Education
Magdalen College.
composer conductor choir director
Magdalen College.
Little is known about the life of Richard Davy. His name was a common one in Devon and he may have been born there. He was a scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford, and acted as choir master and organist at least in the period 1490-1492.
Churchwardens" accounts for Ashburton, Devon, mention a "Dominus
Richardus Dave:" from 1493-1495, where he may have been acting as a chaplain or as master of the nearby school at Saint Lawrence Chapel. He may then have moved to Exeter Cathedral to be vicar choral in the period 1497-1506.
Davy is the second most represented composer in the Eton choirbook, with nine compositions including his most celebrated work, the Passio Domini in ramis palmarum or Passion according to Street Matthew. His work is considered more florid that that of his contemporaries Robert Fayrfax and William Cornish and may have had considerable impact on later figures such as John Taverner.