It is very amusing, and rather annoying, to see how the musical historians have copied from one another the most untrue statements about Deering. Burney, Hawkins, and Mr Husk in the first edition of Grove's Dictionary, all give 1597 instead of 1617; and Burney and Hawkins say he was forced to leave England when the troubles of Charles I began. Hawkins says he was Organist to Henrietta Maria until she was compelled to leave England. The fact is Deering was dead before all this! He returned to England as Organist to Henrietta Maria in 1625, and died in 1630.
But space would fail me to point out more of the absurd statements about this musician. Let me rather now turn to his greatest contribution to our musical treasures.
I leave for a time further comment upon his work in England, and proceed to consider his magnificent Motets. It appears that on the invitation of the English nuns at Brussels he proceeded to that city and became Organist to the Convent. It was whilst there that he published in 1617 his fine series of Cantiones Sacrae for five voices; this was issued from the press of Peter Phalese in Antwerp. There are 18 Motets, all to Latin words, for five voices, and "Basso Continuo" for Organ.
I have already spoken of the way I made acquaintance with these masterpieces. It is very gratifying to find the increased favour with which they are received and the frequent performance of them by great choirs. The ignorant accounts of them which I have quoted shake one's faith in the opinion of such writers on other musical works.
The first set of Motets was dedicated to a remarkable personage, Sir William Stanley,[[1]] and the Preface is so interesting I feel justified in giving it (with the title-page). The original Dedication is in Latin, but I give it in a translation.[[2]]
In the second set, published in 1618, Deering claims to have written in the Madrigalian style. It looks as if he had tried to imitate the Madrigals he had heard, and to adapt some of the phrases to sacred words. I do not think the second set is as good as the first. But there are some very fine things in it, one of the best being "Silence prevailed in Heaven," a dramatic account of St Michael's war with the Dragon. I have had this printed, and it produces a splendid effect, and hope in time to restore to life many more of these unknown and really beautiful masterpieces.
I have not space to chronicle all Deering's musical works. But I must conclude this notice by some account of his secular music, and, more particularly, his remarkable Humorous Fancy, The Crycs of London. This is the third of these interesting Fancies which I have had the opportunity of recovering from oblivion. I have already in the case of Weelkes and Gibbons explained the circumstances attending this recovery. Deering's Fancy is the most elaborate of the three, and, besides a number of Cryes which the other musicians omitted, he has preserved to us some most interesting and charming Tradesmen's Songs—those of the Swepe, the Blacking-seller, the Vendor of Garlick, the Rat-catcher, and the Tooth-drawer. The whole Fancy is full of life, and shows Deering to be both dramatic and humourous. This work (and a similar one on Country Cryes) were written before he left England for Brussels, as the copy in the British Museum was made 1616.
There are a few Anthems scattered about in various Libraries, but as a Catholic his contributions to English Cathedral music would, no doubt, be few. Some are to be found in Durham Cathedral Library. On the marriage of Charles I, he was appointed Organist to the Queen Henrietta Maria. On July 11th, 1628, his name appears in a list of musicians in ordinary to the King, and he was evidently a member of the King's Private Band.
Most historians have stated that he lived to 1657, but this is just as incorrect as their other statements concerning Deering and his music. I have devoted much time to the elucidation of the history and the reproduction of his work, and feel in doing this I have helped to restore to his rightful place one of the greatest English musicians of the 17th, or indeed of any, century.