lambe • stratford - naxos music library · 8.572840 14 3 8.572840 out of the 25 composers...

Music fromTHE ETON

CHOIRBOOKLAMBE • STRATFORD • DAVY

BROWNE • KELLYK • WYLKYNSON

TONUS PEREGRINUS

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1 Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater a 5 6:05JFL RH KK ALE RE BH ML AH FB NF

2 William, Monk of Stratford: Magnificat a 4 14:44JFL RH LB KK ALE / RE BH ML AH AK FB NF SR

3 Plainchant: Nesciens mater 0:47JFL RH LB KK ALE

4 Richard Davy: St Matthew Passion [27:11-56] a 4 21:21Jesus’ words: FB • Evangelist: BH

Pilate: RH ALE RE NF • Pilate’s wife: JFL KK AH NF Turba: JFL RH LB KK ALE RE ML AH AK FB NF

5 John Browne: Stabat mater a 6 16:14JFL RH LB KK ALE RE BH ML AP AH AK FB NF

6 Hugh Kellyk: Magnificat a 5 13:53JFL RH KK ALE RE BH ML AH FB NF

7 Robert Wylkynson: Jesus autem transiens / Credo in Deum canon a 13 5:57

NF AK BH ML AP SR AH RE FB ML BH AK NF

TONUS PEREGRINUS Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Soprano • Rebecca Hickey, Soprano • Lisa Beckley, Soprano

Kathryn Knight, Alto • Alexander L’Estrange, Alto • Richard Eteson, TenorBenedict Hymas, Tenor • Matthew Long, Tenor • Alexander Hickey, Tenor

Alex Knight, Baritone • Francis Brett, Bass • Nick Flower, Bass • with Stephen Rice, Bass

Antony Pitts, Tenor and Director

TONUS PEREGRINUS performing editions from the Eton Choirbook are published by 1equalmusic and are available from lulu.com

Cover image: Eton / Eton College Library / MS 178 / 126v and other images of the Eton Choirbook are reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College and provided by www.diamm.ac.uk

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All photos: Ian Dingle

Music from the Eton Choirbook

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The Eton Choirbook – a giantmanuscript from Eton CollegeChapel – is one of the greatestsurviving glories of pre-Reformation England. There is aproverb contemporary with theEton Choirbook which mighthave been directly inspired bythe spectacular sounds locked

up in its colourful pages: “Galli cantant, Italiae capriant,Germani ululant, Anglici jubilant” (roughly translated as“The French sing, the Italians quaver, the Germans wail,and the English make a joyful noise!”). English musicianshad loved successions of joyful-sounding thirds (C+E,D+F) for generations before the Eton Choirbook, as can beheard in the first complete setting of the Passion (Naxos8.555861). By experimenting with full triads (C+E+G) JohnDunstaple – the first truly great English composer – wasable to take this jubilation to a new level, such that in 1475the musicologist Tinctoris could claim that music had beentransformed during his own lifetime into a “new art” (Naxos8.557341). This “joyful noise” remained a quintessentiallyEnglish characteristic through the extremes of Tallis’sforty-part motet Spem in alium (Naxos 8.557770) andGibbons’s ravishing Hymnes and Songs of the Church(Naxos 8.557681) to English composers of the 20thcentury and today. But it is in the Eton Choirbook itself thatsome unsurpassed heights of musical ecstasy werereached, mirroring the lofty perpendicular style of thearchitecture of the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Founded along with King’sCollege, Cambridge in the early1440s by Henry VI, EtonCollege was to be a haven ofeducation, devotion, and charityin the middle of polit icalturbulence – the final stages ofthe Hundred Years’ War withFrance, the so-called ‘Wars of

the Roses’, and the religious reforms and counter-reformsof Henry VIII and his children. That turbulence devastatedmany libraries (including the Chapel Royal library) andmakes the surviving 126 of the original 224 leaves in EtonCollege Manuscript 178 all the more precious, for it is justone of a few representatives of several generations ofEnglish music in a period of rapid and impressivedevelopment. Eton’s chapel library itself had survived aforced removal in 1465 to Edward IV’s St George’sChapel – a stone’s throw away in Windsor – during atemporary fall from royal favour. It was under the rule ofHenry VII, who had claimed the monarchy for the Tudorsin 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth, that the repertoire of theEton Choirbook particularly flourished, and the Choirbookitself was put together around 1500 – described in a 1531inventory as “a grete ledger of prick song secundo foliotum cuncta”. Putting together a Choirbook was no smallfeat: as Magnus Williamson notes in his introduction tothe recently-published DIAMM facsimile, not only would ithave cost somewhere in the region of an entire annualsalary (of, say, a senior chaplain), but would also have“required the skins of 112 average-sized calves”!

However magnificent, the musicof the Eton Choirbook is just thetip of a titanic schedule ofdevotions and supplicationswhich took place in the CollegeChapel. Each day some sevenmasses were said or sung, andin addition there were the variousobservances which had sprung

up over the centuries around the person of Mary, the virginmother of Jesus (later to be silenced at the strokes of penand sword of Protestant Reformers); feastdays, of whichthere were many, required yet more celebration, with aparticular emphasis on the events of Passiontide and HolyWeek. The College’s statutes of 1443/4 made provision for,among others, 16 choristers and 4 clerks, who were to havegood voices and be skilled in reading, song, and polyphony.

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Out of the 25 composersrepresented in the EtonChoirbook, several had stronglinks with Eton College itself:Walter Lambe and, quitepossibly, John Browne werethere in the late 1460s as boys.John Browne, composer of theastounding six-part setting of

Stabat mater dolorosa 5 may have gone on to NewCollege, Oxford, while Richard Davy was at MagdalenCollege, Oxford in the 1490s. We can imagine thesecomposers and their fellow-singers grouped around thehuge choirbook on a lectern – seven or so men, and infront, ten boys who with eyesight still undimmed couldread from the top of the very large pages. The size of thepages meant they had to be parchment and, in order to belegible in the uncertain candlelight, the music was solidlyinscribed on staves 2cm high. Each voice-part is writtenout by itself (without barlines) on one part of the opendouble-page spread: unlike a modern score there is novertical alignment between the parts and there is little toshow the existence of the tactus – or beat – apart from thegroupings of the noteheads. The noteheads usedpractically throughout are in “black-full” notation (i.e. filled-in semibreves and minims) which survived later inEngland than on the Continent, rather than the morefamiliar “black-void” notation (which is more-or-less whatwe still use today). Red ink, too, provided a way ofconveying further instructions to the performers: red textis used in sections for reduced numbers of voices, whilered noteheads introduce the notion of binary‘imperfection’ into a mensural world of rhythmicproportions grounded on the Trinitarian foundation of themediaeval theorists – three against two: triplets andhemiolas, as musicians call them today.

The original index lists morethan 60 antiphons – all votiveantiphons designed for dailyextraliturgical use and fulfillingMary’s prophecy that “Fromhenceforth all generations shallcall me blessed”; one of thebest known – and justifiably so– is Walter Lambe’s setting of

Nesciens mater 1 in which the composer weaves someof the loveliest polyphony around the plainchant tenor(sung by itself on track 3). The Magnificat is Mary’s songof praise and joy in response to her cousin Elizabeth’sown prophetic salutation: “Blessed art thou amongwomen, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb”; and atsome point no fewer than 24 versions of the Magnificatwere added to the Choirbook, including a virtuosic settingby Hugh Kellyk 6 – of which this is believed to be the firstrecording; and last but certainly not least, the ebullientfour-part setting by William Stratford 2 which we singhere in alternating (and finally combined) choirs of upperand lower voices. Stratford’s polyphony appears tocontain two quirky but audible examples of rhythmic word-painting: one lost beat between the words “the rich” and“He hath sent empty away”, and one extra beat at thewords “his seed for ever”.

