The choice of cantus firmus for this Mass, a plainchant sung on the feasts of only two saints in the Sarum calendar, Margaret and Winifred, implies that Ludford may have composed the work for St Margaret’s church, Westminster, his own parish church in which he was married, served as a guild member and churchwarden, and was buried. Perhaps it was one of the works in the book of music that St Margaret’s bought from him in 1533/4. Whatever the case, it is arguably his most ‘modern’ Mass: succinct and lyrical, with an imaginative handling of texture and many telling harmonic touches. For five voices: SATBarB. viii + 40 pages. |
