Search - Taverner, Tye, Sheppard :: Taverner:Western Wind Masses

The haunting folk tune "Western Wind, When Wilt Thou Blow" briefly became the L'homme armé of Tudor England--like L'homme armé, it was a secular tune often used as a basis for settings of the Mass. While composers on the continent set L'homme armé in long notes in the tenor voice and wrote faster-moving parts around it; these three English composers constantly repeat the Western Wind melody, often passing it from one voice to another with the countermelodies moving at more or less the same speed. (Interestingly, Taverner used the tune in every voice but the alto; Tye responded by using the tune in the alto voice only.) These are among the most popular Masses of the entire Tudor period, performed immaculately by the Tallis Scholars. --Matthew Westphal