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The Keyboard Music of William Byrd - John Sankey
William Byrd (1543-1623) was one of England's most gifted and respected composers of the late Renaissance. Justly called "a father of music" even during his lifetime, he had that rare ability to see the future without being rejected by his own time. His vocal music in particular stands supreme amongst all of the time, being, in his own words, "framed to the life of the words", instead of being constructed solely on musical logic as in the past. He probably studied with Thomas Tallis, was appointed organist of Lincoln Cathedral in 1563 (aged 19!), and to the prestigious post of "Gentleman of Her Maiesties Chappell", co-organist with Tallis, in 1569. His music for the "virginalls" (the word then included what we today separate as harpsichord, spinet and virginal) is only a tiny portion of his work, but he brought the style to maturity virtually singlehandedly.Notes on the Music
The first European music notation system was neumes, which were totally musical signs - they indicated the sounds and techniques to be used to perform the music. About the 9th century, theorists got the upper hand in music, and everything had to be fitted into diatonic modes to be officially acceptable. Of course, good musicians have always insisted on singing in tune and have always cared more about their sound than about theory, so musica ficta came to mean the rules that musicians used to translate from modes back to good music, and that is the way I always interpret them.
As late as Byrd, English music was still in transition from the melodically-based (horizontal) modes to those of harmony (counterpoint, or vertical structure), and it is sometimes unclear from musical context which was in a composer's mind. Much ficta was written out by then, but some was still left unsaid; many texts still used accidentals only as the mark of the unusual. Accidentals mostly applied solely to the note on which they were written, but often were intended to affect some prior notes as well, and they normally modified the expected pitch of the note, not the white-note pitch as today. A marking of B-dur or B-molle was often meant to last until cancelled, and the range of influence of flats seems larger than that of sharps. The medieval sharpening of leading notes in conjunct motion and the flattening of summit notes may no longer be assumed - it was becoming more common to sharpen in upward motion and flatten in downward. Musica ficta was a very variable practise, in fact it seems at times as though it was used like idiom in spoken language - to identify the foreigner in a society.
All music was hand copied and recopied then, music printing being in the future, so errors accumulated rapidly. Whole sections of a piece were sometimes lost and the remainder patched together, or "old-fashioned" sections omitted. New sections were often added to pieces at a later time by the composers themselves, especially as a mark of esteem for an honoured pupil. Misattributions are common, especially in the case of Byrd, who had a son Thomas who also composed - "Mr.Birde" is all we have in some cases. However, for Wm.Byrd we have two exceptionally trustworthy texts. My Ladye Nevells Booke was completed in 1591 by one of Byrd's colleagues at the Royal chapel, possibly corrected by Byrd personally, then presented to Queen Elizabeth I, and Parthenia was engraved by the finest engraver in England, also with the care appropriate for a royal gift, mostly from composers' manuscripts, in 1612. My other major source is the folio of Catholic composers' works copied from divers sources, probably by a Francis Tregian between 1609 and 1619, known today as the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. I obtained useful guidance from E.H.Fellowes, "William Byrd" (1923) and from volumes 27 and 28 of Musica Britannica, edited by Alan Brown (1969). I am greatly indebted to Mark Newbold for arranging access for me to Musica Britannica to complete these recordings.
A large portion of ornamentation is written out in full in these texts, as it had not yet become as stylised as later on. Many texts contain extensive relics of the neumes, in the form of single or double crosses at the ends of, or through, the note stems. (Unfortunately, sharp signs were often also written at the stem ends, so were easily confused with stem crosses even by careful copyists.) The interpretation of these stem crosses was as variable as the practise of ficta. Their occurrence varies greatly between various copies, and in some seems almost random at times. Perhaps, even, they were used partly for visual effect, to make a manuscript seem more impressive. Many works can be played in a plain metered style, as used for dancing, in an accented multirhythmic style, or in a very florid style as might be appropriate in a large hall of the time, filled with scurrying servants serving food. I use rhythmic style for several of the short pieces, but the florid style rarely - I prefer dance meter for danceable music.
part of the Fitzwilliam Virginal BookSo, printing is black and white, and music isn't. A musician has to peer through the limitations of notation to hear a live person, the composer, then bring that composer's ideas to life in the performer's world. The further back one goes in time, the more necessary it is to accept that the composer's world can never exist again - too much of that world has been lost to truly recreate it. My approach is to study sources as close as possible to the time, apply the rules of the time, use instruments of the time, then let my ears be the guide, based on the whole oeuvre of the composer.
Byrd is the earliest composer with whom I feel confident my method is reliable - his music can mostly be understood by modern ears, as mine of course are. Faced with the new concept of solo keyboard music, restricted to a small selection of fixed pitches in contrast to the flexibility of prior vocal practise (cf. Bent), Byrd grasped two essential elements of its nature, regular rhythm paired with consonance, with remarkable sureness. (By contrast, John Bull fought the fixed pitch restriction fiercely all his life.) Most of Byrd's keyboard music is based upon dance, and the human body has not changed. So, if you feel impelled to motion as you stand and listen, at least part of Byrd's world has been recreated in yours.