Almost the final addition to theChoirbook is a Passion setting –the first by a named composer,Richard Davy. The openingpages of his St MatthewPassion 4 have been lost, sothe story begins here with Jesusstanding in front of Pilate.Davy’s polyphony sets the

spoken parts of the narrative, with the rest of the textintoned by a single voice), and is notable for its intenseand fast-changing response to the text – for instance, theway the names of Barrabas and of Jesus are contrasted.A main index was compiled after all these pieces hadbeen added; the only two pieces not listed in this index

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O how deep was the pain you felt, virgin so full of pain,remembering former joys now turned to utter sadness!

No colour was to be foundin you, mother, while in tormentstood your Son, content to be so treated in order for Satan to be defeated.

By all this, highly-favoured lady, may your Son, who cancelsall the sin which we have committed,be entreated with sweet prayers,

That, wiping away our uncleanness, in us He might plant His graceand His promises might be fulfilled in everlasting peace. Amen.

But Jesus passing through the midst of them...[Peter] I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker ofheaven and earth:[Andrew] And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, [James] Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born ofthe Virgin Mary, [John] Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified,dead, and buried; [Thomas] He descended into hell [Hades]; the third dayHe rose again from the dead; [James the less] He ascended into heaven, And sitteth onthe right hand of God the Father Almighty; [Philip] From thence He shall come to judge the quickand the dead.[Bartholomew] I believe in the Holy Ghost; [Matthew] The Holy Catholic Church; The communion ofsaints; [Simon] The forgiveness of sins; [Judas Thaddeus] The resurrection of the body;[Matthias] And the life everlasting. Amen.

O quam gravis illa poenaTibi virgo poene plenaCommemorans preamoena am versa in mestitiami.

Color erat non inventusIn te mater dum dementus [detentus]Stabat natus sic contentus ad debellandum Sathanam.

Per hec nata preamata Natum tuum qui peccataDelet cuncta perpetrataDeprecare dulciflue

Ut nostra tergens ingrata in nobis plantet firme grataPer quem dando prelibataPrestet eterna requie.Amen.

7 Robert Wylkynson: Jesus autem transiens / Credo in Deum

Jesus autem transiens [Petrus] Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem,Creatorem caeli et terrae. [Andreas] Et in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum,Dominum nostrum, [Jacobus] Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus exMaria Virgine, [Johannes] passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus,et sepultus, [Thomas] descendit ad inferna, tertia die resurrexit amortuis, [Jacobus minor] ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteramDei Patris omnipotentis, [Philippus] inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. [Bartolomaeus] Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, [Matthaeus] sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorumcommunionem, [Simon] remissionem peccatorum, [Judas Thaddeus] carnis resurrectionem, [Matthias] et vitam aeternam. Amen.

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are by Robert Wylkynson and were presumably addedbetween 1500 to 1515 during his time in charge asInformator choristarum at Eton. The final page of themanuscript contains what John Milsom has described asits “most bizarre” item, Wylkynson’s Jesus autemtransiens / Credo in Deum 7 – a canonic setting, for 13voices, of the Apostles’ Creed (as shown on the cover ofthis album). The names of the twelve apostles areinscribed above successive phrases of the Creed in themanuscript, and the opening chant “But Jesus passingthrough them” can be heard passing from one voice toanother. Although unique in structure and musicallyidiosyncratic, Jesus autem transiens does demonstrateseveral obvious aspects of the Eton style: the harmony isbased on simple triads, in either root position or firstinversion, decorated with numerous passing-notes andonly briefly disturbed by a couple of accenteddissonances; the melodic line is characterized bysyncopation and irregularity in both rhythm and phrasing,while its range of 13 notes is very wide for a single voice.The overall compass of 22 or 23 notes of many of theother works in the Eton Choirbook is likewise remarkable.

This recording is perhaps thejewel in the crown of our Naxosseries of “milestones of WesternMusic” – the first music in fourparts (Naxos 8.557340), the firstopera (Naxos 8.557337), thefirst complete polyphonic massand Passion settings (Naxos8.555861), the first sounds of

the Renaissance (Naxos 8.557341), and the first Englishhymnbook (Naxos 8.557681). In this interpretation ofmusic from the Eton Choirbook we have attempted tobring these black and red dots on the page to life, and torecover some of their vibrant harmonic colour. Our maintool for this restoration is the considered addition ofmomentary sharps and flats, over and above thosescattered throughout the manuscript. Here we draw onthree resources: the writings of contemporary theorists onmusica ficta and other practices, an editor’s ear for

consistency and harmonic direction (i.e. when “beauty”should triumph over “necessity”), and years of rehearsalwith the ensemble trying out different possibilities for eachpart’s vocal line. The result, we can be sure, is nevergoing to be one hundred per cent the same as 500 yearsago, but we can be equally positive that these “wrongnotes” (as some critics might term them) are on the righttrack, as once-pallid polyphony bursts into resonantcombinations of tones that match the vivid blues, golds,and greens of the Choirbook itself. And on that note, weare delighted that our performances have been recordedusing a revolutionary new technique (outlined by GeoffMiles overleaf) which, to our ears, captures the live soundof TONUS PEREGRINUS as never before.

Antony Pitts


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5 John Browne: Stabat mater

Stabat mater dolorosaIuxta crucem lacrimosaDum pendebat filius.

Cuius animam gementemContristantem et dolentemPertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflictaFuit illa benedictaMater unigeniti.

Que merebat et dolebatDum videbat et gerebatPoenas nati incliti.

Quis est homo qui non fleretMatrem Christi si videretIn tanto supplicio.

Quis non potest contristariPiam matrem contemplariDolentem cum filio.

Eia mater fons amorisMe sentire vim dolorisFac ut tecum lugeam.

Fac ut ardeat cor meumIn amando Christum DeumUt sibi complaceam.

Stabat mater rubens rosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosaVidens fere criminosaNullum reum crimine.

Et dum stetit generosaIuxta crucem lacrimosaPlebs tunc canit clamorosa:Crucifige crucifige.

The sorrowful mother stoodweeping at the foot of the Crossas her Son hung upon it.

Her groaning heart,sorrowing alongside and grieving,was pierced by a sword.

O how sad and afflicted was that blessed mother of the Only-Begotten!

How she grieved and suffered as she watched and ponderedthe agony of her glorious Son!

Who is the man who would not weepto see the mother of Christ in such great torment?

Who could not sorrow with herthinking on this pure mother sorrowing together with her Son?

O mother, what a fount of love! that I might feel the power of that sorrow, would that I might mourn with you!

Would that my heart might burn with love for Christ my God, that I might please Him!

The mother stood, a reddening rose, weeping at the foot of the Crossas she saw treated as a criminalHim who had done no crime.

And as she stood overwhelmed,weeping at the foot of the Cross,the crowd roared cacophonously“Crucify him, crucify!”

