Byrd: Consort And Keyboard Music / Songs And Anthems

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Cat No: 8550604

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099560429

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: BYRD

Description
William Byrd (1543 - 1623)Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and AnthemsWilliam Byrd is one of that select body of composers who wasrecognised as a genius, and an influential one, during his own lifetime. Hiscontemporaries referred to him as 'a Father of Musick' and 'our Phoenix', perhaps alludingto his r??le in bringing Elizabethan music to a peak of perfection, particularly in termsof his understanding of the way continental polyphony could be used for effectiveexpressive ends. Having learned through the influence of his older colleague ThomasTallis, and the example of foreigners such as Alfonso Ferrabosco, whose music was muchcopied and eventually published in England, Byrd developed his distinctive musicallanguage into one capable of infinite variety of mood and character.The outline of Byrd's early career is not well documented, buthe must have been born in 1543, possibly in London where he may have been taught byTallis. At the age of nineteen he was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers atLincoln Cathedral, but it was not long before he was sworn in as a Gentleman of the ChapelRoyal, taking up residence in London in 1572, and sharing the duties of organist withTallis. It was soon after this that the two composers received a monopoly from QueenElizabeth for the publishing and printing of music. Byrd was now at the hub of Englishmusical life, composing services and anthems for the reformed English liturgy, songs withviols for court entertainments, as well as keyboard music which bears witness to his ownprowess as a virtuoso performer, and publishing songs for the growing amateur market.During the 1580s and 1590s, however, life for Catholics inEngland was becoming increasingly hard, and like many of the old faith Byrd tended towithdraw from court life, buying a property in Stondon Massey in Essex, and spending moretime with noble Catholic families. He clearly cultivated influential friends, and wasspared the worst excesses of persecution, but it was for secret Latin services in thegreat houses of such families as the Petres of Ingatestone Hall that Byrd wrote his threegreat Mass settings and the late Latin motets. By now, however, his instrumental works andsecular songs were also being avidly received by the rapidly flourishing demand fordomestic music.By 1600 the viols, hitherto largely the domain of professionalinstrumentalists at court, were being cultivated by wealthy amateurs, and Byrd'sfantasias, In Nomines and dances were circulated widely. Indeed he included two fantasias,in four [11] and six [15] parts in his 1611 publication Psalmes,Songs and Sonnets, alongside secular songs and those with sacred texts, such asHave mercy upon me [7] with itsalternation of a solo voice with viols and chorus sections with text in all parts. Byrd'sinterest in music publishing continued with Parthenia, animportant collection of keyboard pieces in 1613, and he then spent his last decade insemi-retirement in Essex, dying in 1623 in his eightieth y
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