William Byrd
William Byrd was born in London, likely around 1540. No birth record survives for the third surviving son of Thomas Byrd and his wife Margery. A document dated the 2nd of October 1598 states he is fifty-eight years old or thereabouts. His will from November 1622 claims he was then in his eightieth year. The discrepancy suggests a family history that remained fluid over decades. Richard Byrd of Ingatestone, Essex, moved to London in the fifteenth century. Subsequent generations became gentlemen. Two older brothers, Symond and John, became merchants active in livery companies. Barbara married an instrument maker who kept a shop. Three other sisters married merchants.
Byrd's first known professional employment began in 1563 as organist and master of choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. He resided at what is now 6 Minster Yard Lincoln until 1572. On the 19th of November 1569 the Dean and Chapter cited him for certain matters alleged against him. His salary was suspended following these allegations. Puritanism influenced Lincoln, so the trouble may have stemmed from elaborate choral polyphony. A second directive on the 29th of November issued detailed instructions regarding his use of the organ. On the 14th of September 1568 he married Juliana from the Birley family of Lincolnshire. They produced at least seven children. Thomas Byrd appeared as godson of Thomas Tallis in Tallis' will. Robert Parsons drowned in the Trent near Newark on the 25th of January 1572. Byrd obtained the post of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal that same year. The appointment came with a good salary and lasted for life.
From the early 1570s onwards Byrd became increasingly involved with Catholicism. This involvement became a major factor in his personal and creative life. Byrd's wife Julian was first cited for recusancy at Harlington in Middlesex in 1577. Byrd himself appears in the recusancy lists from 1584. In 1583 he got into serious trouble because of his association with Lord Paget. Paget was suspected of involvement in the Throckmorton Plot. Byrd sent money to Catholics abroad. His membership of the Chapel Royal was apparently suspended for a time. Restrictions were placed on his movements. His house was placed on the search list. He regularly appeared in quarterly local assizes. He was reported to the archdeaconry court for non-attendance at the parish church. He paid heavy fines for recusancy throughout his life.
In 1575 Byrd and Tallis received a joint monopoly for printing music and ruled music paper for twenty-one years. This was one of many patents issued by the Crown for book printing. The two musicians used services of French Huguenot printer Thomas Vautrollier. They produced a grandiose joint publication titled Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur. It contained thirty-four Latin motets dedicated to Queen Elizabeth herself. There are seventeen motets each by Tallis and Byrd, one for each year of the Queen's reign. The Cantiones became a financial failure. In 1577 Byrd and Tallis petitioned Queen Elizabeth for financial help. They pleaded that the publication had fallen out to their great loss. They were granted leasehold on lands in East Anglia and the West Country for twenty-one years. Thomas Byrd inherited half the monopoly from Tallis in 1585. William Byrd eventually managed or owned it to continue vast publications.
Byrd published three volumes of Cantiones Sacrae between 1575 and 1591. He also composed three Mass cycles published by Thomas East between 1592 and 1595. These editions are undated and consist of only one bifolium per partbook to aid concealment. Possession of such books remained highly dangerous. All three works contain retrospective features harking back to earlier Tudor tradition. Mass for Four Voices is partly modelled on John Taverner's Mean Mass. The four-part and five-part Masses employ mosaic semichoir sections alternating with full sections. The final words dona nobis pacem appear as chains of anguished suspensions in the Four-Part Mass. The second stage of his programme formed two cycles of motets called Gradualia. They contained 109 items published in 1605 and 1607. The 1607 set omitted several texts too sensitive after the Gunpowder Plot failure in 1605. A contemporary account refers to arrest of Charles de Ligny carrying a copy of the 1605 set.
On the 11th of September 1591 John Baldwin completed copying My Ladye Nevells Booke. This collection held forty-two keyboard pieces produced under Byrd's supervision. It includes corrections thought to be in the composer's hand. The dedicatee was Lady Elizabeth Neville, third wife of Sir Henry Neville. The collection contains ten pavans and galliards in three-strain form. The Ninth Pavan is a set of variations on passamezzo antico bass. Two famous pieces of programme music appear within it. The Battle was inspired by an unidentified skirmish in Elizabeth's Irish wars. Titles include The marche to fight and The Galliarde for the victorie. The Barley Break follows a real one with a mock-battle. It describes a game now known as piggy in the middle. Byrd contributed eight keyboard pieces to Parthenia in winter 1612, 13. This collection contained twenty-one pieces engraved by William Hole. Three composers are differentiated by seniority: Byrd, Bull and Gibbons represented by eight, seven and six items respectively.
Byrd's output of about 470 compositions justifies his reputation as a great master of European Renaissance music. As early as 1575 Richard Mulcaster and Ferdinand Haybourne praised him in poems published in Cantiones. Elizabethan scribes copied his music extensively. Robert Dow included Latin distichs praising Byrd in his manuscript collection. Thomas Morley dedicated A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke to Byrd in 1597. Henry Peacham praised Byrd in The Compleat Gentleman (1622). He called Byrd our Phoenix Master. Byrd taught active pupils including Peter Philips and Tomkins. Thomas Weelkes was probably another pupil. Byrd died on the 4th of July 1623 due to heart failure. Chapel Royal Check Book noted him as Father of Musick. The English musical landscape underwent profound changes after his death. Principal virginalist composers died off in the 1620s. Consort music changed character under new generation of professional musicians. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century antiquarians worked to revive interest. Twentieth-century scholars from E. H. Fellowes onwards reversed earlier judgements.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was William Byrd born and how old was he when he died?
William Byrd was likely born in London around 1540. He died on the 4th of July 1623 due to heart failure.
What professional positions did William Byrd hold during his career?
William Byrd began working as organist and master of choristers at Lincoln Cathedral in 1563. He later became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1572, an appointment that lasted for life.
Why did William Byrd face legal trouble and fines in the late 1580s?
William Byrd faced serious trouble because of his association with Lord Paget and involvement in Catholic recusancy activities. He paid heavy fines throughout his life for non-attendance at the parish church and was reported to the archdeaconry court.
How did William Byrd and Thomas Tallis collaborate on music publishing in 1575?
William Byrd and Thomas Tallis received a joint monopoly for printing music and ruled music paper for twenty-one years starting in 1575. They produced Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur using French Huguenot printer Thomas Vautrollier.
What keyboard works did William Byrd create for Lady Elizabeth Neville?
John Baldwin completed copying My Ladye Nevells Booke containing forty-two keyboard pieces under William Byrd's supervision by the 11th of September 1591. The collection includes ten pavans and galliards such as The Battle inspired by Elizabeth's Irish wars.