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Note on the recording technique

The main pair of microphones on this recording areindeed unorthodox, and this will be the first commercialrelease that has used them. They are an attempt toprovide the listener with a new approach to the idea ofhigh resolution sound. “High resolution” in audio isgenerally taken to mean extending frequency range, andproviding the widest dynamic possibilities across thatrange. This would seem like a good idea; however,producing microphones that operate well across such anextended range without making certain trade-offs isimpossible. One side effect of extended frequency inmany microphones is an increase in a form of distortion

called “intermodulation”. This is a non-harmonic distortionwhich is perceptible as a “glassy”, “metallic” or “hard”quality, most obvious when recording high sound levels.Unlike most modern microphones, these experimentalmicrophones are designed to provide enhanced dynamicresolution within the region that our own ears are mostsensitive. Research into the neurology of hearingsuggests that the way in which harmonics interact withinthis region provides crucial information to the brain aboutpitch, timbre, dynamics and timing. Clouding this

important area with non-harmonic distortion makes arecording more difficult for the brain to process, andtherefore more tiring to listen to. The result of removingthe distortion is in many ways unremarkable. Lines (as inthis beautiful polyphony) should be easier to follow,individual voices should be clearer and easier to place,and the timbre of each voice should be more easilydistinguishable. This microphone development is a work-in-progress, but I believe it may prove the beginning of animportant new direction to be pursued much further.Having said all of this, I hope that if I’ve done my jobproperly most listeners will just enjoy the music!

Geoff Miles (recording engineer)

With many thanks to the Vicar, Fr Christopher Smith,Verger, Greg Rupprecht, and the staff and congregationof St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London, and to the DigitalImage Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) – images ofthe Eton Choirbook © 2003 the Provost and Fellows ofEton College and provided by www.diamm.ac.uk; imagesof TONUS PEREGRINUS and of the facsimile by IanDingle © 2011

As this disc is so much about transmission from onegeneration to another, and – on a narrative level – aboutthe joys and trials of parenthood, it is dedicated to ourchildren: Thomas (1993), Anna (1997), Raphael (1999),Sophia (2001), William (2002), Daniel (2003), Edward(2004), Eleanor (2004), Jessica (2005), Benjamin (2006),William (2006), Toby (2006), Luke (2007), Hugo (2007),Arran (2007), Harry (2008), James (2008), Sophie (2009),Grace and Archie (2010), ...

“Elephant Ears” designed by Geoff Miles


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mingled with gall: and when He had tasted [thereof], Hewould not drink. And they crucified Him, and parted Hisgarments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which wasspoken by the prophet, They parted My garments amongthem, and upon My vesture did they cast lots. And sittingdown they watched Him there; And set up over His headHis accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THEJEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, oneon the right hand, and another on the left. And they thatpassed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, And saying,Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest [it] in threedays, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come downfrom the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking[Him], with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others;Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Himnow come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will haveHim: for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also,which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth.Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all theland unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesuscried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsakenMe? Some of them that stood there, when they heard [that],said, This [man] calleth for Elias. And straightway one ofthem ran, and took a spunge, and filled [it] with vinegar, andput [it] on a reed, and gave Him to drink. The rest said, Letbe, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him. Jesus,when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up theghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twainfrom the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and therocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodiesof the saints which slept arose, And came out of the gravesafter His resurrection, and went into the holy city, andappeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and theythat were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake,and those things that were done, they feared greatly,saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And many womenwere there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus fromGalilee, ministering unto Him: Among which was MaryMagdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, andthe mother of Zebedee’s children...

Et sedentes servabant eum et inposuerunt super caputeius causam ipsius scriptam: Hic est Jesus rexJudaeorum. Tunc crucifixi sunt cum eo duo latrones unusa dextris et unus a sinistris. Praetereuntes autemblasphemabant eum moventes capita sua et dicentes:Vah, qui destruit templum et in triduo reaedificas illudsalva te ipsum si Filius Dei es descende [nunc] de cruce.Similiter et principes sacerdotum illudentes ei cum scribiset senioribus dicebant: Alios salvos fecit se ipsum nonpotest salvum facere si rex Israhel est descendat nunc decruce et credemus ei confidet in Deo liberet [nunc] eum sivult dixit enim quia Filius Dei sum. Id ipsum autem etlatrones qui crucifixi erant cum eo inproperabant ei. Asexta autem hora tenebrae factae sunt super universamterram usque ad horam nonam et circa horam nonamclamavit Jesus voce magna dicens: Eloy, Eloy, lemasabacthani? Hoc est: Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quiddereliquisti me? Quidam illic stantes et audientesdicebant Heliam vocavit iste. Et continuo currens unus exeis acceptam spongiam implevit aceto et inposuitharundini et dabat ei bibere. Ceteri vero dicebant: Sinevideamus an veniat Helias liberare eum. Jesus autemiterum clamans voce magna emisit spiritum. Et eccevelum templi scissum est in duas partes a summo usquedeorsum et terra mota est et petrae scissae sunt etmonumenta aperta sunt et multa corpora sanctorum quidormierant surrexerunt et exeuntes de monumentis postresurrectionem ejus venerunt in sanctam civitatem etapparuerunt multis. Centurio autem et qui cum eo erantcustodientes Jesum viso terraemotu et his qui fiebanttimuerunt valde dicentes: Vere Dei Filius erat iste. Erantautem ibi mulieres multae a longe quae secutae erantJesum a Galilaea ministrantes ei inter quas erat MariaMagdalene et Maria Iacobi et Ioseph mater et materfiliorum Zebedaei...

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TONUS PEREGRINUS

TONUS PEREGRINUS was founded by the composer Antony Pitts in 1990, during his studies with Edward Higginbottom atNew College, Oxford, and today is an established ensemble in Britain and abroad with a significant discography. At the coreof TONUS PEREGRINUS are a dozen singers who combine their diverse expertise to interpret a repertoire ranging from theend of the Dark Ages to scores where the ink is still wet; together they have achieved major successes in both new music andearly music, including a Cannes Classical Award for the ensemble’s chart-topping début release of Arvo Pärt’s Passio, andThe Naxos Book of Carols – circulated to millions of homes in Britain and available as a printed carol-book from Faber Music(www.naxoscarols.com). TONUS PEREGRINUS was honoured to perform at the memorials for Alexander Litvinenko.

Antony PittsAntony Pitts sang as a treble in the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; he was an Academic Scholar and later anHonorary Senior Scholar at New College, Oxford where he founded TONUS PEREGRINUS. In 2004 their radicalinterpretation of Arvo Pärt’s Passio (Naxos 8.555860) won a Cannes Classical Award. He has been both a SeniorProducer at BBC Radio 3 and a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music; he is currently a patron of the LondonFestival of Contemporary Church Music and an honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Church Music. His compositions havebeen given their premières in Wigmore Hall and Westminster Cathedral in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam,and the Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal in Berlin, and published by Faber Music – notably the 40-part motet XL andThe Naxos Book of Carols – and released on Naxos, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Signum, and Unknown Public.

Joanna Forbes L’EstrangeFormerly soprano/MD of The Swingle Singers, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange is a specialist ensemble singer, performingand recording with Tenebrae, Synergy and, for the past two decades, TONUS PEREGRINUS. Her discographycomprises over forty choral CDs, around seventy film soundtracks and numerous backing vocals for world-class artists.

