| Contents |
Psalmes. Psalms 55 and 123: a personal and a corporate lament ; Two songs from Psalm 119 ; Psalms 13 and 15: longing for the holy hill ; Psalms 12 and 112: the wicked and blessed -- Sonets & pastoralls I. From terror to temperance ; A temperance quartet: BE 12:11-14 ; A deficiency and an excess of pleasure (BE 12:11-12) ; A mayden chast (BE 12:13) ; My mind to me a kingdom is (BE 12:14) -- Sonets & pastoralls II. Ambition (BE 12:15-18) ; Pride (BE 12:19-22) -- Sonets & pastoralls III. Constant Penelope (BE 12:23) ; The Amoibaion virgin (BE 12:24) ; Ralegh's 'Braving' poem (BE 12:25) ; The match (BE 12:26) -- Songs of sadnes and pietie. Piety (BE 12:27-28, 30-31) ; Susanna (BE 12:29) ; Fortitude and martyrdom (BE 12:32-33) ; Funeral songs for Sir Philip Sidney (BE 12:34-35) -- Songs of three parts. The seaven psalms (BE 13:1-7) ; From justice to love: Susanna and the nightingale (BE 13:8-9) ; Part II: Love emerges ; Cupid and the eyes (BE 13:10-14) -- Songs of four parts. The strike ; Gold or lead ; "To resist his glory most untrue" (BE 13:22) ; "While that the sun" as dilatory space -- Songs of five parts. "Weeping full score" and the Lady Rich (BE 16:26) ; Penelope that longed (BE 13:27) ; Cupid in a ghostly mirror (BE 13:28) ; Stella's frame (BE 13:29, 34) ; Stella sings (BE 13:33) ; Closing the frames: love, unity, and a new turn in the last three songs of five parts (BE 13:34-37) -- Songs of six parts. From brotherly love and chrism to Christ and the salvation (BE 13:38-40) ; The lessons of love: from hob to the homily (BE 13:41-3) ; Part 2: Admonishment and common prayer "if in thine heart" (BE 13:44) ; Churching and purification (BE 13:45) ; "Christ rising again," "Christ is risen again" (BE 13:46-47) -- Conclusion. |
| Abstract |
As he grappled with the challenges of composing for various instrumental and vocal ensembles, William Byrd (c. 1540-1623), England's premier Renaissance composer, devoted considerable attention to the poetry and prose of his native language, producing such treasured masterpieces as the hauntingly beautiful "Lulla lullaby"; the infectiously comedic "Though Amarillis dance in green"; and two extraordinarily dramatic Easter anthems. This book, the first full-length study specifically devoted to Byrd's English-texted music, provides a close reading of all of the works he published in the late 1580s, constituting nearly half of his total song output. It delves into the musical, political, literary, and, specifically, the sequential qualities of Byrd's 1588 and 1589 published collections as a whole, revealing, explaining, and interpreting an overall grand narrative, while remaining fully attentive to the particularities of each individual piece. Often deemed "unliterary" and generally considered political only in his approach to Latin texts, which were often of special interest to his fellow Catholics, Byrd was not only an inspired composer who had mastered the challenges of his nation's burgeoning verse, but also one who used his voice in song to foster a more inclusive polity in a time of religious strife. |
