![]() ![]() The Nunc dimittis recorded here-a tract for the Feast of the Purification-is not a setting intended for Evensong or Compline, but is taken from the Gradualia, a great cycle of liturgical settings for the Catholic calendar from Advent to Trinity, published in two volumes in 16. ![]() In the sumptuous Amen section the soprano line holds a long note above the interweaving of the other five parts. Its intricacy is such that at one point six different words are sung simultaneously. O Lord, make thy servant, Elizabeth our Queen, a nation-uniting prayer for the health and welfare of Queen Elizabeth I, is an example of this new style, with words adapted from Psalm 21. These were what we now understand as English church anthems. While Byrd was employed at Lincoln Cathedral, serving from March 1563 as organist and master of the choristers, he was asked to maintain a supply of divine services, but also of “songs” for use in church. In Byrd and Britten, this protest is subtly portrayed through the choice and setting of text, through the use of allegory and through a certain melancholy which is often intangible but undoubtedly present. Throughout history, there are many examples of oppressive circumstances inspiring powerful music of protest. This disc brings together two of Britain’s most celebrated composers whose lives and beliefs estranged them from the British establishment. He was created a Companion of Honour and accepted the Order of Merit, but he had previously declined a knighthood. Although he was elevated to the House of Lords in June 1976, both his pacifism and his sexual orientation (a crime until the Sexual Offences Act was passed in 1967) made him an outsider. Like Byrd, Britten became highly regarded by the establishment for his artistic achievements, but reservations regarding his homosexuality prevented his complete acceptance. Composers such as Dowland and Philips chose foreign exile, whereas Byrd, White and others remained in England and expressed their spiritual exile in music of emotional intensity. The term is now used more generally but it originated in Byrd’s lifetime. Byrd’s name appeared on a list of recusants-those who maintained their loyalty to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services. In the 20th century Shostakovich’s situation was not dissimilar, as he tried to steer a course between the opposing demands of the Soviet authorities and his own creative instinct. As a devout Catholic existing within an alien environment-a state which ultimately viewed Catholicism as the equivalent of sedition-Byrd was obliged to pursue a kind of double life. They were both, in quite different ways, outsiders. William Byrd (1540-1623) and Benjamin Britten (1913-76), their respective careers separated by about three hundred and fifty years, share one very significant characteristic. ![]()
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