Photo: Ian Dingle


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Pilate unto Him, Hearest thou not how many things theywitness against thee? And He answered him to never aword; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at[that] feast the governor was wont to release unto thepeople a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then anotable prisoner, called Barabbas [who, for murder wascast in prison (Luke 23: 19)]. Therefore when they weregathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye thatI release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is calledChrist? For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him.When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sentunto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that justman: for I have suffered many things this day in a dreambecause of Him. But the chief priests and elders persuadedthe multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroyJesus. The governor answered and said unto them,Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? Theysaid, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do thenwith Jesus which is called Christ? [They] all say unto him,Let Him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evilhath He done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let Himbe crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing,but [that] rather a tumult was made, he took water, andwashed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, I aminnocent of the blood of this just person: see ye [to it]. Thenanswered all the people, and said, His blood [be] on us,and on our children. Then released he Barabbas untothem: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered [Him]to be crucified.Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesusinto the common hall, and gathered unto Him the wholeband [of soldiers]. And they stripped Him, and put on Him ascarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns,they put [it] upon His head, and a reed in His right hand:and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him,saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, andtook the reed, and smote Him on the head. And after thatthey had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, andput His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify[Him]. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene,Simon by name: him they compelled to bear His cross. Andwhen they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that isto say, a place of a skull, They gave Him vinegar to drink

quanta adversum te dicant testimonia? Et non responditei ad ullum verbum ita ut miraretur praeses vehementer.Per diem autem sollemnem consueverat praesesdimittere populo unum vinctum quem voluissent habebatautem tunc vinctum insignem qui dicebatur Barabbas [quipropter homicidium missus fuerat in carcerem].Congregatis ergo illis dixit Pilatus: Quem vultis dimittamvobis, Barabbam an Jesum qui dicitur Christus? Sciebatenim quod per invidiam tradidissent eum. Sedente autemillo pro tribunali misit ad illum uxor eius dicens nihil tibi etiusto illi multa enim passa sum hodie per visum proptereum. Principes autem sacerdotum et seniorespersuaserunt populis ut peterent Barabbam Jesum veroperderent. Respondens autem praeses ait illis: Quemvultis vobis de duobus dimitti? At illi dixerunt: Barabbam.Dicit illis Pilatus: Quid igitur faciam de Jesu qui diciturChristus? Dicunt omnes crucifigatur ait illis praeses: Quidenim mali fecit? At illi magis clamabant dicentes:Crucifigatur. Videns autem Pilatus quia nihil proficeretsed magis tumultus fieret accepta aqua lavit manuscoram populo dicens: Innocens ego sum a sanguine iustihuius. Vos videritis. Et respondens universus populusdixit: Sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros. Tuncdimisit illis Barabbam Jesum autem flagellatum tradiditeis ut crucifigeretur. Tunc milites praesidis suscipientesJesum in praetorio congregaverunt ad eum universamcohortem et exuentes eum clamydem coccineamcircumdederunt ei et plectentes coronam de spinisposuerunt super caput eius et arundinem in dextera ejuset genu flexo ante eum illudebant ei dicentes: Ave rexJudaeorum. Et expuentes in eum acceperunt arundinemet percutiebant caput ejus et postquam illuserunt eiexuerunt eum clamide et induerunt eum vestimentis ejuset duxerunt eum ut crucifigerent exeuntes auteminvenerunt hominem cyreneum nomine Simonem huncangariaverunt ut tolleret crucem ejus et venerunt in locumqui dicitur Golgotha quod est calvariae locus et dederuntei vinum bibere cum felle mixtum et cum gustasset noluitbibere. Postquam autem crucifixerunt eum diviseruntvestimenta eius sortem mittentes, ut adimpleretur quoddictum est per prophetam dicentem diviserunt sibivestimenta mea: et super vestem meam miserunt sortem.

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Rebecca HickeyRebecca Hickey started singing in her local church choir at the age of five which fostered an enduring passion for sacredchoral music. As well as being a long-standing member of TONUS PEREGRINUS, she is a member of the early musicvocal ensemble Stile Antico and also sings with other ensembles such as The Sixteen and The Cardinall’s Musick.

Lisa BeckleyLisa Beckley studied Chemistry at Keble College, Oxford, and had the opportunity for a highly varied musical life there. Sincethen she has specialized in early music, and has sung all over the world and on disc with most of Britain’s leading consortsincluding The Sixteen, The King’s Consort, The Cardinall’s Musick, Oxford Camerata, AAM, and The Tallis Scholars.

Kathryn KnightKathryn Knight read Music at Worcester College, Oxford, where she held a Music Scholarship. She now pursues abusy and varied musical career: she is Publishing Director at Faber Music, and sings with various leading choirs andensembles, and as a solo recitalist. She guest-presents for BBC TV Proms and features regularly as a voice-over artistfor BBC Radio 3.

Alexander L’EstrangeAlexander L’Estrange is a composer and arranger with an international reputation, writing for the world’s leading vocalensembles, and is best known for his African-inspired choral work Zimbe!. Formerly an Oxford chorister and choralscholar, he has sung with TONUS PEREGRINUS for over fifteen years.

Richard EtesonRichard Eteson sang the solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City as Head Chorister at King’s College, Cambridge,opening the world-famous carol service to a radio and TV audience of millions. Since then he has also sung withPolyphony, Magnificat, Collegium Musicum 90, Opus Anglicanum, The Cambridge Scholars, Close Encounters, andwas a member of The Swingle Singers (2000-2010).

Benedict HymasBenedict Hymas’ work as a tenor is broad and varied, including the Evangelist roles in J.S. Bach’s Passions, haute-contre repertoire, recital performances (particularly English song), and consort singing. He has sung with TONUSPEREGRINUS since 2008.

Matthew LongMatthew Long studied music at the University of York and sang as a choral scholar at York Minster. Since moving toLondon in 2006 he has maintained a busy schedule of concerts and recordings, travelling worldwide with some of Britain’smost highly regarded ensembles. He is also a member of The Sixteen and of the solo voice ensemble, I Fagiolini.

Alexander HickeyAlexander Hickey was Head Chorister at Hereford Cathedral, then a tenor choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford,where he read Jurisprudence. He makes time in his busy and successful career as a commercial barrister at 4 PumpCourt Chambers in the Temple to pursue his love of singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS and other professional choirsin London.


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Francis BrettFrancis Brett has sung professionally since graduating from King’s College Cambridge and the Royal College of Music(1997). He has enjoyed singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS as well as the Royal Opera House and English NationalOpera, and small ensembles including The Sixteen and Exaudi. As a soloist he has worked with Andrew Litton, TrevorPinnock, Richard Hickox, Vladimir Jurowski, and Edward Gardner.

Alex KnightAlex Knight was a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge and studied singing at the Royal Academy of Musicunder David Lowe. He now sings when not working as a headhunter and raising twins with his wife Kathryn, and hasworked with a number of groups including TONUS PEREGRINUS, Collegium Musicum 90 and Close Encounters.

Nick FlowerNick Flower runs the production, website, and data management departments at Hyperion Records. Out of hours hebuilds Lego with his three sons, and has been sighted singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS, Oxford Camerata, and theBorough Green Occasional Choir.

Stephen RiceStephen Rice is a performer and academic, and director of The Brabant Ensemble.

1 Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater3 Plainchant: Nesciens mater

Nesciens mater virgo virum peperit sine doloreSalvatorem saeculorum, ipsum regem angelorum solavirgo lactabat ubere de caelo pleno.

2 William, Monk of Stratford: Magnificat 6 Hugh Kellyk: Magnificat

Magnificat anima mea Dominum. Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo,Quia respexit humilitatem ancille sue, ecce enim ex hoc

beatam me dicent omnes generationes.Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est,

et sanctum nomen eius.Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies

timentibus eum.Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, dispersit superbos

mente cordis sui.Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.Esurientes implevit bonis, et divites dimisit inanes.Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordie sue.Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini

eius in secula.Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper:

et in secula seculorum. Amen.

4 Richard Davy: St Matthew Passion, the Trial before Pilate and the Crucifixion(Matthew 27:11-56)

Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundumMattheum...Jesus autem stetit ante praesidem: et interrogavit eumpraeses dicens: Tu es rex Judaeorum? Dicit ei Jesus: Tudicis. Et cum accusaretur a principibus sacerdotum etsenioribus nihil respondit. Tunc dicit illi Pilatus: Non audis

Not knowing a man, the virgin mother without pain gavebirth to the Saviour of the ages; to the very King of angelsthe virgin alone gave milk from her heaven-filled breasts.

My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden:

for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is His Name.

