The epitaph of John Dunstaple (c.1390-1453), renowned English composer, mathematician, and astronomer, states that he had ‘secret knowledge of the stars’. Composers of late-medieval England understood that the celestial movements of the universe emitted inaudible divine music which sounded with the same harmonic proportions as the audible music of human beings. In response to this knowledge they pre-planned the lengths and dimensions of their compositions on webs of numerical proportions and balances and thus reflected God’s heavenly arithmetic in their own creations.

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This programme paints a portrait of the microcosmic approach to composing sacred choral music in England c.1500. Three works are from the DMus submission of John Lloyd (c.1475-1523): an antiphon Ave regina celorum and two movements from the Mass O quam suavis, the tenor voices of which are notated in the original manuscript with esoteric number riddles. These works are interspersed by several plainchant propers for their associated feast of Corpus Christi. As a brief repose from the extravagance of the early Tudors, at the heart of the programme is the pleasingly symmetrical miniature Sancta Maria by Dunstaple, a composer so influential on following generations. The programme closes with Robert Fayrfax’s (1464-1521) evocative antiphon Ave Dei Patris filia, thoughtfully structured on 2:3 and 3:5 proportions and most likely composed for the wedding of Margaret Tudor and James IV of Scotland in 1503.

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Nick Walters