Byrd Draft 1

i Introduction ii Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Byrd - a very brief biography Chapter 2 The Reformation - Historical Background - Effect on composers - Counter Reformation Chapter 3 An introduction to the mass Chapter 4 Some notes on mass settings - plainsong mass - Machaut Messe de Notre Dame - Taverner Missa Gloria tibi trinitas - Palestrina Missa Tu es Petrus Chapter 5 Ave Verum Corpus Commentary Chapter 6 The Kyrie and Gloria from the Mass for Four Voices - analytical commentary Chapter 7 If ye love me commentary Chapter 8 This is the record of John commentary Chapter 9 Settings of Services Bibliography and Discography 1 William Byrd Mass for Four Voices Background, commentary and related works Support material for teaching OCR A2 Music Historical and Analytical Studies option 4: Music and Belief Steven Griffin June 2009 2 Chapter 1 Byrd - a very brief biography William Byrd (c1540 - 1623) is one of the most celebrated English composers of any era. His career spans a time of political and religious upheaval and also the culmination of the musical Renaissance and the beginnings of Baroque style. Byrd’s music influences the new ideas of the Baroque era, particularly his keyboard music and the hints of tonality in his harmony (as opposed to modality). However, he remains a composer of the earlier time unlike Monteverdi, for example, whose religious works (e.g. 1610 Vespers, Beatus Vir etc) are Renaissance in style but whose operas (e.g. Orfeo) introduce Baroque ideas such as recitative. Byrd studied with Thomas Tallis (1505 - 1585) and is known to have been employed at Lincoln Cathedral before becoming a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He, along with Tallis, was granted a royal monopoly on music printing and publishing and was able to publish a great deal of his music during his lifetime though much has been lost or only survives in partbooks with varying discrepancies. The publishing of Byrd’s works, particularly Cantiones Sacrae (three volumes in 1575, 1589 and 1591) and Gradualia (two volumes in 1605 and 1607) are all the more remarkable when one considers that these were, in the main, motets written in Latin for the Catholic church at a time when Catholics were routinely persecuted. More will be said on this when discussing the Reformation in chapter 2. Byrd had several patrons who were prominent Catholic gentry, including Sir William Petre (c.1505 - 1572) for whom he is thought to have written much music for use in clandestine Catholic services. Byrd’s usual choir for motets was five part (SAATB in modern editions) but two of his Masses, by the necessity of smaller forces available and smaller rooms in which to worship, are for 3 and 4 voices. The Mass for Five Voices is unusual for Byrd in that it is written for SATTB. Perhaps this is a reflection of the voices available for the performance of this piece. After the Gunpowder Plot (1605) Byrd suffered more anti-Catholic hatred than he had in previous years though not as much as many others of that faith, possibly due to the esteem with which he was held by Elizabeth I. Byrd died in relative obscurity and is buried in an unmarked grave, much like many Catholics of the era. I have deliberately not gone into much detail here as Byrd’s life has been well documented and discussed by better writers and scholars than myself. Joseph 3 Kerman’s book The Masses and Motets of William Byrd goes into great detail and plenty of biographical detail can be gleaned from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The students old favourite, Grout’s A History of Western Music will also fill in basic details. Main points dates c.1540 - 1623 taught by Thomas Tallis publishing monopoly support of monarch Catholic composer in Protestant country usual scoring for 5 part choir SAATB 4 Chapter 2 The Reformation Historical Background The Reformation was motivated by a number of factors which are well documented in history text books. In brief, however, the causes are as follows: a Germany Martin Luther’s 95 Theses nailed to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral complained about the excesses of the clergy who abused their vows of chastity obedience and poverty. Luther also disagreed with doctrinal ideas such as the buying of “indulgences” i.e. forgiveness of sins and guaranteed entry into Heaven in return for hard cash and the need for an intermediary with God i.e. Catholic priest to interpret what the Bible (printed in Latin) said. Luther argued for a direct relationship between God and man, with the truth revealed by an individual reading the Bible in their own language. b England Henry VIII wanted a divorce and the Pope wouldn’t let him have one. Henry had no male heir. He had married his elder brother Arthur's widow for political reasons, and now wanted to get rid of her after a series of miscarriages. In