And His mercy is on them that fear Him throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He remembering His mercy hath holpen His servant Israel,As He promised to our fathers, Abraham, and to his seed

for ever. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according toMatthew...Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor askedHim, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus saidunto him, Thou sayest. And when He was accused by thechief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then said

Facsimile of the Eton Choirbook

Photos: Ian Dingle


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Pilate unto Him, Hearest thou not how many things theywitness against thee? And He answered him to never aword; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at[that] feast the governor was wont to release unto thepeople a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then anotable prisoner, called Barabbas [who, for murder wascast in prison (Luke 23: 19)]. Therefore when they weregathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye thatI release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is calledChrist? For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him.When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sentunto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that justman: for I have suffered many things this day in a dreambecause of Him. But the chief priests and elders persuadedthe multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroyJesus. The governor answered and said unto them,Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? Theysaid, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do thenwith Jesus which is called Christ? [They] all say unto him,Let Him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evilhath He done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let Himbe crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing,but [that] rather a tumult was made, he took water, andwashed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, I aminnocent of the blood of this just person: see ye [to it]. Thenanswered all the people, and said, His blood [be] on us,and on our children. Then released he Barabbas untothem: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered [Him]to be crucified.Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesusinto the common hall, and gathered unto Him the wholeband [of soldiers]. And they stripped Him, and put on Him ascarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns,they put [it] upon His head, and a reed in His right hand:and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him,saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, andtook the reed, and smote Him on the head. And after thatthey had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, andput His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify[Him]. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene,Simon by name: him they compelled to bear His cross. Andwhen they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that isto say, a place of a skull, They gave Him vinegar to drink

quanta adversum te dicant testimonia? Et non responditei ad ullum verbum ita ut miraretur praeses vehementer.Per diem autem sollemnem consueverat praesesdimittere populo unum vinctum quem voluissent habebatautem tunc vinctum insignem qui dicebatur Barabbas [quipropter homicidium missus fuerat in carcerem].Congregatis ergo illis dixit Pilatus: Quem vultis dimittamvobis, Barabbam an Jesum qui dicitur Christus? Sciebatenim quod per invidiam tradidissent eum. Sedente autemillo pro tribunali misit ad illum uxor eius dicens nihil tibi etiusto illi multa enim passa sum hodie per visum proptereum. Principes autem sacerdotum et seniorespersuaserunt populis ut peterent Barabbam Jesum veroperderent. Respondens autem praeses ait illis: Quemvultis vobis de duobus dimitti? At illi dixerunt: Barabbam.Dicit illis Pilatus: Quid igitur faciam de Jesu qui diciturChristus? Dicunt omnes crucifigatur ait illis praeses: Quidenim mali fecit? At illi magis clamabant dicentes:Crucifigatur. Videns autem Pilatus quia nihil proficeretsed magis tumultus fieret accepta aqua lavit manuscoram populo dicens: Innocens ego sum a sanguine iustihuius. Vos videritis. Et respondens universus populusdixit: Sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros. Tuncdimisit illis Barabbam Jesum autem flagellatum tradiditeis ut crucifigeretur. Tunc milites praesidis suscipientesJesum in praetorio congregaverunt ad eum universamcohortem et exuentes eum clamydem coccineamcircumdederunt ei et plectentes coronam de spinisposuerunt super caput eius et arundinem in dextera ejuset genu flexo ante eum illudebant ei dicentes: Ave rexJudaeorum. Et expuentes in eum acceperunt arundinemet percutiebant caput ejus et postquam illuserunt eiexuerunt eum clamide et induerunt eum vestimentis ejuset duxerunt eum ut crucifigerent exeuntes auteminvenerunt hominem cyreneum nomine Simonem huncangariaverunt ut tolleret crucem ejus et venerunt in locumqui dicitur Golgotha quod est calvariae locus et dederuntei vinum bibere cum felle mixtum et cum gustasset noluitbibere. Postquam autem crucifixerunt eum diviseruntvestimenta eius sortem mittentes, ut adimpleretur quoddictum est per prophetam dicentem diviserunt sibivestimenta mea: et super vestem meam miserunt sortem.

8.5728407

Rebecca HickeyRebecca Hickey started singing in her local church choir at the age of five which fostered an enduring passion for sacredchoral music. As well as being a long-standing member of TONUS PEREGRINUS, she is a member of the early musicvocal ensemble Stile Antico and also sings with other ensembles such as The Sixteen and The Cardinall’s Musick.

Lisa BeckleyLisa Beckley studied Chemistry at Keble College, Oxford, and had the opportunity for a highly varied musical life there. Sincethen she has specialized in early music, and has sung all over the world and on disc with most of Britain’s leading consortsincluding The Sixteen, The King’s Consort, The Cardinall’s Musick, Oxford Camerata, AAM, and The Tallis Scholars.

Kathryn KnightKathryn Knight read Music at Worcester College, Oxford, where she held a Music Scholarship. She now pursues abusy and varied musical career: she is Publishing Director at Faber Music, and sings with various leading choirs andensembles, and as a solo recitalist. She guest-presents for BBC TV Proms and features regularly as a voice-over artistfor BBC Radio 3.

Alexander L’EstrangeAlexander L’Estrange is a composer and arranger with an international reputation, writing for the world’s leading vocalensembles, and is best known for his African-inspired choral work Zimbe!. Formerly an Oxford chorister and choralscholar, he has sung with TONUS PEREGRINUS for over fifteen years.

Richard EtesonRichard Eteson sang the solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City as Head Chorister at King’s College, Cambridge,opening the world-famous carol service to a radio and TV audience of millions. Since then he has also sung withPolyphony, Magnificat, Collegium Musicum 90, Opus Anglicanum, The Cambridge Scholars, Close Encounters, andwas a member of The Swingle Singers (2000-2010).

Benedict HymasBenedict Hymas’ work as a tenor is broad and varied, including the Evangelist roles in J.S. Bach’s Passions, haute-contre repertoire, recital performances (particularly English song), and consort singing. He has sung with TONUSPEREGRINUS since 2008.

Matthew LongMatthew Long studied music at the University of York and sang as a choral scholar at York Minster. Since moving toLondon in 2006 he has maintained a busy schedule of concerts and recordings, travelling worldwide with some of Britain’smost highly regarded ensembles. He is also a member of The Sixteen and of the solo voice ensemble, I Fagiolini.

Alexander HickeyAlexander Hickey was Head Chorister at Hereford Cathedral, then a tenor choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford,where he read Jurisprudence. He makes time in his busy and successful career as a commercial barrister at 4 PumpCourt Chambers in the Temple to pursue his love of singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS and other professional choirsin London.


8.57284011

mingled with gall: and when He had tasted [thereof], Hewould not drink. And they crucified Him, and parted Hisgarments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which wasspoken by the prophet, They parted My garments amongthem, and upon My vesture did they cast lots. And sittingdown they watched Him there; And set up over His headHis accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THEJEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, oneon the right hand, and another on the left. And they thatpassed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, And saying,Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest [it] in threedays, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come downfrom the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking[Him], with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others;Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Himnow come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will haveHim: for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also,which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth.Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all theland unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesuscried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsakenMe? Some of them that stood there, when they heard [that],said, This [man] calleth for Elias. And straightway one ofthem ran, and took a spunge, and filled [it] with vinegar, andput [it] on a reed, and gave Him to drink. The rest said, Letbe, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him. Jesus,when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up theghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twainfrom the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and therocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodiesof the saints which slept arose, And came out of the gravesafter His resurrection, and went into the holy city, andappeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and theythat were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake,and those things that were done, they feared greatly,saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And many womenwere there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus fromGalilee, ministering unto Him: Among which was MaryMagdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, andthe mother of Zebedee’s children...

