CE Chapel of Rugby School [R] Wed, 11th Aug 2021

[ardcarp]

I've heard several broadcasts of the Byrd 3rd Amen recently that cut the English cadence: is this now thought 'more proper' or that Watkins Shaw got it wrong?

I inwardly squirmed when it didn't happen.

[jonfan]

A terrific CE with stunning involved singing with every word heard very clearly. A lovely scene-setting introit and every phrase in the psalms given due importance. Everyone seemed to relish the thrill of getting stuck into the canticles, a great sing! The upper voices had an expressive sound which was just right, never breaking into a vibrato. The men had a beautiful blend especially noticed in the canticles and the unison sections in the anthem. What wonderful training has gone on to achieve such an accomplished standard.
I listened on headphones and didn’t find any problem with the balance between organ and choir that VH noted, in fact I thought the organ registrations just right.

[Vox Humana]

Ach! Sorry, mental lapse on my part. I meant Queens', Cambridge. https://www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/4123/#/ The Stone is coupled with some responses which aren't familiar to me.

I'm getting myself properly confused here. Please ignore the above. The companion prayer book to the Christ Church one is indeed at Peterhouse and is available online here: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-P...-00006-00029/1 The Byrd P&R are on pp. 45 and 65.

[Miles Coverdale]

Ach! Sorry, mental lapse on my part. I meant Queens', Cambridge. https://www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/4123/#/ The Stone is coupled with some responses which aren't familiar to me.

I asked a colleague about this, and he said that the Responses are Tallis, down a tone, with some scribal intereference in the Amens. He also said that the Lord's Prayer is Stone's, which may originally have circulated in Merbecke-like black notation, which was then variously transcribed into pricksong by different scribes, which would go some way to explaining the rhythmic differences in the sources.

[Vox Humana]

I asked a colleague about this, and he said that the Responses are Tallis, down a tone, with some scrobal intereference in the Amens. He also said that the Lord's Prayer is Stone's, which may originally have circulated in Merbecke-like black notation, which was then variously transcribed into pricksong by different scribes, which would go some way to explaining the rhythmic differences in the sources.

Many thanks. Your colleague's theory about the Stone is very plausible. There are a few other pieces, too, that might have originated in that notation.

[Miles Coverdale]

When Shaw prepared his edition, the only source for the vocal parts of Byrd's (third preces and) responses was the so-called 'Latter' set of Caroline partbooks at Peterhouse Cambridge. This set lacks its contratenor cantoris book, so Shaw had to reconstruct the second alto part. In the process, he gave us that English cadence. So it was always speculative. In 2017, Ben Byram-Wigfield prepared a new edition using the same source; his reconstructed second alto retains Shaw's English cadence. Yet a bit of internet digging suggests that the contratenor cantoris part survives in some manuscript additions to a printed prayer book at Christ Church, Oxford. I've not seen this (it's not been digitised) and, judging by what happened to Stone's Lord's Prayer in the other book from this set that survives, it might be heavily bowdlerised. I wonder whether our Master Coverdale has any information.

I contacted the library at Christ Church, who kindly sent me digital images of the relevant folios of Gibbs 12. Despite being clearly labelled 'Cantoris', they transmit the part transcribed by Watkins Shaw as Alto 1 (this also applies to Smith's Responses), so sadly we're no closer to knowing Byrd's original.

[Vox Humana]

I contacted the library at Christ Church, who kindly sent me digital images of the relevant folios of Gibbs 12. Despite being clearly labelled 'Cantoris', they transmit the part transcribed by Watkins Shaw as Alto 1 (this also applies to Smith's Responses), so sadly we're no closer to knowing Byrd's original.

Thanks. That's a shame, but I half expected this. It's all too easy to swap equal-range parts.