The tuning I use is quarter-comma meantone, one in which thirds are pure in common keys. Music of this period modulates in mode rather than in key, and this tuning was used more often than any other at that time. English instruments then had a more powerful treble and more evanescent bass than my instrument, as well as those used as the model for most MIDI harpsichords, so I reduce the volume of the bass notes in the files to partially compensate.
Keyboard Music - John Sankey
- Liturgical works
- Miserere in 2 parts
Please install flash ...- Miserere in 3 parts
Please install flash ...- Miserere in 4 parts
Please install flash ...- Gloria tibi Trinitas
Please install flash ...- In Nomine
Please install flash ...- Miserere
Please install flash ...- Miserere
Please install flash ...- Salvator Mundi
Please install flash ...- Salvator Mundi
Please install flash ...- Pavans and Galliards
- Pavana & Galiardo Sr.Wm.Petre
Please install flash ...- Passinge Mesures Pavian & Galliarde
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galliarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana Delight & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiardo The Earle of Salisbury
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda Kinbrugh Goodd
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavana Lachrymæ and Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Bray's Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Ph.Tregian's Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Echo Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Quadran Paven & Galiard
Please install flash ...- Pavana & Galiarda
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavan & Galliard
Please install flash ...- Pavian
Please install flash ...- Pavan: 2 Parts in One
Please install flash ...- Lady Montegle's Paven
Please install flash ...- Galiardo Secundo Mris Marye Brownlo
Please install flash ...- Galliards Gygge
Please install flash ...- Galiardo Mris Marye Brownlo
Please install flash ...- Galliard
Please install flash ...- Galliarda
Please install flash ...- Other dances
- The Queenes Alman
Please install flash ...- Alman
Please install flash ...- Alman
Please install flash ...- Monsiers Alman
Please install flash ...- Alman
Please install flash ...- Coranto
Please install flash ...- Coranto
Please install flash ...- Gigg
Please install flash ...- Hornpipe
Please install flash ...- Sellingers Rownde
Please install flash ...- La Volta
Please install flash ...- La Volta
Please install flash ...- Grounds
- Ground
Please install flash ...- Hughe Ashtons Grownde
Please install flash ...- The Second Grownde
Please install flash ...- Ground
Please install flash ...- My Ladye Nevels Grownde
Please install flash ...- Ground
Please install flash ...- Preludes & Fantasies
- Præludium
Please install flash ...- Fantasia
Please install flash ...- Fantasia
Please install flash ...- Fancie
Please install flash ...- Fantasia on a Fugue
Please install flash ...- Fantasia
Please install flash ...- Ut,re,mi for Two
Please install flash ...- Ut,re,mi,fa,sol,la
Please install flash ...- Ut,mi,re
Please install flash ...- A Verse
Please install flash ...- Lesson of Voluntarie
Please install flash ...- Voluntarie
Please install flash ...- Voluntarie: for my ladye nevell
Please install flash ...- Program music
- The Marche before the Battell
Please install flash ...- The Battell
Please install flash ...footemen, marche of horsmen,trumpetts, Irishe marche, bagpipe and the drone, flute and the droome, marche to the fighte, the battels be joyned, retreat, galliarde for the victorie".- Popular tunes.
- Fortune
Please install flash ...- Lord Willobies Welcome Home
Please install flash ...- Walsingham
Please install flash ...- Qui Passe: for my ladye nevell
Please install flash ...- Callino Casturame
Please install flash ...- The Carmans Whistle
Please install flash ...- Wolsey's Wilde
Please install flash ...- The Bells of Osney
Please install flash ...- The Huntes upp
Please install flash ...- All in a Garden Green
Please install flash ...- The Ghost
Please install flash ...- Go from my Window
Please install flash ...- Gipseis Round
Please install flash ...- Jhon come kisse me now
Please install flash ...- The Maydens Song
Please install flash ...- O Mistris Myne
Please install flash ...- The Woods soe Wylde
Please install flash ...- The Barelye Breake
Please install flash ...
Other Works
- Civitas Sancti Tui
Please install flash ...- Fantasia No. 4
Please install flash ...- "I Will Not Leave You Comfortless"
Please install flash ...- The Leaves be Green
Please install flash ...- Senex Puerum
Please install flash ...- Music for Six Viols. - Michael J. Starke
- Pavan
Please install flash ...- Galliard
Please install flash ...- Fantasia No. 1.
Please install flash ...- Fantasia No. 2.
Please install flash ...- Fantasia No. 3.
Please install flash ...
- La Volta
Please install flash ...