719

THE ANTHEMS OF WILLIAM BYRD

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the

North Texav State College in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

MASTER OF TJSTIC

by

Fred L. Propst, B. Mus.

Lake Charles, Louisiana

January, 1955 PREFACE

In his prefix to Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of

Sadness and Pietie, published in 1588, William Bryd writes:

Reasons briefely set downe by the auctor to perswade euery one to learne to singe. 1st. It is a knowledge easely taught, and quickly learned where there is a good Master and an apt Scollar. 2nd. The exercise of singing is delightful to nature, and good to preserue the health of Man.

3rd. It doth strengthen all parts of the brest, and doth open the pipes.

4th. It is a singuler good remedie for a stutting and stammering in the speech.

5th. It is the best means to procure a perfect pronunciation, and to make a good Orator.

6th. It is the onely way to know where Nature hath bestowed the benefit of a good voyce: which gift is so rare, as there is not one among a thousand, that hath it: and in many, that excellent gift is lost, because they want Art to express Nature. 7th. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whateuer, comparable to that which is made of the voyces of Men, where the voyces are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.

8th. The better the voyce is, the meeter it is to honor and serue God therewith; and the voyce of man is chiefely to be employed to that end.

Since singing is so good a thing, I wish all men would learn to sing. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page PREFACE ...... Page

LIST OF TABLES...... v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...... vi

Chapter I. THE BACKGROUND OF THE TIMES OF WILLIAM BYRD. 1

II. A BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIKM BYRD...... 15

III. THE GENESIS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH SERVICE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEE ANTHEM. . . . . 21

IV. ANALYSIS 01 THE ANTHEM B0 THINE EAR . . . . 37

V. A STUDY OF SOME SELECTED FEATURES OF BYRD'S STYLE ...... 64

#. . 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... * * . .

iv LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. General Form of the Anthem Bow Thine Ear . . . 41 2. Conjunct and Disjunct Movement of the Vocal Lines inBowThineTEar. *off41. .*0 5'3

3. Dissonances Used in Bow Thine Ear ...... 60

4. Cadences Ending Each Phrase. . * ...... 67 5. Root-Movement in Twenty-two of William Byrd's Anghems.m...... 4.1....,.,.. 70 6. Root-Movement Found in Historical Ainthology Qf iusic Between 1200-1800...... 71 7. Cross and False Relationships Found in the Anthems of William Byrd...... 79

V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure Page 1. Use of Strict Imitation. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 14 . . . .0. . ..0. . . 42

2. Word Accentuation and Stretto. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 15-17 ...... ~~...... 45 3. Emphasis of Words Through Ornamentation. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 19-21 ...... ~~~&* 46

4. Motival Development. Bow Thine ar, meas.

26-27...... , ...... +*47 5. Homophonic Antiphonal Technique. Bo Thine Ear, meas. 32-33 and 37-38 ...... 48

6. Use of imitation and tonal answer. Bow Thine Ear.,meas. 42-44 . . .#.0.a.*.0.0 .~~~~.0.0.0. 50

7. Descendinr Movement in Phrase 1 and 5 com- pared. Bow Thine Zar, meas. 1-2, 65-66. . . 51

8. Evidence of Kixolydian Mode. Bow Thine Ear, ...... 52 meas. 76-78...... *

9. Voice Ranges in Box Tine Far...... 53

10. Passing Tones. Bow Thine Sar, meas. 2 . . . . 54 11. MVultiple Passing Tones. Boy Thine a_, meas.

12. Accented Passing Tone. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 29 ...... 55

13. 9-8 Suspension. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 17 . . . 56

14. 4-3 Suspension. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 53 . . . 57 15. 7-6 Ornamental Suspension and False Relation- ship Between C and C#. Blow Thine Ear,

meas. 46. . . . . -.a , . - . , . ,# . . 58

vi Figure Page

16. Cross Relation, Bow Thine Bar, meas. 31-32 . . 60

17. Upper Neighboring Tone. Bow Thine Bar, meas. 6..*.0.1...... a.0.0.#.0.#.*.0.61

18. Lower Neighboring Tones. Bbw Thine Ear, meas. 30 ...... 62

19. Nota-cambiata. Bo Thine 3aL, mecs. 60. . . . 63 20. Two Rhythms, 4/4 and 3/4 in One Vocal Line. T " his Day Christ Was Born," means. 27-29. . . . 75 21. Two Simultaneous soprano Parts With Different Rhythm Patterns. "This Day Christ Was Born," meas. 18-19...... 75

22. Three Si.multaneous Voices, Soprano, Alto and Baritone, Each with a Different Rhythm Figuration. "This Day Christ Was Born," meas. 8-9...... 76

23. Dance Rhythm. 'Make Ye Joy To God," meas. 13. 77 24. False Relationship Unprepared. From the Anthem Sav Me 0 God, meas. 21 ...... 78 25. Descending Horizontal Line. From the Anthem "Look Down, 0 Lord," meas. 1 ...... 81 26. Descending borizontal Line. From the Anthem "I Laid Me Down To Rest," meas. 1-3. . . . . 81

27. Ascending Horizontal Line. From the Anthem "The Proud Are Risen Up,"meas. 6-8 . . . . . 82 28. Ascending Horizontal Line. From the Anthem "Arise, Lord, Into Thy Rest," meas. 4-6. . . 82 29. Horizontal Word-Painting. From the Anthem 'Sing We Merrily," mess. 76-79 ...... 83 30. Torizontal tord-Painting. From the Anthem "Behold, 0 God," meas. 52 ...... 83

vii Figure Page

31. Vertical Sonority. Found in Anthem "0 Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints," meas. 151-153. . . . .84

32. Word-Painting. Fro: the Anthem " Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints," meas. 1...... 85

33. Word-Painting. From the Anthem "Arise, 0 Lord, Why Sleepest Thou," meas. 16-17...... 85

3)4. Word-Painting. Prom the Anthem "I) God, The Proud Are Risen," meas. 37-38...... 86

35., Word-Painting. From the "Verse" Anthem "Alack, When I Look Back," meas. 4 ...... 86

vii: CHAPTER I

THE BACKGROUND OF THE TIMES OF WILLIA BYRD

The sacred anthem has had a unique conception and

development that compares readily to that of other major

forms of sacred music. The average sabbath worshipper in

our Baptist, Protestant or other non-Catholic churches

either enjoys or endures the morning anthem without so much

as a thought as to the origin of the music presented.

Since an abundance of this music is used in our services, it is the purpose of this study to trace the history of the anthem from its origin in the early Tudor period to its culmination in the works of William Byrd. A special study will be made of the anthems by this master of the form.

William Byrd, who achieved lasting fame in the musical development of England, was probably born about

1543 and died in 1623. No adequate appraisal of the anthems of Byrd can be made without first developing an understanding of the background of the times in which he lived.

In 596 A.D. apostles of the Catholic religion reached the shores of England. This group, under the leadership of the Benedictine monk Augustine, was entrusted with a number of manuscripts and other articles necessary for the divine 1 2

cult. They founded churches and monasteries and also established the form of the liturgy as adopted and practiced by the leading church of the occidental

Christians, the Church of Rome. Roman ecclesiastical music, the Gregorian chant, was thus taught early in many parts of the British Islands by monks who had studied its form and practice at Rome.1

From the Saxon annals it is learned that in the reign of Egbert (800 A.D.) music, as well as other liberal arts, began to flourish in England.2 Organs were introduced into churches and monasteries in 981 A.D. The monks were thus the first teachers of music to the English people.

Others who were influential in the development of music as a science were often the rulers of the country. King

Alfred the Great founded in 886 A.D. a professorship at

Oxford for the cultivation of musical science.3

The development of part-singing in Britain was much influenced by developments in nearby countries, especially

France and Flanders. Coussemaker established the fact that the "invention of the art of sounding one or two additional parts to a given melody, be it Gregorian

1 Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization, p. 63.

2 Frederick L. Ritter, Music in England, p. 13.

3Ibid., p. 22. 3

chant or secular melody, must be attributed to the French.4

Important evidence is available concerning part- singing in Great Britain. There is recorded in the twelfth century a "Description of Wales" by Giraldus

Cambrensis (c. 1147-1220). Giraldus, who was a cultured man, the friend of scholars in England, France and Italy, writes:

In their musical concerts they do not sing in unison like the inhabitants of other countries, but in many different parts; so that in a company of singers, which one very frequently meets with in Wales, you will hear as many different parts and voices as there are performers, who all at length unite, with organic melody, in one consonance and sweetness of B flat. LVarious hypotheses have been advanced concerning the meaning of "the soft sweetness of B flat"C In the northern district of Britain, beyond the Humber, and on the borders of Yorkshire, the inhabitants make use of the same kind of sym- phonious harmony, but with less variety; singing only in two parts, one murmuring in the bass, the other warbling in the acute or treble. Neither of the two nations had acquired this peculiarity by art, but by long habit, which has rendered it natural and familiar; and the practice is now so firmly rooted in them, that it is unusual to hear a simple and single melody well sung; and, what is still more wonderful, the children, even from their infancy, sing in the same manner. As the English in general do not adopt this mode of singing, but only those of the northern countries, I believe that it was from the Danes and Norwegians, by whom these parts of the island were more frequently invaded, and held longer under their domination, that the natives contracted their mode of singing as well as speaking.i

4Ibid., p. 23.

5Gustav Reese, Music in the Middle Ages, p. 387. 4f

Various theories have been advanced, based on this

description, but this passage shows that in northern

England there was singing in two parts only and in Wales there was singing in more than two parts.

Polyphony had already begun on the continent, es- pecially in the French and Netherland area and was quite possibly taken to the British Isles by William the Con- queror and his Normans in 1062. The origin of polyphony is obscure, but most scholars tend to be of the opinion that the ultimate source lay outside the Latin civilization of the Middle Ages. Although Ireland, Wales, the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes are equally supported, the earliest Latin texts are divided between the Northmen of northern France in the tenth century and the group centered about the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland.

The Normans had received their ideas of greater splendor and refinement from their residence in France.

In Anglo-Saxon times music had been predominantly used by churchmen and warriors but the scops and gleemen gave it the greatest concentration. The gleemen traveled exten- sively, while the scops were residents in the halls of petty kings. "That the two categories often merged, how- ever, Is shown by the fictional autobiography of an idealized scop, Widsith (L Far-Traveller), which is the 5

oldest poem extant in English." 6 It would be difficult to

determine the extent of their musicianship since no

authentic example of their music exists. Gleemen and

scops gave place to minstrels following the Norman Con-

quest both in the feudal court and on the highways.7

In considering the church music of this period, it is

necessary to consider secular music also since there is a

very definite overlapping between the two. This will be

made obvious through a discussion of the minstrels.

Ritter8 makes reference to the fact that

the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles loved music: and many were the minstrels who cheered, by means of their songs and instrumental playing, the frequent festivities that took place under the roof of the princely palace, as well as under the tent on the battlefield.

Subject matter used by the minstrels and the ballad-

singers was predominantly of heroic folk-lore and love stories.

