prayer Book was

reprinted in 1552 and this new edition included a number of rubrics and propers

which were more Calvinistic through things such as the banning of vestments, and

the removal of the signing of the cross at baptism.11. It included a lectionary, setting

out which Bible passages were to be read at each service and which Psalms were to

be said. However, it did not include a Psalter, just the Psalm based canticles, which

were used in services: Psalm 95, the Venite, and Psalm 100, the Jubilate, for

Morning Prayer. These were from the Myles Coverdale Psalter, the translations in the

Great Bible.12

During Edward VI’s reign, cathedral choral singing declined. Many choirs

became men only and the choirs of King’s College, Cambridge and New College,

Oxford were disbanded and the Chapel Royal choir was diminished. 13Mary I,

however, showed extensive support towards church music unlike her younger half-

brother. Large choirs including trebles, word setting in Latin and melismatic

polyphony were once again acceptable and encouraged.14 Although this restoration

was short lived as once Elizabeth I became queen, the Prayer Book in English and

English liturgy were restored. Elizabeth shared her father’s love of music and

9 See a Roman Breviary 10 F Procter; W H Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, London, 1965 p.27 11Ed. B. Cummings The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662 p.709 and p.721 12 Ibib p.xv 13 R. Bowers ‘Music and Worship to 1640’ in A History of Lincoln Minster Ed. D. Owen, Cambridge 1994 p.63 14 J Harley, William Bryd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Aldershot, 1997, pp.19-25


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encouraged the musical development of the Chapel Royal, extended roles of

Thomas Tallis and William Byrd as organists after John Sheppard’s death in 1558.15

During the political and religious stability of the lengthy reign of Elizabeth, there

was an expectation that all churches and cathedrals would conduct services

according to the Book of Common Prayer, and all priests would follow a similar

standard of dress and behaviour.16 However, not all clergy conformed strictly to

expectations, which then escalated and caused difficulties when James I acceded to

the throne. Strong ties were developed between the monarch and some church

leaders, such as John Whitgift. Whitgift was archbishop from 1583; he shared

Elizabeth’s dislike of puritanism, and enforced her policy of religious uniformity.17

However, not all church leaders enjoyed Elizabeth’s approval. Whitgift’s predecessor,

Edmund Grindal, was placed under house arrest after his disagreement with the

queen over prophesyings.18

Following Henry VIII’s reign, music developed in complexity and now had more

freedom of expression. William Byrd and Thomas Tallis received the royal patent to

print music in England in 1575.19 The availability of printed music to an educated,

musically literati meant that music could be performed and enjoyed by increasingly

wider audience. However, this development mainly affected secular music and had

limited impact on sacred music; the reproduction of most cathedral music was still by

15 ibid, pp.24-25 16 Following the hastily enacted ‘Act of Uniformity’ in 1559. Ed. B. Cummings The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662, Oxford, 2011, pp.721-723 17 W. J. Sheils, ‘Whitgift, John (1530/31?–1604)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29311, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 18 P.Collinson, ‘Grindal, Edmund (1516x20–1583)’,Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11644, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 19 J Harley, William Bryd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Aldershot, 1997, p.55


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copyists.20 Vocal music demonstrated more word painting, this was demonstrated in

some anthems, for example, Civitas Sancta Tui by William Byrd.21

Figure 1 Byrd's falling motif

The falling melodic motif reflecting the sorrow over the fall of the heavenly Jerusalem,

(the ‘break with Rome’?), ‘Jerusalem desolata est’Jerusalem is desolate. Similar

ideas and sentiments were not reflected so strongly in their festal Psalm settings.

James I acceded to the English throne after the death of his aunt, Queen

Elizabeth in 1603. James came from a Protestant background and Puritans thought

he would be sympathetic to their views. The 1603 Millenary Petition, reputed to have

been signed by over one thousand English clergy professing their loyalty to the king,

requested the introduction of puritan style reforms to services, including an emphasis

on preaching, and objecting to popish practices such as the wearing of vestments

and bowing during the liturgy.22 James made a decisive response and set up the

Hampton Court Conference, which met in 1604. The conference was attended by

20 ibid 21 ed. E. H. Fellowes, William Byrd, Civitas sancti tui (Bow thine ear, O Lord), Oxford, Oxford

University Press 1969

22 B. Coward, The Stuart Age 1603-1714, London, 2003, p.130


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Archbishop Whitgift, moderate puritans and eight bishops. Issues relating to baptism,

stricter observance of the Sabbath, excommunication and church discipline were

agreed upon and a new translation of the Bible was commissioned, which became

the Authorised Version, completed in 1611. John Reynolds, president of Corpus

Christi College, Oxford, was one of the Puritan representatives. He angered James

when he used the term ‘presbytery’ and the principal outcomes of the conference

were not as the puritans had initially hoped. James said he would have “one doctrine

and one discipline, one religion in substance and in ceremony…no bishop, no king.”

23 Most clergy were happy with the outcome of the conference but Puritans who were

more radical were disappointed as they were now expected to dress correctly and

conform to the services in the Book of Common Prayer.24 The conference led to

ninety clergy being suspended from their livings. Nicholas Tyacke writes:

at Hampton Court, anti-Calvinism received, for the first time, an airing at national level…even more important, the Hampton Court Conference was the last time when pre-destinarian controversy was handled by English religious leaders, in an atmosphere largely free from continental influences. 25

James banned religious petitions and showed his support for the Episcopalian

system. He was happy with the English church system of governance, as he

perceived that the bishops would be more sympathetic to the monarch. Andrew

Foster describes the court in these damning terms. ‘Put bluntly, “the court of James I

was a court of sponges”’.26 In Scotland, James attempted to reintroduce a similar

system of Episcopal church governance, but this failed and the Scottish church

continued to develop a Presbyterian system with ministers and elders, and no

23 G. Davies, The Early Stuarts 1603-1660, Oxford, 1967, p.70 quoting James I 24 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Hampton_Court_Conference.htm, accessed 19 Aug 2013 25 N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: The rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640, Oxford, 1987. p.9 26 A. Foster, ‘The Church of England 1579-1640’, Seminar Studies in History, New York, 1994. p.26


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bishops.27 After the Catholic Gunpowder Plot in 1605, England introduced anti-

Catholic legislation and an Oath of Allegiance was introduced in 1606 but this was

not harshly enforced.28

James’s first appointment of Archbishop of Canterbury was Richard Bancroft

(1544-1610, Archbishop,1604-1610), was outspoken in his condemnation of

puritanism.29 James and Bancroft were sympathetic to High Church ideals, with its

emphasis on fine church music, appealing liturgy, and ornate church furnishings.

However, his successor, George Abbot, who was Archbishop 1611 - 1633, was a

‘sincere but narrow minded Calvinist’ who was more sympathetic to Puritan ideals

and outspoken in condemning Arminians, although he was also condemnatory of the

worst excesses of Puritanism.30

The High churchmen were derogated as Arminian. Arminianism as a school of

thought and theological understanding was started by the Dutch theologian Jacobus

Arminius (1560-1609). From about 1590, Arminianism began to develop its influence

in England in an academic setting, and thus became part of an anti-Calvinist

dialogue.31 However, the pure polemical arguments presented by Arminiains do not

take hold in the reformed but not Protestant, Church of England.32

27 Ibid.p.18 For a more detailed account on James and the Scottish church see W. B. Patterson, King James VI and I and the reunion of Christendom, Cambridge, 1997. p.1-30 28 N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: The rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640, Oxford, 1987. p.27 29 Nicholas W. S. Cranfield, ‘Bancroft, Richard (bap.1544, d. 1610)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1272, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 30 P. Dixon, ‘Ashwell, George (1612–1694)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/788, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 31 N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: The rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640, Oxford, 1987, pp.35-36. 32 For further information see: N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: The rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640 Oxford, 1987.


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In parish churches, throughout James’ reign, services were simple musically.

Psalms included as part of the liturgy were generally spoken, metrical psalms being

used as hymns after the liturgical part of the service was completed. However, in the

Chapel Royal, with Orlando Gibbons as Chapel Royal organist, more elaborate

service settings were composed to accompany the extended liturgies and ceremonial

practices, which exemplified the king’s religious and musical tastes. This practice

was followed other select institutions, such as Durham Cathedral with Richard

Hutchinson (c.1590-1646) as organist.33 Graham Parry, in his book Glory, Laud and

Honour, describes the Chapel Royal choir of this time as “the best trained choir in the

land.”34 Parry goes on to summarise thus:

The tradition of choral music in the cathedrals and greater churches of England had been maintained throughout Elizabeth’s reign, and made more rich and wonderful by the compositions of Thomas Tallis, Thomas Morley, William Byrd and their fellows. This tradition was extended and enlarged in the later years of King James… as the greater emphasis on the liturgical content of services called for a fuller musical accompaniment. 35

After James’s death in 1625, his second son, Charles, ascended to the throne.