Et sedentes servabant eum et inposuerunt super caputeius causam ipsius scriptam: Hic est Jesus rexJudaeorum. Tunc crucifixi sunt cum eo duo latrones unusa dextris et unus a sinistris. Praetereuntes autemblasphemabant eum moventes capita sua et dicentes:Vah, qui destruit templum et in triduo reaedificas illudsalva te ipsum si Filius Dei es descende [nunc] de cruce.Similiter et principes sacerdotum illudentes ei cum scribiset senioribus dicebant: Alios salvos fecit se ipsum nonpotest salvum facere si rex Israhel est descendat nunc decruce et credemus ei confidet in Deo liberet [nunc] eum sivult dixit enim quia Filius Dei sum. Id ipsum autem etlatrones qui crucifixi erant cum eo inproperabant ei. Asexta autem hora tenebrae factae sunt super universamterram usque ad horam nonam et circa horam nonamclamavit Jesus voce magna dicens: Eloy, Eloy, lemasabacthani? Hoc est: Deus meus, Deus meus, ut quiddereliquisti me? Quidam illic stantes et audientesdicebant Heliam vocavit iste. Et continuo currens unus exeis acceptam spongiam implevit aceto et inposuitharundini et dabat ei bibere. Ceteri vero dicebant: Sinevideamus an veniat Helias liberare eum. Jesus autemiterum clamans voce magna emisit spiritum. Et eccevelum templi scissum est in duas partes a summo usquedeorsum et terra mota est et petrae scissae sunt etmonumenta aperta sunt et multa corpora sanctorum quidormierant surrexerunt et exeuntes de monumentis postresurrectionem ejus venerunt in sanctam civitatem etapparuerunt multis. Centurio autem et qui cum eo erantcustodientes Jesum viso terraemotu et his qui fiebanttimuerunt valde dicentes: Vere Dei Filius erat iste. Erantautem ibi mulieres multae a longe quae secutae erantJesum a Galilaea ministrantes ei inter quas erat MariaMagdalene et Maria Iacobi et Ioseph mater et materfiliorum Zebedaei...

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TONUS PEREGRINUS

TONUS PEREGRINUS was founded by the composer Antony Pitts in 1990, during his studies with Edward Higginbottom atNew College, Oxford, and today is an established ensemble in Britain and abroad with a significant discography. At the coreof TONUS PEREGRINUS are a dozen singers who combine their diverse expertise to interpret a repertoire ranging from theend of the Dark Ages to scores where the ink is still wet; together they have achieved major successes in both new music andearly music, including a Cannes Classical Award for the ensemble’s chart-topping début release of Arvo Pärt’s Passio, andThe Naxos Book of Carols – circulated to millions of homes in Britain and available as a printed carol-book from Faber Music(www.naxoscarols.com). TONUS PEREGRINUS was honoured to perform at the memorials for Alexander Litvinenko.

Antony PittsAntony Pitts sang as a treble in the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; he was an Academic Scholar and later anHonorary Senior Scholar at New College, Oxford where he founded TONUS PEREGRINUS. In 2004 their radicalinterpretation of Arvo Pärt’s Passio (Naxos 8.555860) won a Cannes Classical Award. He has been both a SeniorProducer at BBC Radio 3 and a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music; he is currently a patron of the LondonFestival of Contemporary Church Music and an honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Church Music. His compositions havebeen given their premières in Wigmore Hall and Westminster Cathedral in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam,and the Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal in Berlin, and published by Faber Music – notably the 40-part motet XL andThe Naxos Book of Carols – and released on Naxos, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Signum, and Unknown Public.

Joanna Forbes L’EstrangeFormerly soprano/MD of The Swingle Singers, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange is a specialist ensemble singer, performingand recording with Tenebrae, Synergy and, for the past two decades, TONUS PEREGRINUS. Her discographycomprises over forty choral CDs, around seventy film soundtracks and numerous backing vocals for world-class artists.

Photo: Ian Dingle


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5 John Browne: Stabat mater

Stabat mater dolorosaIuxta crucem lacrimosaDum pendebat filius.

Cuius animam gementemContristantem et dolentemPertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflictaFuit illa benedictaMater unigeniti.

Que merebat et dolebatDum videbat et gerebatPoenas nati incliti.

Quis est homo qui non fleretMatrem Christi si videretIn tanto supplicio.

Quis non potest contristariPiam matrem contemplariDolentem cum filio.

Eia mater fons amorisMe sentire vim dolorisFac ut tecum lugeam.

Fac ut ardeat cor meumIn amando Christum DeumUt sibi complaceam.

Stabat mater rubens rosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosaVidens fere criminosaNullum reum crimine.

Et dum stetit generosaIuxta crucem lacrimosaPlebs tunc canit clamorosa:Crucifige crucifige.

The sorrowful mother stoodweeping at the foot of the Crossas her Son hung upon it.

Her groaning heart,sorrowing alongside and grieving,was pierced by a sword.

O how sad and afflicted was that blessed mother of the Only-Begotten!

How she grieved and suffered as she watched and ponderedthe agony of her glorious Son!

Who is the man who would not weepto see the mother of Christ in such great torment?

Who could not sorrow with herthinking on this pure mother sorrowing together with her Son?

O mother, what a fount of love! that I might feel the power of that sorrow, would that I might mourn with you!

Would that my heart might burn with love for Christ my God, that I might please Him!

The mother stood, a reddening rose, weeping at the foot of the Crossas she saw treated as a criminalHim who had done no crime.

And as she stood overwhelmed,weeping at the foot of the Cross,the crowd roared cacophonously“Crucify him, crucify!”

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Note on the recording technique

The main pair of microphones on this recording areindeed unorthodox, and this will be the first commercialrelease that has used them. They are an attempt toprovide the listener with a new approach to the idea ofhigh resolution sound. “High resolution” in audio isgenerally taken to mean extending frequency range, andproviding the widest dynamic possibilities across thatrange. This would seem like a good idea; however,producing microphones that operate well across such anextended range without making certain trade-offs isimpossible. One side effect of extended frequency inmany microphones is an increase in a form of distortion

called “intermodulation”. This is a non-harmonic distortionwhich is perceptible as a “glassy”, “metallic” or “hard”quality, most obvious when recording high sound levels.Unlike most modern microphones, these experimentalmicrophones are designed to provide enhanced dynamicresolution within the region that our own ears are mostsensitive. Research into the neurology of hearingsuggests that the way in which harmonics interact withinthis region provides crucial information to the brain aboutpitch, timbre, dynamics and timing. Clouding this

important area with non-harmonic distortion makes arecording more difficult for the brain to process, andtherefore more tiring to listen to. The result of removingthe distortion is in many ways unremarkable. Lines (as inthis beautiful polyphony) should be easier to follow,individual voices should be clearer and easier to place,and the timbre of each voice should be more easilydistinguishable. This microphone development is a work-in-progress, but I believe it may prove the beginning of animportant new direction to be pursued much further.Having said all of this, I hope that if I’ve done my jobproperly most listeners will just enjoy the music!

Geoff Miles (recording engineer)

With many thanks to the Vicar, Fr Christopher Smith,Verger, Greg Rupprecht, and the staff and congregationof St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London, and to the DigitalImage Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) – images ofthe Eton Choirbook © 2003 the Provost and Fellows ofEton College and provided by www.diamm.ac.uk; imagesof TONUS PEREGRINUS and of the facsimile by IanDingle © 2011

As this disc is so much about transmission from onegeneration to another, and – on a narrative level – aboutthe joys and trials of parenthood, it is dedicated to ourchildren: Thomas (1993), Anna (1997), Raphael (1999),Sophia (2001), William (2002), Daniel (2003), Edward(2004), Eleanor (2004), Jessica (2005), Benjamin (2006),William (2006), Toby (2006), Luke (2007), Hugo (2007),Arran (2007), Harry (2008), James (2008), Sophie (2009),Grace and Archie (2010), ...

