A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Dygon, John

by Augustus Hughes-Hughes

DYGON, JOHN, the composer of the three-part motet 'Ad lapidis positionem,' printed in Hawkins's History, is described there as Prior of St. Austin's (i. e. St. Augustine's Abbey), Canterbury. The identity of the name with that of an abbot of this monastery (1497–1509) has led to several ingenious conjectures. The only other authenticated circumstance in the composer's life, which has been hitherto published, is that he took the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford in April 1512, being the only Mus. B. of his year. The abbot John Dygon was succeeded in 1509 by John Hampton, and no doubt died in that year; a second John Dygon was Master of the Chantry of Milton in Kent, in which post he is said to have died in 1524. An examination of the deed of surrender of St. Augustine's Abbey, dated July 30, 30 Henry VIII (1538), shows that at that time John Essex was abbot and John Dygon principal of the four priors, being, as appears from his position in the list, only inferior in rank to the abbot. Unfortunately, in the list of pensions granted to the officers of this monastery on Sept. 2 following the dissolution, almost all the monks had, apparently by way of precaution, assumed new surnames, or rather, more probably, resumed their original names, so that it is impossible to state with certainty which of the nine Johns was the composer. There are, however, strong grounds for believing that he is to be identified with John Wyldebere; and for this reason, that the pension of £13 6s. 8d. (20 marks) granted to the latter was very much larger than any of the other pensions, except the abbot's. The same difficulty meets us in tracing the history of John Wyldebere as we found in the case of John Dygon, namely the existence of two or more persons of the same name. A John Wyldebore was Master of the Hospital of St. Mary's at Strood, in Kent, up to the time of its surrender in 1531, and could not well be the late prior of St. Augustine's; there is, however, good reason for believing that he was the John Wylbore who was appointed prebendary of Rochester Cathedral in 1541, and who died there in 1553; and apart from this the claims of the head of a monastic establishment like St. Mary's Hospital would naturally be considered before those of one in a comparatively subordinate position, such as our prior's. John Dygon may perhaps be recognised in the John Wyldebore who was vicar of Willesborough in 1542. In 1556, when Cardinal Pole was appointed by Philip and Mary head of the commission to inquire into the state of the pensions due to the monks of the dissolved monasteries, we find John Wilborne, into which form the name has been corrupted, still in receipt of his full pension; if the terms of the original grant had been strictly adhered to, this circumstance would preclude the possibility of his identity with the John Wilbore, who was vicar of Minster in Thanet from 1550 till his resignation in 1557. After this time we lose all trace of the real or supposed John Dygon. The composition by which his name has been handed down to posterity is the work of a very skilful musician, and though there may be some resemblance in style to the music of Okeghem, as was very natural, considering how nearly contemporary the two composers were, we can hardly coincide with Ambros' opinion that it was 'altfränkisch,' at least when we compare it with other writings of a similar nature and about the same period; indeed some passages bear a comparatively modern stamp, and one can detect a foreshadowing of Giovanni Croce, and even of a still later style in several places.

[ A. H.-H. ]