"Out of the shadows": a biographical study of William Turner (c.1651-1740), with critical editions of his anthems and services

William Turner (1651-1740) is arguably the least recognised of the great composers of the English Restoration period, despite achieving significant acclaim as a composer in his lifetime. This study of Turner’s most significant and substantial contributions to the English sacred music repertoire has identified and catalogued 50 anthem settings that, with variants, comprise 60 individual works. Of these, three have been lost, their existence known only through anecdotal evidence. This study has also found that Turner composed six service settings. A catalogue of Turner’s anthems and services, prepared as part of this study, includes a number that have not been recognised in Turner’s contribution to the musical canon to date. Closer examination of available manuscript sources as part of the preparation of critical editions has shown that Turner’s practice of resetting particular texts and the use of different textual sources with the same opening passage has led to several anthems being wrongly identified by earlier studies.