03 February 2017 - Choral Evensong

Byrd's Fauxbourdons and Sheppard's The Lord's Prayer feature in this week's webcast of Choral Evensong.

William Byrd (c. 1540 - 1623) was one of the most prolific English composers of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, both he and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 - 1585) were granted a 21-year patent for the printing of their music. He was made Master of the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral at the age of eighteen but his time there was somewhat tumultuous, with records of him being disciplined for overzealous use of the organ during worship, as well as records relating to the withholding of his salary. Despite these apparent faults, when he departed Lincoln for the role of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1572, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral made a grant a year later which would offer Byrd a stipend on the condition that any new sacred music composition would have a copy sent to Lincoln.