Christopher Tye flourished as a church musician in England during the mid-sixteenth century. A direct contemporary of Thomas Tallis, he held the prestigious post of Master of Choristers at Ely cathedral and successfully managed to compose music for both Protestant and Catholic services during a politically unstable time.
The composer was described as ‘peevish and humoursome’, and these qualities are reflected in his remarkably individual music, characterized by unpredictable cadences and phrases of often unexpectedly startling beauty.
The two major works on this recording are his masterful Missa Euge bone for six voices, and his Western Wynde Mass, probably an early work, and likely written as a complement to John Taverner’s own Mass based on this secular English song.
Track list:
1 Quaesumus omnipotens et misericors Deus
2 Missa Euge Bone, Gloria
3 Missa Euge Bone, Credo
4 Missa Euge Bone, Sanctus
5 Missa Euge Bone, Benedictus
6 Missa Euge Bone, Agnus Dei Iv
7 Missa Euge Bone, Agnus Dei II
8 Missa Euge Bone, Agnus Dei III
9 Missa Euge Bone, Agnus Dei IV
10 Give almes of thy goods
11 Christ rising
12 Peccavimus cum patribus nostris
13 Western Wynde Mass, Gloria
14 Western Wynde Mass, Credo
15 Western Wynde Mass, Sanctus
16 Western Wynde Mass, Benedictus
17 Western Wynde Mass, Agnus Dei I
18 Western Wynde Mass, Agnus Dei II
19 Western Wynde Mass, Agnus Dei III