He had a turbulent reign with much political and national unrest, which culminated in

the English Civil War 1642 – 1648 and his subsequent regicide in 1649. Although

there were political and financial reasons for the Civil War, religious unease was also

a factor, particularly Charles’s marriage to Henrietta Maria, a French Catholic

princess, which led to resentment amongst the growing numbers of puritan and non-

conformist sympathisers.36 Charles continued his father’s religious observances and

maintained High Church practices, as he showed in his appointment of the High

33 B. Crosby, The Choral Foundation of Durham Cathedral vol.1, PhD Thesis, Durham, 1993, p.155 34 G. Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.158 35. G. Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.157. 36 B. Coward, The Stuart Age 1603-1714, London, 2003 p.176


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Churchmen; William Laud, 1626 - 1633, William Juxon, 1633 – 1636, and Matthew

Wren 1636 – 1641, as Deans of the Chapel Royal. These men supported the use of

formal and sacramental liturgical practices.37

George Abbot was Archbishop of Canterbury from the beginning of Charles’s

reign until 1633; however, he lived in semi-retirement from 1627, which meant that

William Laud, then Bishop of London, was able to gain political influence before his

formal appointment as Archbishop in 1633.38 Laud had been a royal chaplain since

November 1611 and was also member of the Durham House group.39

The Durham House group was a group of anti-Calvinist, High Churchmen who

met in Durham House, the London residence of the Richard Neile, Bishop of

Durham. The group included Neile, Laud, John Cosin, later, canon of Durham

cathedral and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Richard Mountague, Bishop of

Norwich. The group holds particular significance because it includes some of the

most dominant religious leaders of the time who were able to use their influence to

shape the development of church liturgical and ceremonial practices.40 The services

in the Chapel Royal under William Laud have been described as “decorous,

ceremonious, and musically rich.”41

Following the recall of parliament, in April 1640 William Laud was condemned

by puritanical parliamentarians for the introduction of popish ceremonies to the

37 P.Le Huray, Music and the reformation in England 1549-1660, Cambridge, 1978, p.58-9. 38 Stephen K. Roberts, ‘Abbott, George (1604–1649)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 39 ibid 40 A. Foster, ‘Durham House group (act. 1617–1630)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/72182, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 41 G. Parry The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.159


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Church of England.42 Laud advised the king to dissolve parliament after only sitting

for three weeks. Laud became increasingly unpopular; as he was associated with the

king’s hated policies. As the hatred grew, a mob laid siege to Laud’s residence;

Lambeth Palace.43 In November 1640, Laud called for another parliament, which

would go on to be called the Long Parliament. On 18 December 1640, Laud was

impeached for high treason.

The charges were brought with this denouncement from the MP Harbottle

Grimston:

the roote and ground of all our miseries and calamities...look upon him as he is in his

highness, and he is the very sty of all pestilential filth, that hath infected the State and

Government of this Commonwealth.44

The charges against Laud included allegations that he: endeavoured to set up

an arbitrary government and subvert the Fundamental Laws of England; sought to

alter the true religion and usurping papal powers, of working to reconcile England

and her Church, to the Church of Rome, of persecuting Puritan preachers, of creating

division with Protestant churches abroad, … and of alienating the king from his

subjects.45

Laud was then imprisoned in the Tower of London in February 1641 and was

pardoned by Charles in 1644 but this did not save him. His trial was not conducted

fairly, Milton describes it as a “travesty of justice” and it was not possible to convict

42 N Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: the rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640, Oxford, 1987, pp.236-237 43 ibid p.237 44 C. Russell, The Fall of the British Monarchies 1637-1642, Oxford, 1991 p.182 45 A. Milton, ‘Laud, William (1573–1645)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16112, accessed 28 Sept 2013]. For a fuller account of this of this whole affair, see, N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists: the rise of English Arminianism c.1590-1640, Oxford, 1987, pp.236-247


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him at his trial, so parliament passed a Bill of Attainder on 4 January 1645. Laud was

executed on Tower Hill on 10 January 1645.46

One of the people to give evidence against Laud at his trial was the Prebendary

at Durham Cathedral, Peter Smart.47 He became master of Durham Grammar School

in 1598 and Prebendary of the Durham Cathedral in 1609. Smart was in Durham

Cathedral when James I visited in Easter 1617 and by royal instruction there was no

chanting or organ playing. However, in 1628 Smart preached against the canon of

Durham, John Cosin’s High Church practices within the cathedral, and objected to

Richard Neile’s introduction of ceremonial changes at Durham Cathedral after Neile

became Bishop of Durham. Following his sermon, Smart was accused of preaching a

seditious sermon and ordered to appear before the York High Commission and was

fined £1000 by the church court, then he refused to pay, and imprisoned for twelve

years. After his release in 1640, he gave evidence at the trial of John Cosin in

1641.48

To return to the south of England and the Chapel Royal, Master of the

Choristers and Organists during Laud’s time of as Dean of Chapel Royal were

Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Tomkins. With Tomkins a path maybe created from

Caroline practice to the Restoration of the Monarchy. Thomas Tomkins served as

organist at the Chapel Royal from 1621 and upon the death of Orlando Gibbons in

1627 was largely responsible for the coronation music for Charles I.49 He is largely

remembered from verse anthems and a fine prece setting which has festal psalm

46 ibid 47 For more on this whole saga see B. Crosby, The Choral foundation of Durham Cathedral, c.1350-c.1650 PhD Thesis, Durham, 1993 pp 167-184 48 A. Milton, ‘Cosin, John (1595–1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6372, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 49 P.Le Huray, Music and the Reformation in England 1549-1660, Cambridge,


~ 22 ~

associated with it,but alas it is for Christmas and lays outside of the Easter day

celebrations addressed in this thesis. Tomkins retired to Worcester and assisted with

the music at the Cathedral. After the city surrendered to the Parliamentarians in

1646, the Cathedral choral music, and organ playing ceased, leaving Tomkins bereft

of his life long passion.

The plight of the music provision in Worcester was not isolated. Under the

governance of Oliver Cromwell, the Laudian musical excesses were stopped and

parish and cathedral choirs were disbanded. The playing of musical instruments

including organs in churches was considered profane. Like Edward VI, Cromwell

destroyed not only the musical excellence and tradition, which had built up over the

previous ninety years, but unlike Edward also destroyed the art and architecture of

parish churches, college chapels, and cathedrals with the ransacking of religious

buildings, which occurred during the Civil War.50

Choral and instrumental music was reinstated in churches and cathedrals after

the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Matthew Locke, a prolific composer51

and Henry Cooke, master of the children of the chapel royal,52 composed the

music for Charles II coronation in 1661. Under Henry Cooke, English

composers such as John Blow, who was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal

50 Parry for his book has sought out the few serving church interiors from the Laudian era and form an interest series of prints in the book. G. Parry The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 pp.170-171 51 R. Thompson, ‘Locke, Matthew (c.1622–1677)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16888, accessed 28 Sept 2013] Thompson also notes that in Roger North’s book on the period holds Locke in high standing 52 J. Harley, ‘Cooke, Henry (d. 1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6167, accessed 28 Sept 2013]


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and later Henry Purcell, Gentleman, Composer, and Organist of the Chapel

Royal, were trained and music was quickly raised beyond its former standing.

To conclude this brief survey of English history, the endeavour has been to

create a narrative, which has a direct, causal relationship with the works discussed

later. The most important event is, of course, the Reformation but the fluctuating

relationship of the English monarchy with the church from Henry to Charles also

needs to be considered and how this led to friction and controversy in the

development of liturgy, music and worship practice. Music was reformed to follow the

fancy and whim of church hierarchy or monarchy of the day, as has been

demonstrated with the dissolving of choirs at Kings under the reign of Edward VI and

then the rebuilding and expansion of musical repertoire under Elizabeth I. However,

what is most important is the liturgical implications of changes and what this has

meant at certain times and in particular places. As this thesis proceeds there will be a

development and an expansion of some of the ideas and concepts described above.


~ 24 ~

Chapter 2

The Festal Prece and Psalm is not only wedded to its function in the liturgy, but they

are also wedded to certain institutions; from their inception at the Chapel Royal, to

their copying into the Durham part books and the later the partbooks for Peterhouse,

Cambridge. Below are short descriptions, which provide the institutional context and

give some more information about the institutions for which the music was

composed. Also, there is some detailed biographical information about the individuals

involved in the creation of the festal preces and psalms discussed in this thesis: John

Cosin, Richard Neile, Richard Hunt, Orlando Gibbons, William Smith, Henry Palmer

and the geographical contexts of Durham Cathedral, Chapel Royal and Peterhouse,

Cambridge.

Institutional Background

Cambridge, as a university, dates from the thirteenth century and Peterhouse was

founded in 1284 by Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Following the growth in the

institution, and increased development in enlightened thoughts from the continent,

wide-ranging religious ideas from throughout Europe were introduced and discussed.

New ideas such as Lutheranism were discussed in Cambridge in the 1520s. was

discussed in Cambridge in the 1520s.1 This influenced to Thomas Cranmer, later to

be Henry VIII’s Archbishop of Canterbury, a student at Jesus College, in the reforms

he made to Anglican liturgy. In 1536, the university was ordered by Henry VIII to

disband its Faculty of Canon Law and stop teaching “scholastic philosophy”2, during

the ‘dissolution of the Monasteries’. During the reigns of James I and Charles I, the

religious practices at the university diversified. Although some colleges, such as

1 E. S. Leedham-Green A Concise History of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, p.43-44 2 H.Helmholtz Roman Canon Law in Reformation England, Cambridge, 2004, pg 35.


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Peterhouse and St John’s, developed their chapel worship and practices along

Laudian and High Church lines, Puritan teaching was strong at Emmanuel, St

Catherine’s Hall, Sidney Sussex, and Christ’s College. Oliver Cromwell was an

alumni of Sidney Sussex.

Before the time of John Cosin, Peterhouse was not known as a strong choral

establishment as it just supported eight poor scholars as the main part of the choir3

Ian Payne has observed in his thesis, that by statute from 1630 scholars are

appointed not only because of their financial circumstances but also because of their

musical ability.4 These teenage choristers are drawn from a variety of Cathedral cities

and several had sung previously in cathedral choirs as trebles. Peterhouse did not

have a school for children attached to it, unlike some other colleges such as King’s,

so Payne remains unclear about how trebles were recruited to the choir.5 It is

possible they had arrangements with schools in Cambridge. Payne describes thus:

… the part books contain a wide variety of music – some of it technically demanding – of which only small proportion is scored for four-part choir. … it seems reasonable to assume that the ambitious nature of much of this music suggests that the numbers and standards of the choral personnel were adequate to sing it.6

John Cosin introduced to the newly completed college chapel; “a glorious new altar…

mounted on steps, to which the Master, fellowes , schollers bowed… [and] there

were basons, candlestickes, tapers standing on it, and a great crucifix hanging over

it.”7

Durham Cathedral

3 I. Payne, The Provision and Practice of Sacred Music at Cambridge College and Selled Cathedral, c.1547- c.1646, London, 1993, p.96 4 ibid 5 ibid p.98 6 ibid pp.99-100. 7 J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.xi.


