{{Short description|English composer and chorister (1510/11–1585)}} {{Featured article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Use British English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox classical composer | name = Osbert Parsley | image = Memorial to Osbert Parsley, Norwich Cathedral (geograph 3876147).jpg | alt = Photograph of Parsley's memorial at Norwich | caption = The commemorative plaque to Parsley in Norwich Cathedral | birth_date = 1510/1511 | death_date = 1585 (aged around 74)<!--Please see below before changing this value--> | death_place = Norwich, England | occupations = {{hlist|Composer|"singing man" (chorister)}} | era = Renaissance }}
'''Osbert Parsley'''{{refn|1=Variations on Parsley's name include ''Persley'', ''Parslove'' and ''Persleye''.{{sfn|Morley|1608|p=96}}{{sfn|Dovey|1996|p=72}}{{sfn|Davey|1921|p=141}}|group=note}} (1510/1511{{snd}}1585) was an English Renaissance composer and chorister. Few details of his life are known, but he evidently married in 1558, and lived for a period in the parish of St Saviour's Church, Norwich. A boy chorister at Norwich Cathedral, Parsley worked there throughout his musical career.<ref>''Historical Dictionary of English Music ca. 1400–1958'' ed. by Charles Edward McGuire, Steven E. Plank (2012), p. 231-2</ref> He was first mentioned as a lay clerk, was appointed a "singing man" in {{circa|1534}}, and was probably the cathedral's unofficial organist for half a century. His career spanned the reigns of Henry VIII and all three of his children. After the Reformation of 1534, the lives of English church musicians changed according to the official policy of each monarch.
Parsley wrote mainly church music for both the Latin and English rites, as well as instrumental music. His Latin settings are considered to be more fluent and attractive-sounding than those he wrote to be sung in English. His longest composition, ''Conserva me, domine'', has a graceful polyphonic style. Parsley's other liturgical works include Daily Offices (two morning services and an evening service), and the five-part ''Lamentations'' (notable for the difficulty in singing the top notes of the highest part). His instrumental music, nearly all for viols, including six consort pieces, was written in a style that combines both his Latin and English vocal styles. Some of his incomplete instrumental music has survived.
Parsley died in Norwich in 1585 and was buried in Norwich Cathedral, where there is a commemorative plaque, a mark of the respect in which he was held by those who knew him, and a unique honour for a chorister at the cathedral. The plaque is inscribed with a poem praising his character and musicianship. Parsley's music is occasionally heard in church services and concerts. Compositions that have been recorded include his ''Lamentations'' and ''Spes Nostra''.
==Life and musical career== [[File:Nordovicum (Map of Norwich, 1581).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3 |Norwich, as depicted in the ''Civitates Orbis Terrarum'' (1581) |alt=Coloured map of Norwich, 1581]] Osbert Parsley was born in 1510 or 1511;{{refn|1=The year of Parsley's birth has been calculated from his age and the year at the time of his death.{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=32}}|group=note}} the identity of his parents and place of birth are unknown.<ref name="Payne" /> Like many of his contemporary English composers, he began his musical career as a choirboy.{{sfn|Boyd|1962|p=272}} During the time Parsley was a chorister, Edmund Inglott and his son William Inglott were in turn Master of the Choristers; the works written by William are found in the ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book''.{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}}
Parsley became a "singing man" {{circa}}1534, a post he retained for 50 years.{{sfn|Boyd|1962|p=66}} The historian Noel Boston has conjectured that Parsley was either hired by the cathedral monks to assist them as a layman chorister, or was possibly a novice monk before his career as a monk was stopped short by the English Reformation, and he then was employed as a singing man.{{sfn|Boston|1963|pp=32{{ndash}}33}} Parsley was first listed in Norwich Cathedral's extant accounts for 1538{{ndash}}1540, where he was named as a lay clerk, and he continued to be mentioned in the cathedral's records throughout his life.<ref name="Payne" />{{refn|1=An Elizabethan singing man belonged to a respected occupation. Ernest Brennecke, professor of English at Columbia University, wrote that the term ''singing man'' was "specifically applied to professional musicians who performed the bass, tenor, and counter-tenor parts in the royal, cathedral, and university choirs."{{sfn|Brennecke|1951|p=1188}}|group=note}} It is likely that he acted as the cathedral's unofficial organist from 1535 until his death in 1585.{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}}
