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• Taverner, John: 4 Short Motets

Taverner, John: 4 Short Motets

for 3 voices or instruments.

These short pieces by John Taverner (c. 1490-1545) are taken from the so-called Baldwyn Commonplace Book (British Library, R.M. 24.d.2. Though very short, they are exquisitely-crafted, and full of distinctive melodic turns, typical of English music of the first half of the sixteenth century. All but no. 3 are straightforward cantus-firmus settings of plainsong melodies.
In this edition the original note values have been halved throughout. Editorial accidentals are printed small above the stave, applying to the one note only; for the sake of simplicity the original accidentals, printed on the stave, are taken as applying to the whole bar. Nos. 1 and 4 have been transposed down a fourth, to bring them into a more useful tessitura for most purposes.
Jesu spes poenitentibus: The cantus firmus in the middle part is the third verse from the sequence Dulcis Jesu memoria (Mass of the Name of Jesus).
Traditur militibus: Cantus firmus in tenor part is the sixth verse of the sequence Coenam cum discipulis (Mass of he Five Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ).
Tam peccatum: The text is the fourth verse of the tract Dulce nomen Deus Christi (Mass of the Name of Jesus). No cantus firmus, but Taverner develops a simple four-note figure in the top part.
Fecundata sine viro: Cantus firmus in top part is the sixth verse from Hodiernae lux diei, one of several sequences for the Lady Mass outside Advent. There is no text underlaid for this in the Baldwyn book; it is possible that this piece was intended as a setting of a different verse of the sequence, though the text of verse 6 fits Taverner´s music best.