John Taverner (c. 1490-1545); ENG

John Taverner (c. 1490–1545) was an English composer and organist and one of the leading figures in English sacred music during the early Tudor period. Little is known of his early life, but in 1526 he became the first organist and master of the choristers at Cardinal College, Oxford, founded by Cardinal Wolsey and later known as Christ Church. After Wolsey’s fall, Taverner left Oxford and eventually settled in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he spent his later years.

Taverner’s surviving music consists principally of Masses, motets, and other Latin sacred works distinguished by broad melodic lines, rich sonority, and elaborate polyphony. His most celebrated composition is the Western Wynde Mass, based on a secular tune that passes through the Mass in repeated cycles. Other important works include Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, Dum transisset Sabbatum, and Mater Christi sanctissima. A section of Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas helped inspire the English instrumental genre known as the In nomine.

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Taverner, John (b c.1490; d Boston, Lincs., 1545). Eng. composer and organist. Org. of Cardinal Coll. (now Ch. Ch.), Oxford, 1526-30. One of great polyphonic masters of 16th-cent. Eng. mus. Wrote 8 Masses, incl. one based on secular song The Western Wynde (36 variations, 9 in each of 4 movts.). His Mass Gloria tibi Trinitas was fount of the In nomine form for str.; this came about because the instr. comps. by Taverner called In nomine are transcrs. of the passage in the Benedictus of his Mass which sets the words In nomine Domini. Other composers followed his example and used the same title. Also wrote 3 Magnificats and several motets. Taverner was link between medieval mus. and Renaissance. Maxwell Davies's opera Taverner is based on legend about his life.

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