In 1558 Parsley was married to one Rose and bought a house and premises in the parish of St Saviour's Church, Norwich, from John Hering and his wife, Helen. Parsley owned the house until 1583.<ref name="Payne" /> Details of Parsley's life were first published in Henry Davey's ''History of English Music'', first published in 1895, when he was described as a "lesser composer" from Norwich Cathedral whose works existed in manuscript form.{{sfn|Davey|1921|p=141}} From his will it is known that there were seven surviving children from the marriage: Henry, Edmund, John, Joan, Elizabeth, Dorothy, and Anne.{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=34}}
Composers during the Tudor period were honoured by being awarded an academic degree from either Oxford or Cambridge, or by becoming a member of the Chapel Royal—Parsley received neither of these highly prized honours.{{sfn|Boyd|1962|pp=272{{ndash}}273}}
===Later life (1570s and 1580s)=== [[File:Norwich Cathedral Choir 2, Norfolk, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The quire in Norwich Cathedral, where Parsley was a chorister for over 50 years| alt=Photograph of interior of Norwich Cathedral]] By the start of the 1570s, Parsley was being paid £12 a year, and the five other men in the cathedral choir were paid either £10 or £8, equivalent to the pay given to an unskilled construction worker. A decade later, the cathedral choirmaster, responsible for both the men's and boys' choirs, was being paid £12.{{sfn|Murray|2014|pp=23{{ndash}}24}} The composer Thomas Morley, master of the choirboys from 1583, had a salary not much more than those of the singing men.{{sfn|Murray|2014|p=21}}
In 1578, Elizabeth I and her court came to Norwich as part of a royal progress, and the city was expected to provide accommodation, banquets and entertainment. Then the second city in England after London, Norwich was one of the few cities in the kingdom with such sufficient numbers of skilled musicians, but even so it had to resort to using viol, trumpet and cornett players from Elizabeth's entourage.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=147}} Elizabeth, in the company of her courtiers, the most prominent of Norwich's citizens, and the clergy of the cathedral, heard a Te Deum by Parsley sung during the first evening of her visit,{{sfn|Dovey|1996|p=72}} with the choir being supported by the city's waits.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=147}} Parsley was paid {{fraction|6|1|2}} shillings for the songs he had written and sung during the queen's visit.{{sfn|Dovey|1996|p=72}} His music was also performed before Elizabeth when she returned to Norwich in 1597.{{sfn|Gant|2017|p=146}} None of his compositions for her visits to Norwich have survived.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=147}}
===Death and commemoration=== In 1580, Parsley's name appeared at the top of the list of lay clerks in the Norwich Cathedral audit book.{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=33}} His will, made on 9 December 1584, was proved by his widow on 6 April of the following year. He died in Norwich in 1585, aged around 74, and was buried in the cathedral where he had worked throughout most of his life. He left bequests valued at about £75.{{refn|1=A Tudor pound (£1) was worth approximately £200 in 2017, so in modern terms, Parsley's bequests amounted to over £15,300.<ref name="NAcurr">{{cite web |title=Currency converter: 1270–2017 |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>|group=note}}<ref name="Payne" /> A friend of four Bishops of Norwich—Richard Nykke, Thomas Thirlby, John Parkhurst and Edmund Freke{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}}—Parsley was also well respected by his contemporaries for his musical ability and his personal character. His fellow lay singing men honoured him by commissioning a commemorative plaque—uniquely for a lay clerk in an English cathedral{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=31}}—in the north aisle.<ref name="Payne">{{Cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21447 |title=Osbert Parsley |last=Payne |first=Ian |year=2004 }}</ref>{{sfn|Willis|2013|p=153}}
