Richard Davy (flourished c.1490-1510): Salve Regina (from the Eton Choirbook)

1. how you come across to it:
I first learned about the Eton Choirbook (Eton College Library Ms. 178; compiled c.1500) some 10 years ago in a Renaissance music history class at UBC taught by Prof. J. Evan Kreider. He played a Salve Regina setting of William Cornysh (d. c.1502 or 1523) from the first Eton-Choirbook CD of The Sixteen (dir. Harry Christophers). I was instantly blown away by its incomparable beauty.

2. why this piece?
I loved these antiphons to the point that during my last undergraduate year, I decided to do a thorough directed study on this manuscript with Prof. Kreider. Last week, some unknown forces prompted me to reread my undergraduate thesis, motivating me also to listen to these wonderful pieces again.

3. (and...)
I regard the Magnificats and antiphons in the Choirbook as one of the most significant contributions of England to the Western classical music tradition. Most of them were composed on texts in praise of the Virgin Mary, expressing the choristers' devotion to this dedicatee of the Eton College. Written mostly in 5 to 13 voices, they have sectionalized structures alternating between full and solo sections. Different solo sections are written for different voice combinations for color variation across the antiphon. In the full sections, the highest voice tends to sound separated from the dense middle voices owing to its very high register and florid lines, resulting into a sound that is both transparent and magnificent.

The Sixteen has recently reissued their 5 Eton-Choirbook CDs under the Coro label after Collins went out of business.