schofield, bertram - the manuscripts of tallis's forty-part motet

7/21/2019 SCHOFIELD, Bertram - The Manuscripts of Tallis's Forty-Part Motet

1/9

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The Manuscripts of Tallis's Forty-Part Motet

Author(s): Bertram SchofieldSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Apr., 1951), pp. 176-183Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/739894Accessed: 13-04-2015 10:01 UTC

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2/9

THE MANUSCRIPTS OF TALLIS'S

FORTY-PART MOTET

By

BERTRAM

SCHOFIELD

Q

E

of

the

compensations

or

the

tedium

of administrative

duties that

fall

to the lot

of

the

librarian s

the

occasional

rediscovery

f

long-lost

reasures.

n an earlier issue'

it

was

my

fortune

o describe

recently

ound

valuable

manuscript

f

15th-

centurymusic

acquired

by the BritishMuseum,about whose ex-

istence nd

history

o

mention

n

print

s

known

from he

time t

was writtendown

to the

present

day.

More

recently

n

equally

fortunate

hancehas

brought

o

light

he so-called

original

manu-

script

of

Tallis's famous

forty-part

otet

Spem

in

alium,

which,

although

well

known

o

18th-century

istorians

f

music,

had

disap-

peared

from

ight

for

lmost

two hundred

years.

About it the

most

recent ditors

of

the work

wrote,

It is

now

impossible

o

recover

the originalwhichbelongedto JamesHawkins of Ely ,2but, far

from

hat

being

so,

t has now

found ts

way

to

the

British

Museum,

where

t

will henceforth

ear

the

number

Egerton

MS

3512.

Our earliest

knowledge

f

the

manuscript

omes

from series

of

letters

rom

Dr. Thomas

Tudway,

Professor

f Music

in the Uni-

versity

f

Cambridge,

o

Humfrey

Wanley,

the

indefatigable

nd

industrious

ibrarian

o the

first

nd

second

Earls

of Oxford.

udway

was

an

early

example

of

the

ardentmusical

researcher

ho

sought

out eagerly he relicsoftheEnglishheritagen Cathedral ibraries.

At the desire

of

Edward,

Lord

Harley,

who

succeeded

his father

s

second

Earl of Oxford n

1724,

he

made

copies

of

many

ervices

nd

anthems f Tudor

composers

nd their uccessors

rom

manuscripts

in

those

repositories.

he six thick

uarto

volumes,

now numbered

Harley

MSS

7337-7342

n

the

British

Museum,

remain

permanent

record

of his

labors,

nd are

a further

eminder

hat,

s

Professor

J.

A.

Westrup

has

pointed

out,3

he accusation

f total

neglect

f

the

1 The Musical Quarterly,XXXII (1946),

509.

2

Tudor

Church

Music,

Vol. VI

(Thomas

Tallis),

published

for

the

Carnegie

United

Kingdom

Trust,

Oxford

University

ress,

1928, p.

xxxiii.

3

The Musical

Quarterly,

XXXV

(1949),

490.

176

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3/9

The

Manuscripts

of

Tallis's

Forty-Part

Motet

177

glories

of

Elizabethan music

prior

to the

2oth-century

revival

is

completely

unjustified.

In a lettertoWanley dated 1 May 1718 Tudway

wrote:

4

I'm

very

glad

that

my

friendMr.

James

Hawkins5

has

ye

good

fortune

o

get

into his hands

ye original

coreof Mr.

Tallis's

40

parts

Anthem,

tis a unic made

&

scor'd

in

Queen

Elizabeths

time. I think t

will

incomparably

e

proper

to

go

along

wth

hat

great

body

of

compositions

wch

I

have

prepared

for

my

Lord,

& a

greater arity

here annot be in its

kind,

t

haveing

neverbeen

attempted

y any

one,

8c s indeed fittesto be

laid

up, among

so

many

valuable

manuscripts

eh

ou

have Wth o

much

udgmt,

pains

8c

Industry

rocur'd

for

my

Lord. The

designe

of

composeing

t

was

not,

we

may

be

sure,

to be

perform'd;

ut to

remain

Memo-

riall of

ye

greatskill8c billityofye composer,whowas able to findwayesfor o

manyparts

to move

differently,

n

their wn

spheres.

had

been

often old of

this

Composition,

ut

I

coud never

beleive therwas

any

such

thing.

have

ventur'd o

promise

to

bring

Mr

Hawkins

to

my

Lord,

when we shall

have

ye happines

to

see

again

my

Lord at

Wimple;6

but

you

shall be sure to

see

it,

by

one

means or

other

first,

henever

you

come

again

to

Cambridge.

