Francisco Guerrero - Duo Seraphim

Francisco Guerrero was born in 1528 in Seville, possibly in October. He was Spanish Catholic Priest and composer of the Renaissance. His older brother Pedro was also musical and they received their musical education together, although Francisco's talents soon eclipsed those of his brother. At the tender age of 17 he was appointed Master of Singing at Jaén Cathedral, later accepting a position in Seville in his early twenties. By the age of thirty his reputation was exceptional, he was highly sought after as a composer and singer and had published collections of his compositions at home and abroad.

Guerrero worked for several decades in Spain and Portugal, before travelling to Italy in 1581 where he published two further books of music. After returning to Spain for a few years, he next travelled to the Holy Land, only to be attacked by pirates! Nearly killed and robbed of all his money he returned to Spain penniless until Seville cathedral rescued him and re-employed him. Guerrero published a book of his experiences which met huge success and even planned a return to the Holy Land, but died of the plague in 1599.

Guerrero's unusually wrote both sacred and secular music, unlike his contemporaries Morales and Victoria. Interestingly he anticipated functional harmonic usage in his compositions, which have remained popular for centuries.

Duo Seraphim
This seems to have been the composer’s only piece (surviving complete) for twelve voices in three choirs.

"Guerrero had it printed twice, first in 1589 and again in his final collection (1597). Two lone high voices begin; at ‘Tres sunt’ three voices are exposed on their own. At ‘Plena est omnis terra …’ the grand tutti join in massive chords. The Trinitarian symbolism of the three choirs is obvious,  choral and instrumental groups enhance the separation of the three choirs and their dramatic potential." from notes by Bruno Turner © 1999

Our choral scholars recorded this beautiful motet during lockdown, one voice per part. It's a wonderful achievement and a fitting end to our current cycle of recordings. Next week we are back singing in church!

Duo seraphim clamabant alter ad alterum: 

Sanctus Dominus Deus Saboath. 

Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus. (Isaiah 6:3) 

 Tres sunt, qui testimonium dant in coelo: 

Pater, Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus: 

et hi tres unum sunt. 

Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. 

Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus.

Isaiah 6:2-3; 1 John 5:7

You can download a copy of the score from choral wiki here under their copyright license.

Richard Ayleward, a harmonic link between Tudor and Restoration music.

Born in 1626, Richard Ayleward was the son of a minor canon at Winchester Cathedral, also called Richard. Ayleward sang as a chorister in the Winchester cathedral choir under the director of music Christopher Gibbons, son of Orlando Gibbons. Ayleward must have paid attention, or received a significant amount of tuition since his handwriting style for text and music is almost identical to Gibbons! During the English Restoration, Ayleward was organist and choirmaster of Norwich Cathedral from 1661-1664, and again from 1666-1669. It's not clear why Ayleward gave up his post temporarily in 1664 but he was reappointed in 1665 and remained until his death in 1669.

During the Civil War Interregnum Ayleward must have privately composed many choral pieces, since after the Restoration he was able to quickly produce twenty highly original anthems, one written for the Coronation of Charles II. Ayleward seems to have had distinct Royalist sympathies, and possible connections to the Royal Court, which would have not made him a popular figure during the Interregnum and hence suggests a possible reason for composing privately until the Restoration.

And that was as much as I could discover about this Restoration composer whose Preces and Responses I have sung with our choir for some years.

However Dr. Hugo Janacek, a member of a Facebook Choral Evensong group, piqued my interest recently when he shared some research of his. Janacek researches East Anglian choral music, and has used a complete set of 17th century partbooks written in Ayleward’s hand and signed by him. All the manuscripts of Ayleward's compositions were owned by Norwich Cathedral, purchased by A. H. Mann in the nineteenth century and published.  However whilst Mann deserves much credit for preserving Ayleward's work, he seems to be the source of some confusion around Ayleward's dates, writing in 1886 that Ayleward's birth year was 1626, later admitting he was without proof. As part of his research, Janacek ha in fact uncovered a good candidate for Ayleward’s baptism record, which suggests he was in fact baptised in April 1625 in a village close to Winchester.

The surviving choral music consists of 20 verse anthems, 2 verse settings of the evening canticles (the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) and the Short Service, which contains settings of music for the whole daily office. it is his Short Service which is best known. His responses, with which I was already familiar, are from this Service.

