William Horwood (composer)

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William Horwood was an English polyphonic vocal composer in the late-medieval period (c.1430–1484). In 1470, he was a singer at Lincoln Cathedral, in 1476, he was a vicar choral at Lincoln, and from 1477 until 1484, he was the Cathedral choirmaster. He has three complete pieces and one incomplete piece in the Eton Choirbook, one incomplete piece in a York manuscript.

Horwood's "Magnificat secundi toni a 5" bears a strong resemblance to compositions of his near contemporary Josquin des Prez (c. 1440-1521), so much so that he might easily be mistaken for Josquin upon first audition. No mention is made of Horwood among the listing of Josquin's contemporaries in Grout^[1]; neither is the Eton Choirbook mentioned in Grout.

A very scanty on-line article - only a thumbnail description of the composer - is present on (FM 99.5, New York) WBAI producer Chris Whent's Here of a Sunday Morning site. (The link Partial William Horwood Discography has no content.) Virtually no other information is available on the internet.

[edit] Discography

• "Old World Christmas", Archiv Produktion, ASIN: B0000AGD9G, track number 13, "Magnificat secundi toni, for 5 voices"
• "Mediaeval Carols", Herald, ASIN: B0000296VA, track number 10, "Gaude flori virginali"

[edit] References

1. ^ Grout, Donald Jay, "A History of Western Music" (New York: Norton, 1960). pp 130-184