William Byrd - ProfilesArchive

About Me

God Savest Thou the Queen, Thy Fayre Servant Elizabeth! I am the Queen's Servant, William Byrd, formerly of Lincolnshire and now of the Westminster Abbey, London, England. I was born around 1540, although I will not be sure until the musicologists stop fighting over my birthdate. It has been said by the respected Joseph Kerman that I am sinister-looking because I am left-handed. I became Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in February 1572, and aided my illustrious teacher Thomas Tallis in his service as organist and also in composing most wonderful Latin motets in the Cantiones Sacrae 1575. I later published by own motets in 1589 and 1591, and I am also well known for my Mass for 5 voices, and also English liturgical music for Queen Elizabeth, such a Great Service. Do not challenge my Catholic faith, because I have been known to cause trouble if my employers complain that my music is too 'popish'. I have friends in high places, among some of the most powerful Catholic noblemen and partons in all of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, such as Lord Paget, the Earl of Worchester, the Earl of Northumberland, and the Earl of Oxford. I have passed on my talented composing skills to my student Thomas Tomkins. Myspace For Girls Only - MyGirlySpace.com

My Interests

The Catholic Counter-Reformation, secret services of the Jesuits, Thomas Campion, Thomas Watson, Sir Edward Dyer, Sir Philip Sidney, recusants, printing Latin music, Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur, Gradualia ac cantiones sacrae, Latin masses, Thomas Tallis, Julian Birley, English consort song, Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, psalm-motets, Savonarola, Ave Verum Corpus, the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal, Edward VI, Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I.

I'd like to meet:

Joseph Kerman! He is the one spreading these stories about my sinister appearance...

Music:

Why does my teacher Thomas Tallis have a singing group named after him? Why do not I have a group of 'Byrd Scholars'??I do enjoy David Skinner and the Cardinal's Musicke recordings of the Caged Byrd.

Movies:

What are these 'movies'?? I much prefer a play at the Globe Theatre, especially if it is by the Lord Chamberlain's Men and William Shakespeare.

Television:

What is this 'television'??

Books:

Geoffrey Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales, Joseph Kerman's The Masses and Motets of William Byrd, Edmund Fellowes's William Byrd, John Harley's William Byrd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.

Heroes:

All the illustrious composers before me who built up the tradition of High Church polyphony (in England and abroad): Josquin, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnoys, Robert Fayrfax, William Cornysh, John Dunstable, Thomas Tallis, and so forth.