As successors of the ancient bards, the minstrels

were distinguished by the name of scalds, a word which

means smoothers and polishers of language. Their skills were considered something to behold and they were in much

demand in all the places visited in their travels. The

life of a minstrel was easy and many idle people joined

6 Ibid., pp. 240-241. 7 lbid.

8Ritter, on. i., p. 7. 6

the ranks because of the desire to travel and the position it afforded.9

Many different talents were expected from the superior minstrels. Besides knowing all the songs, both old and new, the current gossip and all the romances, it was necessary that they be able to play several instruments in order to accompany themselves, and to compose and declaim in a satisfactory fashion. During the height of their popularity, secular music, ballads and dance tunes were in greater demand than sacred music of which the Gregorian chant was the chief representative. Because of their popularity the minstrels had more influence on the public musical taste than did the monks and the Gregorian chants.

Their melodies eventually found their way into the service of the church. William of Malmesbury (b. 1095) tells that when Thomas, the first archbishop of Canterbury, heard any tunes that he liked he adopted them for use in the church.1 0

His example was followed by other clergy with the result that the minstrel tunes, for a time, outnumbered the

Gregorian melodies in the Service. The minstrels flourished until the sixteenth century when an act was passed by which

"minstrels, wandering abroad," were considered "rogues,

91bid., p. 8.

1 %Edmondstoune Duncan, Minstrelsy, p. 54. 7

vagabonds and sturdy beggars," and were liable to be punished as such. 1

In Germany, France and Italy the people yearned to

change the strict orthodox forms of sacred melodies and

chants in order to suit their own powers of musical expression. This was rebuked many times by the ecclesi- astical authorities. Occasionally the church was forced to bow to these demands and to adopt some of the versions offered, even to the extent of allowing some of the secular melodies to be set to sacred words. From such inventive- ness on the part of the people these nations boast a national school of music consisting of secular and sacred music, which sprang from the same root, the Gregorian melody, but each branching out in its own way.1 2 One of the medieval musical devices which brought about some disfavor was called "hocket" (litterally "hiccough"). In this usage a singer would take a rest in the middle of a word. This device had been used in England as well as

France as early as the twelfth century. But there seem to have been objections to its use in sacred music. John of

Salisbury calls attention to the "dividing of the note" along with other practices which he criticizes:

Could you but hear one of these enervating per- formances executed with all the devices of the art, you might think it a chorus of Sirens, but not of men,

llRitter, _M__c *, p. 10. 12Ibid., p.1. 8

and you would be astonished at the singers' facility, with which indeed neither that of the nightingale or parrot, nor of whatever else there may be that is more remarkable in this kind, can compare. For the facility is displayed in long ascents and descents, in the dividing or in the redoubling of the note, in the repetition of phrases, and the clashing of the voices, while, in all this, the high or even the highest notes of the scale are so mingled with lower and lowest, that the ears are almost deprived of their power to distinguish.13

The most famous round ("rota") to come down to us from medieval times is the so-called Reading-Rota, "Sumer is

icumen in." The composer of this song, as well as many writers of thirteenth century English polyphony, is unknown to us. The origin of the style of this composition

remains largely an open question. 1 + The impetus toward an accepted polyphonic style was latent in the thirteenth century in England because of constant warring factions and also because of lack of a developed musical technique.

The period needed a great composer to inspire method and

system into the crude and haphazard style which pre- dominated. That composer was found in England in John

Dunstable (c. 1390-1+53) who inaugurated the greatest period of polyphonic writing England has ever experienced.

He was the first English composer with a personal style.

His voice parts were not tied to one another in the note- against-note manner but moved with more freedom. He made

1 3 Reese, Music in the Middle Ages, p. 390.

1'+Ibid., p. 396. 9

little use of canon because of the secular association it had had.J After Dunstable, the tradition of greater freedom became a strong one and was not greatly affected by developments on the continent. Under the reign of Henry

VII the school of composers grew, Robert Fairfax and William Cornyshe being the most important.

As mentioned previously, secular and sacred music on the continent sprang from the same root, the Gregorian chant. In England the procedure was somewhat different.

The two elements did not mingle to such a degree. The original peoples' song and Gregorian chant ran parallel.

This is attributed to the fact that the English musicians took little part during the Reformation in creating hymn tunes based on the Gregorian melodies as Martin Luther

(1483-1546) had done. The English hymn-tune writers, when left to their own imagination, ignored the Gregorian chants and concentrated on ballad tunes.16

Langl? states that the Flemish musicians themselves must have appeared in Britain toward the end of the fif- teenth century because in a collection dated 1516, con- taining music by Sampson, dean of the Chapel Royal, there

15 John Erskine, A Musical Companion, p. 268.

1 6Ritter, Music in England, p. 19.

1 7 Lang, Music in Wstern Civilization, p. 277. 10

were several anonymous motets entirely in the Flemish

style, while one motet was signed Benedictus de Opicijs who had been a professional musician of the Flemish school.

Further evidence of the presence of Flemish musicians in

England in the sixteenth century is found in the appearance of the Flemish names of Guilliam Deventt and Peter Van- wilder on the roster of musicians at Henry VIII's court.

With the advent of Henry VII (c. 1485-1509) a period of political strife and discontent was replaced by con- certed harmony and goodwill between the throne and the people. This was the beginning of what is known as the

Tudor period. The merging of the houses of Lancaster and

York demonstrated the fact that Henry Tudor found approval with both the warring factions.18 This merger brought a change to England's daily life and a desire for something finer and richer that would be satisfied in poetry, art and music.

During this period there existed a group of musicians who were the leading composers of sacred music; these are now generally referred to as the "Tudor composers." The outstanding men of that period were John Taverner (1495-

1545), Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Christopher Tye (1500-

1572), William Byrd (1543-1623), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), John Merbecke (d. 1585) and Thomas Morley (1557-1603).

18 .E. Lunt, History of England, p. 280. 11

There were many factors which made this period a

favorable one for composition of new types of music. In

the sixteenth century came a great religious change. For

many centuries in western and central Europe there had been

but one church which everyone, being baptized in infancy,

joined as a matter of course, and whose services were

usually conducted entirely in Latin. Various countries on

the continent witnessed a breaking away from this general

communion and the affirmation of new creeds and forms of worship. England, too, experienced similar religious

upheavals.

Henry VIII (reigned 1509-154'7) of England initiated

the break with the Roman Catholic Church. He severed

relations between the church in England and the Pope, not

because of any sympathy with Protestant doctrine but be-

cause the Pope could not or would not grant him a divorce;

also, he wished to increase his revenue at the expense of

the clergy. Parliament declared the king to be the supreme

head of the church in England. The new church was not the

Evangelical Church of Luther but still an Anglo-Catholic

church under the crown. Thus the Reformation in England

under Henry VIII was at first a political and personal matter and, except in rebellion against the Pope, not a 12

doctrinal departure. The theology of the Church was largely untouched. 1 9

The monasteries were dissolved and property con- fiscated; shrines and religious foundations were destroyed.

This was a serious blow to the art of music as every monastery had a well-established choir and one or several organists. In the six hundred monasteries and convents which were broken up "there was a ruthless destruction of music."1 2 0 The abolition of ritual and ceremony, religious pictures and sculpture and artistic polyphony in music, as well as the negation of transubstantiation, all had the immediate effect of weakening the awe and reverence of the masses.2 1 Although Henry VIII tried to preserve the

Catholic ritual, including the musical activities, many changes were made.

Edward VI (reigned 15+7-1553) succeeded his father as

King of England. Under his advisers the progress of

Protestantism was greatly accelerated. High church offices were filled with avowed Protestants. Parliament issued a new Prayer Book and a standard of faith which later became the Thirty-nine Articles. Christopher Tye was the chief composer of this reign. He was instructor of music to

19Lynn Thorndike, A Short History of Civilizaion, p. 432.

2 0 Lang, U_. cit., p. 278. 21Ibid..,p. 279. 13

Edward VI and other members of the Royal family.2 2 When the

Catholic Mary (reigned 1553-1558) came to the throne she was

determined to restore to the full the religion still held

by most of her subjects. She caused all the measures that

had separated the Church of England from Rome to be re- versed; the old ritual was restored and once again the nation was subject to the Pope in Rome. Mary's reign, how- ever, was short and she was succeeded by her half-sister,

Elizabeth, who was the child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) was a strong ruler. She at once restored, with some changes, the decrees of

Henry VIII and Edward VI in reference to the established

Church of England. The Act of Supremacy (1559), first enacted by Henry VIII in 1534, was enforced over the bishops and the saying of Mass was prohibited under severe penalties. The English Prayer Book was firmly established and Church composers had the important task assigned them of writing suitable music for it, either new or adapted from the old Latin services. This situation provided many opportunities for creation of new musical thought.

During the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and

Elizabeth, music in England underwent a complete transfor- mation. There were several factors which contributed to

2 2 Emil Nauman, Historyofj Msic, p. 673. 14

this result. In the first place, the improvements that were made in the construction of musical instruments contributed greatly to the development of musical taste.

Secondly, the fondness for metrical Psalms greatly affected the taste of the nation not only as to sacred music but also as to secular song. Thirdly, the increased intercourse with foreign countries in trade exercised a strong influence in developing the popular taste.2 3

Into this era of peace and cultural advancement was born a man who was destined to be the greatest composer of

England's Golden Age, William Byrd.

23 Ibid., p. 665. CHAPTER II

A BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM BYRD

The only information available concerning the birth date of William Byrd is the statement in his will, signed on November 15th, 1622, in which he states:

In the name of the most glorious and undevided Trinitye Father sonne holy Gost three distinct persons and one eternall God Amen I William Byrd of Stondon Place in the pish of Stondon in the Countye of Essex Gentleman doe now in the 80th yeare of myne age but through ye goodnes of God beeinge of good health and pfect memory wake and ordayne this for my last will and Testament.

From this statement it may be established that Byrd was born in the year 1543.

There is less certainty concerning Byrd's parentage and birthplace. Some evidence indicates that he was born in Lincolnshire, although this fact cannot be confirmed, as the name Byrd was common in the county at this time. There were families of this name in Spalding, Epworth, Pinchbeck and other Lincolnshire villages. The earliest fact of his life, the appointment as organist in the

Lincoln Cathedral in 1563, agrees with the probability that he came from one of the Lincolnshire villages. The

1 Frank Howes, William Byrd, p. 195.

15 16

official pedigree records of that time show that there was

a Thomas Byrd who was a member of the Chapel Royal during

the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary, and it is possible that

this man was William Byrd's father. There is no evidene

to support this question of parentage.2

From these conjectures concerning Byrd's early life,

other phases of his biography which are more certain may

be considered. Most of Byrd's musical traiing was under

Thomas Tallis, who is considered the greatest Elizabethan

composer before Byrd. Tallis is remembered for extra- ordinary contrapuntal ingenuity and his stature is heightened by the fact that he was the instructor of

Byrd.3 Other than his musical training, Byrd seems to have had some good general education, an opinion substantiated

by the fact that he gave lessons to Thomas Morley in mathematics and also wrote fluently in Latin.4

From this musical training with Tallis, Byrd entered

the professional field. The first recognition of impor- tance was his appointment as organist to the Lincoln

Cathedral at the age of twenty. In 1568 he married

Juliana Birley and a few months later he was elected a

2Edmund H. Fellows, William Bdrd, pp. 1, 2.

