We regret that the Forrest-Heyther Partbooks Project will not continue in 2019. Please read our statement on the funding of the choir. The following page is retained for information.

The Forrest-Heyther Partbooks Project 2018-19

After its monumental 2016-17 Cardoso450 project, a celebration of the Golden Age of Portuguese polyphony centered around the 450th anniversary of the birth of the Carmelite composer Frei Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650), the Choir of the Carmelite Priory returns to Tudor England in a project that places the 18 Masses of the Forrest-Heyther Partbooks in the context of contemporary and near-contemporary compositions.

The Forrest-Heyther Partbooks is a set of six manuscript partbooks copied and compiled in stages from c.1528. Now housed in the Bodleian Library, the partbooks are one of the most important sources of early English polyphonic Masses, containing famous works such as Christopher Tye’s Missa Euge bone, Taverner’s Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas and Sheppard’s Missa Cantate alongside lesser-known works by Fayrfax, Alwood and Aston. The scale of these Masses, none of which sets the Kyrie as was the Sarum custom, means that only the Gloria and Agnus Dei will be presented in the context of our Sunday liturgy; however, the Masses will be newly edited from facsimile, and it is intended that complete editions will be produced.

The project runs for the same 22-month period as Cardoso450, and encompasses 61 services and 128 works (Cardoso450 was 186 pieces across 60 services). Like Cardoso450, there are periods of more intense activity around Lent & Easter and Advent & Christmas; most months feature two FH Sundays. The full programme is available below.

Forrest-Heyther links