“Elephant Ears” designed by Geoff Miles


O how deep was the pain you felt, virgin so full of pain,remembering former joys now turned to utter sadness!

No colour was to be foundin you, mother, while in tormentstood your Son, content to be so treated in order for Satan to be defeated.

By all this, highly-favoured lady, may your Son, who cancelsall the sin which we have committed,be entreated with sweet prayers,

That, wiping away our uncleanness, in us He might plant His graceand His promises might be fulfilled in everlasting peace. Amen.

But Jesus passing through the midst of them...[Peter] I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker ofheaven and earth:[Andrew] And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, [James] Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born ofthe Virgin Mary, [John] Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified,dead, and buried; [Thomas] He descended into hell [Hades]; the third dayHe rose again from the dead; [James the less] He ascended into heaven, And sitteth onthe right hand of God the Father Almighty; [Philip] From thence He shall come to judge the quickand the dead.[Bartholomew] I believe in the Holy Ghost; [Matthew] The Holy Catholic Church; The communion ofsaints; [Simon] The forgiveness of sins; [Judas Thaddeus] The resurrection of the body;[Matthias] And the life everlasting. Amen.

O quam gravis illa poenaTibi virgo poene plenaCommemorans preamoena am versa in mestitiami.

Color erat non inventusIn te mater dum dementus [detentus]Stabat natus sic contentus ad debellandum Sathanam.

Per hec nata preamata Natum tuum qui peccataDelet cuncta perpetrataDeprecare dulciflue

Ut nostra tergens ingrata in nobis plantet firme grataPer quem dando prelibataPrestet eterna requie.Amen.

7 Robert Wylkynson: Jesus autem transiens / Credo in Deum

Jesus autem transiens [Petrus] Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem,Creatorem caeli et terrae. [Andreas] Et in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum,Dominum nostrum, [Jacobus] Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus exMaria Virgine, [Johannes] passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus,et sepultus, [Thomas] descendit ad inferna, tertia die resurrexit amortuis, [Jacobus minor] ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteramDei Patris omnipotentis, [Philippus] inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. [Bartolomaeus] Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, [Matthaeus] sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorumcommunionem, [Simon] remissionem peccatorum, [Judas Thaddeus] carnis resurrectionem, [Matthias] et vitam aeternam. Amen.

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are by Robert Wylkynson and were presumably addedbetween 1500 to 1515 during his time in charge asInformator choristarum at Eton. The final page of themanuscript contains what John Milsom has described asits “most bizarre” item, Wylkynson’s Jesus autemtransiens / Credo in Deum 7 – a canonic setting, for 13voices, of the Apostles’ Creed (as shown on the cover ofthis album). The names of the twelve apostles areinscribed above successive phrases of the Creed in themanuscript, and the opening chant “But Jesus passingthrough them” can be heard passing from one voice toanother. Although unique in structure and musicallyidiosyncratic, Jesus autem transiens does demonstrateseveral obvious aspects of the Eton style: the harmony isbased on simple triads, in either root position or firstinversion, decorated with numerous passing-notes andonly briefly disturbed by a couple of accenteddissonances; the melodic line is characterized bysyncopation and irregularity in both rhythm and phrasing,while its range of 13 notes is very wide for a single voice.The overall compass of 22 or 23 notes of many of theother works in the Eton Choirbook is likewise remarkable.

This recording is perhaps thejewel in the crown of our Naxosseries of “milestones of WesternMusic” – the first music in fourparts (Naxos 8.557340), the firstopera (Naxos 8.557337), thefirst complete polyphonic massand Passion settings (Naxos8.555861), the first sounds of

the Renaissance (Naxos 8.557341), and the first Englishhymnbook (Naxos 8.557681). In this interpretation ofmusic from the Eton Choirbook we have attempted tobring these black and red dots on the page to life, and torecover some of their vibrant harmonic colour. Our maintool for this restoration is the considered addition ofmomentary sharps and flats, over and above thosescattered throughout the manuscript. Here we draw onthree resources: the writings of contemporary theorists onmusica ficta and other practices, an editor’s ear for

consistency and harmonic direction (i.e. when “beauty”should triumph over “necessity”), and years of rehearsalwith the ensemble trying out different possibilities for eachpart’s vocal line. The result, we can be sure, is nevergoing to be one hundred per cent the same as 500 yearsago, but we can be equally positive that these “wrongnotes” (as some critics might term them) are on the righttrack, as once-pallid polyphony bursts into resonantcombinations of tones that match the vivid blues, golds,and greens of the Choirbook itself. And on that note, weare delighted that our performances have been recordedusing a revolutionary new technique (outlined by GeoffMiles overleaf) which, to our ears, captures the live soundof TONUS PEREGRINUS as never before.

Antony Pitts


8.572840 14 8.5728403

Out of the 25 composersrepresented in the EtonChoirbook, several had stronglinks with Eton College itself:Walter Lambe and, quitepossibly, John Browne werethere in the late 1460s as boys.John Browne, composer of theastounding six-part setting of

Stabat mater dolorosa 5 may have gone on to NewCollege, Oxford, while Richard Davy was at MagdalenCollege, Oxford in the 1490s. We can imagine thesecomposers and their fellow-singers grouped around thehuge choirbook on a lectern – seven or so men, and infront, ten boys who with eyesight still undimmed couldread from the top of the very large pages. The size of thepages meant they had to be parchment and, in order to belegible in the uncertain candlelight, the music was solidlyinscribed on staves 2cm high. Each voice-part is writtenout by itself (without barlines) on one part of the opendouble-page spread: unlike a modern score there is novertical alignment between the parts and there is little toshow the existence of the tactus – or beat – apart from thegroupings of the noteheads. The noteheads usedpractically throughout are in “black-full” notation (i.e. filled-in semibreves and minims) which survived later inEngland than on the Continent, rather than the morefamiliar “black-void” notation (which is more-or-less whatwe still use today). Red ink, too, provided a way ofconveying further instructions to the performers: red textis used in sections for reduced numbers of voices, whilered noteheads introduce the notion of binary‘imperfection’ into a mensural world of rhythmicproportions grounded on the Trinitarian foundation of themediaeval theorists – three against two: triplets andhemiolas, as musicians call them today.

The original index lists morethan 60 antiphons – all votiveantiphons designed for dailyextraliturgical use and fulfillingMary’s prophecy that “Fromhenceforth all generations shallcall me blessed”; one of thebest known – and justifiably so– is Walter Lambe’s setting of

Nesciens mater 1 in which the composer weaves someof the loveliest polyphony around the plainchant tenor(sung by itself on track 3). The Magnificat is Mary’s songof praise and joy in response to her cousin Elizabeth’sown prophetic salutation: “Blessed art thou amongwomen, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb”; and atsome point no fewer than 24 versions of the Magnificatwere added to the Choirbook, including a virtuosic settingby Hugh Kellyk 6 – of which this is believed to be the firstrecording; and last but certainly not least, the ebullientfour-part setting by William Stratford 2 which we singhere in alternating (and finally combined) choirs of upperand lower voices. Stratford’s polyphony appears tocontain two quirky but audible examples of rhythmic word-painting: one lost beat between the words “the rich” and“He hath sent empty away”, and one extra beat at thewords “his seed for ever”.

