Three Editions of Early Seventeenth-Century English Sacred Music

The composers Nathaniel Giles (1558–1634), Richard Dering (ca. 1580–1630), and Henry Lawes (1602–1662) lived during a turbulent period of English history from the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the early years of the Restoration of the monarchy. Dering’s name is familiar to many historical musicologists, especially from the earlier research and editions of the late Peter ‘Prof ’ Platt and Philip Brett. Henry Lawes’s brother, William (1602–1645), is better known today for his superb viol consort suites. Giles has remained obscure to all but the most specialized historians of English music. All three men were members of the Chapel Royal during the reigns of one or more English monarchs (Giles, for example, served three monarchs). Their careers briefly overlapped in tantalizing ways to invite further revisions to the history of English sacred music that move beyond current accounts centred on now well-known figures like Thomas Tallis (1505–1585), William Byrd (ca. 1540–1623), and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625). With the publication of these three new editions, music historians are now better positioned to re-evaluate the development of English sacred music, especially in the context of the Chapel Royal, from standpoints not overshadowed by ‘great’ composers. Yet the compositions contained in all three editions represent a relatively tight cluster of English sacred works from the 1610s to 1630s.