2015 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth and death of two significant Tudor composers: John Sheppard and Robert Wylkynson. Sheppard’s Media Vita is his six-voice masterpiece, an epic and beautiful setting of the haunting words “In the midst of life we are in death”. The surviving works of Wylkynson are few, but they display an incredible skill and ambition. His 13-part canonic setting of the Creed portrays Jesus and his 12 disciples, while his nine-part setting of the Salve Regina is one of the highlights of the Eton Choirbook.
