John Taverner
John Taverner (c. 1490 in Lincolnshire, † October 18, 1545 in Boston, Lincolnshire ) was an English composer of the Renaissance.
Taverner's life is cause for abundant legends, however, the known facts are scarce: in the years 1524/25 he was a member of the Collegiate Choir of Tattershall in the southern English county of Lincolnshire. The Bishop of Lincoln struck him in 1525 in front of the choir director for the newly created Cardinal 's College (now Christ Church College and Cathedral ) in Oxford. Because of the suspicion of heretical ( Lutheran ) groups in college was taken over this in the administration of the king. Taverner left the college in 1530.
In 1536 he appears in the records of the town of Boston in Lincolnshire. The prosperous community of St. Botolph's Church maintained a choir of 30 singers. By royal decree, the guilds of the church lost its financial resources so that Taverners employment there ended in 1537. However Taverner remained in Boston. He was in touch with Thomas Cromwell, the Protestant minister of the English king Henry VIII in whose behalf he led in the Boston area by 1534 caused dissolution of the monasteries.
As a composer, he devoted himself exclusively to church music. His most important works include:
- Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas ( 6 voices )
- Missa sine nomine (4 voices )
The Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas owes English instrumental music one of its most popular between about 1540 and 1700 forms, the so-called In nomine, which goes back to the setting of the passage in nomine Domini in the Benedictus of the Mass, which was edited by an anonymous editor for viol consort. In its follow numerous composers of this piece have repeatedly led to new adaptations and variations that reflect the stylistic development of English consort music. Even Henry Purcell (1659-1695) composed an In nomine. With the disappearance of the viol consort from the English instrumental music, the tradition ended this genre. In the 20th century it was taken up by composers such as Peter Maxwell Davies and Gavin Bryars.
The ( added by fiction ) life story was the subject of the opera Taverner Taverner by Peter Maxwell Davies, which was premiered in 1972.