William Byrd

Byrd spent the last years of his life in Stondon Massey and died there on July 4, 1623.

In an entry that marked his death in the Chapel Royal Check Book he was described as "a Father of Musick". He is also honored with a feast day (21 November) on the liturgical calendar of the US Episcopal Church.

William Byrd was born in London into a family of gentlemen, the lowest rank of English gentry. His father, Thomas Byrd, was a little known musician. His mother’s name was Margery Byrd.

Although William’s year of birth is often taken as 1540, there is a controversy about it. If we go by his will, which is dated 15 November 1622 and which states he was 80 years old at the time of its making, he was born sometime in 1542 or 1543.

However, another document made on 2 October 1598 and written in his own hand, states he was at that time about 58 years old. This puts his date of birth back to 1539 or 1540.

William had two elder brothers; Symond and John and four sisters; Alice, Barbara, Mary, and Martha. Although the brothers grew up to be London merchants, all three of them began their training in music at the age of seven.

Later Symond and John joined the choir of St. Paul Cathedral while William became a chorister at the Chapel Royal. Here he received training under the Master of Children Thomas Tallis, who was also a famed composer.

In 1563, Byrd was appointed as the Master of Children at the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln. It was probably his first official appointment and came with an impressive salary.

His tenure at Lincoln was musically very productive. His ‘Short Service’, with clear words and simple musical texture, was written during this period. Other than that, he also wrote a number of extensive keyboard fantasias and composed a few songs for voice.

’Ground in Gamut’, ‘The Hunt's Up’, ‘Gypsies’ Round’ are some of his well known creations of this period. Besides, historians have reasons to believe—although they were published later—motets like ‘Libera me’, ‘Domine’, ‘de morte aeterna’, and ‘Attollite portas’ were produced during this time.

However, the period was not without trouble. On 19 November 1569, he was briefly suspended from his duties. This happened because the puritans in the Lincoln Church complained about his organ playing, which often exceeded the acceptable Anglican limits.

In 1572, Byrd left Lincoln Church to become the Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Since it was a part of the Royal Household formed to take care of the sovereign’s spiritual needs, the move helped him in many ways.

Although Byrd had written many English pieces, he is best remembered for his Latin sacred music. The two sets of ‘Cantiones sacrae’, published in 1589 and 1591 can be considered the best among his works. These were mostly written for private use in the Catholic circles where they allowed him to write freely without any liturgical considerations.