3 morrison Comegys Boyd, Elizabethan Music and Musical Criticism, p. 71.

4. H. Shadow, English Music, p. 55. 17

Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal. This appointment did not

involve an immediate change, and it was while he was still

at Lincoln that two of his children, Christopher and Eliza-

beth, were born. It was not until 1572 that Byrd nominated

Thomas Btler to succeed him at Lincoln as organist. He

and his family moved to Harlington where he was to join

Tallis at the Chapel Royal to share the duties as organist.

This seems to mark the beginning of Byrd's career in

composition and virtually coincides with the end of

Tallis' productivity. Although there was thirty-five years difference in their ages they remained close associates both in the field of music and business until Tallis' death.5

The record of Byrd's publications begins with his period at Chapel Royal. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth granted a monopoly on music printing and materials in England to

Tallis and Byrd with the stipulations as follows:

Elizabeth by the grace of God, Quene of Englande Fraunce and Ireland

To all printers bokesellers and other officers ministers and subjects greeting. Knowe ye, that we for the especiall affection and good wil that we haue and beare unto the science of Musicke and for the aduancement thereof, . . . in the xvij yere of our raigne have grunted ful priueledge and licence vnto our wel-beloued seruaunts Thomas Tallis and William Birde two of the Gentlemen of our Chappell, and to the ouerlyuer of them . . . to imprint any and so many as

ON "W".-O-MON - - "M mmlmmft

Howes, _p. cit., p. 196. they will of set songe or songes in partes, either in English, Latine, Frenche, Italian or other tongues that may serue for musicke either in Churche or chamber, or otherwise to be either plaid or soonge .0 . . And the offender in any of the premisses for euery time to forfet to vs our heires and successors forte shillinges, and the said Thomas Tallis and William Birde. 0

In Elizabethan England religious music could not be pub-

lished profitably. The first joint efforts of Tallis and

Byrd, a collection of Latin motets under the title of

Cantiones sacrae, was a failure. In 1577 the composers petitioned Queen Elizabeth to continue a land grant, made

by Queen Mary to Tallis, which was about to expire. In

recognition of their good service to the throne, Elizabeth

gave them a renewal lease in land. No music was published during the next twelve years following their first publi-

7 cation. Although Byrd made no publications at this time, he was composing music which included madrigals and secular

songs, instrumental pieces and a lavish abundance of church music.

The sacred music of Byrd was definitely influenced by his religious beliefs as well as by the religious trends at this time. Although we Imow nothing of his early religious training, that he was a sincere Roman Catholic may be attested by the statement in his will that he might

6 Fellowes, gst. ciit., pp. 7, 8.

7Boyd, gp. cit., p. 73. 19

"live and dye a true and perfect member of his holy

Catholicke Churche (withoute which I beleeve there is noe salvacon for me)."8 There is no doubt that throughout his life he remained true to the traditions of the older church. This was made possible by the lenient treatment extended to recusants and Catholics who were in the favor of those in power.9 True as he was to the older traditions of the church, Byrd gave faithfully of his musical abil- ities to the Anglican Church, and it was his Protestant friends who surrounded him with highest praise. Peacham

(Complest Gentleman, 1622) said that "in Motets and Musick of piety and devotion, as well as for the honour of our nation, as the merit of the man, I prefer above all other our Phoenix, Mr. William Byrd, whom, in that kind, I know not whether any may equall, I am sure none excell, even by the judgement of France and Italy.tO0 Fellowell sums up the controversial issue of Byrd's religious loyalty as follows:

For him the beauty of Christian worship as adorned with music, knew no limitations as defined by this or that phase of doctrine. It is for this reason that Byrd's Church Music, both Latin and English, so nobly achieves its purpose.

8lbid., p. 83.

9 Nauman, History of Music, p. 679.

10Jeffrey Pulver, Biographical Dictionary of Old English Music, p. 85.

llFellowes, U. jcit., p. 48. 20

Other than the publication of music as a business venture, Byrd turned part of his interest to the leasing of lands for income. Leases were commonly purchased as an investment and a source of income, rather than a place of residence for the lease holder. In 173 when he was thirty years of age, Byrd was extended a lease for thirty- one years on the manor of Battylshall in the County of

Essex. Later, one William Lewyn tried to get the lease for himself by fraudulent means. This and other lawsuits con- cerning leases, which meant a good portion of his income, brought serious moments so far as his livelihood was concerned.12

Byrd made his will on November 1%, 1622 and died about eight months later. His death is recorded in the Cheque

Book of the Chapel Royal: "1623. William Byrd, a Father of Music, died the fourth of July, and John Croker a counter-tenor of Westminster was admitted . . . for a yeare of probacionA 13 Thus we see the close of a life that left its mark on musical posterity, a life that served as a guide and an inspiration to composers who followed.

Possibly no other composer of any age shares the warmth and admiration of his contemporaries as did William Byrd.

12Ibid.op. 4.

1 3Howes, __. cit.., p. 221. CHAPTER III

THE GENESIS OF THE ANGLICAN CJRC SERVICE ANJ T12 DE'JLOPE* OF TE ANTHEM

The purpose of this chapter is to give the background and the development of the anthem in such a way that its place in history might be better realized. The anthem

itself is one of the most used types of music and is one of the least understood. In order to understand the popularity of the anthem, it will be best to discuss the changes in the liturgy of t he Anglicar Church that were taking place at the time the anthem became most popular. The anthem wI1 also be better understood if the Anglican Service and its origins are clarified.

After Dunstable's death in 1453, church -music was the major field of english musical composition for thle next hundred years. No change was made in its forms until the

Reformation forced a complete reorientation of its Masses, motets, Magnificats and other parts of the liturgy. Church music, during the next few reigns, followed the interesting vicissitudes of both doctrinal and political warfare.1

1Paul Fenry Lang, Miusic in Western Civilization, p. 274

21 22

In 154 Archbishop Cranmer (1489-1556), possibly in collaboration with John Merbecke (d. 1585), issued the

Litany in English set to the traditional chant, but modified to one note to a syllable.2 In issuing his

Litany, Cranmer wrote to Henry VIII that the harmonizing should be note-against-note, one note to a syllable, in plain chords.3 The Royal Injunction of April 14, 1548, delivered to the Dean of Lincoln Minster, ordered that

they shall from hensforthe synge or say no Anthemes off our lady or other saynts but onely of our lorde. And them not in laten but choseyng oute the best and moste soundyng to cristen religion they shall turne the same into Englishe settyng therunto a playn and distinct note, for eve y sillable one, they shall singe them none other.

The Act of Uniformity 5 of January 21, 1549, directed the use of the book of Common Prayer and none other.

Merbecke's book, Th Booke of Common Praier Toted, ap- peared in 1550. The settings are monophonic. They are adapted in part from traditional Gregorian chants; the remaining settings were composed by Merbecke. These

settings are neither mensural nor are they plainsong, but

a compromise between the two. The book became obsolete

because of its unpopularity. Merbecke's second Book of

2 Gustav Reese, Music in the Renaissance, p. 796.

3Henry Davey, History of English Music, p. 116.

+Reese, __. it., p. 796. 5Ibid. 23

Common Prayer was issued in 1552. In arranging the chants for this second book, Merbecke reduced the Gregorian melodies to their simplest musical expression; the melodic flourishes were eliminated so that pure musical declamation remained. They were nearly brought to the level of the ballad form.

John Merbecke6 was a composer and arranger of music for the Anglican church. He is known to have been organist at St. George's, Windsor from 1541 to his death. In 1543 he was arrested for Calvinistic leanings. Merbecke, after accepting the Protestant faith, devoted his time to the

Book of Common Praier Noted and to other theological works.

After his change of religious feeling he wrote no more

Latin works.7 The Book of Common Praier is a complete service book of the Anglican Church. It contains every- thing authorized for use in the services except the Lessons,

Anthems and Hymns. It can be compared to the Missal,

Breviary, Manual and Pontifical of the Roman Catholic

Church in that it fulfills the same purpose.8

The Reformation, during the reign of Henry VIII, did not materially affect English Church music. The one out- standing musical memorial left from this reign is the

6 Ritter, Music in England, p. 19.

7 Reese, Q. cit., p. 781.

8 Percy Alfred Scholes, The Oxford Comuanionit Music, p. 190. 24

simplified setting of the English Litany to the ancient plainsong by Archbishop Cranmer. English cathedrals and churches use practically the same type of setting today.

The political break came during the reign of Henry VIII but it was while Edward VI was on the throne that the Anglican

Service adopted practices more in keeping with the

Protestant movement. The one great work of Edward VI's reign was the musical setting of the first English Book of

Common Praier Noted by John Merbecke in 1550. Other than this, little musical progress was made.9

Upon the accession of Queen Mary, there came a neutralization of Edward's efforts to promote the cause of the Reformation. She immediately restored the Latin Ser- vice. It should be noted that the musicians proved amazingly pliable in their ability to adapt their music to either form, thereby retaining their position and income.

Upon Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, the language barrier in church music came to an end. The English Book of

Common Praigr became well established and church composers were assigned the task of writing suitable music for it.10

With Elizabeth's return there came promptly a renewed usage of Merbecke's second Book of Common Praier Noted of Edward

VI. The forty-ninth of the "Injunctions" of 1559 prescribes

9 Tauman, History of Music, pp. 668, 671.

10Ibid .j ,p.674. 25

"a modest and distinct song so used in all parts of the

Common Prayer, that the same might be understanded as if it were read without singing"; and also that

for the comforting of such as delight in music, it may be permitted that in the beginning or at the end of the Common Prayer there may be sung an hymn or such-like song, to the praise of Almighty God, in the best melody and music that may be devised, having respect that the sentence of the hymn may be under- standed and perceived. 1

Elizabeth was fond of music. Her tastes leaned

toward pomp and magnificence in religion, as well as in

other ways. Thus, Cranmer's austere ordinances gave way to

a more elaborate liturgy. This was a musical stimulus

which carried over into the reign of James I. The fame of

all choral music and singers climaxed in Elizabethan times.

Choirs numbering up to sixty and more were to be found in

the cathedrals.12

The one institution which can be considered the most

responsible for developing English musicianship is the

Chapel Royal,1 3 of which existing records go back to 1135.

This institution is a body of clergy and musicians and not

a building. The use of a press-gang began under

1 1 Davey, o. cit., pp. 114, 115.

1 2 Lang, p_. _cit., p. 282.

1 3 Scholes, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, p. 85. 26

Richard III (1483-1485) wherein representatives of the

Chapel were authorized to pick boys from cathedral choirs whose voices were of such superior quality that would mark them as fit to sing before the king. The musical staff of the Chapel Royal under Henry VIII was comprised of seventy- nine members. Edward VI and Mary had a chapel of 114.

