[John Browne]

John Browne was a late 15th century composer from England who composed in what is now referred to as the "Eton" style of composition. He is best known in his music for the wide variety of scoring between his compositions (no surviving compositions are the same) and outside of music he is best known for not being known at all, Which John Browne outside of the Eton Choirbook he is, no one is certain, though a John Browne of Coventry seems to be the best guess. Another thing is he wrote very little or more likely very little his works survive. Of his 15 works in the Eton Choirbook 7 have survived to the present intact.

His music like the rest of the Eton Choirbook is mostly marked by the following characteristics.
Large number of voices (5+) plus a wide vocal range.
False relations
and a wide variety of different note values.

 

[Ingélou]

I have never heard of John Browne but then I have never heard of many, even most, composers of classical music. But I'm listening to the first link above as I type this and it's sublime. So thanks, Mr Browne, and thanks, Mr Browne!

Does this mean you know a thing or two about medieval music? Oh I do hope so, and look forward to reading your posts.

 

[John Browne]

Oh afraid I've got to disappoint. My knowledge of music of any era/style is rather superficial. I only know a little and only what other people have written.

Glad you enjoyed the music.

 

[Guest]

John Browne was a late 15th century composer from England who composed in what is now referred to as the "Eton" style of composition [...] False relations ...

Yes, I agree with Ingénue, thank you indeed for posting this; never heard of the fellow. As to one of his characteristics being 'false relations' : when I first heard this term I thought it was a sin worthy of eternal damnation, until I read elsewhere in a Bach harmony treatise that 'anyone who has studied such a work as the second chorale prelude on Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist, or the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue will realize that Bach had few, if any, inhibitions over the matter of False Relations'.
I hope I've got the quote right this time. Moody, will you check for me please?

 

[Guest]

Hot damn, those 'False Relations'! I mean, I have to agree that they can seriously 'skew' where you're at in the 'pitch/time paradigm', know what I mean?

 

[John Browne]

I am not entirely certain what a "pitch/time paradigm".is.

I apologize for my late relpy

 

[deggial]

I've been smitten with Browne's style ever since hearing the stunning O regina mundi clara about 10 years ago, on this recording. Several years ago I left that CD at my mother's house and I was annoyed that I couldn't find that piece online (thankfully I retrieved it last month when I went to visit). I'm truly gutted so few of his works remain. But they are beyond gorgeous.

 

[Taggart]

Nice to remember that Eton was founded as The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Windsor. One of the duties of the choir was to sing motets in honour of Our Lady.

Browne's 15 compositions in the Eton Choir Book include 11 Marian Anthems and 4 settings of the Magnificat. Of the surviving works we have the eight-voice O Maria salvatoris mater and the three six-voice settings of texts derived from the sequence Stabat mater.

Browne was in 1490 one of the chaplains of the household chapel of John de Vere, earl of Oxford.His six-voice setting of Stabat iuxta Christi crucem was apparently written for Elizabeth of York following the untimely death of her son Prince Arthur in 1502.

Interestingly, Ronald Knox, who came from an Evangelical background, developed a particular to devotion to Our Lady which he dated from his time there (1900 -1906).