The plaque to Parsley, which once had indecipherable text, was restored in 1930 as a memorial to the composer and organist Arthur Mann.{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=31}}{{sfn|Waters|1930}}{{refn|1=Mann, who was organist at King's College, Cambridge for over 50 years, had been a boy chorister at Norwich Cathedral.<ref name="NROcat">{{cite web |title=File MS 430 – Norwich Cathedral Musicians vol 1 (A-B) |url=https://nrocatalogue.norfolk.gov.uk/index.php/norwich-cathedral-musicians-vol-1-a-b |website=Norfolk Record Office Online Catalogue |publisher=Norfolk Record Office |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref>|group=note}} It was unveiled during an evensong service on 10 July 1930, with music by Parsley and Mann sung by the choirs of King's College, Cambridge, Ely Cathedral, and Norwich Cathedral.{{sfn|Boston|1963|p=31}}{{sfn|Waters|1930}} The text of the memorial reads:<ref name="Morehen" />
{{blockquote|<poem> {{lang|la|Musicae Scientissimo Ei quondam Consociati Musici posuerunt Anno 1585}}
Here lies the man whose Name in Spight of Death, Renowned lives by Blast of Golden Fame: Whose Harmony survives his vital Breath. Whose Skill no Pride did spot whose Life no Blame. Whose low Estate was blest with quiet Mind: As our sweet Cords with Discords mixed be: Whose life in Seventy and Four Years entwin'd, As falleth mellowed Apples from the Tree. Whose Deeds were Rules whose Words were Verity: Who here a Singing-man did spend his Days. Full Fifty Years in our Church Melody His Memory shines bright whom thus we praise. </poem>}}
==Composing career== [[File:Parsley's Clock.png|thumb|upright=1.5 | The treble line of "Parsley's Clock" (Add MS 30480, British Library) |alt=manuscript page from a composition by Parsley]]
English composers of the late 15th century and early 16th century set a limited number of types of sacred music, each with a clear place in the liturgy.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=244}} Until the Reformation of 1534, when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, English composers based their works on the Sarum rite, abolished in 1547.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=247, 249}} During the decades following the Reformation, the lives of English church musicians changed according to the policies of the reigning monarch. Henry allowed church music in England to continue to be written in a florid style, and use Latin texts, but during the reign of his son and successor, Edward VI, highly polyphonic music was no longer permitted, and the authorities destroyed church organs and music, and abolished choral foundations. These changes were never completely reverted by Edward's successor Mary during her brief reign; their half-sister Elizabeth, who succeeded Mary in 1558, confirmed or reinstated some of Edward's work.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=249}}
Parsley's compositional career spanned the reigns of all four monarchs. He wrote church music for both the Latin and English rites.<ref name="Morehen" /> His Anglican church music for the Daily Office included a morning service, involving the Benedictus canticle and the Te Deum, and an evening service that involved the singing of two canticles, the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis.{{sfn|Unger|2010|pp=121, 312}}
The musicologist Howard Brown noted that Parsley belonged to a group of outstanding composers from the middle period of the 16th century—William Mundy, Robert Parsons, John Sheppard, Christopher Tye, Thomas Tallis, and Robert White—who together produced a body of high quality music.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=250}}
According to the scholar John Morehen, Parsley was less at ease when working with English texts, a trait Morehen finds Parsley had in common with similar Reformation composers.<ref name="Morehen">{{Cite journal |last=Morehen |first=John |title=Parsley, Osbert |year=2001 |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/20956 |journal=Grove Music Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=15 January 2022}} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> His Latin music is fluent and attractive, with extended phrases that become increasingly melismatic as they progress. The parts in Latin are characteristically independent in a way that was typical of sacred polyphony in England before the Reformation.