Under Elizabeth and James I (1603-1625) the Chapel's per- sonnel was of the highest distinction. The composers of the Royal Chapel, including T ye, Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons and

Morley, brought English music to the highest level it had experienced.

England was divided into two Protestant groups, viz. the moderate reformers (the adherents of the established church) and the radicals (the Presbyterians, Independents and other groups). The latter group criticized the

Anglican Church as a compromise with Rome. They wanted to reduce worship to the barest simplicity and also wanted a more democratic form of church government. This contest began under Elizabeth, increased under James I, and reached its peak with the overthrow of Charles I and the temporary reign of Puritanism under Cromwell. The Puritans were the group most strongly opposed to Catholicism and their idea of worship was to eliminate every vestige of form in liturgy and ceremony. Upon Cromwell's triumph vestments 27

were abolished, choirs were disbanded, service books destroyed and nearly every organ in England was demol- ished.14

English church music developed two ways: (1) the ritual of the Established Church and (2) psalmody of the

Calvinist dissenters. 1 5 From the reign of Henry VIII to the time of Elizabeth there was muchuncertainty and con- fusion among church music and musicians. Henry VIII was opposed to Lutherism; thus, the Established Church had a form of Catholocish without the Pope. There were some extremists who were opposed to any music in the church.16

With the abolition of daily celebration of the Mass in

English churches, a demand immediately arose for some suitable substitute which would retain the choral grandeur of the Mass and also be suitable to the new doctrine.

English language adaptations of the Latin Mass were used for a while but after the publication of the Book of Common

Praier, musicians spent their time in setting it to music.

The Services can be grouped under three distinct headings:

The Office of the Holy Communion, Morning Prayer and

14Edward Dickinson, TheoStudy of Hist of Music, p. 61.

15 0scar Thompson, International Cylopedia of Music and Musicians, p. 1527.

16 Reese, U.- cit., p. 781. 28

Evening Prayer. The Holy Communion is subdivided into the

Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus and Gloria, all set to music. There

are five canticles1 7 in the morning service (Morning Prayer) which are set to music: Venite, Te Deum, and Benedictus witi Benedicite and Jubilate as alternates. The canticles

in the Evening Prayer are the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis with Cantate Domino and Deus Miseratur as alternates.

Later, because of doctrinal differences, the Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Gloria were dropped from the Service.lS

Upon the appearance of the Book of Common Praier, many

experiements were made so as to meet the requirements of

the new doctrine and church service. This was done by

setting the Canticles to music and providing anthems to

English words. The three Services in John Day's book

(1560) show that little time was lost in preparation for musical presentation of the new forms of words. At first

sight the Short Service may seem monotonous and not

characteristic of the new form but upon closer examination

it reveals great subtlety in conveying the verbal rhythm.1 9

17 Canticle: short hymn of praise, usually one of the psalms.

18Lang, OP. j%11, p. 280.

1 9P. C. Buck, E. H. Fellowes, et al, ed., Tudor Church iusic, Vol. II, pp. xiv, xv. 29

The Great and Short Services of the Anglican Church may be compared with the Masses of pre-Reformation days.

The Great Service was for ceremonial occasions like the

Proper of the Mass; the Short Service was for ordinary occasions like the Ordinary of the Mass. The Great Ser- vices are compositions of great length although the Kyrie and part of the Credo are often omitted. The Short Service is of simpler style and of shorter length.2 0 The Anglican

Church embraced the principal choral sections of the

Ordinary of the Mass used in the Roman Catholic Church.

Other than those mentioned earlier there are special psalms, canticles, the Ten Commandments, a litany and

short sentences and responses called versicles. T hese

additional features are known as the British Rite.2 1

Actually, the Anglican liturgy is a translation of the

Roman liturgy. From the musician's standpoint, the main

difference between the Roman and the Fnglish liturgy is the

greater simplicity which the latter has, both for the 22 minister and for the people. One of the goals most important to the leaders in the

Reformation was the elimination of excessive complication.

2 0 Reese, _p_.ejt., pp. 773, 781.

2 1 Thompson, 2p. fl.t., p. 1527.

2 2 Scholes, 2p. flt., p. 190. 30

The objective in church music composition was to make the words more prominent than the music. The introduction of psalters end the simple settings for congregational singing was brought about by the reformers in their zeal against the florid complications of ecclesiastical music.2 3 It has been discussed how the plainsong of the Church was adapted to the Anglican Liturgy by Merbecke and Archbishop Cranmer.

But they were working with melody only. The problem of

applying harmony to the chants and services was still to be done. This was one of the first great works achieved

during the reign of Elizabeth. The composers were able to use their technical skill, learned from setting the Masses,

to the setting of the Communion and other parts of the

Service. Because of Cranmer's directive, meaning the note-

against-syllable technique of setting the canticles, the

composers were at a loss for style. Contrapuntal tech-

nique, which was the natural method for Elizabethan com-

posers, needed to be applied. From this the Great Service

arose in which the motet technique was applied.24

In the Great Service of the Anglican Church everything

except the lessons is rendered in musical tone. The

essential parts of the choral service, as classified by

2 3Davey, History of English Music, p. 112.

2%Lang, Music in Western Civilization, p. 281. 31

2 Dr. Jebb 5 (Choral Service of the United Church of England and Ireland) are as follows:

1. The chanting by the minister of the sentences, exhortations, prayers, and collects throughout the liturgy in a monotone, slightly varied by occasional modulations. 2. The alternate chant of the versicles and responses by minister and choir. 3. T he alternate chant, by the two divisions of the choir, of the daily psalms and of such as occur in the various offices of the Church. 4. The singing of all the canticles and hymns, in the morning and evening service, either to an alternated chant or to songs of a more intricate style, resembling anthems in their construction, and which are technically styled 'services.' 5. The singing of the anthem after the third collect in both morning and evening prayer. 6. The alternate chanting of the litany by the minis- te r and choir. 7. The singing of the responses after the command- ments in the Communion service. 8. The singing of the Creed, Gloria in excelsis, and Sanctus in the Communion service anthem-wise. (The Sanctus has in recent years been superseded by a short anthem or hymn.) 9. The chanting or singing of those parts in the occasional offices which rubrically permitted to be sung.

The parochial service is used in the smaller churches where it is impossible to maintain an endowed choir. The service here is much simpler than in the cathedrals. The service is performed in the strict parochial mode which consists of reciting all parts of the liturgy in the speaking tone of voice unaccompanied by music. No chant, canticle or anthem is used; but metrical versions of the

2 5 Dickinson, Music in the jHistor of theWestern Church, po. 333, 334.7 32

psalms are sung in various places of the services. Plain chant was used in parish churches until the Reformation brought on the above type of service. The mixed mode exercised more use of the choir but the prayers, creeds, litany and responses were recited in a speaking voice.

These modes were optional and any or all parts could be used. In these variations, to which we find nothing similar in the Catholic Church, may be seen the readiness of the fathers of the Anglican Church to compromise with

Puritan tendencies and guard against those reactions which were constantly urging sections of the English Church back to extreme ritualistic practices.26

The ritual of the Anglican Church required that anthems be sung at both the Morning and Evening Services by the choir. The history of tho anthem begins with the

Reformation and the consequent establishment of English as the liturgical language. Other churches also have given it an equivalent place, somewhere after the middle or towards the end of the service. In many churches, the anthem constitutes the one great occasion of the service when the choir alone undertakes the service of song.2 7

26 bid., p. 33.

2 7 Leander Jan DeBekker, Music and Musicians, p. 21. 33

The meaning of the word anthem undoubtedly came from the Greek antiphona28 and it has varied with the times. It is sometimes used today in the sense of "national anthem" but it specifically meant a hymn or such like song to be sung in churches. The anthem was at first set to words from some of the Scriptures and set in antiphonal manner, but this was soon overlooked and the anthem took on the nature of a motet or a choral form without such distin- guishing features. Like the Catholic motet the earlier

English anthems were written without accompaniment. The use of the organ and orchestral instruments followed, although the English anthem remained predominantly vocal.

The first anthems, written by Tye and Tallis, show distinct differences from the motets of that period, al- though they were developed from the motet. Apel2 9 states that the earliest anthems were "Rhythmically square, more harmoniously conceived, more syllabic and in shorter phrases, features all of which result from the greater consideration given to matters of text and pronunciation."

Motets dating back to the fourteenth century were composed with the cantus-firmus technique which used a borrowed melody performed in longish tones in the tenor, often

8 2 Pulver, Dictionary Qf _l P nishf Music and usical Instruiments, p. 7.

29illi Apel, Harvard Diconna , p. 39. repeating the melody several times. Above this melody was a polyphonic setting in two or more voices.

The treatment of the anthem gradually took on more freedom and by the time of the great musicians of the sixteenth and seventeent h centuries the anthem had risen to a very important place in the church services of England.

The anthem was useful in bringing to the foreground the use of instrumental accompaniment, especially in the verse anthems. The wind instruments and the newly developed violin ousted the viols and cornets. Evelyn,3 0 an uniden- tified member of court (Diary, December 21, 1662) says:

One of his Majesty's chaplains preached: after which, instead of the ancient, grave, and solemn wind music accompanying the organ, was introduced a concert of 24 violins between every pause, after the French fantastical light way, better suiting a tavern or playhouse, than a church.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century the solo and the verse anthem made their appearance in musical history. Before this time every singer in a group shared equally the responsibility of rendition but now the solo- ist was the center and the rest accompaniment. It was the beginning of conscious personal expression and the oppor- tunity for emotional subtleties impossible in concerted work. This technique became very visible in the verse- anthems of the ecclesiastical music. Occasionally the solo

30pulver, gp cit., p. 8. work was designated "to the organs" when a group of viols would play the solo portion with a little chorus work added.

There was little difference in the technique and the voices and the instruments often performed the same kind of music.

The poetry used in compositions at this time, much of exquisite beauty, is never identified. Lack of evidence forbids a dogmatic assertion that the same men wrote both words and music.3 1

The anthem of today is a mixture of the ancient motet and German cantata. The influence of the cantata is seen in the solo passages while the broadly constructed choruses are derived from the motet. Many anthems, both of merit and demerit, have been composed by the English musicians because of the unlimited scope of musical invention.

American composers have imitated the same style and the anthem has largely been adopted by most Protestant churches in this country.3 2

The Service and the anthem have moved along together step by step from the strict contrapuntal technique of the sixteenth century to the more harmonic style of the present.

The anthem is not a part of the Anglican liturgy but an

3 Ernest Walker, History of Music in England, p. 64.

32Dickinson, The Study of History of Music, p. 348. 36

added phase of the service which gives a break between the long series of prayers and chants which would otherwise become monotonous. Even with the limitation that it be

composed from the scriptures, it gives the musical director freedom to choose music of his own taste and not be bound by the liturgy. CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF THE ANTHEM BC TTHINE EAR

In this chapter the anthem Bow Thine Bar of William

Byrd will be analyzed in order to give a more vivid picture of the talents of this great artist. There are several musical practices used in his period of composition which have changed. Notation was usually written in larger values than we use today, hence in this discussion the note values which are more familiar to us will be used.

