The Testament of Dr. Cranmer arose out of my reading of a biography of Cranmer and a history of the Reformation. The image of Cranmer, being led to the scaffold by a pair of priests singing Latin psalms alternatim, stuck in my mind. I subsequently downloaded a number of the original eye-witness accounts off the web. Something about their wonderful language made it easy to consider setting Cranmer's words directly. I assembled a text from a cut down version of his speech preserving the best known passages. The confidence and directness in Cranmer's speech appealed to me; the iconoclast in me looked forward to setting his denial of the Pope's authority. In our age of moral relativism, such secure absolutes can be appealing even if one does not always approve of the sentiments.
To provide variety of texture, I decided to alternate the English text with suitable Latin; the Latin De Profundis was just the right length and of a suitable context to be used. The piece opens with the opening phrase of the De Profundis sung by the men, simultaneously using the two different melodies from the Roman Gradual. Subsequent phrases of the psalm reoccur to punctuate the cantata: each time the music gets a little faster, but the setting constantly returns to the two psalm tones. Finally the whole psalm returns to underpin Cranmer's final moments.
The only other Latin used is the Pater Noster, where I have set the Latin and English words of the prayer simultaneously. Cranmer did recite his translation of the Lord's Prayer and this passage in the cantata was inspired by the unhistorical image of the priests trying to drown out Cranmer's English words with their Latin ones.
Though the piece was inspired by a number of dramatic images, it is by no means a dramatic work. Often the different sections form something of a choral meditation on Cranmer's words, rather than attempting to dramatise his voice using, say, a baritone and instrumental ensemble. This latter idea is something that has remained lodged in my brain. It seems that I have not yet finished with Dr. Cranmer and hope in time to produce a full-length oratorio on the subject
Robert Hugill