This is the Record of John

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Infobox musical composition "This is the Record of John" is a verse anthem written by the English composer Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625). It is based on a text from the Gospel of John in the Geneva Bible and is a characteristic Anglican-style composition of its time. "John" (whose record is being told) refers to John the Baptist.

Structure and scoring

The piece is divided into three sections, each beginning with a verse for solo contratenor (more like a modern tenor, but often now sung by a countertenor[1]) followed by a full section (consort of voices), echoing words of the verse.

The singers are often accompanied by an organ, as in David Hill's recording with the Winchester Cathedral Choir. However, as well as a 17th-century organ part there are viol parts, so accompaniment by a viol consort is another possibility. It is debatable how frequently viols would have been used in Jacobean services,[2] but some recordings take the option of performing This is the Record of John as a "consort anthem".[3]

History

This 'verse-anthem' was written at the request of William Laud, who was president of St John's College, Oxford, from 1611 to 1621; the St John to whom the college is dedicated is John the Baptist. It was written for the college chapel, and presumably received its first performance there.[4] The text forms one of the readings for Advent.

File:St John's College Oxford Chapel.jpg
The chapel of St John's College

According to Morris,[5] the earliest known extant manuscripts of the anthem date from the 1630s, a decade after Gibbons' death. They are located at major English cathedrals and chapels, as far from Oxford as Durham, suggesting that the anthem enjoyed wide use when first written. It is included in a number of modern publications, including The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems (OUP, 1978).[5]

Sources

The text comes from John 1:19–23. It concerns the prophecy of John the Baptist foretelling the coming of Jesus.

Gibbons uses the text of the Geneva Bible; it is very similar to that found in the Authorized Version, which was published about the time the anthem was composed. To give an example of a difference, AV has "one crying" in the third stanza, where the Geneva Bible (and Gibbons) have "him that crieth".

Most recordings use Received Pronunciation. An exception is Red Byrd's version which uses a regional accent on the basis that Gibbons' singers would not have used Received Pronunciation.

Verses

Template:Quote

Discography

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ Examples of a tenor soloist are to be found on the Red Byrd and Signum recordings. Alfred Deller is an example of a countertenor soloist who recorded the piece (Gramophone suggested that the countertenor John Whitworth had a voice better-suited to the music). Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1". Template:Subscription
  3. ↑ For example, in the 1980s Martin Neary recorded the anthem with Winchester Cathedral Choir and the viols of the Consort of Musicke, more recently the Orlando Gibbons Project has recorded verse anthems with Fretwork and His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts (Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".)
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". This publication uses a broad definition of Tudor and includes music from the reign of James I.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Further reading

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Use dmy dates

Template:Orlando Gibbons Template:Portal bar

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=This_is_the_Record_of_John&oldid=3685237"