John Taverner lived from roughly
1475 to roughly
1535 and was a composer of
choral music. He was born and died in
Norfolk and is not to be confused with
John Tavener the contemporary classical composer; Taverner has an extra 'r'. He is also not to be mistaken for 'John Taverner' (a correspondant of
Oliver Cromwell), 'John Taverner' (professor of music at
Gresham College from
1610), or '
Richard Taverner' (who apparently revised the
Matthews Bible, the clever man).
From 1525 to 1533 he served as an organist and composer at the short-lived Cardinal College at Oxford University, where he became famous for his masses. Eight of them and several magnificats survive today. To modern ears his work resembles ambient music, and it is still performed and recorded - latterly by Chanticleer, the successful vocal group. Perhaps because he achieved success during his lifetime, he is still considerably obscure, however.