The
'Gyffard' Partbooks (
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
GB-British Library">Lbl">Great_Britain">GB<_a>-Briti.html" ;"title="Great_Britain.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Great Britain">GB-British Library">LblAdd. MS 17802–5; also spelled Giffard) are an important set of English Renaissance choral partbooks, containing pieces by composers such as Thomas Tallis and John Sheppard (composer), John Sheppard, as well as additional unnamed composers, which are not found in other sources.
This set of four partbooks were probably mostly copied during the reign of
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...
for use at
St. Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a ...
, but copying continued to ca. 1580. They are named after one of their early owners, Philip Gyffard.
Contents
The collection consists of mostly four-voice
sacred
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or godd ...
a cappella choral
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
music (though there are some 3- and 5-voice pieces). The music is arranged liturgically, and groups of similar pieces are also arranged by the seniority of the composer.
It contains the following pieces:
See also
*
Eton Choirbook
The Eton Choirbook (Eton College MS. 178) is a richly illuminated manuscript collection of English sacred music composed during the late 15th century. It was one of very few collections of Latin liturgical music to survive the Reformation, and h ...
*
Lambeth Choirbook The Lambeth Choirbook – also known as the Arundel Choirbook – is an illuminated choirbook dating to the sixteenth century. It contains music for 7 Masses, 4 Magnificats, and 8 motets. Much of the music is by Tudor-period composers. The majo ...
*
Caius Choirbook
The Caius Choirbook is an illuminated choirbook dating to the early sixteenth century and containing music by Tudor-period composers. The book appears to originate from Arundel in Sussex, and to have been created sometime in the late 1520s; the t ...
*
Peterhouse partbooks
*
The Mulliner Book
The Mulliner Book (British Library Add MS 30513) is a historically important musical commonplace book compiled probably between about 1545 and 1570, by Thomas Mulliner, about whom practically nothing is known, except that he figures in 1563 as '' ...
, an instrumental collection
*
List of Renaissance composers
This is a list of composers active during the Renaissance period of European history. Since the 14th century is not usually considered by music historians to be part of the musical Renaissance, but part of the Middle Ages, composers active dur ...
References
Sources
* ''The Gyffard Partbooks'' ''I'' and ''II'' edited by
David Mateer
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
. EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH MUSIC Volumes 48 and 51 (London: Stainer & Bell, 2007 and 2009)
* Roger Bray, 'British Museum Add. MSS. 17802-5 (The Gyffard Part-Books): An Index and Commentary', ''Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle'' 7 (1969), 31-50
* David Mateer, 'The "Gyffard" Partbooks: Composers, Owners, Date and Provenance', ''Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle'' 28 (1995), 21-50
External links
Table of Contents for Stainer & Bell's Gyffard Partbook compilations
Playlist of available works from the Gyffard partbooks on American SpotifySource description in DIAMM
{{Anglican church music
15th-century books
Renaissance music
Books on English music
Renaissance music manuscript sources