The notes used in sixteenth century notation were the maxima , longa " , brevis (breve) I , semibreve o , minim o! , crotchet P1 , and quaver

In the edition of anthems by Felloweslused for this analysis he states that the note values have been halved because modern singers are accustomed to notation in terms of the crotchet (d) unit rather than the minim ( a Thus when a crotchet ( 01 ) is used in this discussion it should be remembered that,unless otherwise stated, the original value was a minim ( o).

Another common device today is the bar line.

Musicians of the last few centuries seem to have become

lEdmund H. Fellowes, editor, Th Collected Vocal Works of William Byrd, Vol. XI, p. iv, General Preface. 37 38

slaves to this device since its first application when instrumental music progressed from the accompaniment of vocal music to its independence based on dance music in the seventeenth century. Bar lines had not found a place in vocal polyphony because each singer had his own individual vocal part without necessarily knowing the accent patterns of his fellow-singers. They were used only when a performer played a piece of music in all its voice parts together, either in chords or in counterpoint.2

Hence bar lines and scores were often furnished for lutanists and to others who played the organs, clavichords and virginals as early as the fourteenth century.3 In vocal polyphony Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), although against actual bar lines, used short vertical dashes as orientation marks outside the staff. The actual function of the bar line, that of preceding the first and strongest beat of a measure, did not become assured until the latter part of the seventeenth century.4

During the period of Byrd most music, other than key- board, was vocal in style. Instruments, wind and string,

2Curt Sachs, Rhythm and Tempo, p. 257.

3 Dragan Plemenac, "Keyboard Music of the 14th Century," Journal of the American jusicological Society, IV (1951)t T7

Sachs, _p. L., p. 253. 39

were in their infancy at this time. Today we are used to blocks of sound, whereas in the sixteenth century the musical interest lies in the inter-weaving of the vocal parts. The rhythm of vocal music is imposed upon it by the words that are to be sung. The rhythm of Elizabeth's day does not have the strong regular recurring accent of today.5 In performing the sixteenth century music the accent was placed where the stress was found, indicated by the words themselves and longer note values.

Since this was a period of both innovation and strictness in composition, it was also the beginning of what we know as major and minor tonality. The modes had been used from early ages in all music, but with the addition of musica ficta,musical composition progressed from the use of the modes to our present concept of major and minor. At the time of Byrd this transition was nearly accomplished.

In this first study, the anthem Box Thine Far will be used. Typical sixteenth century traits of composition will be discussed which will include mode and tonality and their relationship, form, use of imitation, word-painting, se- quence, range of voices, melodic movement (intervalic), use of dissonance and some remarks concerning rhythm. The last

. . Morris, Contrapuntal Techniue in the 16th Century, p. 17. 40

chapter will include a more complete discussion of some of

the above factors found in other of Byrd's anthems. This

anthem is actually an adaptation to English words of the

second part of the motet Se irascaris (0 Lord turn thhy wrath) taken from the 1589 volume of Byrd's Cantioned

Sacrae. It is one of several anthems popular in the

Anglican Service which has kept Byrd's music from being forgotten in the centuries since his death. As was stated before, the anthem is derived from the motet, which is an unaccompanied sacred choral composition. Fomophonic style plays an important part in the music of this period and the sacred motet often shows a mixture of polyphonic and homophonic treatment. Bow Thine Bar fits the Ionian

(major) scale passage. Originally it was composed with one flat with the final on F but for more practical use it has been transposed up one tone for the convenience of the singers. Internal evidence shows strong evidence of the mixolydian mode, in which case the F natural is used.

As in most vocal music the form depends upon the structure of the words. Bow Thine Bar was written for five voices, i.e. soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass.

It is constructed of five phrases:

Bow thine ear 0 Lord and hear us, Let thine anger cease from us, Sion is wasted and brought low, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Desolate and void. TABLE 1 GENERAL FORM OF THE ANTHEM B(M THINE EAR

Phrase Text MusicS Textureb

1 Bow thine ear 0 Lord and hear us A A 2 Let thine anger cease from us B A 3 Sion is wasted and brought low C B 4 Jerusalem, Jerusalem D.A Desolate and void Al-A A

ajusic: Thematic material

bTexture: A - polyphony, B - homophony

Texturally speaking, the anthem can be compressed to ABA form. Each phrase is different thematically except the last phrase which is a variation of the first, as indicated by Al under Music in Table 1. The phrase "Bow thine ear 0 Lord" remains in the tonality of G throughout. The first phrase begins in the alto voice using strict imitation. The entries continue in this manner, either on the tonic or dominant,until all voices are accounted for. The first two entrances are seen in Fig. 1. The last entrance is an exception, and it occurs in the supertonic. This entrance on A prepares the way for the second phrase which is in the tonality of now

ear, Lord

77 Ar 77 7

As

Bo~w thine ear, 0 trd Lord

Fig. 1.--Use of strict imitation. Bow meas. 1-4.~ Thine Ear,

A major. After all the voices have made their entrance in the first phrase, they re-enter in stretto.

Before continuing this phrase-wise discussion of the technical features of Bow Thine Ear, a few things must be said about Byrd's ability in musical description and word-painting. Throughout his immense output of compo- sitions Byrd lavished his descriptive and imaginative touch. Yet he never became frivolous in any way that would distract the mind of the worshipper from its essential purpose. Byrd always made the most of music to describe or illustrate different kinds of motion. In all cases his music does homage to the words. He expressed himself through various moods cand states of mind, particu- larly the sentiment of reverence. In this way he implies 43

and encourages extra musical meaning without actually describing it. As Thomas Morley (1557-1603)stated in his

Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke: "It followeth to shew you how to dispose your music according to the nature of the words which you are therein to express, as whatsoever matter it be which you have in hand, such a kind of music must you frame it." 6 Byrd modestly attri- buted any success that he had to the inspiration of the words of the composition; "for" he said,

there is a certain hidden power, as I learnt by experience, in the thoughts underlying the words themselves; so that, as one meditates upon the sacred words and constantly and seriously con- siders them, the right notes, in some inexplicable manner, suggest themselves quite spontaneously.7

He realized that the best test of vocal music is that it should be "framed to the life of the Words." 8 Byrd con- tinually turns the mind of the listener away from the music as such to the contemplation of the words.

With these thoughts in mind, the accents, ascending and descending lines and special treatment of certain words combine themselves to make the meaning of the

6Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, edited by R. Alec Harman, 1953, p. 290.

7Fellowes , Jilliam Byd, p. 83.

&4illiam Byrd, Psalmes, oongs and Sonnets, ed. by Edmund H. Tellowes, p. v. 44

composition more keenly felt both to the performer and the listener. The words "Bow Thine Ear" readily lend themselves to the descending melody line, as can be seen in Fig. 1.

The words indicate a. solemn and reverent attitude of prayer.

This feature of Byrd's anthem composition will be dis- cussed in a more thorough way in the following chapter.

The second phrase "Let thine anger cease from us" contains a sharped seventh (C) which indicates a change of tonality to the key of D. This is only temporary, for in the next two measures a G sharp appears leading into the tonality of A major. In contrast to the first phrase where the voices were used in strict imitation and then stretto, Byrd inverts this procedure by using stretto at first and then incorporating the more usual imitation in the latter portion of the phrase. He accentuates the meaning of the word "anger" by raising the first syllable a tone or semitone with each vocal entrance. The raising

and accent of the syllable "an" of anger in the melody

follows the natural inflection of the word when spoken with feeling. This,and use of stretto, can be seen in the

following example. Iet thine an - ger eease om us thine an-ger

us:

us Le t thine ange

thine a ease from-

I

Lord, and hear

Fig. 2.--Word accentuation and stretto. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 15-17.

In many phrases Byrd displays special ornamental treatment of one particular word. In this phrase he emphasizes the word "cease" with the use of melismatic ornamentation, as seen in Fig. 3: 46

and let thine an-gar cease

ceasefrom s let thine .n-ger

Fig. 3.--Emphasis of words through ornamentation. Bow Thine _gar, meas. 19-21.

Also in this same phrase he makes use of an unusual stretto effect. This movement begins with the D sharp going to E in the alto voice, followed in the tenor on the next beat and by the baritone and bass entering in thirds on the following beat. The movement in the tenor and baritone lines give a miniature sequential impression.

Too, they resemble the famous B-A-C-H motive, namely, bb-a-c-b, but in an inverted form. The bass line is constructed in the same manner except that whole steps are used instead of half steps. This motival development is seen in Fig. 4: 1+7

us,

I2

from

and let thine an-gex' cease

thine an-ger cease

thine an - gar cease from us

Fig. 4. --Motival development. Bow Thine E ar, meas. 26-27.

A D sharp is found in several measures toward the end of the phrase and the phrase finally ends on an E major chord.

The third phrase displays an interesting use of homophony, or block chordal effect. In this phrase Byrd uses the upper voices without the bass part. In their range the tenor voices will sound, if sung with consider- ation, like added alto voices, giving a total effect of a 18

high voice choir. The second part of this phrase is a reiteration of the first part with the exception that the soprano part is omitted and the bass is added. All the parts have dropped either a fifth or sixth, giving the effect of a low voice choir. Such an arrangement as this gives an antiphonal or two-choir effect using the resources of only one choir. It compares closely with what can be done on the organ in a change of registration.

$ amon "was t ed,

Si aon is wast - ed, S .on is wast ed,

I ".

$i- on Iswast-ed, S - on is wast -ed

Si - on is wast - ed, Si on , i wast -ed,

Si - on is wast - ed,

Fig. 5.--Homophonic antiphonal technique. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 32-33 and 37-38. 49

Byrd uses F natural in both parts of this phrase giving it a touch of the mixolydian tonality. In meas. 34-39 F natural is used as the root of a chord in a harmonic progression which could, except for the F major chord, be analyzed in G major. The injection of such a chord in a phrase which would otherwise sound like major tonality shows clearly the transitional harmohic concepts of the time. After this very solemn section, the fourth phrase

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem" breaks in with a feeling of an earnest prayer containing more hope than the preceding phrase. This phrase remains in the G major tonality throughout, with the exception of one measure in D major. Most interesting in this phrase is the use of stretto and tonal answer with all five voices participating equally. The use of stretto predominates in this contrapuntally constructed fourth phrase. 50

-eru-s8-2.m e- ru-sa-Iem

3.w J6 - - ~a- em e-ru-sa-lem

Je-rujsa-lem, Je-u-s - ler

Jmu- salem Je-u

e-ru

6 Fig. *--Use of imitation and tonal answer. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 42-44,. ~~~R"Mu

The melodic pattern of descent in the fifth phrase is the samie as the first phrase except that the skip up a third is omitted, but in the latter part of this last phrase the pattern is the same. This was illustrated in

Table I under 'MUSIC," (Phrase 5, A- A). The example below showrs the comparison between the descending line in phrase one and phrase five. Bow thine ear 0 Lord de - so - late and void,

Fig. 7.--Descending movement in phrase I and % com- pared. Bow Thine Jal, meas. 1-2, 65-66.

