Byrd, William (composer) (1543?-1623), greatest English composer of the Elizabethan age. Born probably at Lincoln, he was organist at the Lincoln Cathedral from 1563 to 1572, when he became organist for the Chapel Royal. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth I granted Byrd and his former teacher Thomas Tallis a monopoly in the printing and selling of music and music paper; it became Byrd's property upon Tallis's death in 1585. Although a Roman Catholic working in England under the Protestant Elizabeth, Byrd was nationally venerated, and his loyalty was never questioned. He died July 4, 1623, in Stondon, Essex.
Byrd composed 6 Anglican services and about 60 anthems, but his Latin church music is considered his most glorious work; its breadth and intensity are unmatched in English music. His major Latin works are his three masses, the 1589 and 1591 volumes of Cantiones Sacrae, and the two-volume Gradualia (1605, 1607), a year's cycle of settings of the changeable parts of the mass. Byrd was among the first to compose fantasias for viol consort. His more than 140 virginal (harpsichord) pieces helped establish the English school of virginal composition; they appear in his manuscript My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) and in anthologies such as the manuscript Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (circa 1612-19). His secular vocal music includes songs for solo voice and viol consort.
"Byrd, William (composer)," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
