The western wynde - Definition and Overview

The Western Wynde is a 16th century song whose tune was used as the basis (cantus firmus) of masses by English composers John Taverner, Christopher Tye and John Sheppard.

The words of the original were decidedly secular:-

'Westron wynde, when wilt thou blow,

The small raine down can raine.

Cryst, if my love were in my armes

And I in my bedde again!'

Recovering the original tune of "Western Wind" that was used in these masses is not entirely straightforward. There is a version that uses the secular words, but with rather different notes:

The version used by the three mass composers can only be inferred by what they put into their masses. In program notes (see below), Peter Phillips offers the following reconstruction:

But this is not always exactly what appears in the masses; thus the New Grove quotes the following sequence from Taverner's mass:

For the words being sung here, see Mass (music).

Sources

• Peter Phillips's reconstruction is taken from his program notes for his recording Western Wind Masses: Taverner, Tye Sheppard, released 1993 on compact disc by Gimell Records, 454 927-2.
• The remaining musical examples above are adapted from versions given in the online version (2004) of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.