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Byrd attends Elizabeth I’s funeral and looks to his own legacy. With Donald Macleod.

Religious intolerance cast a long shadow over the life and music of William Byrd. As a Roman Catholic in Elizabethan England, he was persecuted by the state and often forced to tread a dangerous path between his personal convictions and his duty to the Queen.
His musical talent and his strength of character enabled him not just to survive, but thrive. Despite his trials he was, and continues to be, celebrated as the greatest British musician of his age.

Byrd’s reputation remained undimmed in his old age and, as the Tudors gave way to the Stewarts, things began to look rosier for musicians like Byrd. However, the activities of a certain Guy Fawkes meant that his plans to publish a set of ‘Propers’ for the Catholic Mass had to be put on hold.

All this week, to accompany Composer of the Week, Radio 3 is also exploring William Byrd’s life through a series of new dramas starring David Suchet. To Preserve the Health of Man is at 10.45 each night.

In fields abroad
Ian Partridge, tenor
Phantasm

Propers for the Feast of All Saints
The Cardinall’s Musick
Andrew Carwood, director

Ave Verum
Tallis Scholars

Fantasia a6 (III) ‘to the vyolls’
Phantasm

Fair Britain Isle
James Bowman, counter-tenor
Ricercar Consort

Pavane & Galliard ‘The Earle of Salisbury’
Catalina Vicens, Harpsichord

Sing joyfully unto God our strength
Musica Contexta
Steven Devine, organ
The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
Simon Ravens, director

Producer: Chris Taylor