Music at the 12:30 Divine Worship Sung Mass:
Kyrie, Agnus Dei Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd
Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus John Merbecke
Motets:
Sacerdotes Domini William Byrd
Teach me, O Lord Thomas Attwood
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| Portrait of William Byrd circa A.D. 1580 |
Byrd produced sacred
music for use in Anglican services, although he himself later professed the Catholic Faith and wrote much specifically Catholic sacred music. Today his work is widely performed in Anglican and Catholic churches.
Byrd's commitment to
the Catholic Faith found expression in his motets. He composed about fifth
between 1575 and 1591.
Scholars such as
Joseph Kerman have detected a profound change of direction in the texts which
Byrd set in the motets of the 1580s.
In particular there is
a persistent emphasis on themes such as the persecution of the chosen people
(Domine praestolamur ) the Egyptian or Babylonian captivity (Domine tu
iurasti) and the long-awaited coming of deliverance (Laetentur caeli,
Circumspice Jerusalem).
Kerman believes that
Byrd was reinterpreting biblical and liturgical texts in a contemporary context
and writing laments and petitions on behalf of the persecuted Catholic
community.
Some texts should
probably be interpreted as warnings against spies (Vigilate, nescitis enim) or
lying tongues (Quis est homo) or celebration of the memory of martyred priests
(O quam gloriosum).
Byrd's setting of the first four verses of Psalm 78 (Deus
venerunt gentes) is widely believed to refer to the brutal execution of Father (now Saint) Edmund Campion in 1581 an event that caused widespread revulsion on the
Continent as well as in England.