What

happened

as

a

result

of

this

etter s not

known,

but

the

manuscript

id not

immediately

eave

its

owner's

possession.

n the

19th

May

Tudway again

writes:7

It

is

utterly mpracticable

to

transcribe

his

[Hawkins's]

manuscript

f 40

parts,

nto

my

Lords

volumes,

&

I

Judg

t rather

better o be laid

up

in

my

Lords

Library

n

ye

Original

MSS. because

of

ye

Antiquity

f

it

than

to have it

copied;

my

Ld

shall be sure

to

have whateverMr.

Hawkins

has,

or

can

procure,

wch

may

be

worthy

f

my

Lords

haveing.

More than month ater

Tudway again

returns o the

charge:8

Mr. Hawkins's

peice

of

forty arts

s I beleive

ye

same

weh

you

have

seen,

&

is,

as

he

assures

me,

a

Unic;

I

got

a

sight

of

it,

8c how'd

t

to Dr

Covel,9

who is

charm'dwth t, 8cwoud, to be sure,put a greatervalue upon it, were it his,

than

my

friend

Jamespretends

o

do;

I

very

much

hope

yt my

Lord will

like

to

ad

it to his musick

collection,

that

therby

he

may reap

some

benefit

for

y*

servicehe has done

in

assisting

me so

effectually,

n

makeing

his

ollection.

Finally

on

August

24th:'

I

can't

readily

recollect

ye

severall

particulars

f what I

have

to write

to

you,

4

British

Museum,

Harley

MS

3782,

f.

95-

5

James

Hawkins

d. 1729),organist

f

Ely

Cathedral.

6

Wimpole,

he

Cambridgeshire

ome f Edward

Harley,

ndEarlofOxford.

7

Harley

MS

3782,

.

96.

8

Ibidem,

f.

98.

9

Dr.

John

Covel,

Master

of

Christ's

College,

Cambridge.

o10

bidemn,

.

102.




4/9

178

The Musical

Quarterly

it

s so

long

ince had

ye

favr

f a line from

ou;

that

wCh

irst

ccurrs,

whose

Interest

have

much t

Heart,

s Honest

James

Hawkins's ffair.

hope you

have

appriz'dmy

Lord of his Music

Manuscript

f

forty arts,

wch

e

avers o

be a Unic.,& if tproveye amewch ouhave een shall oncludet to be so;

If

you'lplease

to nfluence

y

ord to

buy

t of

him,

t

willbe

ye

greatest

ind-

nes to

me n

ye

world,

or t

will

n

some

measure reeme

from

e

many

Obli-

gations

have to

him n

ye

whole ourse

f

my

work,

n

my

Lord

Service

..

I

hope

you

will

n

friendship

o

me,

promote

his ffair

th

my

Lord,

& then f

you

don't come down to

Wimple

before

Mickms,

will venture

o

introduce

himto

my

Lordwith

his

MSS.

Tho

it s

not

trictly

hurch

music,

et

methinks

a

Curiosity

f

thatKind shouldbe nowhere ut

n

my

Lords

Library,

ch

oes

and

will

abound

wth

v'rything

hatsvaluable&

curious;

show'd

t

to

Dr.

Covel

who

protests ifyt signifiesnything)

hat t

is

as

great Curiosity

s

everhe saw.

From this

point

there s

no

further eference o this

manuscript

in

the

Tudway-Wanley

orrespondence.

ccording

o

John

Haw-

kins, however,

writing

n

1776,

James

Hawkins

actually

presented

it to the Earl of

Oxford,

ut

it

could

not at that

date

be found

n

the

Harleian

collection,

whichhad

by

thenbeen

acquired

by

the

British

Museum.

Dr.

Charles

Burney,

however,

tatesl2

hat

after

being

in

the

possession

f

the

Earl,

it was attracted nto the vortex

of

Dr.

Pepusch ,

nd

was

later

the

property

f Robert

Bremner,

he Strand

music

publisher.

Some

support

to

Burney's

tatement

s

given

by

anotherand later

copy

of the

work which was afterwards

n

the

possession

f

the

Madrigal

Society.

his

manuscript,

ritten

n

1751

by

John

mmyns,

he founder f

the

Society,

ore

on

the

title-page

the note

This Motett f

forty

arts

was first

omposed

o the Latin

words

ollowing y

Thomas

Tallis,

gentleman

Master

f

the

Chap-

pell

to

K.Henry

ye

8th,

K.Edward

ye

6th,

Q.Mary

&

Q.Elizabeth

sup-

posed to be fitted o the above Englishwords n

ye

Reign ofJames

ye

Ist

by

Orlando

Gibbons,

M.D.,

only

t the

writing

ver

this core

in

ye

year

1751

ye

words

[Prince Charles]

were

altered

to

[King

George]

13-an

inscription

hich,

s

we

shall

see,

s similar

n

some

respects

o

that

on the Hawkins

manuscript.

ow

John

mmyns,

n

addition

to

being

copyist

o the

Academy

f Ancient

Music,

was also

amanuensis o Dr.

