A possible likeness of John Taverner in an ornamental capital E from the Forrest-Heyther partbooks, c. 1520, shown with speech scroll inscribed in Latin: Joh(ann)es Tavern(er)[1]
John Taverner (c. 1490 – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era.[2] He is best-known for Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas and The Western Wynde Mass,[3] and Missa Corona Spinea is also often viewed as a masterwork.[4][5][6]
^"Jho~es" (sic) for "Joh~es", possibly a printer's error
^"Gimell | John Taverner - Missa Corona spinea - Dum transisset Sabbatum". gimell. Retrieved 12 April 2021. This page focuses on positive reviews of a particular recording of Missa Corona Spinea (Crown of Thorns Mass), but a number of writers are also quoted as highly praising the mass itself. Frank Pothoven of Luister called it an "exceptional 6-voice setting". Kate Bolton of BBC Music Magazine referred to it as "one of the high points of English Sacred music". Michael Wersin of Rondo argued, "The voices - in this setting above all the treble - show some of the most astonishing ornamental virtuosity to be found in the mass repertoire of the period". Richard Fairman of Financial Times stated, "It may not be Allegri’s Miserere, but Taverner’s Missa Corona spinea is still one of the virtuoso highlights of Renaissance choral music."
^Fanfare. J. Flegler. 1990. p. 317. Adrian Corleonis argues, "This Crown of Thorns Mass is one of John Taverner's eight settings of the Ordinary, and one of three festal Masses in six parts that rank among the most masterly achievements of England's greatest early sixteenth - century composer ."