William Byrd (jan 1, 1540 – jan 1, 1623)

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English composer. Along with Palestrina, brought the "ars perfecta" to its final musical height. Despite the English Reformation, he maintained his Catholic faith. Nonetheless, he served in Queen Elizabeth I's Chapel Royal and composed for Anglican services.

Byrd's music was not canonized in the same way as Palestrina's simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...Byrd became the musical spokesman of the losing side in a religious war: that of the so--called recusants, namely loyal Catholics in an England that had cursed the pope and persecuted his followers. Byrd's latest and greatest music was the music of a church gone underground.


More versatile composer than Palestrina, and made large contributions to instrumental music.

After his retirement, he turned to setting forbidden Catholic litrugical texts for use in the intimate contexts of the persecuted Catholic, or "recusant," services.

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