Exultet in hac die is composed on a monorhythmic plainchant cantus firmus honouring St Augustine of Canterbury. As a plainchant item it occurs in English Benedictine chant books but not in the Use of Salisbury; it seems probable that Sturmy’s attractive setting was adopted into the repertory of the refounded secular cathedral from that of the cathedral priory which preceded it. Nothing is known of the composer, but a ‘ballett of the a. b. c. of a preste called Heugh Stourmy’ was licensed by the Stationers’ Company of London in 1557–8. William Whytbroke was at Cardinal College with John Taverner in the later 1520s; his antiphon Sancte deus shows many similarities with Taverner’s own shorter antiphons. For five voices: SATBarB. vi + 13 pages. ISMN 979-0-57039-099-1.
