John Redford's Angulare fundamentum

Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England.



https://youtu.be/tP01Xy3eN54

Poor John Redford (c. 1500–1547). By all accounts, he was one of the most important composers and dramatists of the Tudor period. Although many of his keyboard works can be found in the Mulliner Book, pretty much everything else is lost. There is one sweet little anthem, "Rejoice in the Lord alway," that was at one time attributed to him, but it has been determined that Redford couldn't have composed it because the text was unknown until two years after his death. Thomas Morley set Redford's words in his anthem "Nolo mortem peccatoris." Redford’s famous morality play, The Play of Wyt and Science, is in a manuscript in the British Library, but it is incomplete. Much of the music that Redford composed for this play is lost. The synopsis sounds like it would still be pretty much relevant today:

Wit, having fallen in love with Lady Science, sets off to defeat the monster Tediousness, who is Science's greatest enemy. Wit ignores advice to use the sword of Comfort against Tediousness and is killed, but resurrected by Honest Recreation. Wit is then seduced by Idleness, leading to a comic scene between Idleness and Ignorance. A song performed by Fame, Riches, Favour, and Worship is interrupted by Wit, whom they do not recognize because Idleness and Ignorance have disguised him. This angers Wit until he looks in the mirror of Reason and learns his appearance had been changed, and Reason and Shame whip Wit into shape and reunite him with his colleagues, who use teamwork and the sword of Comfort to defeat Tediousness. Wit and Science then meet and agree to be married. (summarized from http://www.ancientgroove.co.uk/books/PlayofWit.pdf)

Redford was organist and Vicar-Choral at St Paul's Cathedral. His organ music is pretty much the earliest English organ music that we have today. Most of his work is based on plainsong, and he was one of the first to utilize a 4.5-octave keyboard. Cynthia J. Cyrus says, "Redford's Angulare fundamentum . . . incorporates several levels of syncopation before shifting to a triple division in the second half of the setting. This rhythmic variability offers composers a sophisticated array of coloristic choices, allowing a good deal of contrast from one setting to the next."

My classical music post for today is John Redford's Angulare fundamentum.

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