John Browne
1450 -1505
An early English composer, very little is known of the life of John Browne. His work is in stark contrast to yesterday’s offering from Eastern Orthodox composer St John Koukouzelis.
The music we have of his was preserved in the Eton Choirbook, focuses on intricate melodies and multi part voices. The music has a sense of floating you up to the heavens using an upper registry that is entirely absent from the Byzantine equivalent.
He may have heralded from Coventry, though that is a guess. He did appear as a chorister at Eton. It is worth noting that the college was founded to provide a free education for poor boys. A far cry from its modern iteration!
His best known work is Stabat Mater, literally “the mother was standing”, a 13th century composition that follows the suffering of Mary through the episodes of the crucifixion. It became a favourite part of the liturgy for classical composers, most famously Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
In the Stabat Mater below Browne users six voices:
Beautiful - the soaring voices both raise the spirit and poignantly reflect Mary's suffering. It has to be said, she isn't very "stabat" in the painting chosen to illustrate the piece!
Yes, the soprano gets the starring role for sure (as so often). I much prefer this to St John Koko yesterday who, despite being interesting in a musicologist way, does (as Susannah puts it) drone on a bit.
Is there a way to encourage more interest in this project, now you're on Substack? There must be others out there who'd enjoy this unusual music!