All Souls Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music: Kerry McCarthy (independent scholar)

Presenter: Kerry McCarthy (independent scholar)
Title: Voice-parts and voice-types in Tudor England
Discussants: David Skinner (University of Cambridge) and Andrew Johnstone (Trinity College, Dublin)

‘What part syngest thou? Qua voce cantas?’ John Stanbridge (1463-1510), master of Magdalen College School in Oxford and author of several innovative pedagogical books, taught his young pupils to ask that question. It is still a relevant question today. Tudor voice-parts and voice-types (both before and during the Reformation) have attracted some controversy in recent generations. This study addresses the issue from a less conventional angle. Rather than starting with questions of sounding pitch, transposition, or vocal production, it draws on a wide range of documents to revisit the five standard English voice-parts (bass, tenor, contratenor, mean/medius, treble/triplex) in what might be called ‘anthropological’ or ‘ethnographic’ terms, as specialised functions and roles exercised by participants in a complex musical culture. This approach, I would argue, also equips us to think more freely about practical matters of pitch and transposition as Tudor singers experienced them in their working lives.