Lily of Eternal Praise

A programme from Bruegel Consort that paints a colourful portrait of the extravagant and expressive musical devotions to the Virgin Mary prevalent in late-Medieval England. Mary was the most celebrated divine figure after Christ during this period, and in England it was common in countless institutions for the choir to sing elaborate, large-scale polyphonic works called votive antiphons in dedication to the Virgin at the end of the day.

The programme features six such works, of which three are drawn from the Eton Choirbook: Salve regina by Richard Hygons of Wells Cathedral; Nesciens mater by Windsor-based Walter Lambe, painting a tender portrait of the Nativity; and a neglected setting of the Stabat mater dolorosa, a pained reflection on the events of the Crucifixion through Mary’s eyes, by the Oxford composer Richard Davy.

At the core of the programme is the Chapel Royal composer Robert Fayrfax’s (1464-1521) titular work, Eterne laudis lilium, written around Easter 1502 on commission from Elizabeth of York, wife of King Henry VII. The programme also includes two additional antiphons: an anonymous setting of the Stella celi, a text petitioning Mary for protection from the plague, and John Taverner’s much-loved Mater Christi sanctissima.

Interspersed amongst these larger works are several Marian plainsongs drawn from early 16th-century English sources touching on some of the most significant events in Mary’s life: Conception, Annunciation, Visitation, and the Crucifixion of her son.