{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=67}} The expressive psalm ''Conserva me, domine'' has an elegant polyphonic style.<ref name="Payne" /> The technique shown in his English church music is less assured than his compositions for the Latin rite.{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=67}} His five-part ''Lamentations'', which differs from settings by his contemporaries Tallis and White in that a treble line (notable for the difficulty in singing the highest notes of the part) is maintained throughout, was probably intended for domestic devotional use.{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}} During the 1920s, the musicologist and composer W. H. Grattan Flood described Parsley's ''Lamentations'' as being "of particular interest".{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}} One piece, a well-crafted three-part canonic setting of the Salvator Mundi, was printed by Morley in 1597. Morley described Parsley's arrangement of this Gregorian hymn as a model of its kind,{{sfn|Morley|1608|p=96}} and alluded to him as "the most learned musician".{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}}
Some of Parsley's instrumental music, nearly all for viols, survives, including six consort pieces;{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} both his Latin and English vocal styles can be found in his instrumental style.{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=67}} The composition known as "Parsley's Clock" is similar to both Charles Butler's "Dial Song", and "What strikes the clocke?" by the English choirmaster and composer Edward Gibbons and a second anonymous piece, which were built around a line that counts the hours.{{sfn|Milsom|1997|p=583}}
Peter Phillips, writing in ''The Musical Times'', in commending ''Conserva me, domine'', noted that "Parsley can be remembered as one of those men who just once conjured up a masterpiece, as it seems to us now, from nowhere."{{sfn|Phillips|1997|pp=16{{ndash}}21}}
==Compositions== [[File:Parsley's Clock.ogg|thumb|"Parsley's Clock" (length 1 minute 34 seconds, transcribed for a quintet of recorders)]] Parsley's surviving works consist mainly of church music from several locales.{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=67}} His choral works set to Latin texts include ''Conserva me, domine'', his most substantial work;{{sfn|Phillips|1997|p=16}} and the ''Lamentations'';<ref name="diamm" /><ref name="Morehen" /> those set to texts in English, written after the Dissolution, are his two Morning Services, each consisting of a Benedictus canticle and a Te Deum;<ref name="Payne" />{{sfn|Oxford University|1937|p=218}} an Evening Service previously attributed to Tye;{{sfn|Fellowes|1969|p=43}} and the anthem "This is the Day the Lord has made".<ref name="diamm">{{cite web |title=Parsley [Percely], Osbert |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/people/1256/ |website=Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=1 October 2021 |archive-date= |no-pp=yes |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Morehen" /> Other compositions known to have been written by Parsley include ''Spes nostra'', a motet for five viols;<ref name="BM 31390" /> five In Nomine; "O praise the Lord all ye heathen", a tenor part recently found in a prayer book; a hymn ''Salvator mundi domine''; a Service in C major; ''Super septem planetarum'' and the work known as "Parsley's Clock".<ref name="diamm" /> Several examples of incomplete instrumental music have also survived.{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}}
Of the four of the great ''Lamentations'' of the Tudor period for Holy Week date from the 1560s, two were composed by Tallis, and one each by William Byrd and Parsley. Earlier Lent services avoided polyphony, which was regarded as lacking in solemnity.{{sfn|Kerman|1998|p=343}} The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Parsley's ''Lamentations'' as his most famous work.<ref name="Payne" />
===Existing manuscripts=== ;Key BL—British Library, London; BodL—Bodleian Library, Oxford<!-- DO NOT LINK, see MOS:GEOLINK for further guidance -->; ERO—Essex Record Office, Chelmsford<!-- DO NOT LINK, see MOS:GEOLINK for further guidance -->; PC—Peterhouse, Cambridge; QC—Queens' College, Cambridge; RCM—Royal College of Music; JO—Private collection of David McGhie, London; Private library of J. A. Owens, Davis, California; f.—folio, r,v—recto and verso; vv—voices.
