Robert Fayrfax, England most underrated renaissance composer mark my word

[Carlo Gesualdo]

 

I feel so sad people ignore him and also Robert White, and for them  the only renaissance composers they acknowledge as great is Tallis and Purcell ok, yap there were great William Byrd is also one force of nature to reckon whit, early renaissance England music was and still is top notch, I have the highest  respect for

ttop guns like I mention, Fayrfax, White, and William Byrd are favorites, you guys will probably laugh, but I feel more of a Bloke(English) than a Pee soup quebec or Pseudo french quebecer, here why Quebecer are to mainstream I'm not I more like a Bloke an English Catholic of agnostic faith, I'm not atheistic but respect them, but here the thing I totally hate the Laic intolerance, because they over simplified stuff, like religion is all stupid an the cause of war, wrong there is no wrong religion only bad teacher of religion , religion don't cause war and we have to end all Abraham religion three jewish religion(Torah ancien= ancient testament, new testament, or cousin religion Islam eve if Islam as become problematic whit sunnite fraction that does terrorism in the name of religion ,  the problem is the follow, wrongful teaching an  a religion. And I will confessed  I was real angry at Irish because they say were catholic but there the only one doing terrorism undermining the future of my religion, so this give Laic argument to Axe Catholicism and religion as a whole. To me Laic mean antichrist, there against having some faith  mild or strong, here  christianism well teach to me Read 1o comendements(old testament Basic of Protestantism and also Jewish religion. Follow them the best you can, no one is forcing you to go to church and here sermon by preacher see, let you're house be you're church , meditate on this, second part Catholicism heart is Jesus was Born It's god news, I don't blame ordinary Jews or Romans for his death but both  only mob element of the time Sanedrin  and Romans corruption lead to Jesus crucifictions in other word Mob element of the time, what is good about Catholicism is it teach ya moral, the evangelical text, what you should understand is Jesus fought corruption in this world, not Jews not Romans  Laic are pure evil because atheistic just don't believe, Laic mock religion and want to weed it out, because some crazy highjacks  christianism and islam.
There are Christian  of Catholic Faith that are not and Protestant that are not and do terrorism in name of religion, not because religion is bad, Whiteout it people would all be amorals, and sorry Laic but I know there are a lots of you that are intolerant to Christianism because  of IRA trouble oon Catholic side that are more of marxist Laic terrorism and  on Protestant side dude like Timothy Mc Veigh whom was a terrorist, but whom teach Mc Veigh is really to blame not protestantism, and Catholic that do terroism is not good Catholic, this is what I was trying to say I end up blaming thee Irish because they are the one problematic for Catholic fait , they are more laic marxist doing terrorism in the name of a Religion, wwhat kind of Catholicism is this,  to be fairplay Irish people , we had the FLQ whom were marxist terrorist more so than Christian but  we did only two victim I you read wikipedia two kidnapping than eventually stop and decided to end  hate  like this toward English (but Irish In northern Ireland continue there fight made  800 victim of innocent civilians, this is so wrong ...this is not Real Catholicism doing Terrorism  in the name of a religion, but I,m fairplay perhaps some Irish Catholic are sick of I.R.A or R.I.R.A bullying of  protestant minority and won't to end hostility but there bully, the truth is by these Terrorism Marxist more so than christian more commie terrorist than Catholic to me, And commie  and Christianism is a bad mix, chinese can do it, there Christian in China but white people can't. So dear Irish Catholic were I fairplay this time, less harsh?

I hope so, I try my best

[DaveF]

It's good to see Fayrfax getting his own thread; if the inaugural post had in any way been about Fayrfax, it would have been even better.  However -

I'm not sure what you mean, DP, about Fayrfax being "underrated" - he has after all the distinction of having had his complete works recorded (only 5 CDs, it's true*), which is an honour still not accorded to Browne, Taverner or Sheppard, all of whom are at least of the same stature.  Nor even to Byrd, whom I hope we agree is head, shoulders and most of his upper body above the rest.  If Fayrfax is not to be neglected, how could his music gain more exposure?  His mass-settings, with their remarkably uniform 12-minute sections, would be of limited use in the modern liturgy; the two Magnificat settings, both running to 15 minutes, even less so.  And it's all so difficult to perform, beyond the range of any ordinary church choir and perhaps even some of the cathedral ones.  We could always ask for more recordings, although it's hard to imagine it being done any better than by Andrew Carwood.

So that leaves us listening to the recordings we have, which are beautiful almost beyond praise.  There's a simplicity to it, relative to some of the metrical excesses of the older Eton Choirbook composers, which is most refreshing.  I will own up to finding the Magnificat settings and motets more satisfying than the Masses, some of which appear to have been composed just to show off. I find Eterne laudis lilium particularly quite heartbreaking, especially given the knowledge that it was written for the elderly Elizabeth of York in her last days.

The royal connection also gives us access to information about Fayrfax that is lost for every other composer from that period, and even for those up to two or three hundred years younger.  His date of birth is recorded, for example - 23rd April 1464 which, if that looks vaguely familiar, is (remarkably) 100 years to the day before that assigned by tradition to Shakespeare.

So - greatest English composer between Browne and Taverner?  Quite possibly.

*Annoyingly, another work (Anima Christi) was authenticated after the 5 discs were recorded, and then included in the 3-disc set of the Masses, so completists have to get both.

[Mandryka]

My favourite song by Fayrfax is called That was my woe, it's been recorded many times but the one I prefer is by Hilliard on a CD called Music for Tudor Kings - they do it as an a cappella duet, and I like that!

By some strange coincidence I listened to one of the masses just yesterday, Missa Tecum Principium. It's very sweet and angelic music!

[71 dB]

...for them  the only renaissance composers they acknowledge as great is Tallis and Purcell ok,

Henry Purcell? He is a baroque composer and lived a century "too late" to be a renaissance composer.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Henry Purcell? He is a baroque composer and lived a century "too late" to be a renaissance composer.

Indeed sir Purcell a mistake and for the first sir that respond well everyone know Tallis around the world in movie etc, Fayrfax is more underground for nnobs and it should be criminal lol

[71 dB]

Indeed sir Purcell a mistake and for the first sir that respond well everyone know Tallis around the world in movie etc, Fayrfax is more underground for nnobs and it should be criminal lol

I have to admit I don't know Fayrfax's music so I guess I am a criminal. 

[Carlo Gesualdo]

I have to admit I don't know Fayrfax's music so I guess I am a criminal. 

lol that funny, don't worrie sir, you made my day whit comment. Good day sir