John Christopher

epusch,

himself

n

enthusi-

astic

collector

f

early

English

music.

Moreover

t

is

knownthat

n

11 J.

Hawkins,

A

General

History

of

the

Science

and Practice

of

Music,

(ed.

1875),

I,

456.

12

C.

Burney,

A

General

History

of

Music,

III

(1789),

74.

13

Motet

for

40 Voices

by

Thomas

Tallis

edited

by

A.

H.

Mann,

London,

1888.

Preface,

p.

ii.




5/9

The

Manuscripts

f

Tallis's

Forty-Part

Motet

179

1763

Robert

Bremner

purchased

the famous

Fitzwilliam

Virginal

Book

at

the sale of

Pepusch's

ibrary,

nd it is

possible

that

other

manuscriptsrom hesamesourcecame into his possession.On the

other

hand,

a

still ater

manuscript

f the

motet,

now

in

the

Royal

Music

Library,'4

has

on

the

last

page

the words This

belongs

to

Robert

Bremner,

music

publisher,

ondon ,

and at the

top

of

the

first

age

As

in

the

original .

t also

bears

the

note,

Tho8

Tallis,

Gentleman of

King

Henry

the

Eights

Chapel,

King

Edward and

Queen

Mary,

8c

of

her

Majesty

that

now

is

Queen

Elizabeth,

the

Maker

of

this

Song

of

forty

arts .This

inscription

s

word forword

identicalwith

one

at

the

end of

the Hawkins

Manuscript,

nd it will

be seen

that t has

significant

ariations

rom hat of

the

Madrigal

Society

volume,

notably

he inclusion

of

the words

of her

Majesty

that now

is . It differs rom

he

former n

that

the

Latin,

not the

English

words,

are written

under the music.

Since, however,

he

placing

f

the

words,

ccording

o

the

editors

f the

Carnegie

dition,

is

obviously

aulty,'5

t

is

more

than

ikely

that

this

copy

was,

ike

the

Madrigal Society

copy,

made

directly

rom he

manuscript

f

James

Hawkins,

perhaps

when

t

was

in Bremner's

ossession.

Fromthis imenothingmore s known fthe

history

f theHaw-

kins volume until

t

was

submitted o

the

British

Museum,

n

1947,

on

behalf

f

a

lady

resident

n

Kings

Lynn,

Norfolk,

n

whose

family

it had

remained

or

manyyears.

t

consists

f

six

folios,

nd to obtain

a

page

sufficiently

arge

to

take

the

40

parts

n full

score,

ach-folio

has been

made to

consist

of

two

sheets

of

paper

attached

to

one

anotherfoot to

head,

the whole

measuring

o01/2

n.

x 11

in. It

is

bound

in

a

green

embossed

paper

cover,

on the back of which are

thewords Mr. Tho. Tallis's, Songof

40

Parts -thehand is none

other

than

that of

Dr.

Thomas

Tudway

himself,

nd it is

this that

identifies he

manuscript

s the one

previously

elonging

o

James

Hawkins.

Underlying

hemusic re the

English

words,

s

in

Immyns's

copy,

n

honor of

Princes

Henry

nd

Charles:

Sing

and

glorifie

eavens

igh

Maiesty

Author

f this

lessed

armony

Sound

devyne

raises

Withmelodious races

This is the

day,

holy ay,

happy ay

For

ever

give

t

greeting

14

British

Museum,

R.M.

4

g.1.

15

Tudor

Church

Music,

VI,

xxxiii.




6/9

180 The

Musical

Quarterly

Love and

coy

hart

&c

oice

meeting

Lyve

Chary

les

Princly

nd

mighty

SHarryv

long

in

thy

Creation

happy.

