Byrd, William

BYRD, WILLIAM (1540 - 1623)

The greatest English composer of his generation, comparable in stature to his most distinguished continental contemporaries, William Byrd was a versatile composer. Although remaining a Catholic, loyalty that cost him considerable trouble in times of persecution in England, he served as a member of the Chapel Royal, providing music for the liturgy of the Church of England and, on a more private scale, for his fellow-Catholics.

Church Music

Byrd's compositions for the church may be separated into those for the Catholic liturgy and those designed for the officially recognised Church of England. The first category includes settings of the Mass for three, four and five voices, and a large quantity of other works for the various seasons of the church year. For the Church of England Byrd wrote a Great Service and three other service settings, using the texts of the Anglican liturgy. In addition to these compositions there are a number of anthems and psalm-settings, and consort songs with sacred texts of one sort or another.

Vocal Music

Byrd also wrote a number of secular consort songs, songs with accompaniment entrusted to varying numbers of instruments.

Consort Music

Following the popular fashion of the time, Byrd provided music for various groups of instruments, usually performing in homo- genous ensembles, generally on viols, bowed and fretted string instruments that were held in higher social esteem than the lowly violin. Byrd's consort music includes a number of In nomines, a curious English form of music based on a fragment taken from a setting of the Benedictus by the 16th century composer Taverner. To these consort pieces may be added a series of Fantasias, contrapuntal music, as the title then implied.

Keyboard Music

Byrd was well known as a keyboard-player. He wrote a wealth of music for the virginals, Fantasias, Pavans and Galliards, the fashionable paired dances of the time, and song variations. The Earl of Salisbury Pavan and Galliard is a familiar recital piece as are the variations on Sellinger's Round and The Carman's Whistle.

Discography
Image	Title	Price	Release Date	Label
	The Byrd Edition Volume 1 (Propers For Lady Mass Advent) (ASV: CDGAU170)	£9.99	Feb 27, 2012	ASV
	The Byrd Edition Volume 4 (Cantiones Sacrae 1575) (ASV: CDGAU197)	£9.99	Feb 27, 2012	ASV
	The Byrd Edition Volume 2 (Propers For Nativity) (ASV: CDGAU178)	£9.99	Feb 27, 2012	ASV
	The Byrd Edition Volume 3 (Propers For Epiphany) (ASV: CDGAU179)	£9.99	Feb 27, 2012	ASV
	Byrd: Complete Fantasias, Preludes, Voluntaries For Harpsichord	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Sep 26, 2011	Naxos Classics
	Tallis/ Byrd: Cantiones Sacrae	£19.99	Jan 4, 2011	Obsidian
	Byrd/ Taverner: Masses and Motets	£14.99	Sep 27, 2010	Newton Classics
	Byrd: Complete Keyboard Music (The Complete Keyboard Music)	£38.99	Aug 31, 2010	Hyperion
	Ceremony & Devotion (Music For The Tudors By Tallis;Byrd & Sheppard)	£15.99	Feb 1, 2010	CORO
	Byrd: Infelix Ego (Vol. 13 In The Cardinall's Musick Byrd Edition)	£13.99	Feb 1, 2010	Hyperion
	Byrd: Hodie Simon Petrus	£13.99	Feb 2, 2009	Hyperion
	BYRD: My Ladye Nevells Booke (Complete)	£14.99	Jul 2, 2007	Naxos Classics
	BYRD: Cantiones Sacrae, Book I and II (excerpts)	£15.99	Apr 2, 2007	Chandos
	Byrd: Laudibus in sanctis	£13.99	Oct 30, 2006	Hyperion
	BYRD: Early works for Voices, Viols and Virginals, Vol. 1	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	BYRD: Music for Voices, Viols and Harpsichord, from a time of persecution, Vol. 2	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	JOHNSON: Elvetham entertainment / BYRD: Fantasia / DOWLAND: The First Booke of Songs	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	HOLBORNE / GIBBONS / BYRD / FARNABY / PEERSON / BULL / TISDALE: Keyboard Works	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	Byrd: Great Service	£13.99	Oct 31, 2005	Hyperion
	Byrd: Gradualia	£6.99	May 8, 2002	Hyperion Helios
	Byrd: Keyboard Music	£13.99	May 26, 2001	Hyperion
	BYRD: Consort and Keyboard Music / Songs and Anthems	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Byrd: Complete Keyboard Music	£79.99	Jan 1, 2000	Hyperion
	BYRD: Masses for Four and Five Voices	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics

