Small-Scale Sacred Music

Whether in dramatic, instrumental or sacred works, the pivotal role in English music of Matthew Locke, most idiosyncratic and arguably the most original of Restoration composers before Purcell, is unquestionable. The small-scale sacred pieces in Latin and in English collected in EC67 extend our picture both of his abundant talent and, in tandem with the sacred music of Henry Lawes presented in EC61, of music for worship in this period of political and religious turbulence. Seven Latin motets and four canons, and 21 English sacred devotional works and a single canon form the main body of the volume. In two appendices, the editor presents eleven pieces with problematic attributions, and eight pieces, anonymous but on stylistic grounds arguably by Locke, found in Royal Academy of Music Lam 108, a source associated with the Chapel of Catherine of Braganza. Whether doubtfully or definitely attributed, however, the music of EC67 displays throughout a command both of the expressive Italian concertato style and more conservative contrapuntal skills, in a characteristic blending of elements of stile antico and stile moderno.