John Sheppard II

Taverner and Tye are the predominant influences in these works. The 6-part Mass Cantate is taken from the Oxford partbooks. The source for The Western Wind Mass, The Frences Mass, the Mass Be not afraid , and the Plainsong Mass for a Mean, all in four parts, is the so-called ‘Gyffard’ partbooks (British Library Add. MSS 17802-5), which are now known to have been copied after Elizabeth’s accession for a Catholic patron, Dr Philip Gyffard, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.