Robert Fayrfax
Eventually, somebody at the Court of Henry VII recognised a great musician when he encountered one. Robert Fayrfax was almost 30 years old when he entered the Chapel Royal in 1496. At the Queen’s funeral service in 1503 he was 9th on the list of singers, and by 1509 at Henry VII’s funeral he was 1st on the Royal Chapel lists. He maintained that position through Henry VIII’s Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 but died a year later in October of 1521. His tomb can still be seen on the North side of the presbytery at St Alban’s Abbey.
For an English composer of the period his surviving legacy is quite extensive including 6 settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, 13 motets, 9 secular songs. The Magnificat heard here is one of two . . . it demonstrates the striking melodic and harmonic expression of his vocal style . . . certainly the equal in imagination and skill of any of his contemporaries on either side of the Channel.
Magnificat ‘O bone Jesu’
This is an alternatim setting of the ‘Magnificat’ alternating between plainchant and polyphony . . . and the polyphonic sections alternate between ensemble and full choir . . . so there’s plenty of textural variety that is reflected in the dynamic range of the music. Obviously the Chapel Royal would perform this rather demanding music with the composer in charge of the performance. We hope Henry VIII was able to appreciate the heights to which his singers rose day in and day out. Probably not.
This ‘Magnificat’ is found in both the Lambeth and Tenbury Choirbooks.
Robert Fayrfax "Magnificat 'O bone Jesu'"
Magnificat anima mea Dominum; et
exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari
meo, quia respexit humilitatem ancillae
suae; Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me
dicent omnes generationes. quia fecit
mihi magna, qui potens est, et sanctum
nomen eius. Et misericordia eius
a progenie in progenies timentibus
eum. Fecit potentiam in brachio suo;
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;
deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit
humiles; esurientes implevit bonis
et divites dimisit inanes. Suscepit Israel
puerum suum, recordatus
misericordiae suae, sicut locutus est ad
patres nostros, Abraham et
semini eius in saecula.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et
semper: et in Saecula saeculorum.
Amen.
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Saviour. For he hath regarded:
the lowliness of his handmaiden:
For behold, from henceforth:
all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified
me, and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him:
throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm:
he hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their
seat: and hath exalted the humble and
meek. He hath filled the hungry with
good things: and the rich he hath sent
empty away. He remembering his
mercy hath holpen his servant Israel:
As he promised to our forefathers,
Abraham and his seed for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:
and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end. Amen.
Sumwhat musyng
Under what circumstances Fayrfax came to set the lament of Anthony Woodville on hearing of his death sentence in June of 1483 is not known. The Tudors were quite anxious to promote any evidence of Richard III’s “villainy” to help legitimize their treasonous assumption of the throne of England. Anthony Woodville’s execution and the “Princes in the Tower” probably helped serve that purpose. Fayrfax’s setting of a completely through-composed, wideranging secular work a3 is quite remarkable.
Robert Fayrfax "Sumwhat musyng"
Sumwhat musyng and more mornyng
in remembryng the unstedfastnes
this world beyng of such walyng
me contraryng what my I guesse
I fere doutles remedyless
is now to cese my woefull chance
for unkyndness withowten less
and no redresse me doth advance
with displeasance to my grevance
and no surance of remedy
lo in this trance now in substance
such is my chance willyng to dye.
Me thynk trewly bownden am I and that
greatly to be content sayng playnly
fortune doth wry all contrary
from myne intent my life was lent
to an intent it is nye spent
welcum fortune yet I ne went
thus to be shent but she is ment
such is her wont.