====Music for voices==== {| class="wikitable" |+ <!-- Caption text --> |- ! Composition !! Description !! Manuscript name !! Location |- | rowspan="6" | ''Conserva me, domine'' || Complete work (a setting of Psalm 16, written as a motet for five voices) || Sadler Partbooks: MSS Mus. e.1{{ndash}}5<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | Opening duo || Add MS 29246 (Paston MS) (f. 8v)<ref name="diamm" /><ref name="BL29246">{{cite web |title=Add MS 29246 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_29246 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=31 October 2021 |archive-date=26 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926164919/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_29246 |url-status=dead }}</ref> || BL |- | rowspan="2" | Bass line only || MS Tenbury 1464<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | Petre MS D/DP Z6/1<ref name="diamm" /> || ERO |- | rowspan="2" | Three parts only || MS Tenbury 342<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | MS 2035<ref name="diamm" /> || RCM |- | ''Lamentations'' || Setting (''Mem: Cui comparabo'') for five voices, complete work || Mus. e. 1{{ndash}}5 (Sadler Partbooks)<ref name="lam">{{cite web |title=Mem: Cui comparabo [Lamentations] |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/compositions/86274/ |website=Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=5 November 2021 |url-access=registration}}</ref> || BodL |- | Evening Service || Liturgical work written in G minor.{{sfn|Fellowes|1969|p=43}} containing a Magnificat and a Nunc dimittis || MSS 34, 36, 37, 42, 44<ref name="diamm2">{{cite web |title=Tye, Christopher (ca. 1505–ca. 1573) |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/people/921/ |website= |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=31 October 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|Oxford University|1937|p=218}} || PC |- | rowspan="2" | Two Morning Services || rowspan="2" | Liturgical works, each containing a Benedictus and Te Deum || Add MSS 30480{{ndash}}30483<ref name="Add MS 30480" /><ref name="Add MS 30481" /><ref name="Add MS 30482" /><ref name="Add MS 30483" /> || BL |- | MS 35{{ndash}}37, 42{{ndash}}45 (Peterhouse Partbooks)<ref name="diamm" /> || PC |- | ''Multiplicati'' || A setting of "Their sorrows shall be multiplied", part of Psalm 16 (fragment) || MS 1737{{sfn|Grattan Flood|1925|p=990}} || RCM |- | "O praise the Lord all ye heathen" || Half a page of music from a personal copy of the tenor part of one or more partbooks || Old Library G.4.17<ref name="Heathen">{{cite web |title=O praise the Lord all ye heathen |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/compositions/86736/ |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref> || QC |- | "This is the day the Lord has made" || Anthem for four voices, based on a text from Psalm 118 || MSS 35{{ndash}}37, 42{{ndash}}44 (Peterhouse Partbooks: Latter Caroline Set)<ref name="Day">{{cite web |title=This is the day which the Lord has made |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/compositions/55672/ |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=23 September 2021}}</ref> || PC{{refn|1=Manuscripts of ''This is the Day'' can also be found at the Bodleian Library and at the New York Public Library, according to ''Grove Music Online''.<ref name="Morehen" />|group=note}} |}
====Instrumental music==== =====Complete works===== {| class="wikitable" |+ <!-- Caption text --> |- ! Composition !! Description !! Manuscript name !! Location |- | In Nomine || Piece for four players, probably viols{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} || rowspan="3" | MS Mus. Sch. d. 212;<ref name="diamm" /> MSS Mus. Sch. d. 213{{ndash}}216{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} || rowspan="3" | BodL |- | In Nomine || | Piece for four players, probably viols{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} |- | In Nomine || Piece for five players, probably viols{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} |- | rowspan="2" | "Parsley's Clock" || Piece for five players || Add MSS 30480{{ndash}}30484 (Hamond Partbooks, written as "Perslis clo[c]ke")<ref name="diammclock">{{cite web |title=Ut re fa so la upon the dial = Parsley's clock |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/compositions/88290/ |website=Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=4 November 2021 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Add MS 30480">{{cite web |title=Add MS 30480 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_30480 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=26 September 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Add MS 30481">{{cite web |title=Add MS 30481 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_30481 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=31 October 