Richard Dering

Motets For 1, 2 Or 3 Voices

The music of Dering forms a lively commentary on the complex artistic interchange between England and the continent in the early seventeenth century, and the picture is extended with this collection of small-scale settings of Latin texts with continuo accompaniment. Performed both in the chapel of Queen Henrietta Maria and in the residential quarters of Oliver Cromwell, these pieces were clearly much in demand for intimate devotional observances. Motets from printed and manuscript sources are included, as well as incomplete works plausibly attributed to the composer.