Almost the final addition to theChoirbook is a Passion setting –the first by a named composer,Richard Davy. The openingpages of his St MatthewPassion 4 have been lost, sothe story begins here with Jesusstanding in front of Pilate.Davy’s polyphony sets the

spoken parts of the narrative, with the rest of the textintoned by a single voice), and is notable for its intenseand fast-changing response to the text – for instance, theway the names of Barrabas and of Jesus are contrasted.A main index was compiled after all these pieces hadbeen added; the only two pieces not listed in this index


8.57284015

All photos: Ian Dingle

Music from the Eton Choirbook

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The Eton Choirbook – a giantmanuscript from Eton CollegeChapel – is one of the greatestsurviving glories of pre-Reformation England. There is aproverb contemporary with theEton Choirbook which mighthave been directly inspired bythe spectacular sounds locked

up in its colourful pages: “Galli cantant, Italiae capriant,Germani ululant, Anglici jubilant” (roughly translated as“The French sing, the Italians quaver, the Germans wail,and the English make a joyful noise!”). English musicianshad loved successions of joyful-sounding thirds (C+E,D+F) for generations before the Eton Choirbook, as can beheard in the first complete setting of the Passion (Naxos8.555861). By experimenting with full triads (C+E+G) JohnDunstaple – the first truly great English composer – wasable to take this jubilation to a new level, such that in 1475the musicologist Tinctoris could claim that music had beentransformed during his own lifetime into a “new art” (Naxos8.557341). This “joyful noise” remained a quintessentiallyEnglish characteristic through the extremes of Tallis’sforty-part motet Spem in alium (Naxos 8.557770) andGibbons’s ravishing Hymnes and Songs of the Church(Naxos 8.557681) to English composers of the 20thcentury and today. But it is in the Eton Choirbook itself thatsome unsurpassed heights of musical ecstasy werereached, mirroring the lofty perpendicular style of thearchitecture of the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Founded along with King’sCollege, Cambridge in the early1440s by Henry VI, EtonCollege was to be a haven ofeducation, devotion, and charityin the middle of polit icalturbulence – the final stages ofthe Hundred Years’ War withFrance, the so-called ‘Wars of

the Roses’, and the religious reforms and counter-reformsof Henry VIII and his children. That turbulence devastatedmany libraries (including the Chapel Royal library) andmakes the surviving 126 of the original 224 leaves in EtonCollege Manuscript 178 all the more precious, for it is justone of a few representatives of several generations ofEnglish music in a period of rapid and impressivedevelopment. Eton’s chapel library itself had survived aforced removal in 1465 to Edward IV’s St George’sChapel – a stone’s throw away in Windsor – during atemporary fall from royal favour. It was under the rule ofHenry VII, who had claimed the monarchy for the Tudorsin 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth, that the repertoire of theEton Choirbook particularly flourished, and the Choirbookitself was put together around 1500 – described in a 1531inventory as “a grete ledger of prick song secundo foliotum cuncta”. Putting together a Choirbook was no smallfeat: as Magnus Williamson notes in his introduction tothe recently-published DIAMM facsimile, not only would ithave cost somewhere in the region of an entire annualsalary (of, say, a senior chaplain), but would also have“required the skins of 112 average-sized calves”!

However magnificent, the musicof the Eton Choirbook is just thetip of a titanic schedule ofdevotions and supplicationswhich took place in the CollegeChapel. Each day some sevenmasses were said or sung, andin addition there were the variousobservances which had sprung

up over the centuries around the person of Mary, the virginmother of Jesus (later to be silenced at the strokes of penand sword of Protestant Reformers); feastdays, of whichthere were many, required yet more celebration, with aparticular emphasis on the events of Passiontide and HolyWeek. The College’s statutes of 1443/4 made provision for,among others, 16 choristers and 4 clerks, who were to havegood voices and be skilled in reading, song, and polyphony.


Music fromTHE ETON

CHOIRBOOKLAMBE • STRATFORD • DAVY

BROWNE • KELLYK • WYLKYNSON

TONUS PEREGRINUS

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1 Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater a 5 6:05JFL RH KK ALE RE BH ML AH FB NF

2 William, Monk of Stratford: Magnificat a 4 14:44JFL RH LB KK ALE / RE BH ML AH AK FB NF SR

3 Plainchant: Nesciens mater 0:47JFL RH LB KK ALE

4 Richard Davy: St Matthew Passion [27:11-56] a 4 21:21Jesus’ words: FB • Evangelist: BH

Pilate: RH ALE RE NF • Pilate’s wife: JFL KK AH NF Turba: JFL RH LB KK ALE RE ML AH AK FB NF

5 John Browne: Stabat mater a 6 16:14JFL RH LB KK ALE RE BH ML AP AH AK FB NF

6 Hugh Kellyk: Magnificat a 5 13:53JFL RH KK ALE RE BH ML AH FB NF

7 Robert Wylkynson: Jesus autem transiens / Credo in Deum canon a 13 5:57

NF AK BH ML AP SR AH RE FB ML BH AK NF

TONUS PEREGRINUS Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Soprano • Rebecca Hickey, Soprano • Lisa Beckley, Soprano

Kathryn Knight, Alto • Alexander L’Estrange, Alto • Richard Eteson, TenorBenedict Hymas, Tenor • Matthew Long, Tenor • Alexander Hickey, Tenor

Alex Knight, Baritone • Francis Brett, Bass • Nick Flower, Bass • with Stephen Rice, Bass

Antony Pitts, Tenor and Director

TONUS PEREGRINUS performing editions from the Eton Choirbook are published by 1equalmusic and are available from lulu.com

Cover image: Eton / Eton College Library / MS 178 / 126v and other images of the Eton Choirbook are reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College and provided by www.diamm.ac.uk


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8.572840

8.572840The Eton Choirbook is a giant 500 year-old manuscript from Eton College Chapel, and one of thegreatest surviving glories of pre-Reformation England. This recording features the earliest polyphonicPassion by a named composer, two heartrending motets for five and six voices, two thrilling settings ofthe Magnificat, and an extraordinary canon in 13 parts, Jesus autem transiens. The ensemble TONUSPEREGRINUS has been widely acclaimed, not least for its “richly sung and very well recorded”programme of Orlando Gibbons, L’Estrange, and Pitts. (The Penguin Guide on 8.557681)

Music from

THE ETON CHOIRBOOK1 Walter Lambe: Nesciens mater a 5 6:052 William, Monk of Stratford: Magnificat a 4 14:443 Plainchant: Nesciens mater 0:474 Richard Davy: St Matthew Passion [27:11-56] a 4 21:215 John Browne: Stabat mater a 6 16:146 Hugh Kellyk: Magnificat a 5 (First recording) 13:537 Robert Wylkynson: Jesus autem transiens /

Credo in Deum canon a 13 5:57

A detailed track and artist list can be found on the back page of the booklet.The Latin sung texts and English translations are included in the booklet, and may also be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/572840.htmRecorded in St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London, UK, from 11th-14th July, 2011 Producer: Jeremy Summerly • Engineer: Geoff Miles • Editor: Antony PittsPost-Production: Geoff Miles and Antony Pitts, with additional help from Nick Flower, Daniel Halfordand Deborah Spanton • Booklet notes by Antony Pitts and Geoff Miles • Cover image reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College and provided by DIAMM

TONUS PEREGRINUSJoanna Forbes L’Estrange • Rebecca Hickey • Lisa Beckley • Kathryn Knight

Alexander L’Estrange • Richard Eteson • Benedict Hymas • Matthew LongAlexander Hickey • Alex Knight • Francis Brett • Nick Flower • with Stephen Rice

Antony Pitts, Director

lambe • stratford - naxos music library · 8.572840 14 3 8.572840 out of the 25 composers...

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