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Add MS 30482">{{cite web |title=Add MS 30482 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_30482 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=31 October 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Add MS 30483">{{cite web |title=Add MS 30483 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_30483 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=31 October 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Add MS 30484">{{cite web |title=Add MS 30484 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_30484 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=31 October 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> || BL |- | ''The song upon the dial'' || MS Tenbury 1464<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | ''Salvador mundi domine'' || Hymn in three parts, probably for viols. Printed in ''Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke'' by Thomas Morley (1597){{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}}<ref name="salv">{{cite web |title=Salvator mundi |url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/compositions/100130/ |website=Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries |publisher=Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) University of Oxford |access-date=5 November 2021 |url-access=registration}}</ref> || – || JO |- | ''Spes nostra'' || Motet for five viols || Add MS 31390<ref name="BM 31390">{{cite web |title=Add MS 31390 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_31390 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=26 September 2021 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925080025/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_31390 |url-status=dead }}</ref> || BL |}
=====Incomplete works===== {| class="wikitable" |+ <!-- Caption text --> |- ! Composition !! Description !! Manuscript name !! Location |- | ''Benedicum domino'' || A setting of "I will bless the Lord", part of Psalm 16, arranged for lute || Add MS 29246<ref name="BM 29246" /> || BL |- | ''Conserva me. domine'' (a setting of Psalm 16) || Arranged for three lutes<ref name="BM 29246" /> || Add MS 29246<ref name="BM 29246">{{cite web |title=Add MS 29246 |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_29246 |website=Digitised Manuscripts |publisher=British Library |access-date=26 September 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> || BL |- | In Nomine (of 5 parts upon 5 minims){{refn|1=There is a Parsley ''In Nomine'' in the British Library manuscript Add MS 32377, which is a discantus partbook, linked with one of the MS. Tenbury 1464 ''In Nomines''.<ref name="diamm" />|group=note}} || A single surviving part (bassus) of a piece for five players, probably for viols{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}}|| MS Tenbury 1464<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | In Nomine (Jesu) || A single surviving part (bassus) of music in five parts of a piece for five players, probably for viols{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} || MS Tenbury 1464<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |- | rowspan="2" | ''Multiplicati'' (A setting of "Their sorrows shall be multiplied", part of Psalm 16) || rowspan="2" | Incomplete, arranged for three lutes<ref name="BM 29246" /> || Add MS 29246<ref name="BM 29246" /> || BL |- | MS 2035<ref name="diamm" /> || RCM |- | "Parsley's Clock" || A single surviving part from a Discantus partbook, which once would have been one of six volumes || McGhie manuscript<ref name="diammclock" /> || DM |- |- | "Super septem planetarium" || An undesignated single part for a consort piece{{sfn|Morehen|1974|p=68}} || MS Tenbury 1464<ref name="diamm" /> || BodL |}
==Recordings and performances== CD recordings of some of Parsley's compositions have been made, and his music continues to be heard in church services and concerts.<ref name="Cla">{{cite web |title=The Marian Consort |url=https://classicalsheffield.org.uk/events/2022/the-marian-consort |website=Classical Sheffield |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="StJ">{{cite web |title=Lunchtime Concerts – March 2018 |url=https://www.sjbcathedral.org.uk/lunchtime-concerts-march-2018/ |publisher=St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="NorC">{{cite web |title=Holy Week and Easter: 28 March until 4 April 2021 |url=https://www.cathedral.org.uk/whats-on/events/detail/2021/03/28/default-calendar/holy-week-and-easter |publisher=Norwich Cathedral |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref>
