Frye, Walter (EN)

Frye Walter, †before 5 June 1475, English composer. Possibly identical with “Walter the cantor” who led the lay choir at Ely Cathedral in 1443/44 and 1452/53. In 1456/57, “Walter Frye”, probably a composer, joined the London Guild of Parish Clerks.  He then entered the service of Anne York, Duchess of Exeter, sister of King Edward IV, as documented by payments made between 1464 and 1472. The date of the composer’s death is established on the basis of a will drawn up on 12 August 1474, confirmed in Canterbury on 5 June 1475. Frye’s works have survived almost exclusively in manuscripts from outside England: in Burgundy, Italy and Central Europe.

Frye’s work is considered an example of the English style in mid-15th-century music, which is characterised, among other things, by a preference for third intervals. In his masses, he often employed a cantus firmus drawn from plainchant, sometimes subjecting it to light rhythmic variation; he achieved unity across the mass cycle by repeating similar opening fragments in successive movements. His latest mass is considered to be Summe Trinitati, based on an isorhythmic tenor from the responsory of the same name. Frye’s shorter works, which enjoyed considerable popularity in the second half of the 15th century, are also of great importance. Among them, the song motet Ave regina celorum stands out, the score of which has been preserved in 15 manuscripts and also in several paintings. This work underwent various revisions and became the basis for one of J. Obrecht’s masses. Frye’s music is placed in the context of the works of J. Bedyngham and J. Plummer, successors to J. Dunstable.

Literature: W. Stephan Die burgundisch-niederländische Motette zur Zeit Ockeghems, Kassel 1937; Ch. van den Borren Études sur le XVe siècle musical, Antwerp 1941; E. Reeser Een isomelische mis uit den tijd van Dufay, “Tijdschrift der Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis” XVI, 1942; M. Bukofzer Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music, Londyn 1950, reprint New York 1964; S.W. Kenney Contrafacta in the Works of Frye, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” VIII, 1955; S.W. Kenney Ely Cathedral and the “Contenance Anglaise”, in: Musik und Geschichte, commemorative book for L. Schrade, Cologne 1963; G. Montagna Johannes Pullois in Context of his Era, “Revue belge de musicologie” XLII, 1988; A. Kirkman The Style of Walter Frye and an Anonymous Mass in Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Manuscript 5557, “Early Music History” XI, 1992; R.  Strohm The Rise of European Music, 1380–1500, Cambridge 1993; D.  Fallows A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs, 1415–1480, Oxford 1999; P. Gancarczyk Twórczość Guillaume’a Dufaya i Waltera Frye’a w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej, “Przegląd Muzykologiczny” I, 2001; D. Fallows Walter Frye’s “Ave regina celorum” and the Latin Song Style, in: “Et facciam dolçi canti”, commemorative book for A. Ziino, Lucca 2003 (reprint in: D. Fallows Composers and their Songs, 1400–1521, Farnham 2010); J. Cook The Style of Walter Frye and an Anonymous Mass in the Lucca Choirbook, “Music & Letters” XCLI, 2015.