Author also appears in: (38)
Image	Title	Price	Release Date	Label
	Shipwrecked (Heresy Records: HERESY001)	£15.99	Feb 27, 2012	Heresy Records
	Various: All The Queens Men	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Feb 28, 2011	Naxos Classics
	Various: Sacred Music in The Renaissance Volume 1 (Miserere/ Mass/ Ave Verum Corpus/ Requiem/ Versa Est In Luctum)	£19.99	Sep 27, 2010	GIMELL
	Various: Legends Of Piano Vol.1 (Works By Saint-Saens/ D'Indy/ Chaminade/ Grieg/ Granados)	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jun 28, 2010	Naxos Historical
	Blame Not My Lute (Bonny Sweet Boy/ Blame Not My Lute/ Kemps Jig)	£15.99	Apr 26, 2010	Sono Luminus
	Music from the Chirk Castle Part-Books	£13.99	Mar 30, 2009	Hyperion
	BACH-STOKOWSKI:TRANSCRIPTS 2	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 5, 2009	Naxos Classics
	Mary & Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey	£13.99	Sep 29, 2008	Hyperion
	Music for Shakespeare's Theatre	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Mar 31, 2008	Naxos Historical
	DISCOVER CHORAL MUSIC	£12.99	Jul 30, 2007	Naxos Educational
	All in the April evening	£6.99	Oct 30, 2006	Hyperion Helios
	MUSICAL JOURNEY (A) - SCOTLAND: A Musical Tour of the Country's Past and Present (NTSC)	£9.99	May 2, 2006	Naxos Dvd
	SONGS AND DANCES FROM THE TIME OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	TRIUMPHS OF ORIANA (THE)	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS (A)	£4.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	STOKOWKI'S SYMPHONIC BAROQUE	£15.99	Jan 23, 2006	Chandos
	Discover Early Music	£12.99	Oct 3, 2005	Naxos Educational
	Art & Music: Vermeer - Music of His Time	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Feb 18, 2005	Naxos Educational
	EARLY MUSIC FOR MEDITATION	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Dec 22, 2004	Naxos Classics
	MUSICAL JOURNEY (A) - LONDON: A Musical Tour of London and Oxford (NTSC)	£9.99	Mar 19, 2004	Naxos Dvd
	Sacred & Secular Music	£6.99	Dec 22, 2003	Hyperion Helios
	Grainger: Rambles & Reflections	£13.99	May 24, 2002	Hyperion
	Passiontide: Music for Solace and Reflection	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Mar 5, 2002	Naxos Classics
	Advent at St Paul's	£13.99	Jan 1, 2001	Hyperion
	The Music of Westminster Cathedral	£4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Hyperion
	Stabat Mater: Classical Music for Reflection and Meditation	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Voices of Angels	£14.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	World of Early Music	£12.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Exultate Deo	£13.99	Jan 1, 2000	Hyperion
	Introduction to Early Music (An)	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Samplers
	How the world wags	£6.99	Jan 1, 2000	Hyperion Helios
	Early Music (The Glory of)	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 & The Storm	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Liszt: The complete music for solo piano, Vol. 06 / Liszt at the Opera I	£29.99	Jan 1, 2000	Hyperion
	Gloria: Classical Music for Reflection and Meditation	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	AGNUS DEI - CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR REFLECTION AND MEDIATION	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Elizabethan Songs and Consort Music	~~£6.99~~ £4.99	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics
	Renaissance Masterpieces	~~£6.99~~ £3.49	Jan 1, 2000	Naxos Classics