Monthly Archive: November 2011

Music for Henry V and the House of Lancaster – The Binchois Consort/ Andrew Kirkman – Hyperion

by John Sunier | Nov 12, 2011 | Classical CD Reviews

Music for Henry V and the House of Lancaster – The Binchois Consort/ Andrew Kirkman – Hyperion 67868, 72:47 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****: We are here offered a tour of the musical dynasties of Henry V and Henry VI through the graces of the Wollaton Antiphonal, a collection of medieval manuscripts that are properly the property of the St. Leonard parish, but kept in the family library of Wollaton Hall from the mid-sixteenth century until 1924. It is miraculous that it did indeed escape the ravages of the Reformation. The book itself is an elaborate service manual (illuminated of course—aren’t they all?) most likely East Anglian in origin, for Sir Thomas Chatsworth, a nobleman in the East Midlands who had connections to the Plantagenet-Lancasters, and who had even fought with Henry V at Agincourt. Because of this Lancaster connection he was consequently devoted to St. John of Bridlington, essentially the patron saint of the House of Lancaster and the last English saint to be canonized before the Reformation, and Henry himself was almost fanatically attached to the religious and nationalistic-cultural associations with him as well. The music here gathered presents us with a very in-depth look at the services […]