The Lambeth Choirbook – also known as the Arundel Choirbook – is an illuminated choirbook dating to the sixteenth century. It contains music for 7 Masses, 4 Magnificats, and 8 motets. Much of the music is by Tudor-period composers. The major contributors are Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford; between them they contributed at least ten of its nineteen pieces. Only three of Fayrfax's works have his name attached to them, but five other pieces are known as his; these, along with two by Ludford, are known from concordances in the Caius Choirbook and other manuscripts. Seven anonymous pieces exist in the book:

Ave Dei Patris filia
Ave mundi spes Maria
Gaude flore virginali
Salve regina
two Magnificats
Vidi aquam egredientem de templo (antiphon at the Aspersion before Mass during Eastertide).

No concordances for any of these have been traced, and it seems possible that further works by Fayrfax and Ludford might exist among them. The book also contains music by older composers, such as Edmund Stourton and Walter Lambe, whose music may also be found in the Eton Choirbook.

The book is now housed in Lambeth Palace Library under the reference MS 1.

Sources

HOASM.org

Bibliography

Skinner, David: The Arundel Choirbook (London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 1): a Facsimile and Introduction (London: Roxburghe Club, 2003)
Curtis, Gareth; Wathey, Andrew: "Fifteenth-Century English Liturgical Music: A List of the Surviving Repertory" Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 27 (1994), 1–69
Benham, Hugh: Latin Church Music in England c.1460–1575 (London, 1977), 22–24, passim
Chew, Geoffrey: "The Provenance and Date of the Caius and Lambeth Choir-Books", Music and Letters, 51 (1970), 107–17
Bray, Roger W: The Interpretation of Musica Ficta in English Music, c.1490–c.1580, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University (1969), I, 115ff; II, 43-68
Warren, Edwin B.: Life and Works of Robert Fayrfax, Musicological Studies and Documents vol. 22 (American Institute of Musicology, 1969), 42, 59–60, passim
Kirsch, Winfried: Die Quellen der mehrstimmigen Magnificat- und Te Deum-Vertonungen bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Tutzing, 1966), 145
Todd, Henry J: A Catalogue of the Archiépiscopal Manuscripts in the Library at Lambeth Palace. London, 1812 (London, 1965), 1
Bergsagel, John D. (ed.): Nicholas Ludford (c.1485–c.1557): Collected Works, Corpus mensurabilis musicae vol. 27 (Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology, 1963–), Il, xiv–xv, 1–38, 130–79
Harrison, Frank Ll. (ed.): Early English Church Music (London: Stainer & Bell, 1963–), 4, 1–48, 130–31
Harrison, Frank Ll.: Music in Medieval Britain (London, 1963), 263–69, 307, 329–30, 335
Warren, Edwin B. (ed.): Robert Fayrfax (ca. 1464-1521): Collected Works, Corpus mensurabilis musicae Vol. 17 (Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology, 1959–66), I–II
Lyon, Margaret Elizabeth: Early Tudor Church Music: The Lambeth and Caius Manuscripts, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley (1957), I–II
Westrup, J. A., et al. (eds.): New Oxford History of Music (London, New York, and Toronto, 1954–), 3, 308, 321ff
Blume, Friedrich (ed.): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (Kassel, 1949–79) [cited by volume and column number], 2, 1347; 6, 378; 8, 1173
James, Montague Rhodes; Jenkins, Claude: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Lambeth Palace (Cambridge, 1930–32), 1
Collins, H. B.: "Latin Church Music by Early English Composers", Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 39 (1912–13), 55–83; 43 (1916–17), 97–121 (XLIII), at 98–101, 104–6
Frere, Walter Howard: Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica: A Descriptive Handlist of the Musical and Latin-Liturgical Mss. of the Middle Ages Preserved in the Libraries of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1894–1932; reprint Hildesheim, 1967), 1, 4

External links

Anglican church music

Service settings

Holy Communion	Sung Eucharist Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus & Benedictus Agnus Dei
Mattins	Preces and responses Venite Te Deum Benedicite Benedictus Jubilate
Evensong	Preces and responses Magnificat Nunc dimittis

Musical forms

Composers

Tudor/Renaissance	Richard Ayleward Adrian Batten William Byrd Richard Dering Richard Farrant Orlando Gibbons John Merbecke Robert Parsons John Redford John Sheppard Thomas Tallis John Taverner Thomas Tomkins Christopher Tye Thomas Weelkes William Mundy
Restoration/Georgian	Thomas Attwood John Blow Jeremiah Clarke Maurice Greene George Frideric Handel Pelham Humfrey Daniel Purcell Henry Purcell
Victorian/Edwardian	Edgar Bainton Edward Bairstow Lennox Berkeley Hugh Blair William Boyce John Goss T. Tertius Noble Frederick Ouseley Hubert Parry John Stainer Charles Villiers Stanford Ralph Vaughan Williams Thomas Attwood Walmisley Samuel Wesley Samuel Sebastian Wesley Charles Wood
Interwar/Postwar	Harold Darke George Dyson Gerald Finzi William H. Harris Basil Harwood Herbert Howells John Ireland Francis Jackson William Mathias Herbert Murrill George Oldroyd Bernard Rose Martin Shaw Herbert Sumsion William Walton
Modern	Malcolm Archer Harry Bramma Benjamin Britten Jonathan Dove Graham Kendrick Kenneth Leighton John Rutter Richard Shephard John Tavener

Other noted people

Publications

Contemporary	Carols for Choirs The English Hymnal The Hymnal 1982 Hymns Ancient and Modern The New English Hymnal The Oxford Book of Carols The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems The New Oxford Book of Carols
Historic	Caius Choirbook Dow Partbooks Drexel 4041 4180–4185 4302 Eton Choirbook Forrest-Heyther partbooks Gyffard partbooks Lambeth Choirbook The Mulliner Book Old Hall Manuscript Pepys Manuscript

Music organisations

Performance

History