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This Magnificat setting for four voices is given pride of place at the beginning of a register recording the proceedings of the borough court of Dartmouth in Devon between 1484 and 1515: a surprising juxtaposition of church music and official administration which may commemorate the town’s gratitude to St Saviour’s church in the town for the provision of a new guildhall in about 1480. The setting throws light on how English sacred polyphony developed from the soloistic style and three-part texture of the mid-15th century into the choral style and five-part texture of the end of the century. By no means old-fashioned or clumsy, the music is carefully wrought, colourful and immediately appealing. Some towns in late medieval Devon were clearly capable of following the widespread national fashion for elaborate church music. For four voices, TrATT or (ATBB). vi + 26 pages. ISMN 979-0-57039-183-7.
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