English Music
Sheppard’s music for the new Protestant rite, which has suffered seriously from the loss of manuscript sources, was presumably composed during the reign of Edward VI which saw the publication of the Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and thus created a need for liturgical music for English texts. Four services (settings of canticles and other items for the new English Matins, Evensong and Communion services) have all survived in incomplete form, the Second Service being of interest in that it influenced the design of Byrd’s Great Service (research by Richard Turbet). Sheppard’s fifteen English anthems, most of which are a4, comply with the demands of the Protestant reformers for simplicity, clear, audible words and largely syllabic text-underlay. His five-part English setting of the Lord’s Prayer nevertheless overcomes these limitations and achieves a degree of musical elaboration. The part-songs O happy dames and Vain, vain, all our life we spend in vain (both a4) are Sheppard’s only known secular works.
Read more about this topic: John Sheppard (composer)
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