{| class = "wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |- |+ |- ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Album ! scope="col" | Piece ! scope="col" | Publisher |- | 1992 | ''Morley, Parsley and Inglott'' | ''Conserva me, domine'';<br/>''Lamentations'' | Priory Records<ref>{{cite book |title=Morley, Parsley and Inglott |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=28532091 }}</ref> |- | 2005 | ''Musik der Tudor – Zeit Messen und Motetten'' | ''Lamentations'' | Sony BMG Music Entertainment<ref>{{cite book |title=Musik der Tudor-Zeit = Music of the Tudor period |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=352845058 }}</ref> |- | 2009 | ''The Lamentations of Jeremiah'' | ''Lamentations'' | Delphian<ref>{{cite book |title=The Lamentations of Jeremiah |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=946166868 }}</ref> |- | 2014 | ''Serenissima: Music from Renaissance Europe'' | In Nomine | Delphian<ref>{{cite web |title=Serenissima: Music from Renaissance Europe |publisher=PrestoMusic |url=https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8046313--serenissima-music-from-renaissance-europe |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref> |- | 2015 | ''As Our Sweets Cords with Discords Mixed Be'' | In Nomine;<br/>"Parsley's Clock" | Resonus Classics<ref>{{cite web |title=As Our Sweets Cords with Discords Mixed Be |publisher=PrestoMusic |url=https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8066199--as-our-sweets-cords-with-discords-mixed-be |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref> |- | 2017 | ''Cosmography of Polyphony: A Journey Through Renaissance Music with 12 Recorders'' | ''Spes Nostra'' | Pan Classics<ref>{{cite book |title=Cosmography of Polyphony |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=1099655281 }}</ref> |- | 2018 | ''Æternum: Music of the Elizabethan Avant Garde from Add. MS 31390'' | ''Spes Nostra'' | Olde Focus Recordings<ref>{{cite book |title=Æternum: Music of the Elizabethan Avant Garde from Add. MS 31390 |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=1082137236 }}</ref> |}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last1=Boston |first1=Noel |title=The Musical History of Norwich Cathedral. |date=1963 |orig-year=1938{{ndash}}1939 |publisher=The Friends of Norwich Cathedral |location=Norwich |oclc=450763}} * {{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Morrison Comegys |title=Elizabethan Music and Musical Criticism |date=1962 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn= |oclc=599711 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/elizabethanmusic02edboyd/page/n5/mode/2up?q=}} * {{cite journal |last1=Brennecke |first1=Ernest |title=Shakespeare's 'Singing Man of Windsor' |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |year=1951 |volume=66 |issue=6 |pages=1188{{ndash}}1192 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/460166 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |doi=10.2307/460166 |jstor=460166 |s2cid=164007359 |url-access=registration}} * {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Howard Mayer |author-link=Howard Mayer Brown |title=Music in the Renaissance |date=1976 |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |isbn=978-01360-8-505-8 |edition= |series=Prentice Hall History of Music Series |url=https://archive.org/details/musicinrenaissan00brow/page/n5/mode/2up |access-date= |url-access=registration}} * {{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Katherine |title=Music in Elizabethan Court Politics |date=2015 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=978-18438-3-981-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJmfBwAAQBAJ}} * {{cite book |last1=Davey |first1=Henry |title=History of English Music |date=1921 |publisher=J. Curwen |location=London |isbn= |oclc=890125681 |page= |orig-date=1895 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924021797109/page/n165/mode/2up?q=}} * {{cite book |last1=Dovey |first1=Zillah |title=An Elizabethan Progress: The Queen's Journey Into East Anglia, 1578 |date=1996 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |location=Phoenix Mill |isbn=978-08386-3-721-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0S5hRUfyv6AC}} * {{cite book |last1=Fellowes |first1=Edmund H. |author-link=Edmund Fellowes |title=English Cathedral Music |date=1969 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |isbn=978-04161-4-850-3 |edition=5th |url=https://archive.org/details/englishcathedral0000fell_m3s1/page/n5/mode/2up?q=}} * {{cite book |last1=Gant |first1=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Gant |title=O Sing Unto the Lord: A History of English Church Music |date=2017 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-02264-6-962-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5YtDwAAQBAJ}} * {{cite journal |last1=Grattan Flood |first1=W. H. |author-link=W. H. Grattan Flood |title=New Light on Late Tudor Composers: XIII. Osbert Parsley |journal=The Musical Times |publisher= Musical Times Publications (United Kingdom) |location=London |year=1925 |volume=66 |issue=993 |page=990 |doi=10.2307/911434 |jstor=911434 