~ 26 ~

Durham Cathedral was founded in 1093 to house the shrine of St Cuthbert of

Lindisfarne. The shrine was destroyed under the orders of Henry VIII in 1538. It was

a Benedictine foundation but the last prior, Hugh Whitehead, became dean in 1540

after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and Durham, with eleven other cathedrals

became ‘Cathedrals of the new foundation’.8 In 1590 ‘The Rites of Durham’, an

anonymous book describing the building, history and worship at the cathedral,

records that the cathedral had three organs. The largest was only used at ‘principal

feasts’.9 The second was on the north side of the quire and was used on the feast

days of St Augustine, St Ambrose, St Gregory and St Jerome. The third organ was

used daily at ordinary services. Between 1600 and 1650 music and liturgical

practices changed significantly at the cathedral. Elaborate five-part service settings

sung by the choir alone were used in preference to metrical psalms, which were sung

by the congregation. This change was controversial and led to court cases, fines and

imprisonment in the dispute between John Cosin and Peter Smart, both Canons at

Durham. In 1650, during the Civil War, the cathedral was closed for worship and

used to house three thousand Scottish prisoners. When John Cosin returned to

Durham as bishop in 1660, he refurbished the cathedral including the gothic font

cover and reintroduced choral services.

Chapel Royal

The Chapel Royal has existed since the late thirteenth century. A group of clergy and

choir travelled with the monarch and attended to their spiritual needs, as opposed to

care for and exercise their ministry in a specific church building or royal castle. Until

Charles I’s time, the boys in the choir ‘The Children of the Chapel Royal’ could also

be called upon to act in court plays. As well as the Chapel in Hampton Court, in the

seventeenth century the Chapel Royal had a building of its own in Whitehall Palace,

8 K. R. Long, The Music of the English Church, London, 1972, p.26 9 B. Crosby, The Choral Foundation of Durham Cathedral, c.1350-c.1650, PhD Thsis Durham, pp.157-160.


~ 27 ~

however, this burnt down in 1698 and was replaced, in 1702, by the Chapel Royal in

St James’s Palace.10 In a concise fashion the Chapel Royal’s own history pages,

describe the musical life of the organisation.

The musical tradition of the Chapel Royal and the great Cathedrals exercised a conservative and restraining influence on the course of the English Reformation, which was without parallel on the Continent of Europe, and goes far to explain the dual character of the Church of England as Catholic, and reformed.11

Edward VI ordered that churches have their ornaments and stained glass removed:

however, both glass and ornamentation remained at the Hampton Court Chapel

where he regularly worshipped.12 This behaviour was mirrored in Oliver Cromwell,

when his daughter was married in the Chapel Royal according the Book of Common

Prayer service, which was illegal at the time.13

Royal chaplains and musicians had some freedom which many of their fellow priests

and musicians did not enjoy – however, royal opinions were voiced and according to

Anthony Wood, the seventeenth century historian, Christopher Tye, was apparently

told by Queen Elizabeth I that his music was ‘but little of delight to the ear’. Lancelot

Andrewes, queen’s chaplain and prebendary of Southwell from 1589 - 1609, did not

receive promotion until James VI acceded to the throne because he was too

outspoken in his sermons.14 On at least three occasions each year there were

services which were attended by the whole court. During Elizabeth I’s reign, these

were services with solemn processions, vestments, and ceremony. These events

upset many Puritans both laity and clergy and formed part of the formal complaints to

10 D Baldwin, The Chapel Royal: ancient and modern, London, 1990, p.291, 441. 11 http://www.chapelroyal.org/baroque.html 12 David Starkey in a recent mini-series on the relationship of monarch and music suggested that this was because of the reverence Edward had for his father. He did not want to destroy the chapel, which his father had built. D. Starkey & K. Greening Music and Monarchy, London, 2013 pp.17-20 13 D. Baldwin, The Chapel Royal: Ancient and Modern, London, 1990, p.188 14 Walter Frere, ‘Lancelot Andrewes as a Representative of Anglican Principles’, Lecture Church

Historical Society, SPCK, London, 1898

http://www.chapelroyal.org/baroque.html


~ 28 ~

her successor in the Millenary Petition, but Elizabeth remained steadfast her

practices.

Pre-Reformation and beyond, the Chapel Royal choir had a distinct makeup

which included two counter tenor parts. With the diaspora of men and organists, the

transference of music around the country, this five-part style, becomes prevalent in

institutions large enough to support the resources required and Durham is such an

example.

To summarise, these brief institutional studies the initial factor in the creation of the

festal prece and psalm repertoire is the elevation of the Chapel Royal to set a High

Church institutional standard, which others followed for its liturgical and musical

practices. This is exemplified in the changes developed at Durham and by Cosin at

Peterhouse.

High Churchmen, Reformers, and a group of kindred spirits.

Thomas Cranmer was born in 1489. As Archbishop of Canterbury, (1533-55), he lead

the Church in England through the reformation during the reigns of Henry VIII and

Edward VI. Under Henry, power struggles between religious conservatives and

reformers prevented radical change. In parish churches, Cranmer officially authorised

services to be conducted in English; however, services continued to be said and

sung in Latin in cathedrals as well as in the Cambridge colleges and in the Chapel

Royal.

During Edward VI’s brief reign, Cranmer was able to introduce more far-

reaching reforms, which were to have a lasting impact on the life of the church. The

publication of the Book of Common Prayer 1549 provided the Church of England with

a complete liturgy and in devising the Forty-Two, later to become Thirty-Nine Articles

“for the avoiding of controversy in opinions.”15 Cranmer made provision within the

15 T. Cranmer, Introduction to the Forty-Two Articles, 1553


~ 29 ~

service liturgies for canticles and psalms to be said or sung. As the church became

increasingly Protestant, cathedral music suffered as some of their previous repertoire

now became redundant. Music using text about the Virgin Mary was forbidden.

Although exceptions were made in places where Latin was a language understood

by the congregation, for example at the Oxbridge colleges, anthems with Latin words

were no longer permitted. Most works were not able to be easily translated and the

ornate melismatic, polyphonic style of many earlier compositions was not suitable for

music which was supposed to be easily understood by the congregation.16 Cranmer

expressed his views about choral music in worship in his letters:

In mine opinion the song that shall be made thereunto would not be full of notes, but, as never as may be, for every syllable a note; so that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly.17

After the premature death of Edward VI in 1553, Mary I acceded to the throne

and the Church in England was reunited with Rome and Cranmer’s reforms were

reversed. Services were conducted in Latin again and music was restored to its

former polyphonic style; and text celebrating the Virgin Mary were again permitted.

Compositions such as, Videte Miraculum by Thomas Tallis and show a return to the

polyphonic style using latin texts, common in cathedral music of Henry VIII’s reign.18

After Elizabeth acceded to the throne in 1558, the English church again

established independence from Rome and services were again in English. Although

there was some prosecution of theologians and clerics, there was some freedom of

thought which had been difficult in the previous decade which meant that notable

theologians, such as Richard Hooker, were able to develop and publicise their ideas.

Richard Hooker, 1554-1600, is regarded as a founding father of Anglican Theology.

He set out how Anglicans must walk a middle road, now called a Via Media. He

16 P Phillips, English Sacred Music 1549-1649, Oxford 1991, p.6 17 ibid 18 Thomas Tallis Videte miraculum, ed. John Milsom, Lochs: Vanderbeek & Imrie, Isle of Lewes, 1978


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sought to be loyal to both the church and to the state. His writings articulated the

Church of England’s difference from both extreme European Protestantism and

Roman Catholicism. He taught that the Church of England should be a “threefold

cord not quickly broken” – Bible, Church and Reason.19 He combined reason,

revelation, and tradition to form a theological method, which influenced his

contemporaries including Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury. These were ideas

published in his multi volume puritan rebuttal, Of the Lawes of Eccelsiastical Politie.

Hooker began work on Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie after he ceased to be

Master of the Temple in 1591.20 It was intended to be eight volumes of which only

five were completed and published in his lifetime. It was a response to "An

Admonition to the Parliament" which had been secretly published by radical religious

reformers, puritans who wanted Calvinistic reforms, in 1572. Although Elizabeth

forbade any consideration of the ‘admonition; in parliament the ideas spread and

eventually Hooker’s response was necessary. His ideas formed some of the

arguments expounded at James I’s Hampton Court Conference and his influence still

continues today.

Hooker in Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, did not expound such extreme

views about the use of music in worship as Peter Smart and John Cosin. He felt that

there was biblical evidence from the psalms and the historical accounts of the life of

King David, that music in worship should be encouraged because; “melody in publick

Prayer, melody both vocal and instrumental for the raising up of Men’s hearts, and

the sweetening of their affections towards God,” should be retained in worship “as an

ornament to God’s service, and an help to our own devotion.”21

19 Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol. VI 1991 p.45 20 For more information about Hooker and Of the Lawes of Eccelsiastical Polity see: P.Lake Anglican and Puritan?, London, 1988, pp.145-238 21 G. Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.158. also in a similar reign P.Lake Anglican and Puritan?, Londo, 1988, pp164-169.


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Hookers, development of a tolerant middle way allowed for setting up of measn

for partisanship with lines drawn to affiliate as Calvinists or anti-Calvinist in the form

and High Churchmen and English Arminianism and lead to the creation of groups

such as the Durham House group. The initiator of the Durham House Group was the

influential cleric Richard Neile, Archbishop of York from 1632-40. Neile was born in

London in 1562, he was educated at Westminster School and won a scholarship to

St John’s College Cambridge in 1580.22 He was perhaps not the most academically

gifted at school and to which Smart indited him “counted an heavy-handed lubber”.23

He became Royal Chaplain in 1603 and his close relationship with King James

enabled him to influence the development of the Church of England during James’s

reign. From 1605-10 he was Dean of Westminster and used this time to refurnish the

church and introduce High Church practices such as more polyphonic choral music

and the introduction of extra rituals into the liturgy of services.

