Although John Sheppard was a leading English composer of the mid-sixteenth century, comparatively little is known with any certainty about his life. Born no earlier than c. 1512, he became lnformator Choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1543, a post he held until 1548. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal at this time and is thought to have died in 1559 or 1560. His career therefore spanned those turbulent years in English ecclesiastical history which saw the dissolution of the monasteries, the establishment of the Church of England and the short-lived return to Roman Catholicism under Mary Tudor between 1553-58 before Elizabeth I came to the throne.
Sheppard's music, like that of his great contemporary, Thomas Tallis, reflects the wide range of styles and liturgical requirements during this period. His output comprises a few early works in the florid style prevalent up to the 1540s, Anglican music - anthems and services, some on an ambitious scale, written probably during the brief reign of Edward VI between 1547-52- and works of the Marian period: Masses and Magnificat settings as well as responsories, antiphons and hymns based on a plainsong cantus firmus, all demonstrating a rich yet more concise and energetic style than his early Latin works.