The fifth and last phrase of Bow Thine Ear is also contrapuntally constructed and remains in G tonality throughout with the exception of one or two chords.

Another interesting measure is found toward the very end of the anthem. Here Byrd moves from G major to D major.

Then the two upper voices ascend in double passing tones, the alto progressing to a lowered seventh tone immediately after the soprano has left the raised seventh. The raised seventh proceeds up while the lowered seventh resolves downward. Here is seen one of the few clear-cut examples of modal writing in the anthem, in which the F sharp represents the musica-ficta use of leading tone in the mixolydian mode, while the F natural represents the use of the characteristic lowered seventh of that mode. It is to be remembered that this period was the transitional era between the use of mode and key. 52

ndvoid, de..so late and void,

44f

P7,

do So - teand void,

Fig. 8.--Evidence of mixolydian mode. Bow...... Thine Ear,...... meas. 76-78.

In considering the melody of this work the voice range should not be overlooked. The ranges used here are not extreme and none extend beyond the 11th: 53

-777 Soprano lto enor aritone BSS"

rig -A,'i. t~~j 5 Wiz A lu Ix

%all or

Fg. 9.--Voice ranges in Bow Thine Ear

Table 2 shows the number of melodic leaps and how they are used in each voice in the anthem Bow Thine Ear.

TABLE 2

2 OfTJT01 AiD DISJUNCT MOv T OF THE VOCAL LINiES IN B& TPI2 JR

Intervals

Voice 2nds 3rds kths 5ths 6ths 7ths octaves 6 _ _ __ _41 - I I

Soprano 97 12 9 3 -I 0 1 Alto 126 12 8 2 I 0 2 T enor 97 8 10 3 IJ 0 3 Baritone 102 13 17 7 I 1I Ba s 50 8 19 4 0 0 -~-~1 *~~-

This chart indicates that diatonic movement was the pre- dominant usage whbC sL in agreement wth Palestrina and other composers of this time. Interesting is the fact that only one leap of a seventh ws found in the composition.

It was probably used in this way because the word 54

Jerusalem descends each time, as this does, on the last three syllables. After this it was necessary to find another height for the word desolate to descend from. The lear of the seventh was the only logical one to make.

Among the most interesting features of the sixteenth century anthem is the use of dissonance. In speaking of dissonance, Jeppesen9 mentions three different phases recognized as being the most predominant in use. In the first phase dissonance has what might be called a melodic function. It is tolerated because of melodic construction but is given no stress of significance.

Consonance is preferred upon accented points, while dissonances are used as far as possible on unaccented beats. In its most highly developed form this dissonance becomes the Lnassin note (or passing discord). Figures

10, 11 and 12 show how some are used in B3o Thine _Ear.

JEAE

Fig. 10.--Passing tones. Bow Thine Bar, meas. 2.

9Knud Jeppesen, The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance, p. 94. 55

7.IjL

Fig. ll.--Multiple passing tones. Bow Thine Ear meas. 76.

a

IL

3*.c ar to

7WF i

;I

Fig. 12.--Accented passing tone. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 29.

The only use of an accented. passing tone found in this

anthem is the one depicted in Fig. 12. 56

In the second phase the dissonance is employed as a co-eqial to consonance and used for its own sake. This conception of dissonance known as suspension was often used as an expressional factor. In Figures 13, 14 and 15 are found examples of three different types of suspension, viz. 9-8, 4-3 and 7-6 in that order.

to

AFI

Fig. 13.--9-8 Suspension. Bow Thine ar, meas. 17 57

-p--

I 2 U

F1g. 14,.--4-3 Suspension. Bow Thine Ear, meas. 53. IA - Alt

Fig. 15.--7-6 Ornamental suspension and false- relationship between C and C#. Row Thine Ear, meas. 46.

In the third phase dissonance is used in other ways as an expressional factor often indicating painful or pathetic emotions. Under the heading of expressional dissonance, Byrd uses such a dissonance in measure 46 with a flase-relationship between the C and C#. In this measure Byrd uses a C dotted quarter on the second beat (soprano voice) followed on the last part of this beat with a C# (tenor voice) while the soprano is still holding the C 5.9

natural. Such a clash is caused by a typically English contrapuntal device described by Morris1 0 as follows:

there was a general tendency on the part of singers at this period, in scale passages, to sharpen the seventh going up and to flatten it coming down, so that fairly close juxtapositions of B4 and Bb, C and C#, and so on, would inevitably occur quite often, whether specifically intended by the com- poser or not. But the Englishmen went much further than the foreign composers, for they positively went out of their way to bring about these clashes in a single chord.

In this case the soprano C must be lowered since it is progressing downward. The tenor C must be sharped since it is progressing upward. At this point Byrd may be using this as word-painting, emotionalizing the climax to a prayer, or it could be merely the leading-tone into the D chord. Byrd also uses the less dissonant and more common cross-relationship in Bow Thine Ear. An example is found in measures 31 and 32 (Fig. 16) in which a G sharp

in the soprano in measure 32 is followed by a G natural

in the alto and baritone voices in measure 33. See also the cross-relationships in Figs. 8 and 10. 60

Ik

a, LAP-11 .

Fg. 16.--Cross-relation, Bow Thine Ear, meas. 31-32

Below is found a table showing the types of dissonance and the frequency of their use in Bow Thine Ear:

TABLE 3 DISSONANCES USED IN BOW THINE E!AR Dissonance Number

Passing Tone ...... - . - . ., . . . 52 Multiple Passing Tone...... Accented Passing Tone...... - " 0 " I I Upper Neighboring Tone...... 2 Lower Neighboring Tone . . . . . * . . . " . . . 3 - - - Nota Cambiata. . . . - . . *...... - 2 Suspensions: 9-8...... 7-6...... - . . . . 0 . 3 4--3------. . . 61

The use of dissonance in this anthem gives a clear

example of Byrd's technique; the table shows Byrd's strict

adherence to typical sixteenth century contrapuntal tech-

nique. As can be seen in Table 3 all the dissonances are

those using conjunct motion with the exception of the

nota-cambiata. This follows common practice of sixteenth

century counterpoint in which diatonic movement predominated.

Other uses of descriptive dissonances are terired upper and

lower neighboring tones and nota-cambiata. These forms can be seen in Figs. 17, 18 and 19:

k 10- At I I

rtAloft

VOW

Fig. 17.--Upper neighboring tone. Bovw Thine Ear, meas. 6. 62

Fig. 18.--Lower neighboring tones. Bow Thine Ear meas. 30. 63

,3"5

tt

7 5,

x f-An

Ar

,,-,.....r-,.r..gel..1-.itrystygr.-agtig.r%4.. ',...... , . -amours!u..16....l..l. _e.s,. . ._,,.,.33....2 -. -- - - . . .,4... Isi,.....,

fig. 19.--Nota.-cambiata. Bow Thine ar, meas. 60 CHAPTER V

A STUDY OF SOME SELECTED FEATURES

OF BYRD'S STYLE

This chapter will be limited to the discussion of certain features of Byrd's style which are of more than common interest. These topics are: cadence, root-move- ment, rhythm, false and cross relationships and word- painting. As was mentioned before, musica ficta means the changing of a tone to a semi-tone or vice-versa. In other words musical ficta is a chromatic alteration. Such alterations, for a long time, did not appear in written music. These alterations were left to the discretion of the singers who were expected to use them. The most important use of the musica ficta was in the formation of the cadence. "Cadence" states Apel, "is a melodic or harmonic formula which occurs at the end of a composition, a section or a phrase, conveying the impression of a momentary or permanent conclusion."1 Cadence actually

illi Apel, Harvard DictionaLof Music, p. 108. 65

means "to fall" and the cadence of the plain song was

formed by the melodic line ascending or descending to its

final. In two-part writing of the sixteenth century the

accompanying voice ascended to the final by a semitone.

When the accompanying voice was above it led to an octave, when below it led to the unison. When the bass was added to the two upper voices, it was found that it was best for the bass to move to tine final by ascending a fourth or dropping a fifth. In four or more voice part- writing the same procedure was used with some parts doub-

ling. Sixteenth century composers often elected to omit

the third in the final chord. But when it was used, it was usually made major by the use of musica-ficta.2 In

other places the composer could sharp the third if it was naturally minor but not flat it if it were naturally major.

(Cadences were usually treated as single or double

suspensions with the resolutions being either plain or

ornamental. The Phrygian mode was different than the

others in that the leading-tone D# was not used at this

time. The use of this mode and the use of modulation can

be seen in the table of cadences, Table 4. Modulation

in this sense means a progression of cadential character

2Morris, Contr'o.untal Tecnigue in the 16th Cent P. 13. 66

upon a note other than the final of the mode. This six-

teenth century concept differs from our modern version in

which the harmonic centre of gravity shifts from one

tonality to another. It will be noted that no cadence

is made on the note B because it cannot be made the basis

of a major triad, owing to the fact of the non-existent

D# of this period. One of the most outstanding techniques

found was the frequent use of the picardy-third as an

internal cadence, as well as the more common final cadence.

Table 1 shows the many cadence movements that William

Byrd employed in his anthems. It can be seern that

although there was much shifting of cadentiaI character

the composition throughout usually remained either in the

major or minor mode. This is not always true for in some

cases the change of tonality was made to enhance the text.

In some of the anthems Byrd cadenced in the same key

tonality on every cadence. In any one anthem the phrases

do not cadence on more than four different notes. In the

anthem "0 Lord Give Ear" Byrd cadenced only three times while in the anthem "0 Praise Our Lord" he cadenced

twenty-one times. This is explained by the number of phrases of each anthem.

