Taverner: Missa Mater Christi sanctissima & Western Wynde Mass

Featuring

James O'Donnell
Westminster Abbey Choir
John Taverner

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Historical Context

In early Tudor England, the Church was an international organization ruled by the Pope, and England was a devout and orthodox nation.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Taverner's Western Wynde Mass ingeniously embeds the secular 'Western wind' tune twenty-one times in the treble, ten times in the tenor, and five times in the bass, creating musical coherence through repetition.

Compositional Technique

Unlike his other Mass, Taverner's Western Wynde Mass is based on a single-line melody from an overtly secular tune, rather than polyphony.

Composition History

John Taverner was appointed Director of Music at Cardinal College, Oxford, a prestigious and musically spectacular foundation established by Cardinal Wolsey.

Composition History

The Missa Mater Christi sanctissima, based on Taverner's motet, required a reconstruction of its missing tenor voice part for this recording, expertly done by Francis Steele.

Compositional Technique

Taverner's motet Mater Christi sanctissima blends English five-voice texture with Franco-Flemish antiphonal dialogue, while retaining persistent harmonic cross-relations integral to English modality.

Composer Biography

John Taverner, the composer, had great respect for foreign musicians and Continental composition methods, despite the xenophobic attitude of early Tudor England.