one place the Bible says it's a duty to marry your brother's widow, in another place it says it's forbidden, the punishment being childlessness. Since the Pope wouldn't allow an annulment or divorce for political reasons (didn't want to annoy Catholic Spain) Henry took matters into his own hands. By becoming Head of the Church in England and giving himself the title of Defender of the Faith he could decide on his marriage doctrine as he chose, and just as important was the fact the the wealth of the Church now went to him! This is, of course, a very basic analysis but it is essentially the cause of Reformation in these parts of Europe. The knock on effect for music is huge. To generalise again, there was a move away from polyphonic writing, more use of the vernacular was made and more was made of congregational singing in services which ties in with Luther’s idea of a direct personal relationship with God. In Germany the chorale became a staple of Protestant services. Chorale tunes were initially, like plainsong, single line melodies without harmonisation and, like plainsong, they were eventually set homophonically and polyphonically. Ultimately this leads to the music of Bach. 5 Without chorales there would be no church cantatas, no chorale preludes and no passions, at least not in the format in which we are familiar with them. While Luther’s reforms were doctrinal, Henry VIII’s reforms were purely political. Most people in England tried to “go with the flow” and accept the new strand of Christianity but it was very difficult. The Latin liturgy continued to be used for a number of years until Edward VI introduced the Act of Uniformity in 1549. This Act established English as the language of the new Anglican church. Catholicism, and, therefore, Latin church music, had a revival during the brief reign of the Catholic Queen Mary (1553 - 1558, known as “Bloody Mary” due to her persecution of Protestants) but this was short lived as her successor, Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 - 1603) reinstated the Anglican faith as the state church and Catholic persecutions began in earnest. Elizabeth passed the anti-Catholic Act of Supremacy in 1559 and reaffirmed the Act of Uniformity, making attendance at the Church of England compulsory. Non-attendance resulted in fines and physical punishments. Those who refused to conform were known as recusants and various laws were passed which made life difficult for “papists” and other non-conformists. Most anti-Catholic laws were repealed in 1829 but the Act of Settlement (1701) is still very much in the news. This Act prevents the monarch of Britain being, or marrying, a Catholic and the law still stands. Other hangovers from Reformation anti-Catholic days include sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. This fermented due to a mixture of religious wars and a political and economic exploitation of Catholics by Protestants. The effect of this is still being felt today despite the progress of the peace process. The hatred and violence at Old Firm matches in Glasgow is another result of this period of history. Effect on Composers The young Edward VI had told Lincoln Cathedral in 1548 that the music used there should be set to English texts, “settyng thereunto a playn and distincte note, for every sillable one” (quoted in Grout). This is a clear reference to syllabic, homophonic style which contrasts with the melismatic, richly contrapuntal style of much music written for the Catholic church. The result is that much of the music written for the new church used homophonic texture much more than music in Latin did and new forms of composition were developed to go with the new liturgical requirements. Masses were not written in English. The services which composers set were Morning and Evening Prayer. These services correspond to the Catholic Matins and Vespers. Like the mass there was an ordinary and proper for each day of the year though usually the terms “ordinary” and “proper” pertain only to mass (see chapter 3 for an explanation of the mass). The texts set were called canticles, some of which were biblical and several of which were specific psalms. 6 The canticles for Morning Prayer include: O come, let us sing unto the Lord (Psalm 95) the Te Deum - We praise thee O God (Ambrosian hymn) Benedicite omnia opera - O all ye works of the Lord (text from the Apocrypha the Benedictus - Blessed be the Lord God of Israel (Luke 1:68-79) Jubilate Deo - O be joyful in the Lord (Psalm 100) The Canticles for Evening Prayer include the Magnificat - My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46-55) the Nunc Dimittis - Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace (Luke 2:29 - 32) These collections of canticles were known as services and these settings became very important in English church music.

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