In 1608 Neile was elected Bishop of Rochester but continued his responsibilities

at Westminster until 1610. He used his office to appoint men sympathetic to his views

and fellow Arminians, including appointing William Laud as his personal chaplain. He

became Bishop of Lincoln in 1614 and attempted to rid the church of nonconformist

practices. In 1617 he was appointed Bishop of Durham which gave him the use of a

sizable London property – Durham House, which he was able to use to entertain

theologians such as Augustine Lindsell,24 John Buckeridge,25 William Laud and John

22 A. Foster, ‘Neile, Richard (1562–1640)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19861, accessed 28 Sept 2013], not consulted for this thesis but Foster has also written a biography on Neile, ‘A biography of Archbishop Richard Neile (1562–1640)’, DPhil diss., Oxford, 1978 23 ibid 24 Lindsell was Chaplain to Neile, Dean of Lichfield, Bishop of Hereford. Andrew Foster, ‘Lindsell, Augustine (d. 1634)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16721, accessed 28 Sept 2013]


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Cosin who were of similar mind to himself, and form what became known as the

Durham House group. Associates of the group opposed the popular trend of

emphasis on preaching, believing instead in the greater importance of prayer and the

sacraments which lead them to adhere strictly to the Book of Common Prayer. In

Durham Cathedral services were transformed, Neile ordered a stone altar to be

erected in the east end, the cathedral choir were given a higher profile in services

and a new Dallam organ was constructed.26 In this, Neile was encouraged by his

fellow Arminian, Richard Hunt, who was dean of the Cathedral from 1620-38.

In 1629 Arminians were branded by Parliament as traitors to the state, but the

influence of Neile and his appointments was such that their influence continued

throughout Charles’ reign and into the Restoration through clergy such as John

Cosin.27 In 1632, Neile became Archbishop of York and during the 1630s more than

three-quarters of the churches in the north of England had been repaired and

ornamented in accordance with Arminian ideals.28 He died in 1640.

Musically, the most influential member of the Durham House Group was John

Cosin who was a bishop, academic and patron of music. He was born in 1595 in

Norwich. He studied at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and received a BA in

1614. From 1617-19 he served as librarian and secretary to John Overall, who was

Bishop of Norwich. Overall was an Arminian who was opposed to Calvinism and was

heavily influential on John Cosin. Following Overall’s death, Cosin became chaplain

25 Buckeridge: tutor of Laud, chaplain to James I and Bishop of Rochester later Ely. P.E. McCullough, ‘Buckeridge, John (d. 1631)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3854, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 26Ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.x. 27 A. Milton, ‘Cosin, John (1595–1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6372, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 28 A. Foster, ‘Neile, Richard (1562–1640)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19861, accessed 28 Sept 2013]


~ 33 ~

to a fellow Arminian, Richard Neile, Bishop of Durham, and was appointed

prebendary of Durham in 1624. Cannell describes Cosin as ‘a man of great influence

on the cathedral and its liturgy, and a source of inspiration to its musicians.’29 He was

Master of Ceremonies for Charles I coronation and directed the choir.30 In 1627, at

the request of the King, he published his first book Collection of Private Devotions,

which used a wide range of sources, including Cranmer’s Prayer Book, for the use of

English Ladies in waiting following ridicule from French members of court about a

lack of religious private devotional material.31 When King Charles I visited Durham in

the summer of 1633 Cosin arranged the service held in Durham Cathedral. The

service included a sung Te Deum accompanied by organ and instruments and

several anthems.32

Cosin however, was more abrupt in his behaviour towards others, even to the

extent of allegedly shouting at ladies in the congregation at Durham to; “can ye not

stand ye lazie sowes.”33 It is not surprising therefore that Cosin had enemies, notably

Peter Smart, a fellow prebendary at Durham Cathedral, who strongly objected to the

introduction of polyphonic choral music, wearing of copes, use of candles and bowing

during services at Durham Cathedral.34 This lead to his highly contentious sermon

preached by Smart in which he laments the “confusedness of voices so many

singers, with a multitude of melodious instruments” and to the expense of a “new pair

of gorgeous organs.”35

29 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.x. 30 ibid 31 A. Milton, ‘Cosin, John (1595–1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6372, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 32 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.x 33 A. Milton, ‘Cosin, John (1595–1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6372, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 34 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.x. 35 P.Le Huray, Music and the reformation in England 1549-1660, Cambridge, 1978, p.48


~ 34 ~

In the ODNB entry for Cosin, Anthony Milton draws from contemporary

scholarship about the tumultuous relationship between Cosin and Smart and

provides evidence that Smart’s objections to the musical content of the services had

some justification, as Cosin’s liturgical changes were counter to previous acceptable

cathedral practice:

… it seems clear that choral polyphony was indeed displacing the more traditional

congregational involvement in music, that texts such as the Sanctus, Gloria, and creed

were being transferred wholly to the choir, and that the liturgy was being changed to

accommodate more choral music.36

Cosin was appointed Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1635 and became

Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1640. Neile, sought to persuade others to

adopt his high church practices. The over-arching thought which lay behind the high

church philosophy was the phrase from Psalm 29 v2 of ‘ the beauty of holiness’, a

philosophy which applied to church architecture, liturgy and music. As seen earlier

with the additions Cosin made to the chapel at Peterhouse.37

In 1641, Cosin was sequestered from his benefices and in 1643, he was

dismissed as master of Peterhouse for giving financial assistance to the king. He left

England and served as chaplain to the exiled royal family in Paris. When the

monarchy was restored in 1660, he was briefly restored as Master of Peterhouse

until he became Bishop of Durham in December 1660. In 1661 he played an

important part in revising the 1662 Prayer Book and died in 1672.

With the exception of Cranmer, described above are clergy who desired to patron the

arts, Cosin being the most important for this thesis. It cannot be stressed enough

36 A. Milton, ‘Cosin, John (1595–1672)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6372, accessed 28 Sept 2013] 37 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003 p.xi..


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how contrasting these individuals are to the rest of society at this time. Puritanism

was an incredible influence on much of the ecclesiastical and secular world.

Musical Biographies

Orlando Gibbons was baptised in Oxford in 1583. He was a leading composer of

sacred and secular keyboard, choral and ensemble music and came from a musical

family.38 He was a chorister at King’s College Cambridge for three years where he

was awarded a choral scholarship from 1598. He joined the Chapel Royal in 1603

and was appointed organist at the Chapel from 1615 rising to become senior organist

from 1625. In 1612 his first set of madrigals and motets was published. Godfrey

Davies in his survey to the period that, Gibbons had ‘the distinction of being among

the first to compose primarily for viols and the virginals, and thus prepared the way

for the music of the Restoration.’39 Davies goes on, describing Gibbons as belonging

to a ‘distinctively English school,’ being ‘equally versatile’ as William Byrd. This is

exemplified through his contemporary remembrance as both a Sacred and Secular

composer. His works have been revived for both environs. Gibbons wrote seventeen

hymn tunes, several of which are still sung today such as the tunes used for Drop,

drop slow tears, and Forth in Thy Name.40 He died of an illness in 1625 before the

coronation ceremony of Charles I.

Henry Palmer is a remembered as a minor composer and copyist from Durham

Cathedral.41 Born c1595, little is known of Henry Palmer’s early life before his arrival

38 J. Harper and P.Le Huray, ’Orlando Gibbons,’ Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/11092>, accessed 28 Sep.2013. 39 G. Davies, The Early Stuarts 1603-1660, Oxford, 1959, p.387 40 K. R. Long, The Music of the English Church, London, 1972 p.183 41 The primary source for this is the Grove article by J. Morehen. There is little more biographical information in Crosby’s or Anderson’s thesis


~ 36 ~

at Durham Cathedral. He became a lay clerk in 1627 and in 1628 assumed

responsibility for training the choristers. He was employed at the cathedral as a

music copyist, composer and singer and played a major role in copying the

cathedral’s extensive collection of choral and organ music, his books still exist in the

cathedral library and were used as a primary source for this thesis. His compositions

are in Durham Cathedral’s manuscripts, including his verse anthem Lord what is

man? He was still in the employ of the cathedral in 1639 but died in 1640.42

Palmer held the role of copyist; this would have entailed far more than just

copying music for the choristers to perform. He would have been required to edit the

original scores to correct errors or clarify ambiguities, also he would have been

expected to create parts that were missing from available part-books and create

vocal parts from organ music. When it comes to composing the preces and festal

psalm it can be assumed that Palmer had an increased understanding and

awareness of the appropriate choral styles of the period.

William Smith (1603-1645) was a clergyman from the Durham area. As a boy,

he is thought to have been a chorister at Durham Cathedral from 1609-161643. He

was educated at Durham Grammar School44. From 1624 he received an annual

salary of £6.13.6 from the cathedral as a lay clerk.45 In the next decade he performed

various roles, including precentor, the leader of the offices and guide for music

42 J. Morehen. "Palmer, Henry." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 28, 2013,http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/20774. 43 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003 p.ix –x but also P.le Huray and B. Crosby, ‘William Smith,’ Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed September 29 2013 <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/26019>, 2013 44 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003 p.x 45 ibid


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choices, and sacrist; the Durham Cathedral Chapter Act Books described the role as

follows,

There shall be elected from among the minor canons …one man diligent and faithful, to be called the sacrist. Whose office it shall be to have charge of the temple, altars, chapels, vessels, books, chalices, relics, muniments, and the other ornaments that are appointed for the service of the church.46

However, most importantly, Smith was employed as a composer of music for the

choir.

