Courts of Heaven

[Miles Coverdale]

Those with an interest in music from the Eton Choirbook may be pleased to know that a third CD of music from Eton by the choir of Christ Church, Oxford is now available. It contains John Hampton's Salve Regina a 5, Edmund Turges's Gaude flore virginali a 4, Richard Fawkyner's Gaude virgo salutata a 5, John Browne's O mater venerabilis a 5 and Robert Wylkynson's Salve regina a 5.

Remarkably, all five pieces are new to the CD catalogue. The first two received a good deal of critical acclaim, and I think this one will too.

[Vox Humana]

Thank you. How splendid that all the items are first recordings. I wonder how many Eton pieces are left unrecorded? I imagine most have been done now, but I've never checked.

[Miles Coverdale]

Of the pieces which survive complete, eight are still unrecorded by my reckoning. There are a further six which are incomplete (i.e. some voice-parts survive intact, while others are partly missing) and another 10 which are fragmentary (some voices survive only in part, while others are entirely missing).

There are two settings of Stabat virgo mater Christi by Browne (one incomplete for full choir in six parts and another for men's voices in four parts) which haven't been recorded, which is a shame, as Browne was probably the best of the Eton composers. However, the text is rather anti-Semitic, which is probably why they haven't been recorded.

I for one would be very interested to hear attempts at reconstruction of the incomplete works, as I think there are some good pieces there. The fragmentary ones are rather unlikely to see the light of day, I think.

[Vox Humana]

Thank you. I hope someone will do these.

[DracoM]

Certainly impressed me, so many thanks for the heads up.

[jean]

There are two settings of Stabat virgo mater Christi by Browne (one incomplete for full choir in six parts and another for men's voices in four parts) which haven't been recorded, which is a shame, as Browne was probably the best of the Eton composers. However, the text is rather anti-Semitic, which is probably why they haven't been recorded.

When I read your OP I did wonder at any Browne being left unrecorded; that could be the reason.

It's easy to remove a piece of particularly antisemitic text from the liturgy, but not from a polyphonic setting. There's a rather nasty section of the Victimae paschali I wasn't even aware of until I sang a setting by Josquin, because it was removed from the missal in 1570.