From Byrd to Gibbons by way of Hooper: The performance of consort anthems from the golden era with illustrative reference to a critical edition of three anthems by Edmund Hooper
Hunt, William (2022) From Byrd to Gibbons by way of Hooper: The performance of consort anthems from the golden era with illustrative reference to a critical edition of three anthems by Edmund Hooper. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.
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William Hunt PhD Thesis Volume 1 published_Final version_Submitted Dec 2021_Final Award Aug 2022.pdf - Accepted Version Download (11MB) |
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William Hunt PhD Thesis Volume 2 published_Final version_Submitted Dec 2021_Final Award Aug 2022.pdf - Accepted Version Download (8MB) |
Abstract
This research is concerned with the consort anthem, considered here as a subset of the English, post Reformation verse anthem repertory, comprising works that are accompanied by instrumental consort. Existing literature on this topic problematises the classification and terminology associated with the repertory, but scholarly debates to date have tended to avoid the most important question of all for practitioners: ‘how does it work in performance?’ Investigation of the issues around original performing pitch shows how its adoption is a necessary prerequisite to understanding how historical voice-types and instrumental timbres can be deployed effectively in performance. A close study of the compositional style displayed by composers from Byrd to Gibbons in the new idiom of verse-singing reveals it to be highly rhetorical, casting the solo singer as musical orator and thus equipping him to fulfil the key reformist agenda of making devotional text both persuasive and comprehensible. An introduction to three major anthems in verse style by the little-known Edmund Hooper establishes the context for a first critical edition of these works, included in volume 2. It argues that they reveal Hooper to be a significant figure in the development of the consort anthem and of the verse anthem generally, pointing the way forward to Gibbons, Tomkins and beyond. A chapter is devoted to performance issues encountered during the recording project ‘In Chains of gold’ that grew out of the present research and provides an account of how performance practice insights were applied in practice.
Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
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Dates: | Date Event 10 December 2021 Submitted 15 August 2022 Accepted |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Consort anthems, Performance, Byrd, Gibbons, Hooper |
Subjects: | CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-02 - performing arts > CAH25-02-02 - music |
Divisions: | Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > Royal Birmingham Conservatoire |
Depositing User: | Jaycie Carter |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jan 2023 16:22 |
Last Modified: | 03 Jan 2023 16:22 |
URI: | https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14054 |
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