With this combined role of clergyman and musician, Smith was an integral part

of the split chapter headed by Peter Smart and John Cosin. The Grove article on

Smith lists the most pressing points from the Smart indictment and the complex

polyphonic style in which Smith composes. Awake up my glory, one of the works

discussed later was mis-transcribed and credited but wrongly attributed to Orlando

Gibbons but for reasons discussed later, it is now attributed to William Smith.47

The institutions discussed above and most certainly, the high churchmen

mentioned have had a lasting legacy on English history and culture. Only brief details

have been included here. Regarding the composers for this study, what should be

most important to consider are their localities and their background in the repertoire

and the effect of the relationships that may well have developed within the clergy

chapters of their relevant institutions. The collaboration of Smith and Palmer, in a

small gathering of composers in Durham, and the influence of a wider body of like

minds in the Durham House Group, shows a capacity to achieve when working

together in collaboration with others. Most notably, John Cosin who left an

46 ibid 47 S. J. Anderson, Music by members of Durham Cathedral in 17th century, vol.1, PhD Thesis, Durham, 1999, p.123


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incalculable legacy in his revisions of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which is still

cherished and revered by many throughout the English-speaking world and Laud

was a strong influence on the Oxford Movement of the nineteenth century.


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Chapter 3

This chapter discusses the music and the psalms used in the festal psalm settings, in

detail. As described in chapter 2, Palmer was not a prolific composer; William Smith,

although a trained singer, had an additional career as a cleric; Orlando Gibbons

could be considered both the professional composer and musician. These are not

compositions that have endured past the Restoration, nor has the festal psalm as a

genre entered a revived early music cathedral choral repertoire. It is a music wedded

to its function and thus does not compare too much finer compositions by Smith or

Gibbons, their verse anthems, and Gibbons’ organ works.

To speak generally of the Festal Psalm genre; it has through-composed

elements with some repetition of form and has merged homophonic and polyphonic

sections. This follows Edward VI’s musical rules of clarity, so that words could be

clearly heard and easily understood by the congregation. The functionality of the

Smith settings or the Palmer is not unique to them. The Byrd and the Jacobean

settings, like the Gibbons, also have a similar approach.1 In this entire genre there is

only a little word painting which is in contrast to secular madrigals of the time. Here

we find an example from Gibbons’ 1612 Madrigal collection, in the Chapel Royal

voicing, there is an elongation of ‘Lean-ing’. Depicting the Swan who is about to sing

for the first and last time; she leans her head against the shore to lament life and

unrequited love. This is just one example from a short madrigal but there are others

in the same work. It is this kind of concentration of word painting that rarely occurs in

the festal psalms, which is in contrast to secular madrigals of the time.

1 Other than Bryd’s settings Anderson and Le Huray both describe


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Figure 2: The Silver Swan, Orlando Gibbons (1612)

The music assessed was composed for the Matins and Evensong services for Easter

Sunday. Easter is the most significant Christian festival, where Christians celebrate

the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is a spring festival, occurring after

the long season of Lent – a time of fasting and solemnity when the music in churches

would have been solemn and restricted. These preces and psalms are good

examples of celebratory, cheerful music for Easter Sunday, which would have come

as a welcome relief after the austerity of Lent. The festal settings discussed here are

institutionally bound. Smith’s settings were written for Durham Cathedral and

Palmer’s settings were written to supplement the Caroline set at Peterhouse, which

also contains the Smith settings.

Before the Act of Uniformity and introduction of the Book of Common Prayer in

1549, churches and cathedrals had enjoyed a certain amount of freedom in their


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service liturgies and worship music.2 The use of printed worship music in English was

becoming more common before it became compulsory. 3 The slow evolution away

from Latin music maybe exemplified through 1530 an anthology of two and three part

English carols was published, including carols by Richard Ashwell4

Metrical psalms and canticles, such as Myles Coverdale’s Goostly psalms and

spirituall songs published in 1543, also psalters by Thomas Sternhold (a metrical

psalter) in 1549 and Robert Crowley (a rhythmical psalter) in 1549 were used

extensively in parish church worship and in some cathedrals.5 The Crowley psalter

included harmonised music, but some cathedrals wanted more elaborate music to

enhance their worship, especially on festal days. This led to the development of

festal psalm settings. Words for anthems were taken from the metrical and rhythmical

psalters.6

Kenneth Long supposes that the tradition of English church music was, and still

is, that whereas parish church worship is by the people, cathedral worship is

‘essentially one of delegation’ where music is offered ‘on behalf of the people’.7

Cathedrals differed to some extent in their practices and it is clear from Smart’s

reaction to the musical reforms introduced by Cosin, that the worship music at

Durham Cathedral, before 1625, had more direct congregational involvement, than

Cosin, with his High-Church ideals felt was appropriate. Parry notes however,

2 P.Le Huray, Music and the Reformation 1545-1660, p.2 3 Richard Pygott was employed by Cardinal Wolsey as Master of his Choir and by Henry VIII as Gentleman of the Household Choir. 4 K. R. Long, The Music of the English Church, London, 1972, p.38 5 P. Le Huray, Music and the Reformation 1545-1660, p.371-372 6 K. R. Long, The Music of the English Church, London, 1972, p 39 7 ibid


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Puritans disapproved of choirs as a survival of Catholic practice. The complex artistry of interweaving voices was regarded as meretricious and frivolous.8

Cranmer felt that ‘if music were to be used at all, it should add to the expressiveness

of the words, not obscure them or detract from them’.9 In a letter to King Henry VIII

dated 7th October 1544, Cranmer states:

… in mine opinion, the song that should be made thereunto would not be full of notes, but, as near as may be, for every syllable a note, so that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly.10

Long goes onto to describe that most composers accepted Cranmer’s proposal as, ‘a

useful guide rather than a rule to be slavishly followed.’11 However, the principle of

the words being clearly audible and not obscured by extensive melisma or polyphony

was adopted in festal psalm settings.

Analytical method

Next follows an elemental analysis of the music, particularly considering the

familiarity of this style of music to the modern secular world and the unfortunate

obscurity of the festal psalm, even within the cathedral music tradition of today. Much

of the music from this time sounds tonal, and contemporaneous English music theory

used concepts associated with tonality, well before the concept of tonality developed

on the continent.12 As such, I shall describe the music in such terms. It should also

be noted that in this “emerging tonality” a formalistic and traditional method of

analysis is not appropriate.

8 G. Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour, Woodbridge, 2006 p.157. 9 K. R. Long, The Music of the English Church, London, 1972 p 28 10 ibid 11 Ibid p 29 12 J. A. Owens ‘Concepts of Pitch in English Music Theory, c.1560-1640’ in Tonal Structures in Early Music ed. C. C. Judd, New York, 1998. p.183


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Festal Preces

As aforementioned, the preces section of these works is small, approximately 20

bars. Not analysed here, but the Bryd and the Tallis settings, are the foundations for

the genre, built upon with a setting by Gibbons, and surmounted with Smith’s and

Palmer’s settings. They are characterised as being short responses to clerical

intonations. Taking preces as a whole, they begin: the office; the worship; and the

prayer of the service.

The Gibbons preces in G date from c.1615 and are paired with Awake up my

Glory now attributed to Smith. They are written for medius, two counter-tenor, tenor

and bass; the standard Chapel Royal format. On looking at The Sources of English

Church Music for these Preces, Le Huray and Daniel have set up a loop regarding

this work. The preces are listed with the work solely attributed to Gibbons as it is

titled in the sources, but there is also a passing note at the end to the Smith

reference.13 In Cannell’s notes in the introduction to his edition however, he

describes the work purely on its quality through musical similarities and use of

consecutives, and concludes that it is of Smith’s hand. He also notes that the title of

“MR. Orlando Gibbons Preces & this psalme for Easter Day at Evensong” points

towards a coupling of the Prece and psalm. Over time however, the ‘attributed preces

also became attached to the psalm.’14

Gibbons opens these preces with a medius monotone on the tonic while the

other parts sing a heterophonic accompaniment. The only point of musical interest is

the tenor part dotted minim crotchet pattern on the penultimate chord. The first

13 R. T. Daniel and P.Le Huray, The Sources of English Church Music 1549-1660 vol.II, London, 1972 pp.106 & 140. 14 ed. J. Cannell, William Smith - Preces, Festal Psalms, and Verse Anthems, Middleton, 2003, p.xiii


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response finishes with a plagal cadence. The second response also has rhythmic

interest in the tenor part at the cadence point. The next section is also set

heterophonically, but there is a slight melisma in the Counter-tenor II part with two

notes on ho-ly. There is an extended melisma in the Counter-tenor II part on ‘is now’

and the music becomes more homophonic in texture. The final two phrases show a

glimpse of Gibbons’ polyphonic creativity. The preces end with a decorated plagal

cadence with a suspension in Counter-tenor II.

Figure 3 Gibbon's Preces

The Smith Preces were composed c.1630. and are for the same scoring as the

Gibbons. They were originally notated in the transposed Ionian mode of F, however,

when performed today they are generally transposed into A.15 In Anderson’s

commentary on the Durham Cathedral composers, in contrast to the Palmer, the

Smith setting has a ‘fizz’ about it.16 This possibly shows Cosin’s High Church

influence in encouraging more complex choral music. The fact that the preces are

15 William Smith ‘Preces and Resonses’ in Four Settings of the Preces and Responses by Tudor Composers. Together with the Preces and Responses by William Smith arranged for S. A. T. B., vocal score, ed. Watkins Shaw. pp.11-12 16 S. J. Anderson, Music by members of Durham Cathedral in 17th century, vol.1, PhD thesis, Durham, p.167


~ 45 ~

still regularly sung in Cathedrals today is testament to the quality of the composition,

when the festal psalms associated with the Preces are no longer performed. The

tenor part is the most melodically interesting in the opening preces with its falling

scalic passage in for ‘shew forth thy praise’. The Counter-tenor I has a monotone on

F, which acts as an inner-pedal but this is not forming the basis of a cantus firmus.

The first response ends with a plagal cadence that is made more interesting by the

use of a suspension in the medius, Counter-tenor II and tenor parts on the

penultimate chord.

