Building Corpus Christi

Abstract

This chapter describes musical participation in Corpus Christi College. Richard Fox’s apparently modest provision for liturgical music at Corpus is intelligible once the chapel ministers are viewed within their wider collegiate community. The musical capabilities of this mixed community can in turn be mapped onto the genres and repertoires cultivated in Henrician England. Plainsong formed the bedrock of the liturgy: all members of college except the domestic staff were to be proficient in cantus planus, which would have constituted most of what was sung in chapel. Indeed, all members of college should, at least in theory, have been able to participate in the singing of chant. Ultimately, Fox’s economy of means at Corpus arguably represents neither a repudiation of more demonstrative forms of ritual expression, nor an ascetic disavowal of the spiritual worth of church music; instead, it can be read as a serious attempt to engage the whole community as active participants in worship.