Media Vita by John Sheppard

John Sheppard (c. 1515-1558) can be ranked amongst the finest and foremost English composers from the Renaissance. Still, it is only recently that he is getting the attention he deserves, especially in comparison with the likes of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. This neglect can be attributed to a lack of reliable sources and to the difficulty of performing his music. If it wasn’t for the Baldwin Partbooks, the majority of Sheppard’s music would have been lost. There is little we know about Sheppard’s life, except that he had been employed at Magdalen College, Oxford, and later at the Chapel Royal, where he would remain for the rest of his days. It was then, towards the end of his life, that Sheppard wrote his most refined and renowned work, an antiphon setting of the Gregorian chant Media vita in morte sumus (‘In the midst of life we are in death’).

“The colossal antiphon Media vita ranks amongst the largest-scale pieces of the entire century, and is certainly amongst the most powerful in terms of its cumulative emotive effect. It is a setting of a Lenten Nunc Dimittis antiphon at Compline – but its scale seems to point beyond this liturgical purpose alone; it must surely have been written with a particular event in mind.”

Matthew O’Donovan, from the liner notes of Stile Antico’s Media Vita

Due to the works immense scale, it is assumed that Sheppard wrote his Media vita for a special occassion rather than for the regular liturgy. It is sometimes argued that he wrote the piece in memory of the composer Nicholas Ludford, but we simply cannot be sure. What we do know is that around the time of composition London was hit by the 1557 influenza epidemic. And so, surrounded by death and nearing his own end as well, he might have been inspired to write a musical contemplation of death, in order to come to terms with life’s transitory nature. It is an all-encompassing work, containing the whole scope of human emotions: from desperation, fear, and pain to acceptance, faith, and hope. It is a wonderful musical expression of the human condition.

When listening to the work, I would recommend you to read along with the text and translation below – or with the sheet music itself –, in which case it is easiest to follow the highest voice. As with all Renaissance and Baroque music, it is only then that you can begin to understand the intimate connection between text and music. For example, note the bittersweet harmony in the first occurence of in morte sumus (‘we are in death’), reflecting a fear of death as well as a longing for eternal rest. Or notice how the Ne proiicias (‘do not cast us away in old age’) is fittingly sung only by the lowest voices rather than including the trebles, by the men of the choir instead of the boys. Finally, in the Qui cognoscis, Sheppard makes use of one of his favourite techniques: the gimell (‘twin’), temporarily splitting a voice in two. In this case, Sheppard doubles both the treble (triplex) and the mean (medius) voice, creating an incredibly lush, rich, and glorious texture.

However, while it is rewarding to pay attention to all these details, you should not forgot to simply immerse yourself in the music, or else the overarching structure will be lost on you. So now just let yourself be carried away by this cathedral of sound, by this monumental work of everlasting beauty.

Text and Translation

1. Media vita

2. Sancte Deus

3. Nunc dimittis

4. Ne proiicias nos

5. Sancte Deus

6. Noli claudere aures

7. Sancte fortis

8. Qui cognoscis occulta

9. Sancte et misericors