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Music for Brass Quintet

 

William Byrd peakviewmusic.com

William Byrd

Set includes :

 

Trumpet 1 in Bb

Trumpet 2 in Bb

Horn in F

Trombone

Tuba

Mass for Five Voices

1595

None of the three Masses (printed by Thomas East for four voices in 1592-1593, three voices 1593-1594, and five voices 1594-1595) uses the common Continental device of parodying a model composition; they do not rely on a preconceived unifying thematic web. Byrd does seem, however, to have revised and reworked some musical ideas from one mass to the next, and all three are unified by a conservative and beautifully sculpted tone of "classical" counterpoint. The Mass in Five Voices, published last, links several movements by means of freely composed, but repeated, themes. Though it partakes of the fuller textures and antiphonal effects made possible by the fifth voice, its tone is the most reserved and distant. Among its many aural felicities are the strong musical emphasis on the text (cherished by Byrd) "Et unam Sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam," (And [I believe in] the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church), and the assured and nearly mystical peace of the final "Dona nobis pacem" (Give us peace)
  • Kyrie
  • Gloria
  • Credo
  • Sanctus
  • Benedictus
  • Agnus Dei

Composed by William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623)

Arranged for Brass Quintet by Daniel Leavitt

Score excerpt (PDF)

Audio sample

View Sibelius Scorch Page

Cat. No. BQ265

Price $21.00

William Byrd was one of the most celebrated English composers in the Renaissance. His entire life was marked by contradictions, and as a true Renaissance man he cannot be easily categorized. He lived until well into the seventeenth century without writing music in the new Baroque fashion, but his superbly constructed keyboard works marked the beginning of the Baroque organ and harpsichord style. Byrd's life is interesting because of his Roman Catholic sympathies combined with his work in the court of the Anglican Queen Elizabeth I. He composed much music, if intermittently, for the Roman Catholic liturgy, particularly in his later years; the two volumes of Gradualia constitute a prime example. Possibly as a result of this he did not receive widespread recognition in his lifetime, but was very well respected among the Roman Catholic gentry. In the anti-Catholic frenzy following the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, the first volume of the Gradualia, printed by Thomas East in 1605, was banned in England under penalty of imprisonment as indeed was all of his Catholic music; however his Anglican music—such as the Short Service, and the Responses—has been sung in English cathedrals uninterrupted for the past four centuries.

This arrangement includes six movements.

This sheet music will be sent to you via email in PDF format.