The second response has more rhythmic interest with delayed entries for the

medius, which enters a beat (minim) late on ‘O Lord’, and half a beat late on ‘help

us’. The monotone line in the Counter-tenor I part is maintained, but it falls to E for

Figure 4 William Smith Preces


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one note before returning to F to complete a root position, imperfect authentic

cadence on ‘us’. This is the standard cadence Smith uses and is not an uncommon

means of closing a section. In its repetition through this description, and constant

reference, illustrates the narrowness of Smith’s cadential language in these festal

preces and psalms.

The most complex line in the ‘Glory be’ section is the tenor part, which has a

short, sequential three-note rising motif on ‘to the Holy Ghost’. F#s frequently occur in

the tenor and medius parts, these auxiliary notes are used to create melodic and

harmonic interest. ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ feature a strong D chord.

In the next section, the Counter-tenor I finally has some melodic and rhythmic

interest, there is a suspension on ‘beginning’ is now, and ‘without end.’ A wider range

of notes is used, ranging from c’- g’. Counter-tenor II has a short melisma on without.

In the final section, from ‘Amen’ to the end, there are displaced entries. The bass

entry on ‘Praise ye the Lord’ begins in b.17 with a flourish with a falling scalic

passage. There is extended use of melisma in all parts on ‘ye’ and/or ‘the’ except the

tenor. The preces end with a plagal cadence.

The Palmer preces probably date from c.1635 when the Caroline Part Books

were compiled. Written in Ab for Medius, Counter-tenor, Tenor, and Bass, they start

with a delayed entry; the bass leads off before the rest of the choir join. The static

nature of much of the Counter-tenor I part of the Smith is not prevalent here with all

four lines having parts that show some melodic interest. ‘…shew forth thy praise’

concludes with a strong cadence A with a displaced minim crotchet figure in the

medius and quick dotted figures in the tenor.


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In the next response, one of the salient features of these preces comes to the

fore. ‘Make haste to help us’ is repeated in various ways with contrasting rhythms,

particularly in the medius which repeats three times, each time with different rhythms,

but the three-note falling motif over ‘haste to help’ is maintained. The inner parts

interject with their own crotchet based lines. The playfulness with which the second

response is treated, is countered for the ‘Glory be’ with a more sedate approach.

Palmer sets this more homophonically, mainly in minims with some use of crotchets

to add some rhythmic variety.

Figure 5 Palmer's Medius line

As the music progresses through to ‘is now and ever shall be’ the repetition

from earlier returns on ‘world without end’. However, unlike the inner part

interjections from the second response, the texture of this section becomes more

polyphonic with rhythmic displacement and crotchet movement in the two inner parts,

contrasting with the more static minim movement in the bass and medius parts. In ‘is

now and ever shall be,’ Palmer makes “a crude attempt to avoid consecutive octaves

and fifths.”17 Similar motion using descending medius and bass parts in compound

fourths was never going to be successful musically. The writing of weak Medius and

Bass parts compared with the Smith or the Gibbons, created this issue when it came

to harmonisation.18

17 S. J. Anderson, Music by members of Durham Cathedral in 17th century, vol.1, PhD thesis, Durham, p.167 18Thomas Campion in his treatise on A New Way of Making Fowre in Counterpoint in c.1614 gives solid examples of how the harmonise from both a melody and a Bass line. However, perhaps Palmer


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Of the three preces, the Gibbons is the most simple in its harmonic approach:

as it only uses a limited range of chords, mainly in root position, principally I, IV, and

V. This is out of character with most of Gibbon’s work, but is in the style of the period.

Smith uses a wider range of chords and includes chromatic interest with the use of

F#, B-natural, and Eb. Palmer also uses some chromaticism raising some thirds at

significant moments. examples. Texturally speaking, all of the preces maintain a full

choir throughout, which is to be expected. However, Gibbons preserves a

heterophonic texture for the majority of the setting, while Palmer’s approach is rather

polyphonic in nature and has interjections in various places. The Smith setting could

be considered to sit in the middle of these two examples, with vocal lines being

decorated on occasion, but also the music being sung mostly by full choir.

The melodic elements of these preces also vary greatly. Gibbons maintains a

chant like heritage to at least one line generally, only breaking free into a more

polyphonic style in the final sections. Palmer set the preces for the medius in quite a

high tessitura and as such have quite a limited range of just a 6th. The repetition and

the displaced rhythmic gestures would certainly draw the ear but the final

acclamation ‘Praise ye the Lord’ is declamatory rather than the florid polyphonic

Gibbons or Smith, which considering the use of repetition earlier in the Prece it could

be well have been extended and elaborated so as to accentuate the praise elements

intended by the words. Smith’s responses however, take similar melodic ideas from

both Gibbons and Palmer. The monotone counter-tenor I and the elements of

melodic interest passed around the choir would not be out of place in the others

as not totally aware of Campion’s work or did not feel Campion’s ideas applied to him as he was attempting to write in an earlier Renaissance style.


~ 49 ~

respective settings. The use of delayed entries is however, most effectively used by

Smith. In a contrasting fashion for ‘O Lord…’ and then as a way of moving into burst

of polyphony for ‘Praise ye…’

Festal Psalms

These three Festal Psalms are extended works for their time and as such it would be

pertinent, before their individual descriptions begin, to show the particular vocal

ranges of each of these works in a table.

Vocal Ranges in Festal Psalms Mean CTI CTII Tenor Bass

I will give thanks unto the Lord c’-d’’ f-g’’ f-g’’ c-d’ F-f

Awake up my Glory d'-f’’ f#-a’’ f-g’’19 c-d’ F-bb

This is the day20 f'-ab’’ ab-c’’ c-f’ Ab-d’

Table 1

As this table clearly shows, the vocal ranges are quite consistent in certain

parts, most notable the Tenors, but also wider vocal ranges are used in, This is the

day. The reasoning for this will be discussed further, later in this chapter.

I will give thanks unto the Lord

I will give thanks unto the Lord, by William Smith, was written c.1630 and is scored

for five voices in the Chapel Royal style. It has F as its tonality that corresponds to

the preces. The work is set with a low tessitura; the highest notes of the medius is D.

It has organ accompaniment that largely duplicates the vocal parts.

19 It averages a lower tessitura in I will 20 Palmer uses divisi Medius


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The psalm opens with a Counter-tenor I cantoris proclamation of the opening line of

the psalm. ‘Secretly’ is given an extended melisma on its second repetition to give

colour and emphasis to the word and the staggered entries give further emphasis to

the word but also cloud its clarity. Smith in his festal psalms uses a narrow cadential

language and often with very similar voicing. The first instance of this is at the mid-

point of the phrase ‘the faithful’, there is a root position imperfect authentic cadence

in the dominant key of C.21

‘Congregation’ is set simply in the bass part using minims but extended for six

beats in the medius with melisma. There are harmonic points of interest in the use of

chromaticism in the counter-tenor I part ‘among the faithful, and in…’.

21 I take my Cadential exemplar definitions from the The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians pp.105-106

Figure 6 Cadence A


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Following this full chorus section, Smith begins the antiphonal exchanging

verses between decani and cantoris. The section opens with heterophonic setting of

‘the works of the Lord are great:’ and then breaks into polyphony. On the repetitions

of ‘great’ and ‘sought out’ Smith uses imitation between medius and tenor and has

canonic entries six beats apart in the counter-tenor I and II. Cadence A again closes

the work the suspension motif is transferred from Counter-tenor I to Counter-tenor II.

For the first time in this work, Smith adapts the text for musical purposes, setting the

tenor part ‘as and honour’d’ whereas the rest of the ensemble sing ‘and had in

honour’. The next section features an imitated crotchet motif in tenor, medius and

bass which increases the momentum by giving the impression of halving the metre.

Alongside this repetition, the counter-tenor lines have an interplay of their own

counter-melody that complements the other parts. The section concludes with a

combination of cadence A, a root position imperfect authentic cadence, and cadence

motif A, a 4-3 suspension.

The music now passes back to decani, and there is harmonic interest with the

use of a false relation with the use of B and Bb on ‘Lord hath’ in counter-tenor I. There

is an ensemble dotted rhythm on ‘merciful’ that corresponds to the natural speech

rhythm which is not unusual in a liturgical context, where Smith may have lingered on

a syllable. There is a staggered entry with the medius entering two beats before the

rest of the ensemble. Smith uses cadence A again to conclude this homophonic

section, before the polyphonic section for the rest of the verse. Smith draws the

listener to three words in this section through different means, the first being the least

conventional via a melisma on ‘so’ of ‘hath so done’, ‘done’ is emphasised by falling

on a strong beat in the counter-tenor II. ‘Marvellous’ has both first and last syllables

brought out by suspensions in the medius on the first syllable and a dotted minim


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high A on the last. For the final word ‘remembrance’, Smith draws the five vocal parts

together into an authentic cadence, with a 4-3 suspension this time in the Tenor.

The practice of opening a new section using loose homophony followed by a

polyphonic section continues, as cantoris begins this next section. The opening four

chords, although re-voiced, are the same as the previous section, and the basic

harmony continues until bonds of homophony are removed. ‘He shall ever be mindful

of his covenant’ is set polyphonically with particular melodic and rhythmic interest in

the Counter-tenor I part. The keyword ‘covenant’ is emphasised and given a clarity in

its setting. Compared to other verses, this section is set quite soberly with little

extended crotchet movement in any part.

The next section passes across the quire from cantoris to decani and begins

with the medius followed by a delayed ensemble entry. There is a seven-crotchet

melisma on ‘his’ in the counter-tenor II part. The homophonic setting of this section is

shorter and the music moves more quickly into polyphony with twisting chromatic and

melismatic counter-tenor lines with the counter-tenor I part twisting to and from D and

Eb and the Counter-tenor II, during the melisma, ascending on Eb but descending on

E-natural. The polyphonic section demonstrates freedom of movement with Smith

writing a four quaver run in the tenor part. ‘Heritage’ and ‘heathen’ are key words that

Smith highlights through use of melismas in the tenor part and the declamatory

cadence that does not include a 4-3 suspension.