Why you cannot put a price on our Cathedral Choirs

You may well have read Benedict King's letter to the Times today, in which he disparagingly dismissed England's choral tradition as "insanely expensive" and a superfluous part of the Church of England, evidence of our departure from a clear focus on faith and more specifically the cause of the financial crisis facing our churches. He couldn't be more wrong.

The quire at Ely Cathedral

King may well be "History and Economics Editor" at Five Books,  but he seems to have fallen foul of the fundamental truth of economics. Namely that the price of something is a very poor indicator of its worth.

Music is such a fundamental part of worship in our churches. It allows the congregation to participate, invites people to pray and settles their mind ready for worship. Music can give words meaning, preparing the congregation for each stage of the service, conferring a sense of inclusivity and enhancing scripture. Just as children are often taught important information via song, music aids memory and connects with the soul. It is comforting, reassuring, and heightens our emotional involvement in worship. It is also a fundamental expression of joy and as such should be the foundation for praising God!

A good example of music reinforcing scripture is Thomas Weelkes "Hosanna to the Son of David". Hosanna to the Son of David is a famous example of the English 'full' anthem – as opposed to the 'verse' anthem, and opens with a majestic six-voice proclamation. It's glorious thick texture shows how effectively music can conjure up an image, it's a joy to sing! The anthem facilitates the visualisation of the scripture, and actually gives the text meaning in a modern world far removed from biblical times. Words alone simply cannot achieve this.

Celebrations have involved music since time immemorial, and Anglican choral music is inseparable from both the Church of England and our Monarchy. Unless King is in favour of a programme of disestablishment and abolition, advocating the survival of our cathedrals and churches at the expense of their music is profoundly impossible. (Our cathedrals were actually *built* for choirs with their wonderful acoustics!)

Westminster Abbey, where I was fortunate enough to sing Evensong in December

King's reference to Cranmer is also interesting, but as an historian I can assure him music has stood the test of time as a vehicle for communication, emotional connection and teaching. The congregation are not spectators, but participants. I wrote at length here about the impact of the English Reformation on music and whilst Cranmer's reform of the church in England strayed from the Lutheran model, he was a supporter of the Protestant movement in Europe. It's also worth pointing out that Cranmer's motives were mercenary as much as they were religious. And whilst Protestantism is indeed associated with plainer worship, Luther had significant appreciation for music. Not only did he like and enjoy music, (he was a rather accomplished musician himself) he deliberately included music as part of the church service as a means for worship. He believed strongly in the ethical power of music and that through it one could glorify God and grow closer to Him. Music survived as an essential and integral part of Protestant worship as a means of glorifying God and connecting with him. Calvin was deeply concerned for the piety and religious devotion of parishioners, but considered that children could "teach adults simplicity, childlike devotion, and a sincere heart when singing, even though there might be problems with intonation and the like." He was responsible for adding children's choirs to worship music.

As a chorister parent and former teacher I can perhaps reassure King that the musical education offered in cathedral schools and cathedral style choirs is, in fact, inexpensive and of enormous value to society. Places are earned by ability and potential, not social position or income and they provide children who often have little access to a musical education with unparalleled opportunity. Our choirs are a main source of Mission within the Church of England, at a time when many congregations are dwindling and the average age in the pews is increasing. It's also worth noting that even the best music directors earn significantly less than senior teachers in our schools yet in opening the window to classical choral music they promote skills and enthusiasm which stretch far beyond the individual and benefit whole communities. Cathedral choirs promote more than a tradition; they teach history, which gives the present context, train the mind and bring significant mental health benefits. For many, the chorister experience will enrich their lives for many years to come; for some it will be the foundation for a career in professional music.

If this year has taught us anything as a society, it has shown that our value system is profoundly skewed. Our mental health has been damaged by fear and loneliness, no amount of money or privilege can protect us against the virus and supporting retail and business hasn't made us any happier. What people really need, and are crucially missing, is music. Because it's so fundamentally essential for the soul.

And *that* is what is at the foundation of faith; the connection between the soul and our Maker. Prayer may be that connection, but it is the accompanying music which gives it wings.