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/911434 |access-date= |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite book |last1=Kerman |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Kerman |editor1-last=Pesce |editor1-first=Dolores |title=Hearing the Motet: Essays on the Motet of the Middle Ages and Renaissance |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York; Oxford |isbn=978-01953-5-165-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0ct5-2sQ9gC |chapter=On William Byrd's ''Emendemus in melius''}} * {{cite journal |last1=Milsom |first1=John |title=The Passing of Time |journal=Early Music |year=1997 |volume=25 |issue=4 (25th Anniversary Issue) |pages=583{{ndash}}588 |doi=10.1093/earlyj/XXV.4.583 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3128406 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |jstor=3128406|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last1=Morehen |first1=John |title=The Instrumental Consort Music of Osbert Parsley |journal=The Consort |publisher=Dolmetsch Foundation |location=Hazlemere, UK |year=1974 |volume=30 |pages=67{{ndash}}72 |issn=0268-9111}} * {{cite book |last1=Morley |first1=Thomas |author1-link=Thomas Morley |title=A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke |date=1608 |publisher=Humpfrey Lownes |location=London |isbn= |oclc=965139297 |url=https://archive.org/details/plaineeasieintro0000morl/page/96/mode/2up}} * {{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Tessa |title=Thomas Morley: Elizabethan Music Publisher |date=2014 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=978-18438-3-960-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzQ3BAAAQBAJ}} * {{cite journal |last=Oxford University |title=Reviews of Music |author-link=University of Oxford |journal=Music and Letters |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1937 |volume=18 |issue=2 |doi=10.1093/ml/XVIII.2.218-a |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/XVIII.2.218-a|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last1=Phillips |first1=Peter |title=Voices from Nowhere |journal=The Musical Times |publisher=Musical Times Publications (United Kingdom) |location=London |year=1997 |volume=138 |issue=1855 |pages=16{{ndash}}21 |doi=10.2307/1003540 |jstor=1003540 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1003540 |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite book |last1=Unger |first1=Melvin P. |title=Historical Dictionary of Choral Music |date=2010 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=978-08108-7-392-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvD9Ou7wdccC}} * {{cite journal |last1=Waters |first1=Charles F. |title=The 'Hymn-Anthem': A New Choral Form |journal=The Musical Times |publisher=Musical Times Publications (United Kingdom) |location=London |year=1930 |volume=71 |issue=1049 |pages=632{{ndash}}635 |doi=10.2307/916038 |jstor=916038 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/916038 |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Jonathan |title=Church Music and Protestantism in Post-Reformation England: Discourses, Sites and Identities |date=2013 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited |location=Farnham, UK |isbn=978-14094-8-081-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kx6g8I4ZmPQC}}
== Further reading == * {{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=David |last2=Baker |first2=Jennifer |title=A 17th-Century Dial-Song |journal=The Musical Times |publisher=Musical Times Publications (United Kingdom) |location=London |year=1978 |volume=119 |issue=1625 |pages=590{{ndash}}593 |doi=10.2307/958823 |jstor=958823 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/958823 |ref=none|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite book |last1=Buck |first1=Percy Carter |author-link=Percy Buck |type=Scores |series=Tudor Church Music |title=Hugh Aston, 1485(?){{ndash}}(?), John Marbeck, 1510(?){{ndash}}85(?), Osbert Parsley, 1511{{ndash}}85 |date=1929 |publisher=Published for the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust by the Oxford University Press |location=London |oclc=1181367552 |pages=229{{ndash}}293 |volume=10 |ref=none}}
==External links== {{Commons category}}
* {{ChoralWiki}} * {{IMSLP|id=Parsley, Osbert}} * Information about [https://nrocatalogue.norfolk.gov.uk/index.php/norwich-cathedral-musical-events MS 429 – ''Norwich Cathedral Musical Events''] held by the Norfolk Record Office, Norwich, which includes detailed records of Parsley's pay.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsley, Osbert}} Category:1511 births Category:1585 deaths Category:16th-century English composers Category:Burials at Norwich Cathedral Category:Composers from Norwich Category:Musicians from Norwich Category:Norwich Cathedral Category:English cathedral organists Category:English classical composers of church music