A contemporary of John Taverner, Hugh Aston was choirmaster at St Mary Newarke College, Leicester for over twenty years until the college was dissolved in 1548. In 1525 he was the first choice for the choirmaster’s post at Thomas Wolsey’s new foundation of Cardinal College, Oxford; on his refusal the position was offered to and accepted by Taverner. He was a gifted composer with a forthright and vigorous style and a particular fondness for imitative and motivic writing, both of which he handled with assurance and imagination. This large-scale votive antiphon is addressed to John the Baptist, a saint rarely honoured by English composers. Now in a second edition with revisions to the editorial treble and tenor parts. For five voices: SATTB. viii + 16 pages.

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