William Cornysh: Salve Regina (Eton Choir Book) - Richard Taruskin and Cappella Nova

From the concert "Harmoniae Britanniae", November 11, 1979. As I remember, this concert was given at St. Joseph's Church on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village, New York City.
These tapes are all from live concerts, and have occasional blemishes. But they bring to life Richard's highly individual approach to early music, and will supply some additional context for his controversial thoughts on the difference between authenticity and "historical performance practice." In these performances you hear (or hear again) Richard's urgent intensity, and that is the raison d'être for putting them up now. (Many thanks to Larry Rosenwald for those two words--urgent intensity--which characterize Richard's style so beautifully.)
• Catching up with Richa...
"Regarding the [historically-correct performance] movement itself I have always held that, as a symptomatically modern phenomenon, it is not historical but IS authentic. It is a message I have had great difficulty in getting across to musicians, because so many have invested so heavily in the false belief that authenticity can derive only from historical correctness." --Richard Taruskin, in Early Music, May 1992, p. 311.
We are not certain which William Cornysh wrote this Salve Regina. William Cornysh the Elder died in 1502, his son William Cornysh the Younger lived from 1465(?) to October of 1523. The "Cornysh" pieces in the Eton Choir Book have a more modern sense of tonality, and occasionally seem to be painting the meaning of the text, so perhaps they are by Cornysh the Younger, though they are equally as large in scale and rhythmically complex as the other surviving pieces from the Eton Choir Book. It is impossible to decide.
The Eton Choir Book was compiled c. 1490 - 1502 for the Chapel of Eton College. A little over half of it survives. It is our best source for the sonorous and elaborate polyphony of the English Catholic Church in the late 15th century. This music was made old fashioned by the Reformation, but the sound and size of this music live on to some extent in such pieces as William Byrd's Great Service.
This Salve Regina is #12 of the collection. Whichever Cornysh wrote it, it has a dramatic spirit, and does seem inspired by the verse "To you we cry out, exiled sons of Eve, for you we sigh, weeping and wailing in this vale of tears."
= = = = =
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
Hail, Queen, Mother of mercy,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve!
our life, our sweetness, and our hope, Hail!
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevæ,
To you we cry out, exiled sons of Eve,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
For you we sigh, weeping and wailing
in hac lacrimarum valle.
in this vale of tears.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
Therefore, O our advocate, turn your
misericordes oculos ad nos converte,
merciful eyes toward us,
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
And show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
after this exile of ours [has come to its end].
Virgo mater ecclesiae, Aeterna porta gloriae,
Virgin, mother of the church, eternal gate of glory,
Esto nobis refugium Apud Patrem et Filium.
Be our refuge with the Father and the Son.
O CLEMENS,
O clement,
Virgo clemens, Virgo pia, Virgo dulcis O Maria,
Clement Virgin, Faithful Virgin, O Sweet Virgin Mary,
Exaudi preces omnium Ad te pie clamantium.
Hear the prayers of all those who faithfully cry out to you.
O PIA,
O faithful,
Funde preces tuo nato, crucifixo, vulnerato,
Pour out your prayers to your son, crucified, pierced,
Et pro nobis flagelato, spinis puncto, felle potato.
And scourged for us, crowned with thorns, given gall to drink.
O DULCIS VIRGO MARIA.
O sweet Virgin Mary.