Charles

yv

ong

Y

The

arrangement

of

the voices

is

by

groups

of

eight

equally

pitched

voices,

not in

eight

hoirs

f

five

ifferent

oices,

nd

in the

middle,

fter

he

twentieth

oice,

s

an

accompaniment

f a

thorough

bass.16

Above the

latter,

n

f.I,

is written

he

complete

ext

of

the

original

Latin motet

Spem

in

alium,

and below

it

the

complete

English text. The eight cantus or treble partshave been numbered

in the

original

hand

1,6,11,16,21,26,31,36;

the altos

2,7,12,17,22,

27,32,37,

and

so on for the other

voices. The bars

were numbered

in

quintuple,

viz.

below

each set of

eight

voices,

nd

renumbered

n

groups

of

two,

thus:

1 2 3

4

5

6

7

8

9

.

On the last

page,

at the

top,

2

3

4

5

were

the

words,

now

partly

ost,

This

dytty

f this

ong

of

40

parts

[was

first

made]

in

Lattyn ,

and

lower

down the

sentence

referring

to

Tallis

which has

already

been

quoted

from

the

copy

in

the Brem-

ner

MS. In

spite

of

the

words that

now

is

as

applied

to

Queen

Elizabeth,

the references o the Princesmake it clear that themanu-

script

cannot be

Tallis's

original

manuscript,

nor

can

it have been

written

arlier

than

the

beginning

f

the

reign

of

James

.

On

the

other

hand,

the

inscription

makes

it

probable

that

the

scribe

was

copying

from an

Elizabethan

manuscript,

ossibly

from

Tallis's

original.

A

number

of

errors

n

transcription,

ainly rising

rom

confusion of

the

many

parts,

have been

corrected

by

the

scribe

on

strips

of

paper

glued

to

the

manuscript

over

the

incorrect

passages.

Similarly

from

f.2

onwards

parts

30

and

35

were

wrongly

copied

and

confused,

nd

a

note

at the

foot

f

f.I

b

reads: The

figuring

f

the

35

must

be

for

the

30,

but

its

[sic]

was

mistaking

the

figures.

A

few

words

must

now

be

said about

a

volume

n

the

Library

f

Gresham

College

that

was

used

as

the

best

available

authority

for

the

musical

extfor

he

edition n

the

eries

f

Tudor

Church

Music.

This

volume

was not

mentioned

y

Mann in

his istof

extantmanu-

scripts

of

the work.

By

an

oversight

t

was included in

the sale of

the

property

of

Sir

Frederick

Bridge,17

who

had been

Librarian to

the

16

The

thorough

bass

is in

one

part only

and is

not

figured.

t is

written

n

the

same hand

as the rest

of the

MS

and,

like

it,

must date from

not

later

than

1612.

17

Hodgson's

sale-catalogue,

3

July 1924,

ot

532.




7/9

The

Manuscripts

f

Tallis's

Forty-Part

Motet

181

College,

and it

was then

boughtby

Alderman

John

Brook

of South-

port.is

When

its

history

became

known,

the latter

n

1933

generously

restored heerring olume to itsoriginal wners.Bythecourtesyf

the Gresham

Committee,

t was

temporarilyeposited

n

theBritish

Museum for

my

use,

and a fuller

escription

hanhas hitherto

een

available

can.now

be

given.

The volume

consists of

twenty-two

eaves,

12

in.

by 7

in.,

in a

19th-century

ardboard

binding.

Each of

the

forty

arts

s written

on a

separatepage

in

the

order

of

first

reble,

hird

reble,

fourth

treble,

econd

treble,

iftho

eighth

rebles;

irst

o

eighth

ltos;

con-

tratenors;enors;bassus,

while

on

the ast

eaf

s

A

thorough

asse

to

ye

song

of

forty

arts

for

yeOrgan .

The

title-page

bears the

words,

in a

contemporary

and,

The

song

of

40

parts

with

Thorow

Base,

made

by

Mr

Tho:

Tallis.

All

the

parts

are here sowen

together,

wch

may

be

often

eene,

but

seldome

ung .

The

same

page

also has the

signature

E. T.

Warren -presumably

dmund Thomas

Warren,

Secretary

f

the

Catch

Club,

who

died

in

1794-and

a

19th-century

note: N.B.

All

the

parts

are

here

stitch'd

ogether.

he under-

lying

ext

onsists

f

the

song

n honorof Princes

Henry

nd

Charles,

as in thenewBritishMuseumManuscript, ut theLatin textSpem

in

alium is

copied

on a number f

pages

throughout

he MS.

A

fur-

ther

resemblance o the

Museum

MS is

the occurrence

n several

places

of

the

words: This

song

of

40

parts

was firstmade

in Latin

by

Mr.

