Naxos Releases a Compilation from History’s Most Prolific Composer
Posted by Kelly in New ReleasesAnonymous’ implausibly long lifespan gives rise to various suppositions: Did she make a Faustian bargain early in life so that she would have enough time to write all the music that was inside her? How else to account for his centuries-spanning output, familiarity with vastly disparate music forms, and the fact that his music was woven into the cultural fabric of not just one but numerous countries? Was he a musically inclined brother of Methuselah, gifted with an equally long lifeline? Could he have been the physical manifestation of Apollo, the god of music? Or, even more fanciful, a visitor from another time and dimension? - Dean Brierly
On July 28, Naxos presents a new compilation of music by a 
composer whose career spans eras of history and music: Anonymous. The two-CD recording offers a considerable sampling of her still-growing repertoire. In a mere 48 tracks, Anonymous evokes the many cultures, political turmoil, romantic gestures, and religions he has experienced.
Anonymous was born to the world during the Early Middle Ages. Her compositions were simple, monophonic, and occasionally accompanied by minimal rhythmic accompaniment. Music of this time, and most other periods in history, sheds light on cultural and political happenings of the day. Therefore, in the infancy of his vocation, Anonymous was creating pieces of sacred peacefulness and spiritual love to combat the often unsympathetic world in which he lived.
It was during the High Middle Ages (or around 1150) that Anonymous bore witness to, and became part of, the expansion of music into a polyphonic and much more rhythmically complex art form. It is only natural that sacred music was at the heart of this migration of sound. She was actively involved in the composition of innovative 13th-century liturgical music such as the Mass of Tournai, which some scholars believe was the first mass to be documented as a unified work of polyphonic parts.
The Renaissance era proved to be much less productive for this faceless composer. Instead of passing along their compositions by rote, composers were now able to have their music printed for posterity, including their names, making ascription of authorship a much easier task. Anonymous and her composing brethren of the Renaissance era (Dufay, des Pres, Gabrieli, Palestrina, Byrd) were more focused on secular and complex instrumental music such as madrigals, chansons, and rondeau (set to poetry) than they were in the Middle Ages. It was during this time that Anonymous penned one of his most timeless melodies, Greensleeves. Although once credited to Henry VIII, this haunting tune was rightfully returned to our era-spanning composer’s vast catalog.
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