Composer. Regarded as Scotland's greatest 16th Century musician. His 19-part motet "O bone Jesu" (c. 1522) is a masterpiece of Renaissance music. Carver's style is notable for its tension-laden use of long crescendos, which make his polyphonic vocal pieces dynamic and exciting. He was one of the few British composers of his era influenced by the Europeans and the only one to write a "Missa L'Homme arme" (c. 1520), based on a popular French tune that was used in dozens of Continental Mass-settings. His other surviving compositions are the "Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium" (c. 1510), "Mass for Six Voices" (c. 1515), the motet "Gaude Glore Virginali" (c. 1515), "Missa Fera Pessima" (c. 1525), and "Missa Pater Creator Omnium" (1546). Two anonymous Masses and a Magnificat have also been attributed to him. Little is known of Carver's life. He was an Augustinian monk with some connection to the Scottish Royal Family, and his "Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium" may have been performed at the 1513 coronation of King James V. For 36 years, he was a Canon of Scone Abbey in Perthshire, until it was burned down by Protestants in June 1559. Recent scholarship suggests that Carver remained at the ruined church with a few other monks until his death; no visible trace of the Abbey or the composer's gravesite remains today. His extant music - probably only a fraction of what he wrote during his long life - is preserved in the "Carver Choirbook" at the National Library of Scotland. Carver's complete works have been recorded on CD, "O bone Jesu" several times.
Composer. Regarded as Scotland's greatest 16th Century musician. His 19-part motet "O bone Jesu" (c. 1522) is a masterpiece of Renaissance music. Carver's style is notable for its tension-laden use of long crescendos, which make his polyphonic vocal pieces dynamic and exciting. He was one of the few British composers of his era influenced by the Europeans and the only one to write a "Missa L'Homme arme" (c. 1520), based on a popular French tune that was used in dozens of Continental Mass-settings. His other surviving compositions are the "Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium" (c. 1510), "Mass for Six Voices" (c. 1515), the motet "Gaude Glore Virginali" (c. 1515), "Missa Fera Pessima" (c. 1525), and "Missa Pater Creator Omnium" (1546). Two anonymous Masses and a Magnificat have also been attributed to him. Little is known of Carver's life. He was an Augustinian monk with some connection to the Scottish Royal Family, and his "Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium" may have been performed at the 1513 coronation of King James V. For 36 years, he was a Canon of Scone Abbey in Perthshire, until it was burned down by Protestants in June 1559. Recent scholarship suggests that Carver remained at the ruined church with a few other monks until his death; no visible trace of the Abbey or the composer's gravesite remains today. His extant music - probably only a fraction of what he wrote during his long life - is preserved in the "Carver Choirbook" at the National Library of Scotland. Carver's complete works have been recorded on CD, "O bone Jesu" several times.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Advertisement
