The Pillars of Eternity: Eton Choirbook Volume III

Featuring

Harry Christophers
Carys Lane
Simon Berridge
Simon Birchall
Ruth Dean
Sally Dunkley

The Sixteen
Richard Davy
William Cornysh
Walter Lambe
Robert Wylkynson

Did you know?

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Historical Context

The Eton Choirbook, a vast collection of music, survived the Reformation but was effectively silenced for forty years after Queen Elizabeth's accession in 1558 due to its overtly Catholic sentiments.

Composition History

Walter Lambe's Stella caeli, a plea to the Virgin Mary to protect against plague, may have been written in the summer of 1479, when two of his colleagues died from the disease.

Composition History

Richard Davy's O Domine caeli terraeque creator was composed in a single day at Magdalen College, Oxford, between 1490 and 1492, when he was the college's organist and choirmaster.

Recording & Production

This recording was made at St. Bartholomew's Church, Orford, and was originally released on the Collins label.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Late medieval thinking, as reflected in the Eton Choirbook, believed that the 'pillars of eternity' could be scaled by enlisting the aid of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is constantly invoked.

Compositional Technique

Robert Wylkynson's Jesus autem transiens is an unusual setting of the Creed where thirteen male voices sing in canon, with each voice entering sequentially until all thirteen segments sound simultaneously, symbolizing Christ and his twelve apostles.

Compositional Technique

Robert Wylkynson's nine-part Salve Regina suggests the ninefold hierarchy of angels, with voice parts labelled by angelic rank (Seraphs, Cherubs, etc.) and one tenor part singing a plainchant antiphon for the Feast of the Assumption.