The next cantoris verse opens with the familiar homophonic passage, but

quickly moves into imitative polyphony. The Tenor has a run of quavers on

‘judgement’ that is emphasised in all parts by Smith as the key word. The Tenor part

repeats the quaver figure and ‘judgement’ is repeated three times. The Counter-tenor


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II has a long three beat suspension. Counter-tenor I has a melismatic, falling line

before a cadence A in the dominant. ‘All his commandments are true’ receives a

more solemn treatment moving away from the dotted note figures prevalent in the

previous section. This may show Cosin’s influence as well as Smith demonstrating

musical awareness of the theological significance of this statement through sensitive

word setting of important text.

In the next decani verse, ‘stand fast’ is emphasised through imitative repetition.

This is a rather short verse and so the polyphonic section is brief and is not extended

through repetition. ‘Equity’ is given emphasis through elongation to seven beats in

the medius part, unlike other words that have been emphasised through repetition,

melisma, or declamation.

Cantoris return with a contrasting staggered entry with the bass preceding the

rest of the choir. Once the verse shifts into a G major tonality, the transition into

polyphony is rather subtle with the medius and bass maintaining homophonic lines

until ‘for ever’ while the other parts develop independent lines. This is the only such

occurrence of interweaving of parts. Elongations are again used on ‘rev’rend’ and

‘holy’.

‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ is set to static tripled octave F

major chord with ‘fear’ given a semibreve. Smith shows his awareness of the

significant words and the stylistic need to set these words with clarity. The final verse

maintains a loose homophonic texture. In the exchanges during the delayed entries

for ‘the praise of it’; medius, then ensemble, medius and counter-tenor, then

ensemble, builds up the section to a climax. Smith avoids any obvious musical


~ 54 ~

embellishment on ‘endureth’ and extends the cadence on ‘ever’. The cadence again

uses Smith’s usual suspension.

The full ‘Glory be’ opens with a strong homophonic section. After ‘holy Ghost’

Smith deviates slightly from his strict structure through some use of diminution in the

upper three parts.

Figure 7 Smith's concluding flourish

Smith starts the penultimate section with a medius staggered entry. As the music

transitions into polyphony, the opening half of the verse is repeated. Rhythmic

interest is created using dotted crotchets but they are not extensively used. ‘Amen’ is

set with a final burst of five-voice polyphony. There is an extended plagal I IV I

cadence.


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Awake up my glory

Awake up my glory is an amalgamation of two psalms; Psalm 57 v9-12 and Psalm

118 v19-24. It is a little like the Palmer setting in that it uses verse sections and also

similar to the other Smith setting, with antiphonal exchanges across the quire

between verses. Like I will give thanks, it is scored for five voices but the organ part

is more independent than in the other Smith setting. The prevailing tonality is G, as

before.

The setting opens with a nine-beat organ introduction and when the voices

begin, it is a verse section, with a duet between medius and bass. There is a

prevailing minor/Aeolian tonality, which is at variance with the joyful nature of the text

and the celebratory nature of the Easter festival. Although the motif used for ‘awake’

falls, the repetition of the word in an ascending sequence creates a positive feel. The

counter-tenor I joins and the rising motif for ‘I myself will awake’ is repeated in

ascending sequence and the section closes with a root position imperfect authentic

cadence in G major.

The opening chorus maintains the polyphony of the opening verse and features

interesting use of chromaticism for the shifting modes. Ebappears for C based

tonalities and F# to create a functioning dominant. On ‘nations’ there is a false

relation between the F# in the medius part and F-natural in the tenor which is out of

character to the rest of the style of the piece. Carnell, in his editing, writes an

advisory natural sign to the F-natural to reinforce the note. The second section of the

verse features the repetition of this passage. Smith passes the phrase ‘and I will sing

unto thee’ around the ensemble, starting with the counter-tenor II which begins fifteen

beats into a forty-two beat verse. This is a fugette-style passage with the initial


~ 56 ~

subject entering in counter-tenor II then counter-tenor I entering with a modified

subject. The bass sings the modified then the original subject before serving as the

foundation for an authentic cadence with a tierce di Picardie, an expected gesture in

a minor mode, and a 4-3 suspension over the dominant.

Figure 8 Cadence B

The antiphonal exchange between the sides of the choir begins with cantoris. The

key words of ‘greatness’ and ‘truth’ receive slightly different treatments. ‘Greatness’ is

elongated in the medius part and sung with a melisma in the counter-tenor II and

bass to draw attention to the importance of the word. ‘Truth’ is shown significance by

its repetition in the medius and bass parts with a more homophonic texture in the

bass and counter-tenor parts while the tenor and medius parts maintain a certain

level of melodic independence. Cadence B concludes the verse of Psalm.

The next verse begins with a contrapuntal section. The medius leads and the

rest of the voices enter in turn with modified melodies to fit with the harmonies. With

these fugal style entries, Smith allows himself quite extensive repetition of the

opening words of the verse ‘Set up thyself O God’. It is repeated as a whole and in

part five times by the medius. Returning quickly to the flattened G tonality which is


~ 57 ~

maintained throughout the section, ending this half verse on ‘heav’ns’ with an

imperfect cadence. Rhythmically this half verse only has one real flourish with

quavers on ‘O’ in the counter-tenor I part at the beginning of the contrapuntal section.

The polyphony continues with ‘and the glory’ but Smith does not repeat any of the

words, however, he elongates ‘glory’ in the bass, medius and tenor parts. Cadence B

again finishes off this section.

Smith draws out the personal petition of the next verse for cantoris with

repetitions of ‘that I may go in’. God opening ‘the gates of righteousness’ is treated

with cheerful loose polyphony. There is one more repetition before the short verse

concludes with Smith’s usual cadence. The next decani verse features delayed

ensemble entries beginning with the medius. ‘Gate’ again is treated as a prominent

word and is repeated heterophonically. The second half of the verse also has a

delayed entry and then breaks into polyphony. Shifting into a D tonality, this verse

concludes with cadence A.

The D tonality continues for the start of the next section, however, there is a

transition back to G during the verse. For the initial eleven beats, Smith uses a

homophonic texture before using polyphonic imitative motifs for the second half of

the verse. ‘Salvation’ is given prominence by flowing crotchets and repetition. The

section finishes with Cadence B. The G tonality is restored, helped by a descending

scalic D to F# in the medius.

Decani’s final verse opens with declamatory Bb chords before slowly having

lines dissipate into polyphony. Smith draws attention to both ‘refused’ and ‘corner’.

‘Refused’ is set with a five part root position imperfect authentic cadence. ‘Is become

the headstone’ is sung at least twice in part or by the full ensemble. Again, the


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section finishes with Cadence B. The final verse of the psalm is sung by the whole

choir. It has a homophonic in texture with at least three voices having homorhythmic

parts. Smith highlights ‘marvellous’ with an exposed counter tenor line, before the

medius joins in. The verse finishes with the familiar cadence.

The psalm ends with a trio verse section using medius and both counter-tenor

parts, which, as at the beginning, has an independent organ accompaniment.

Although this section is still in the prevailing G minor tonality, Smith uses B natural in

the counter-tenor II. The music changes abruptly for the words ‘we will rejoice and be

glad’ and features a rising quaver minim sequence and has the initial voicing of the

words in running descending thirds. Predictably, uses Cadence B to finish.

The initial section of the ‘Glory be’ begins with all five voices singing

homophonically with a strong G tonal centre. The second half starts homophonically

before slowly breaking into a small burst of polyphony. Smith staggers the melodic

figure from medius to tenor in a gentle cascade using a falling motif. For the ‘Amen’,

which is only sung once, Smith uses a prolonged plagal cadence that uses 9-8 over

the dominant in the Counter-tenor 1. This elongated cadence again shows Cosin’s

High Church influence in encouraging elaborate choral settings.

This is the day

This is the day is a bright and jovial work by Henry Palmer, written for the choir at

Peterhouse, Cambridge. The tonality for Palmer’s festal psalm is centred around Ab

which corresponds with the tonal centre of the preces. Lacking from a complete set

of sources for this psalm are; CT II cantoris, tenor cantoris and organ. Of these, the

lack of organ part is the most significant as it would contain clues to the missing


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choral parts and enable a complete realisation of Palmer’s intentions, as Palmer

indicates there is a nine beat organ introduction.

The vocal parts begin with a nine-beat declamatory statement from the counter-

tenor I cantoris ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made’, the following phrase

serves as a full ensemble response with staggered medius entries singing ‘we will

rejoice’ with an ascending scalic motif in sequence. The ascending motif for this

section, does show some evidence of word-painting as it reflects the joyful nature of

the words more readily.

Figure 9 Palmer's joyful motive

The four-part structure is maintained in the following verse. Palmer passes a

five note motif around the parts for ‘send us now prosperity’, and the verse ends with

a root position imperfect authentic cadence. Whereas the chorus is set in a

polyphonic style, the following verse is set more homophonically. This is the first

instance in the Anderson edition where the missing voice parts becomes an issue

because the counter-tenor and tenor lines are reversed from the previous section

and the tenor cantoris line is missing. Anderson sketches in a harmonically implied


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part. Although the verse is set homophonically, it is rhythmically interesting with

dotted figures; dotted minim crotchet and dotted crotchet quaver in the medius and

counter-tenor parts and use of syncopation in the cadence that ends this section.

The next section includes the work’s first modulation to Eb during the extended

repetition of ‘the sacrifice with cords’. Harmonically this section is intriguing because

the journey into Eb contains an ambiguous C7 chord with missing third. There is an

element of chromaticism with the use of A-natural on ‘the’ in the Counter-tenor and

Bass parts. This chromaticism does indeed colour the words for effect and adds to

the more sombre tone ‘sacrifice’ indicates. This could be interpreted as showing High

Church influence in emphasising the significance that was placed on commemorating

Christ’s sacrifice in the communion service. Palmer thickens the texture by dividing

the medius parts for ‘yea even unto the horns of the altar’. In the Bass and Counter-

Tenor parts there is an advisory Gb by Anderson which maintains the intervallic

relationship in the descending motif in the Tenor and Medius Cantoris parts. It is

initially a contrapuntal section, but later it moves into a homophonic cadence,

however, even in the contrapuntal section, at all times, the words are clearly audible.