There can be seen in Table 4 the fact that Byrd usually cadenced in keys closely related to the key at the 67

TABLE 4

CADENCES ENDING EACH PHRASE

Anthem Original First Finale Key

1. Be Unto Me Fb Eb 2. Look Down, 0 Lord F Eb 3. Come, Help, 0 God g g 4. How Long Shall Myd g b 5. 1 Laid Me Down a b 6. 0 God Whom Our Offences d g 7. 0 Praise Our Lord C D 8. Prevent Us 0 Lord d g 9. Save Me, 0 God d f 10. Arise, 0 Lord d f# 11. 0 God, The Proud Are C E 12. 0 Lord Give Bar To F Ab 13. 0 Lord Make Thy F A 14. Sing Joyfully C E 15. Alack, When I Look Back g g 16. Behold, 0 God g g 17. Hear My Prayer d9g 18. 0 Lord, Rebuke Me Not F A 19. Thou God That Guid'st C Eb 20. Sing Ye To Our Lord d c 21. Come Let Us RejoiceCA 22. Arise, Lord, Into Thy g b 23. Bow Thine Ear F G 24. Make Ye Joy To God F A 25. Sing We Merrily G E 26. Praise Our Lord F Ab 27. This Day Christ Was G F 28. Turn Our Captivity d f 29. An Earthly Tree G Bb 30. From Virgin's Womb C C 31. Have Mercy Upon Me g g aAll examples retain the usual key signatures except Nos. 25, 27 and 29 which have no accidentals in the key signature. bCapital letters = Major mode (e.g. A = A major). Small letters = minor mode (e.g. a = a minor). cThs anthem continues on for nine phrases as follows: (13) D, (14) A, (15) A, (16) A, (17) D, (18) b, (19) b, (20) A, (21) D. 68

TABLE 4--Continued

Cadences 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Bb c F Bb Eb Eb Eb Eb F Eb g c Bb g g g b b D A B b b b e b b A b b b g g g r g D D A A b A A D D D D D d c c g 3b c g f bb bb f I bb bb f# f# f# A A A A _B_ A E E E E E Ab Eb Ab A A A A A A E B B B B B E g g g P P g g g C d g g g g Ab Ab Ab Ab Ab f f f Ab c Ab Ab Eb 7b rb Ab ELb b Bb c c C Ab bb b Ab Ab b b b b G E G G G A A A b A A E E E E IS E E Ab Ab F Ab Ab F F _C F g C F f f f f f f Bb Bb b0 Bb C d a G G C C C C g g g B p9 p p p p p Jlnderiined keys in this and following anthems in- dicate distantly related keys in the respective anthems. See discussion on page 69. 69

beginning of the anthem. There are four exceptions: in anthems numbered 4, 10, 17 and 27. In the cadence line of anthem number 10, "Arise, 0 Lord," an unusual progression from a tonality of A major to a tonality of B major in the penultimate cadence is found. It is unusual in this case because there is no preparation for the modulation. It goes directly, chromatically in the soprano into B within the space of one measure. In most cases there are indica- tions as to what the next cadence will be six or eight measures in advance.

There is some conjecture concerning the final cadence in the anthem "Sing Ye To Our Lord" (Anthem number 20).

This anthem was originally written with one flat and is considered to be in the d minor mode throughout because of its melodic line. In the transposition down a tone it would naturally be in the c minor mode. The last ten measures contain enough E naturals to give it some feeling of C major, but the A remains flat throughout, supporting the idea that the key is c minor, using the picardy-third technique.

Root-Movement

The root-movement used by Byrd in his anthems is of considerable interest. From the percentages found in

Table 5 it is seen that Byrd's anthems anticipate the root of the latter part of the seventeenth century, which are 70

TABLE 5

ROGT-MOVEME IN'T TETY4-WO OF WILIAM BYRD'S ANTHEMS

0 9 0 Title 0) I 0 r F-i a) o

Alack, When I Look Back4 4 39 155 Arise, 0 Lord, Why Sleepest Thou? 56 18 26 161 Be Unto He, 0 Lord, A Tower 51 19 30 78 Behold, 0 God 51+ 18 28 199 Bow Thine Ear 43 21 36 173 Come Help, 0 God 49 15 36 84 Come Let Us Rejoice 34 23 43 123 Bear My Prayer 57 15 28 104 Bow Long Shall Mine Enemies? 48 20 I Laid Me Down To Rest 40 26 34 85 Look Down, 0 Lord 55 19 26 47 0 God, The Proud Are Risen Up Against Me 63 14 23 146 0 God, Whom Our Offences 57 23 20 157 0 Lord, Give Ear To The Prayer 61 13 26 86 0 Lord, ake Thy Servant 50 16 34 137 0 Lord, Rebuke Me Not 53 21 26 180 0 Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints 55 17 28 284 Praise Our Lord, All Ye Gentiles 43 18 39 153 Prevent Us, 0 Lord 50 20 30 ill save Me, C God 63 10 27 117 Sing Joyfully 58 18 24 127 Sing We Merrily 61 14 25 243 Average Percentages 52.1 17.9 30

given in Table 6. There seems to have been a lower per-

centage of fifths during this fifty-year period in the

seventeenth century. Table 6 shows an analysis of root progression of the music found in the Historical Mtholofy 71

of Music, Vol. I, prepared by Gerhardt Dorn of the North

Texas State College music faculty. It must be mentioned that the percentages in Table 6 provide only an approximate indication of root movement, since the sampling is not extensive.

TABLE 6

ROOT -MOVEMENT FOUND IN HIST ORICAL ANTHOLOGY OF MUSIC BETWEEN 1200 AD 1800

Percentages

Period Fifths Thirds Seconds

1. 1200-1250 18.0,% 31.0% 51.0% 2. 1250-1300 17.4 29.3 53.3 3. 1300-1350 16.2 21.0 62.8 4. 1350-1400 23.4 16.8 59.8 5. 1400-1450 29.5 14.7 55.8 6. 1450-1500 34.0 19.8 46.2 7. 1500-1550 41.5 18.8 39.7 8. 1550-1600 56.7 16.5 26.8 9. 1600-1650 57.8 12.2 30.0 10" 1650-1.700 52.4 17.5 30.1 11. 1700-1750 50.6 19.0 30.4 12. 1750-1800 57.0 15.0 28.0

Byrd 52.1 17.9 j30.0

Byrd's main contributions were made during the years from 1.565 to 1620. This period would be included in both the 8th and 9th periods above. Bt the percentages found in his root progressions compare more with the 10th period, that of 1650-1700. In the column of 5ths in Table 5 the percent- age ranges from 34 per cent to 63 per cent. In the 72

column of 2nds the percentage is as low as 20 per cent and as high as 43 per cent and in the column of 3rds the range is from 10 per cent to 26 per cent. The variance (difference between highest and lowest percentage) is 25 per cent (for

5ths), 23 per cent (for 2nds) and 16 per cent (for 3rds), showing that the variance follows closely the root-movement percentages. In the anthem "Come Let Us Rejoice" the move- ment is more equally divided with 34 per cent in 5ths,

23 per cent in 3rds and 43 per cent in 2nds, as compared with the more extreme variance in anthem "Save Me, 0 God" with

63 per cent in 5ths, 10 per cent in 3rds and 27 per cent in 2nds.

Rhythm In the sixteenth century a double system of accentu- ation was used in polyphonic writing. The rhythm in each vocal part was free although the whole composition would conform to a fixed metrical scheme. Morris3 states that

between the rhythmical accent (the accent of stress) and the metrical accent (the accen t of quantity) there is a continual interplay; sometimes they coincide, sometimes they are at odds, and the rhythmical problem before the poet is to strike the just balance. Too much coincidence means monotony; too much at-oddness means chaos.

This concept applies to both music and poetry. The bar line, as mentioned before, exercises no control whatever over the rhythmical accent. In music quantitive results

3 lbid., p. 18. 73

are mathematically exact. A half note always equals two quarters, a quarter equals two eighths, etc. The value of these notes must receive their full value in the perfor- mance of concerted music. If a value is longer than the others around it, it becomes an accentual center. This accent of duration is knoxrn as the "agogic" accent. In a passage that has no time signature, no text nor any metrical indication it is impossible to split such a passage into regular groups of three or four notes. If the notes in the passage had been of equal duration, a regular grouping of three or four might have been mentally felt, but since the melodic line contains notes of an agogic nature, the ear cannot ignore the varying length of the notes.

In sixteenth century music there were no bar-lines or interpretative markings as there are in modern music.

The main clue to interpretation was the principle that "a note which is either preceded or followed (and still more

strongly, one that is both preceded and followed) by notes

of smaller value than itself tends to have the force of an

accent." In a case where neither the agogic accent nor

the "word stress" do not meet with the above anlysis, it

should be regarded as a case of dormitat Lomerus -- a

Ibid., p. 9. 74+

momentary lapse of techniques There should be a satis- factory arrangement between balance and freedom. In the music here under analysis the imaginary metrical divisions are shown by the bar-line while the stress or agogic accent, indicated by the words, is the real rhythmical accentuation. Such places of stress do not indicate a heavy accent but merely notify the reader that the rhythmic accents do not necessarily meet with the metrical (bar-line) accents.

Although the sixteenth century composers often

indicated the rhvthmical outline with the words of the text, they were also free to settle many details with pure musical technique. The composers of this period enjoyed going beyond the effect of obtaining a contrast between real and imaginary accent by crossing and clashing the rhythmic accents between each part. This is the out-

standing technique of the sixteenth century. Byrd and his student Morley were unusually interested in this type of musical construction. The anthem "This Day Christ Was

Born" has been chosen for discussion because of the unusual (or perhaps typical) daring used in that period.

Figure 20 depicts a single vocal line of 4/4 meter with the accent actually falling on every third beat:

5bid.,Ip. 20. 75

Glo-rybe to God on high glo-ry be to

bI3 PIPe P I I I t1

Fig. 20.--Two rhythms, 4/4 and 3/4 in one vocal line. "This Day Christ Was Born," meas. 27-29. a. From Fellowes' edition. b. Method of interpretation.

Fig. 21 shows two soprano parts with the first soprano part changing meter in the second measure:

3.- r -p -1 #j r r This day the just re - joice, re - joice, ii

r - Ti s b day the just re -joice ,* the just re- Fig. 21.--TWO simultaneous soprano parts with dif- ferent rhythm patterns. "This Day Christ Was Born," meas. -1819.

Fig. 22 shows the soprano, alto and baritone singing

contrapuntally together, each with its own independent rhythmical accent. 76

7r r

This day the an - gels sing in earth 407) . ) *)1r r s')x()' I-' F4(:$4Yr i sliday the an-gel sing in ear t h,t

day the an - ge S ing in earth this

Fig. 22.--Three simultaneous voices, soprano, alto and baritone, each with a different rhythm figuration. "This Day Christ Was Born," meas. 8-9.

Although the bar-lines have been added for easier reading of the score in Fig. 20, it is plain to see the agogic accents falling in no such related plan. The plan of stress does fall on every fourth beat but not in the marked measure. The other voices alternating their entrances using the same plan of stress with some variation in the imitation. As can be seen in Fig. 22, a stress eventually falls on nearly every beat although employed in various voices. It must be remembered that the accent is not a heavy accent or sforzando but simply a longer note value which gives it the feeling of stress. 77

This anthem is unusual in that Fellowes, in his transcription marks twelve changes of meter as follows: 3 36 9 3 3 33 3 C, 2, 0, 48, 8, 8, C, 2, 42, C, 2, C.

In the anthem "hake Ye Joy To God" Byrd employs a rhythmic technique that is not found in any of the other anthems. It is the use of a compound rhythm very much like a dance rhythm, as seen in Fig. 23. It is used here to bring out the feeling of "gladness." In this particular anthem Byrd employs only the commonly used note values in simple time, except for this rhythmic figure on the word

"gladness."

Serve ye our[Lord in glad - ness,

Fig. 23.--Dance rhythm. "Make Ye Joy To God," meas. 13.

