Read on to discover 7 of the greatest Renaissance choral works...
Jean Mouton Nesciens Mater
I first experienced this 1518 piece when I was a choral scholar at St John’s, and what’s amazing about it is that it’s in a very strict form – a quadruple canon, with each pair of the eight voices in canon with each other – but, much like Bach’s music when he does really clever things, it is still full of emotion. Because of the canon, you will hear a phrase and then you have to wait a while before it comes through again, which gives the music an inevitable quality. Then, towards the end, on the phrase ‘ubere de caelo pleno’ (‘a breast full of heaven’), you hear the voices carrying the words through with increasing emotion.
Tomás Luis de Victoria Missa pro Victoria
Dating from around 1600, this work is in essence a battle mass, written in celebration of the French victory at Marignan in 1515. But I get the feeling there must have been some hubris in it, given that the title contains Victoria’s name, as though he was writing a mass for himself. It is certainly epic – polychoral, with a tension between those moments with two big choirs answering each other, and other sections containing movement from each individual vocal line. There is also an exciting passage in the Gloria where you have two choirs shouting ‘In gloria Dei Patris’ at each other. It is ecstatic.
More epic Renaissance choral works...
Robert Carver O bone Jesu
This piece from the 1520s is for 19 voices – nine of them tenor parts, which is unprecedented in itself. But what I love about it is the way it oscillates between intimate, magical sections with perhaps three voices, and huge moments where he will use all 19 – as though the clouds have parted to let the sun shine through. There’s a real sense of drama to it and an air of mystery, created by harmony which feels open-ended, with floating, high soprano lines that drift and reappear in an otherworldly way.
William Byrd Great Service
Written very late in Byrd’s life, this work for 13 voices feels like a summation of what this composer could do. It is designed for morning, communion and evening services, consisting of seven main sections and using all manner of compositional styles: from imitation to antiphony, as well as six-, eight- and ten-part counterpoint. It showcases Byrd’s amazing melodic capability, and the fact that it is in English feels very important, making it a true piece of English art.
More epic Renaissance choral works...
Antoine Brumel Missa ‘Et ecce terrae motus’
Listening with 21st-century ears, it’s hard to imagine just how revelatory this ‘earthquake’ mass must have been to those in the late-15th century. But there is a cinematic quality to it, with a thick, deep, bass sound set within repetitive patterns – the second Kyrie features massive chords and all kinds of movement in the lower voices. In its own time, this music must have had a similar effect to an IMAX screen with surround sound speakers - earthshaking!
Giovanni Gabrieli Omnes gentes
I studied this piece as part of my Music Appreciation GCSE and it was one of my ‘Road to Damascus’ moments as a classical musician. A fully polychoral work, it reveals the depth of Gabrieli’s skill and creativity, alternating between simple and compound time, and making the most of every opportunity for ornamentation and virtuosity in the solo lines. It is also one of the few works of its time with specified instrumentation, whereas other pieces from the period often treat instruments as optional replacements for the voices. Everything about the score serves as an invitation to create something spectacular.
More epic Renaissance choral works...
Alessandro Striggio Ecce beatam lucem
Widely thought to have inspired Thomas Tallis’s Spem in Alium, this 40-part motet from 1561 is the earliest example of a composer writing for such a massive vocal ensemble. But what is even more incredible is that all the parts are fully independent. I find it so moving that every person is bringing their own quality to it, but is still part of a vast choral whole. And, for me, the most powerful moments are those when all the singers come together homophonically to profess the same text. Music of this scale feels transcendent.
Who is Ed Lyon?
Hailing from West Yorkshire, the operatic tenor Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio before enjoying his first big break with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants in Handel’s Hercules at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barbican in London. He has since moved into Classical, Romantic and 20th-century repertoire, performing at venues ranging from the Royal Opera House to Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. In June and July 2026, he plays the title role in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno D’Ulisse at Garsington Opera.
