John Redford (c. 1500 - died October or November 1547) was a major English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

of the Tudor period. From about 1525 he was organist at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

(succeeding Thomas Hickman). He was

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

master there from 1531 until his death in 1547. Many of his works are represented in

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 ''m ...

. Redford is notable as one of the earliest composers, rather than improvisers, of organ music, having notated a significant quantity of keyboard music, all of it

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

in function, based on

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

melodies; a few vocal works by him also survive. As he held the post of Almoner and Master of the Choristers, Redford was responsible for the arrangement of the choristers performances, including writing and directing plays and interludes. The most celebrated of these entertainments is the

morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...

, '' The Play of Wyt and Science'' (written ca 1530-1550), which exists in one manuscript in the British Library (MS 15233). However, the first five pages of the manuscript are missing; there is no way to know how much is lost. Redford also wrote a number of poems, including the 23 verse ''Nolo mortem peccatoris'', which was set to music by

Thomas Morley Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, music theory, theorist, singer and organist of late Renaissance music. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian inf ...

, who was a later organist at St Paul's. Another poem is ''The Chorister's Lament'', in which choirboys complain of the cruel beatings meted out to them: retched Redford's will (dated 7 Oct., proved 29 Nov. 1547) is published in the ''Records of Early English Drama''. It states that he lived with his sister Margaret Coxe, most likely in the Almoner's House located on the south side of St. Paul's cathedral.''Records of Early English Drama''. ''Ecclesiastical London''. p339.

References

External links

*
A modern edition of The Play of Wit and Science

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redford, John 1547 deaths English Renaissance composers English classical organists English cathedral organists 16th-century English musicians 16th-century English composers Year of birth uncertain English male classical composers English male classical organists