John Taverner, Tudor composer

There are two English composers with the name John Taverner or Tavener. The latter, who died in 2013, claimed to be (indirectly) descended from the former. It is the pre-Elizabethan forebear who is the subject of this article.

John Taverner’s origins are obscure, although it seems likely that he was born in Lincolnshire, probably Boston, in about 1490. He was apparently a boy chorister of exceptional talent, although it is not known where, and it is not until 1524 that his name appears on any official record, when he is known to have been an adult member of the choir of Tattershall College in Lincolnshire. The reference is to “Master Taverner”, which suggests that he was highly regarded as a singer.

It would appear that he was producing music of his own during his time at Tattershall College, before he left to go to Oxford in 1526. The choir comprised sixteen men and ten boys, and Taverner composed a number of masses and antiphons for them.

Taverner’s reputation was such that he was invited to become the Master of Choristers at Cardinal College, Oxford, which was being founded by Thomas Wolsey, the Cardinal Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England. The college has been known as Christ Church College since 1546. Taverner was initially reluctant to make the move and he had to be persuaded to do so.

Taverner was able to recruit one of the largest choirs in the country, comprising 26 men and 16 boys, for which he composed works that fully exploited the resources under his command. He made excellent use of melody and counterpoint in his masses and other works which were sung in the college chapel that was later to become Oxford Cathedral.

Among the choristers that John Taverner had brought with him from Lincolnshire were two men who were members of a covert cell of Lutherans. They were appointed as lay clerk and chaplain of the new choir. Taverner’s involvement in the cell was minimal, but he did later admit to hiding heretical books under the floorboards of the choirboys’ practice room, to protect another member of the cell, John Clerk, who was a senior canon of the college.

In February 1528 the cell was exposed and Taverner was one of those taken in for questioning. However, Thomas Wolsey was prepared to be lenient towards non-clerical heretics and Taverner escaped any punishment. The experience clearly scared him and he was careful to avoid any contact with Lutherans or other unapproved sects in future.

Despite this adventure, Taverner was well regarded by Wolsey for his work with the choir and he was invited to take a quartet of choirboys to sing for the Chancellor at Hampton Court later in 1528.

However, Cardinal Wolsey’s fall from power in November 1529 was followed by a decline in status for Cardinal College, and John Taverner decided to leave in April 1530 as he was not getting the same level of support for the choir that he had enjoyed formerly.

His immediate movements on leaving Oxford are uncertain, but he was clearly back in Boston by 1538 and had probably been there for a number of years before he is recorded as having been a tenant of a property owned by the Guild of St Mary, which was established at St Botolph’s Church in the town.

The Guild supported a choir of up to twenty men and up to ten boys, and it is probable that Taverner had been running this choir since leaving Oxford. The choir became highly regarded under Taverner’s leadership, and it was probably for this choir that he wrote what many think of as his masterpiece, the mass “Corona Spinea” (“Crown of Thorns”).

However, in 1534 King Henry VIII broke with Rome and the Guild was no longer able to earn an income from selling masses and indulgences. John Taverner had been highly paid for his services, but by around 1536 or 1537 it is clear that they could no longer afford to employ him and he left their service. In 1538 he decided to give up writing church music to order.

He was now a wealthy man and could afford to step back and follow his own interests. It is not known when he married, but his wife Rose could possibly have brought a reasonable dowry with her. The couple took a large property in the town of Boston and appear to have lived in considerable comfort.

Taverner had known the King’s new chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, from his time at Oxford, and he now took steps to cultivate the latter’s favour. He used this advantage on behalf of the Boston friars whose friaries had been suppressed and who were now without a home. Taverner wrote to Cromwell on their behalf and he and another local businessman were given permission to buy the friaries from the crown.

Taverner was closely involved in local affairs and was highly regarded by his fellow townsfolk, being personally generous and acting on behalf of several people who called on him for help. He later served as an alderman when Boston was granted its first municipal charter in May 1545.

Despite his retirement from leading the St Botolph’s choir he continued to compose occasional pieces for them, although it appears that the choir had lost its boys’ section so that Taverner’s final works were for men’s voices only.  He also composed some secular songs.

In August 1545 his health started to fail, and he died on 18^th October, being buried beneath the tower (the “Stump”) of St Botolph’s Church.

John Taverner is remembered as a pioneering and innovative writer of church music as it moved away from plainchant and towards polyphony. He had a considerable influence on the composers and musicians who followed him, and some of his works are performed down to the present day.

In 1972 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies completed a two-act opera, “Taverner”, that was loosely based on the life of John Taverner, but which cannot be relied upon for biographical accuracy.

© John Welford