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Views from the Choir Loft

A Concert in Honor of William Byrd

Dr. Charles Weaver · September 13, 2023

THIS YEAR marks four centuries since the death of William Byrd, a remarkable composer by any metric. If you spend lots of time with old music, you start to fancy that you know these people, that you are actually as intimately acquainted with them as with many of the friends and colleagues that populate your daily life. Certainly, I’ve spent a lot of time with the works of the mercurial Mr. Byrd, and my esteem for him knows no bounds.

We have already marked this anniversary a fair amount on this blog. There was a post by Dr. Tappan on the day itself, and Dr. Calabrese also recently wrote very movingly of the work we did on the Byrd Mass for Five Voices at this year’s symposium. This fall, I’m involved in a number of Byrd-centric projects marking the significant year. I would like to draw our readers’ attention to one in particular.

This Saturday at 7 pm, I’m organizing a concert at the church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Manhattan. Details are here. I warmly invite anyone in the area to come to the concert. The performers are trying to recreate the original context of much of Byrd’s Roman Catholic liturgical music, which would often have been performed in a domestic setting, in house Masses celebrated by roving Jesuits tending to the Roman Catholic faithful in a land that had otherwise moved on to the Anglican/Elizabethan religious settlement. All the music on the program is by Byrd. The first half of the concert features much of the music that would be sung at a Mass in honor of the Most Blessed Sacrament as on Corpus Christi, sung one-on-a-part. The second half of the concert explores arrangements of Byrd’s music by the remarkable recusant gentleman Edward Paston, who was acquainted with Byrd and who led a rich musical life (with singers, lutes, and other instruments) in his household. This musical culture seems to have been centered on Roman Catholic music, not only by Byrd but also by earlier English composers from before the reformation as well as more recent composers from the continent like Victoria, Lassus, and Palestrina. I have had occasion to write about this very music before. This time, we are only performing selections from Byrd. I hope some of you can join us.

Even if you can’t be there, I would like to use this moment to call to mind (once again!) Byrd’s remarkable list of reasons to learn to sing. There is much there to serve as spiritual food for modern choir directors. I particularly love the last, chief reason:

The better the voice is, the meeter it is to honour and serve God therewith: and the voice of man is chiefly to be employed to that end.

Indeed!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: September 13, 2023

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About Dr. Charles Weaver

Dr. Charles Weaver is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and serves as director of music for St. Mary’s Church. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!” A young woman from California wrote: “Thank you for releasing your new Glory To God in honor of Saint Noel Chabanel. I'm enjoying reading through the various parts and listening to your recordings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Baptism” • A Unique Hymn
    Father Christopher Phillips is the founding Pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. One of his hymns is unique and (in my humble opinion) quite beautiful. His hymn is basically a prayer to the Holy Trinity but also speaks of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. It would be an ideal Communion hymn on Trinity Sunday or the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. You can hear live recording from last Sunday by clicking here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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“Custom preserves many things in liturgy after their first reason has ceased.”

— Father Adrian Fortescue (writing in 1916)

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