The Edwarde to whom Terrenum sitiens regnum is ascribed in the Peterhouse partbooks is probably the Edward Hedley who was a singer in the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford in the 1530s. This, his only known composition, is exceptional both for its subject matterthe massacre of the Holy Innocentsand for its refrain form which relates it more to the carol and responsory than to the votive antiphon. Walter Erles outstandingly successful career as a courtier to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth (traced in some detail in the introduction to this edition) enabled him to found a dynasty of substantial landed gentry that survives to the present day. His chief musical talent seems to have been as a keyboard player, but this short votive antiphon in honour of one of the five wounds of Jesus shows fluency and an understanding of the vocal medium; it may have been sung by a small group of chamber singers rather than by a larger ecclesiastical choir. Tr/A/T/T/B. xvi + 27
- ISMN: 9790570391196 (M570391196)