False and Cross Relations

False and cross relations are formed when some of the

singers sharp the seventh ascending and part of them flat

it descending. This, of course, gives a semitone differ- ence between the pitches, e.g. F# and F. The difference between false relationships and cross relationships can be

clearly seen in a comparison between the figure below

(Fig. 24) and Fig. 16 in Chapter IV: 78

I e-->

ad hear - en

to the words o

and hear-ken

___r Af 7k7 -d AOAVO

mouth and

Fig. 24.--False relationship unprepared. From the anthem Save Me 0 God, meas. 21.

Usually the clashes are prepared but in Fig. 24, from

"Save Me 0 God" the false relationship is prepared in only one voice. Although there are a total of fifteen cross and false relations in this anthem, each of the three false relationships are prepared in the same manner as in Fig. 24 (one voice prepared), This anthem is the only one of the thirty-one that does not prepare the false 79

TABLE 7 CROSS AND FALSE RELATIONSHIPS FOUD IN THE AATHEMS OF WILLIAM BYRD

Cross False Anthem Relations Relations

Be Unto Me 1 0 Look Down, 0 Lord 0 0 Come, Help, 0 Godj 41 How Long Shall Mine Enemies 5 1 I Laid Me Down To'Rest 3 0 0 God Whom Our Offences 0 0 0 Preise Our Lord, Ye Saints 1 0 Prevent Us, 0 Lord 4 Save Me, 0 God 12 3 Arise, Lord, Why Sleepest Thou 4 0 0 God, The Proud Are Risen 1 0 0 Lord Give Ear To The Prayer 0 0 0 Lord, Make Thy Servant 0 1 Sing Joyfully 5 0 Alack, When I Look Back 9 0 Behold, 0 God50 Hear My Prayer 3 1 0 Lord, Rebuke Me Not 1 0 Thou God Tht Guid'st 0 0 Sing Ye To Our Lord 1 0 Come Let Is Rejoice 0 Arise, Lord, Into Thy Rest 2 0 BoW Thine ar 2 1 Make Ye Joy To God 1 0 Sing We Merrily 3 0 PraIse Our Lord, All Ye Gentiles 2 0 This Day Christ Was Born 3 0 Turn Our Captivity, 0 Lord 9 0 An Earthly Tree A Heavenly Light 2 0 From Virgin's Womb This Day Did Spring 1 0 Have Mercy Upon Me, 0God 2 0 Totals 87 9

relationships With both voices. From the analysis of the anthem, it seems that this was done to give the singer an 80

easier interval to sing (Ab to Db) rather than to provide

color. This interval implies a dominant-tonic effect.

Table 7 shows the extent to which Byrd used these

relationships in his volume of anthems. It can be pointed

out that the cross relationships greatly outnumber the

false relationships and that in four anthems neither was

used. This contrasts with anthem number 9 in which there was a total of fifteen of these clashes used. In this

particular anthem "Save Me 0 God" it might be assumed that

Byrd intended this harshness to keep the harmony in

keeping with the text.

Word-Painting

Byrd was one of the foremost English descriptive

composers in an age when musical description was coming

into its own. Vocal music of the late sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries is very descriptive. In the anthems

Byrd uses several techniques in making the text of the anthem more realistic through the music. In the earlier discussion on word-painting it was mentioned that Byrd always did homage to the words through the music. In the complete analysis of the anthems it is seen that Byrd used three types of description: horizontal line ascending and descending, the natural inflection of the word outlined in the melodic contour, and vertical sonorities to bring 81

out color. The first two are by far the more numerous.

The following examples show the contour of the melodic

(horizontal) line following the text in meaning. In the

anthem "Look Down, 0 Lord," the opening phrase (Fig. 25)

gives an obvious comparison between the text and the melody.

lookl

Fig. 25.--Descending horizontal line. From the anthem "Look Down, 0 Lord," meas. 1.

In the anthem "I Laid Me DoWn To Rest," the same type of

descending line pays homage to the words. This is seen

in Fig. 26;

laid me down to rest and slept,

Fig. 26.--Descending horizontal line. From the anthem "I Laid Me Dorn To Rest," meas. 1-3. 82

In contrast to the two preceding examples, Byrd does the same with his ascending phrases, as seen in Figs. 27 and 28. The phrase in Fig. 27, taken from the anthem "0 God, The Proud Are Risen Up," becomes very pronounced with the diatonic ascending line.

Li W. do 77

the proud are ris - en against me,

Fig. 27.--Ascending horizontal line. From the anthem "The Proud Are Risen Up," meas. 6-8.

Fig. 28 shows another example of ascending horizontal word-painting. This example is rather unusual in that it ascends and descends with the words following exactly the rise and fall of the words. Byrd obviously revelled in the setting of a musical text. His exuberant trumpet

Ar -I

A - rise Lo rd,, in r-:4h~ ~et

Fig. 28.--Ascending horizontal line. From the anthem "Arise, Lord, Into Thy Rost," meas. 4-6. 83

passages are characterized by the way in which the upper

parts jump animatedly about on a major arpeggio over a

stationary bass, as seen in the anthem "Sing We Merrily,"

Fig. 29. It should be remembered that the trumpet at that

time was not equipped with valves, which would explain the

trumpet passage of three notes.

Blow up the trum - pet in the new zoon,

Fig. 29.--Horizontal word-painting. From the anthem "Sing We Merrily," meas. 76-79.

In Fig. 30 Byrd uses the word "tremble" in a little

different way than most of his examples of horizontal word-painting. In this particular case the coloration is

fble

Fig. 30.--Horizontal word-painting. Fromrr the anthem "Behold, 0 God," meas. 52. 84

limited to one wordwhereas the other examples consisted

of several words, often a full phrase. Byrd exaggerates

the first syllable with rhythmic agitation.

Byrd used very few vertical descriptive passages in

his anthems. One of the most obvious is found in the

anthem "0 Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints." When the word

"sadness" is approached, the tonality suddenly changes to

minor to bring out the meaning of the word. This is seen in Fig. 31:

sad nass , sad ness,

- ness sad. - ness,

sad - ness, sad - ness

nesss sad - ness

Fig. 31.--Vertical sonority. Found in anthem "0 Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints," meas. 151-153. 85

Of more frequent usage is the emphasis of natural inflection of the word expressed in pitch levels. In Figs. 32, 33, 34 and 35 (as well as Fig. 3 in Chapter IV), examples of this usage are seen. In testing this it is best to speak the word in a natural speaking tone, without exaggeration. Then if the note values and melody line are applied, it is easy to understand the meaning William Byrd was implying. In every case, in the analysis of this volume of anthems, the natural inflection of the voice is followed closely by the rise and fall of the melodic line.

0 praise our Lord,

Fig. 32.--Word-painting. From the anthem "0 Praise Our Lord, Ye Saints," meas. 1.

L -1--I

Where - rPre hid - est thou thy face,

Fig. 33.--Wkord-painting. From the anthem "Arise, 0 Lord,- Why Sleepest Thou, " meas. 16-17. l

86

slow-to an - Eer,

Fig. 34.--Word-painting. From the anthem "0 God, The Proud Are Risen," meas. 37-38.

A lack

Fig. 35.--Word-painting. From the "verse" anthem "Alack, When I Look Back," meas. 4.

In dealing with a large subject there is always the possibility of omitting something vital. In the stttdy of the preceding chapters it is hoped the reader will become more informed concerning the life, the times and the music of William Byrd. Byrd entered the musical world at the time that art, in its many categories, was seeking expression. It was his fortune to study with the best teachers and thus pre- pare himself for a long life of musical composition and service in the Chapel Royal. 87

?ince he did enter this profession at a time when there were various cross-roads in composition (changing from modal tonality to key feeling as it is known today), he took advantage of this as is shown in his works.

Expressionism in his music is demonstrated by his use of an advanced dissonance technique and in text setting. His music adequately enhances the beauty of the words with descriptive melodic lines as well as with word inflection.

William Byrd is one of history's greatest composers.

This study has revealed that Byrd's anthems should be of more than casual interest in church choir literature because of their unusually high musical caliber combined with a highly developed technique of word setting. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Apel, Willi, Harvard Dictionarv of Music, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 194. Boyd, Morrison Comegys, Elizabethan Music and Musical Criticism, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940.

Davey, Henry, AEistor off English Music, London, J. Curwen and Sons, Ltd., 1921.

Davison, Archibald T. and Apel, Willi, Historical Anthology of Music, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1950.

DeBekker, Leander, Msic and Musicians, London, A. C. Black, Ltd., 1925.

Dickinson, Edward, Music .ntte history of the Western Church, New York, Scribner and Sons, 1902.

Dickinson, Edward, TIf Studytof.zist gfo fusic, New York, Scribner and Sons, 1929.

Duncan, Edmondstoune, Minstrelsy, London, The Walter Scott Publishing Company, 1907.

Erskine, John, A usical Companion, New York, A. A. Knopf, 1935.

Fellowes, Edmund H., William yrd, London, Oxford University Press, 1936.

Grove, Sir George, Grove's Dictionary . ssic and Musicians, edited by H. . Colles, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1938.

Hadow, Sir W. H., English Music, London, Longman's, Green and Company, 1931.

owse , Frank, William Byrd, New York, E. P. Dutton and Company, 1928. 88 89

Jeppesen, thud, The. tyle of Palestrina and the Dissonance, London, Oxford University Press, 1946.

Lang, Paul Henry, Music In Western Civilization, New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 1941.

Lunt, W. e., Historof. England, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1950.

Morley, Thomas, A Plain and Easy. Introduction to Practical Music, edited by R. Alec Harmon, New York, W. W. Norton, 1953.

Morris, R. 0., Contrapuntal Techni2ue in the 16th Century, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1922.

Nauman, Emil, The History 2f Music, London, Cassell and Company, Th)6.

Pulver, Jeffrey, Biographical Dictionary of Old English Music and Musical Instruments, London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, Ltd., 1927.

Reese, Gustav, Music In the Middle Ages, New York, 1. W Norton and Company, 1940.

Reese, Gustav, Music In the Renaissance, New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 195WT

Ritter, Dr. Frederic Louis, Music In England, New York, Scribner's and Sons, 1883.

jachs, Curt, rhythm and Tempo, New York, W. X. Norton, 1953.

Scholes, Alfred, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, New York, Oxford University Press, 1952.

Scholes, Alfred, The Oxford Companion To Music, New York, Oxford University Press, 1938.

Thompson, Oscar, International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, New York, Mead and Company, 1939.

Thorndike, Lynn, A Short History of Civilization, New York, F. S. Crofts and Company, 1926.

Walker, Ernest, History of Music In England, London, Oxford University Press, 1944T 90

Articles Plemenac, Dragan, "Keyboard music of the 14th Century," Journal of the Anerican Musicological Society, IVTT-i-'7 19 1176. T1Th

Music The Collected Works of William Bhrd, edited by B. H. Fellowes, London, Stainer and Bell, 1950.

Tudor Church Music, P. C. Buck, E. H. Fellowes, et al, editors, London, Oxford University Press, 1922-1929.