John Taverner

John Taverner was the leading composer of church music under Henry VIII. His contributions to the mass and votive antiphon are varied, distinguished and sometimes innovative; he has left more important settings for the office than any of his predecessors, and even a little secular music survives. Hugh Benham, editor of Taverners complete works for Early English Church Music, now provides the first full-length study of the composer for over twenty years. He places the music in context, with the help of biographical information, discussion of Taverners place in society, and explanation of how each piece was used in the pre-Reformation church services. He investigates the musical language of Taverners predecessors as background for a fresh examination and appraisal of the music in the course of which he traces similarities with the work of younger composers. Issues confronting the performer are considered, and the music is also approached from the listeners point of view, initially through close analytical inspection of the celebrated votive antiphon Gaude plurimum.

The Secrets of Dr. John Taverner by Dion Fortune invites readers on an extraordinary journey into the esoteric world of occult mysteries and hidden realms. Within the pages of this captivating book, Fortune skillfully weaves together elements of magic, psychology, and spiritual exploration, offering a unique perspective on the human psyche and the hidden forces that shape our lives. Set in the backdrop of a mysterious psychiatric institution, the story follows the enigmatic Dr. John Taverner as he delves into the depths of the human mind and encounters supernatural beings from other planes of existence. As Taverner unravels the secrets of his patients' psyches, he discovers a hidden reality that exists beyond the boundaries of conventional understanding. With its blend of mysticism, suspense, and psychological insight, this book invites readers to embark upon a thrilling odyssey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening, where the secrets of the universe and the depths of the human psyche converge in a tapestry of wonder and enlightenment.

John Taverner's lectures on music constitute the only extant version of a complete university course in music in early modern England. Originally composed in 1611 in both English and Latin, they were delivered at Gresham College in London between 1611 and 1638, and it is likely that Taverner intended at some point to publish the lectures in the form of a music treatise. The lectures, which Taverner collectively titled De Ortu et Progressu Artis Musicæ (On the Origin and Progress of the Art of Music), represent a clear attempt to ground musical education in humanist study, particularly in Latin and Greek philology. Taverner's reliance on classical and humanist writers attests to the durability of music's association with rhetoric and philology, an approach to music that is too often assigned to early Tudor England. Taverner is also a noteworthy player in the seventeenth-century Protestant debates over music, explicitly defending music against Reformist polemicists who see music as an overly sensuous activity. In this first published edition of Taverner's musical writings, Joseph M. Ortiz comprehensively introduces, edits, and annotates the text of the lectures, and an appendix contains the existing Latin version of Taverner's text. By shedding light on a neglected figure in English Renaissance music history, this edition is a significant contribution to the study of musical thought in Renaissance England, humanism, Protestant Reformism, and the history of education.