However, there are some points of rhythmic interest, for example; the medius having

a dotted crotchet quaver motif on ‘the horns’. The cadence that climaxes this section

ends with the decani medius singing a descending scalic passage followed by an

octave leap finishing on a resplendent top Ab.

The final verse section of the psalm uses stretto entries for ‘thou art my God

and I will thank thee’, the counter-tenor I cantoris part for this verse does not conform

to the prevailing rhythmic pattern of the other parts as it uses off-beat dotted-minim

crotchet figures. The phrase predictably finishes with a root position imperfect

authentic cadence on Eb.


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‘Thou art my God and I will praise thee’, has a joyful feel with coupled crotchets

‘art-, my-’ in the Counter-tenor part, and use of suspensions across the beat in the

medius cantoris part. The final full section of the psalm features extensive repetition

of the words ‘for ever’. The musical devices used earlier such as coupled crotchets

and dotted rhythms are used again in all parts to create a climactic root position

imperfect authentic cadence in F with divisi medius to conclude the psalm text.

These festal psalms each have a distinct and individual character. Because of

the nature of the psalms set and the antiphonal exchanges, which feature in all of the

works, cadences are a useful and plentiful means for comparison. Smith’s psalms

are characterised by a narrow cadential language and frequent repetition of similar

cadences: the root position, imperfect, authentic cadences; tierce de Picardies; and

4-3 suspensions. The Palmer is a little more adventurous in the closures of the

sections, while he also maintains stylistic unity through dotted rhythms and running

crotchet ideas.

As has been seen in the discussion above, texture plays a key role in the

communication of the Psalm. At times in Awake up my Glory there is a clouding of

the definite distinction between a verse anthem, and/or a full choir piece. With the

oscillation from chorus to verse in the Palmer, if it was not for its extended length, it

may be classified with this dual purpose. What is present in all three festal psalms

and is perhaps part of a High-Church relationship of these, is the antiphonal

exchanges as a preservation of the monastic tradition of the reciting of psalms

antiphonally.

As prefaced for this description, this is a transitional time in music, from

modalism to purely tonal language. Building on the reformist and the somewhat


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imposed reformed sound of Tallis and Byrd, Smith and Palmer write in both a clear,

more easily understood homophony and heterophony and also use more convoluted,

aurally speaking, polyphony. Smith, at times, uses this in a very formulaic fashion,

which, for this style of composition, with the text set needing to be run through,

diminishes some of the creativity he may have shown in a slightly more text led

composition. Palmer, through a more extensive textual repetition, has a slightly less

formal transfer from homophony to polyphony.

To now move this analysis on to an integral part of any choral work; the words

and specifically, word painting. As has been noted earlier, this genre is not plentiful

with examples of word painting, the Smith and Palmer settings are no exception.

However, in all of the three festal psalm settings there are some examples. In Smith’s

I will give thanks unto the Lord’s opening section the keyword ‘secretly’ is repeated

up to three times set melismatically in the CTI parts and with a homophonic texture

which clouds the clarity of the word. In the same psalm this can be contrasted the

keyword ‘covenant’ later in the psalm, although it is set polyphonically an aural clarity

is achieved as it appears at the end of the verse and given an unembellished

cadence for all but the Counter-Tenor I which has a scalic melisma for the word. In

addition to these examples, also of note in this psalm is: the use of natural speech

rhythm in the use of the dotted rhythm on ‘merciful’. ‘Marvellous’ is set using a high A

in the medius, which gives the word emphasis; an awareness of significant words is

shown by elongation, for example ‘equity’; and, changing the texture and tonality to

reflect importance of phrases, for example, ‘commandments are true’.

In Awake up my Glory examples of word painting are not so forth coming but

Smith does, at the beginning of the work, set ‘awake’ using a falling motif used in an

ascending sequence. Palmer has perhaps the most joyous text and with the words


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‘we will rejoice’ uses a rising scalic motif, celebrating the joyful nature of the text. The

same is true for ‘I will praise Thee’ which Palmer sets using coupled crotchets,

furthering the joyful feel of the piece. However, where there is gladness there may

also be sadness, when ‘sacrifice with cords’ appears, Palmer uses some

chromaticism, emphasising the sombre tone of the words. Most poignantly,

considering the lasting legacy of both the repertoire and style of church for which it

was commissioned, Palmer has extensive repetition of ‘for ever’ emphasising the

words and mirroring their meaning.

Cosin’s hand upon this music may not have been extensive, but his High

Church ideals are plain to see in the music. The simple fact of the copying into the

Peterhouse part books shows how much Cosin valued the music’s place in the

liturgy. Copying music is an expensive process which goes into the whole

programme of improvements to the Peterhouse chapel started on the arrival of John

Cosin as Master. The Smith settings, although obviously not in the Edward VI plain

style as the homophonic works of Tallis, still have a little way to go in terms of

melisma compared to the Palmer. The increased elaboration of the music may have

been part of the brief by Cosin to Palmer, and thus perhaps some of the reasoning

behind the addition of this psalm to the “complete” liturgical year set which Durham

already held.

To further this hypothesis is the increased vocal range of the medius in the

Palmer. Cosin may have felt that the Smith psalm settings lacked some of the

joyfulness, vigour, and vitality Cosin wished to create at his Easter services. In

addition, because of the higher tonality of This is the day, although the absolute

range of notes in the parts by the men is similar, the setting is in a higher tessitura

and would sound more resplendent than the Smith. Taking the male voice parts as a


~ 64 ~

whole, Basses ascend to d’, Tenors to f’ and Counter-Tenor to c’. None of these

vocal ranges are not so impossibly high to be vocally harsh, but high enough to

create an uplifting effect. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, for This is the day,

the verse sections uses Medius divisi, Counter-Tenor and Tenor. The exclusion of

the Bass in the verse sections creates a lighter feel, and a brighter tone, than Smith’s

verses, which use Bass and Counter-Tenor in principal sections.

Although the festal psalm was not reinstated when cathedral music was re-

established once the monarchy was restored, these settings are valuable for

understanding the development of liturgy and repertoire during the reigns of James I

and Charles I. The influence of High Church ideas is apparent in the settings as they

are notably more complex in their accompaniment and choral style than the metrical

psalms used in more puritan institutions.


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Conclusion

Preces and anthems from the cathedral repertoire of this period have survived,

including works by Palmer, Smith and Gibbons. Taking Smith's preces as examples,

this is a testament to the quality of the compositions of the era and the musicianship

of the composers. Festal psalms as a genre have not survived from this period,

through-composed psalm settings were not restored as a genre after the restoration

most possibly because many part books were lost or destroyed during the Civil War

or the Commonwealth, and there was not a desire to go through the time consuming

process of reconstruction. This is most notable in the Chapel Royal music, which

does survive, but only through one of two part books. In instituitions where they may

have been able to recover all of the music, the verse anthem had taken a prominent

position and rather than whole psalms which were set as quasi-anthems, more

scope was available for deeper musical expression through word painting and

repetition, rather than in the formulaic writing we have seen in the setting of an entire

psalm.

What I have sought to describe, is that through inferred strong personal

relationships between clergy via the Durham House group, Smith and Palmer were

commissioned into writing in this niche genre. Although this niche genre no longer

finds a place in the Cathedral tradition, it has a place in the history of worship music

and psalm singing.

The work of the clergy associated with the Durham House Group has continued

its influence in later years. Cosin has a lasting legacy through his work on the

1662 Book of Common Prayer. The nineteenth century Oxford Movement was

inspired by the philosophy of the worship of God taking place in the ‘beauty of

holiness’ and the teachings William Laud were central to its foundation.


~ 66 ~

Appendix, Festal Psalm texts

Awake up my Glory

Psalm 57:9-12, Psalm 118:19-24, Gloria Patri

Awake up my glory; awake, lute and harp:

I myself will awake right early.

I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord among the people:

And I will sing unto thee among the nations.

For the greatness of thy mercy reacheth unto the heav’ns:

And thy truth unto the clouds.

Set up thyself, O God, above the heav’ns:

And thy glory above all the earth.

Open me the gates of righteousness:

That I may go into them and give thanks unto the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord:

The righteous shall enter into it.

I will thank thee, for thou hast heard me:

And art become my salvation.

The same stone which the builders refused:

Is become the headstone in the corner.

This is the Lord’s doing:

And it is marvellous in our eyes.

This is the day which the Lord hath made:

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:

And to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:

World without end. A men


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I will give thanks unto the Lord

Psalm 111: 1-10, Gloria Patri

I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart:

secretly amoung the faithful, and in the congregation.

The works of the Lord are great:

sought out all of them that have pleasure therein.

His work is worthy to be praised, and had in honour:

and his righteousness endureth for ever.

The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous wokrs:

that they ought to be had in remembrance.

He hath giv’n meat unto them that fear him:

he shall ever be mindful of his covenant.

He hath shewed his people the pow’r of his works:

that he may give them heritage of the heathen.

The works of his hands are verity and judgement:

all his commandments are true.

They stand fast for ever and ever:

and are done in truth and equity.

He sent redemption unto his people:

he hath commanded his covenant for ever; holy and rev’rend is his name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:

a good understanding have all they that do thereafter; the praise of it endureth for

ever.

Gloria Patri…


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This is the Day

Psalm 118 24-end, Gloria Patri

This is the day which the Lord hath made:

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Help us now, O Lord:

O Lord send us now prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

we have wished you good luck, ye that be of the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord which hath shewed us light:

bind the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar.

Thou art my God and I will thank thee:

thou art my God and I will praise thee.

O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious:

and his mercy endureth for ever.

Glory be…


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http://www.oup.co.uk/music/

the relationship of high church to the festal prece and psalm

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