2023 is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, so what better Nunc dimittis to share than his? This fantastic piece is taken from his collection “Gradualia” and is one of my favorite settings of possibly my favorite text!
Byrd Central
Did you know 2023 will be an anniversary year for Byrd? Check out this page with more of the details, some exciting recordings, and fun swag!
Byrd Hodie
Sang this gorgeous Byrd motet for the Feast of the Presentation - love all these jewels from the Gradualia!
Miserere mei - L'Héritier
Many people know the "Miserere mei" settings of Allegri and Byrd, but how about this gorgeous setting by Jean L'Héritier?
Laetentur coeli
Another Byrd motet for Advent, this time his "Laetentur coeli"!
Rorate caeli
A Byrd motet for the season of Advent, sung by the Choir of the Church of the Advent two years ago.
Siderum Rector
Another of my favorite Byrd motets, Siderum Rector, with a beautiful request for forgiveness.
Justorum Animae
There's a Byrd motet for every season and emotion, including this beauty for All Saints Day.
More about Carmans Whistle
Our mid-90s computer game creator wasn’t the only one captivated by Carmans Whistle - Johnson, Byrd, Grainger, and even Rimsky-Korsakov all used it in various ways!
Name that (early music) tune, part 1 - Carmans Whistle
In the mid-90s, I spent a good chunk of time playing a computer game called Logic Quest. It was all puzzles and mazes, knights and castles, and I loved it. Except… in retrospect I may have loved the music more than the game.
Fast-forward 20 years or so, and I was sitting in the audience for a concert by my friends in Seven Times Salt. Imagine my surprise when they begin playing one of the tunes that I knew from the game! So this got me thinking that if one of the songs from the game was a legitimate piece of early music, perhaps some of the other ones were as well!
Now that pretty much the rest of my season has been canceled due to the pandemic, I’ve had some time to research these pieces. With the help of my good friends Alastair Thompson and Daniel Meyers, I’ve started a new (Logic) quest to identify all 7 of the main themes. It turns out that whoever designed the music for this game was definitely into early music!
Here’s installment one: first the version from the game, and then the actual tune - Carmans Whistle, as set by William Byrd in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book!