Tho:

Tallis ,

The dittie

of

this

song

of

40

parts

was first

made

in

Latin

with other

variations,

nd also Mr. Tho:

Tallis,

Gentleman f

king Henry

ye

Eights

Chapple,

king

Edward,

Queene

Mary

and

Queen

Elizabeth,

the maker

of this

Song

of

40

parts -

also withvariations. t would thereforeeemprobablethatone of

these

manuscripts

was

copied

from

the other.

Which

then is the

earlier? The

answer

is not

difficult.

n

the Gresham

manuscript

Queen

Elizabeth

s not

referred

o as

the

Queen

that

now

is ,

and

these

words

would not

have

been

added in

the

Egerton

MS

unless

the scribe

had

been

copying

directly

r

at

second hand from

n

archetype

ontaining

hese

wordswritten

n

her

reign.

Even

more

pertinent

s the

fact

haton

the

page

in

the

Gresham

MS

containing

the35thpart, n whichboththe Latin and Englishtexts re given,

a

note

reads

These

be

all

ye

ditties hat

ver

was

made to this

ong

of

40

parts ,

nd

at

the end of

the

33rd

part

This

song

was first

made toa

lattin

ditty

y

Mr.

Tho:

Tallis;

but who

put

in the

English

is

Tudor

Church

Music,

VI,

xxxiii.




8/9

182

The

Musical

Quarterly

ditty

ame

altogether

ignorant

of .

The

Gresham

MS

is

therefore

not the

original

of

the

English

adaptation,

nd it

does not

neces-

sarilyfollow,as the editors of the Tudor Church Music have

asserted,'9

hat

the

references o

Prince

Henry

postulate

date

of

c.

1610o

or

t.

All

that can

be

deduced is

that t

was

copied

from

another

manuscript

ritten

bout that

ime;

and

from

he

similarity

of

its

annotations

o

those

n

the

recently

ediscovered

manuscript,

there

an

be

little

doubt

that

the

atter

was the

original

from

which

it

was

copied.

From

the

handwriting

t

would

appear

to

date from

about

the

end of

the

first

uarter

f

the

17th

century.

To

sum

up-we

have

thus far

described ourmanuscriptsfthe

17th-century

daptation

of

this

famous

omposition:

(a) Egerton

MS

3512,

probably

he

original

manuscript

f

the

English

version,

which

may

have

been

copied

from

Tallis's

own

Latin

original.

t

formerly

elonged

to

James

Hawkins

of

Ely,

and

is now

in

the British

Museum. t

is

the

ource,

irectly

r

indirectly,

of all

other

known

opies.

(b)

The Gresham

College

Manuscript,

robably

opied

from

the above

in thefirst alfofthe 17th entury,nd usedbytheedi-

torsof

Tudor

Church

Music

as the

basis of

their

musical

ext.

(c)

A

manuscript ormerly

n

the

possession

f

the

Madrigal

Society,

ranscribedn

1751

by

John

mmyns

rom

a).

(d) Royal

Music MS

4

g.I,

a

late

18th-century

opy,

lso

pre-

sumably

made

directly

rom

a).

To

these

can be

added a number

of

late

copies

which

are

de-

scribed

by

A. H.

Mann

in

his edition of

the motet.Some of

these

are now lost,othershave changedhands. Since theyall descend

indirectly

rom

Egerton

3512

and

throwno

light

on

the

history

f

the

Hawkins

manuscript,

here

s no

need to

enumerate

hem

here.

Two

questions,

however,

emain to

which

no

answer can

yet

be

given.

First,

who

is

the

author

of the

original 17th-century

dapta-

tion?

Various

nameshave

been

suggested,lthough

without

ny

evi-

dence

to

substantiate

hem,

ncluding

those of Orlando

Gibbons,

Thomas

Warwick,

rganist

f

Westminster

bbey,

nd

John

Amner,

organist

f

Ely

Cathedral.

Attempts

o

identify

he hand of

Egerton

3512haveso farfailed, nd

perhaps

re bound to fail untilmore s

known

of

the

handwriting

f

English

composers

f

the

16th

and

early

1th

centuries.

Secondly

and

finally,

what has

happened

to the

19

p.

xxxiii.




9/9

The

Manuscripts

f

Tallis's

Forty-Part

Motet

183

original

autograph

manuscript

f

Tallis?

Now that t

is

probable

that Hawkins's

so-called

original

was

the

17th-century

daptation,

no mentionof Tallis's autograph s knownto exist. t can onlybe

hoped

that

n

even

more

fortunate

hance than

that

whichhas

led

to

the

discovery

f Hawkins'sfamous

manuscript

ill

one

day

bring

it

to

light.

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schofield, bertram - the manuscripts of tallis's forty-part motet

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