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O WILHELME,
PASTOR BONE
JOHN TAVERNER
S t a r t er Ac t i v i t y
• Listen to “O Wilhelme, pastor bone” by Taverner
Identify 2 features for each of the following headings:
• CONTEXT
• WORD SETTING
• TEXTURE
• MELODY
• HARMONY
• TONALITY
• RHYTHM
• Identify bar locations where you think these keywords are evident
Learning
O b j e ct i v es
•To be able to identify the contextual features
of Renaissance music
•To be able to apply your understanding of
sacred Renaissance music through analysis
K e y wor ds – L e s s on 1
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Renaissance
Antiphon
Choral
Sacred
4/4
3/2
Narrow vocal range
Major Scale (Ionian mode)
F Major
G Minor
Conjunct
Irregular phrasing
Syllabic
Root/first inversion chords
False relations
Passing notes
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Cambiata
Modal
Chromatic inflections
Tierce de picardie
Plagal cadence
Through composed
Antiphony
Free counterpoint
Imitative counterpoint
Homorhythmic
Gymel
Context
• Antiphon – composed in 1528
• Choral work
• Similar to anthem/motet – Latin text, in style of a prayer
• Sung at Compline (last service of the day) at Cardinal College (Christ Church),
Oxford
• Taverner was Master of Choristers at Oxford
• Reference to Cardinal Wolsey – founder of the college
• In honour of 12th century Saint William – one of Wolsey’s predecessors as
Archbishop of York
• Begins with a plea to William of York ‘O Wilhelme’ and includes a prayer for
Cardinal Thomas in second stanza “Thomam Cardinalem Fundatorem”
C o n t ex t
• A capella
• All male choir – boys would have sung two highest parts
• “Mean” refers to low treble voices
• 8 below vocal tenor clefs = notes sound an octave lower than printed
• Oldest piece in NAM
• NAM 26 reconstructed from later version of work (original version lost)
made after Wolsey fell from power – different words (no Cardinal or
Saint William)
• No tenor part book could be found so the tenor part has been
reconstructed by a modern music scholar
Ho me wo r k - V i d eo
A n a l ys i s
Revision and analysis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4iynjnNnrY
Wo r d S e t t i n g
• Syllabic
Which phrase is melismatic?
• Last phrase “aeternae vitae praemium” is melismatic in
upper parts
• Each phrase of text = own melody and texture, often
separated from next phrase by a cadence
• Sometimes phrases overlap
Texture
• Texture often varied by the choir being divided into different
groups of parts
• Bars = 1-7 “O Wilhelme, pastor bone” first sung in 2 part
counterpoint by high voices then in 3 parts by low voices –
melody in upper part repeated exactly an octave lower.
• Antiphonal texture
• Allows Taverner to reserve full 5-part texture until bar 10
• First 3 phrases of text = mainly staggered entries
• Polyphonic – Renaissance music for unaccompanied voices
Texture
• Homophony – text more easily heard
• Homophonic texture highlights importance of Cardinal Wolsey in bars
38-42.
• Treble phrase in bars 33-37 repeated by bass in antiphony of next 5 bars.
Same phrase returns to treble in 43-47
• Imitation = final section of antiphon
• Bar 56 onwards – each voice sings “Aeternae vitae praemium” to a
figure of a rising interval with a gentle descent
• During this passage the trebles reach a top F and basses descend to an F
3 octaves lower = full range of choir at climax
Tonality: Key Features
• Predominantly modal – occasionally chromatic
• F Major (Ionian mode)
What is this?
• G minor passage
Where?
• Tierce de Picardie
Where?
• Ends with a plagal cadence
Why significant?
Tonality
• Treble E in bar 11 does not rise to an F as in tonal music
• At the end of the phrase, Bb major chord is not followed
by F chord (bars 12/4-13) to form what cadence? Instead,
it goes to what chord (decorated with F-E in treble part)?
• Phrases that end in bars 15-16 and 19-20 harmonised by
Gm-F = modal cadences
Structure
• How would you describe the structure?
• How many main sections would you divide the piece
into? Where?
Structure
Two main sections, one for each of the two six-line stanzas
of the text (text/translation are printed in the Anthology,
page 538.)
• Bars 1–32 are a setting of the first stanza (addressed to
St William).
• Bars 33–67 are a setting of the second stanza (with the
prayer for Cardinal Wolsey)