John Sheppard was in charge of music at Magdalen (pronounced Maudlin) College Oxford, as well as being a Gentleman in the Chapel Royal choir, spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, although he died in 1558 shortly after Elizabeth was made Queen.
This piece, Libera Nos, is not unlike the Langlais we heard recently – it takes a piece of plainsong for Trinity Sunday as a cantus firmus (a melody that all the other music is based around) , and sets a huge piece of polyphony around it.
An anonymous analysis: “In the college statutes, Magdalen’s founder, William Waynflete, ordained that college members should recite the antiphon to the Trinity each morning and night, and Sheppard’s setting of Libera nos, salva nos appears to have been written for this purpose, probably for use at the end of compline”, with compline being the last service of the day before bed.
Sheppard’s Libera nos (c.1560)
performed by The Sixteen
To follow that we can this brilliant suggestion from a student – Byrd’s Ave verum corpus from 1605, and a contemporary setting by the exceedingly lovely Roderick William called Ave verum corpus Re-imagined:
Byrd’s 1605 original (again sung by The Sixteen):
Roderick’s version:
If you enjoyed that comparison, try the Choral Inspirations album by Sonoro directed by the lovely Neil Ferris. The album consists of a piece of choral music plus a matching contemporary setting written to complement it by composers such as Will Todd, Cheryl-Frances Hoad, Janet Wheeler, and Joanna Marsh:
The Listening Project Blog 