William Byrd Essay

William Byrd was an English composer and organist of the Shakespearean era who is best known for his collection of masses, motets, anthems, services, fantasias, and secular works and is considered a master of all genres during his time. He was the son of Thomas and Margery Byrd. Records do not indicate the real date of his birth, but researchers believe he was born between the years of 1539 and 1540 in London, England. He was mostly known for sacred music written in Latin and secular music specifically his madrigals. The beginning of his musical training started at the age of seven. As a star of the famous composer Thomas Tallis he started composing music while being a singer at the Chapel Royal. His two brothers, were also choristers at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Byrd was one of the greatest English composers of his generation. Music in the 16th century was associated with civic, religion, and courtly life. The Protestant Reformation reorganized the methods and theories of the Roman Catholic Church. Political and religious events such as the Protestant Reformation formed the styles of composed music, methods of publicizing music, and new musical genres. The most important music of the Renaissance era were compositions composed
Two Chapel Royal composers; John Sheppard and William Mundy collaborated with Byrd in some of his earlier works. Recognizing his abilities they invited Byrd to work with them. They composed a psalm for four voices entitled “In exitu Israel” which is a piece composed for processional for Easter Week. This setting of a psalm for an evening prayer service had eight verses, each by Mundy and Sheppard, and four verses by Byrd. After he left London, Byrd was designated a position at what is known today as the Lincoln Cathedral in 1563 as an organist. However, in 1569 he was suspended for exceeding Anglican limits during