The Wanley Manuscripts

This large collection of four- and five-part English sacred music (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Mus. Sch. e. 420–22) was probably compiled for use by an accomplished London parish choir during the earliest years of the reformed vernacular liturgy, ca. 1548–52. Although the set lacks a tenor partbook, Wanley is easily the most valuable of the few sources surviving from this momentous period. Its contents exemplify a wide range of musical styles and forms, from English arrangements of florid Latin masses to simple chordal "antems," including pieces by Tallis, Tye, and Shepard. The edition includes a complete transcription of the manuscript's contents with missing voice parts editorially reconstructed.