William Byrd

Nationality: English 

 

Born: Lincoln, c.1543

Died: Stonden Massey, Essex, July 4 1623

Type of music: Sacred music, songs, Madrigals, Keyboard works

Main works: 140 keyboard pieces including 'Wolsey's Wilde', 3 Latin Masses, 1 English Mass 'Cantiones sacrae' in 1575, consort pieces for viols

Aside from Thomas Tallis, his pupil William Byrd was the other influential, English composer in the latter half of the 16^th Century. Not much is known about his early life or education, but his first known post was the position of organist at Lincoln cathedral in 1563. By 1568 he was married and went on to have several children.

In 1572 he joined the Chapel Royal and shared organ and composing duties with Tallis. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth I gave Byrd and Tallis joint monopoly over the printing of music and music paper in England. Their first publication was a collection of 34 Motets.

After Tallis died in 1585, Byrd published three collections of Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets between 1588 and 1611. He also composed a collection of English anthems, secular partsongs, Madrigals and pieces of viol consort.

He is particularly renowned for his fantasias for viols and his keyboard music was also greatly enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth and her court. His keyboard music actually appeared in several publications later on, including 'Fitzwilliam Virginal book', 'My lady Nevell's book' and 'parthenia' printed and issued in 1613 jointly with John Bull and Orlando Gibbons.

A lot of Byrd's Latin church music was only rediscovered in the mid 19^th century and his keyboard music only found a resurgence in the mid 20^th century.

"How daintily this Byrd his notes doth vary, As if he were the Nightingale's own brother!" - Preface to Parthenia 


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Thomas Tallis

Nationality: English 

 

Born: Kent?, c.1505/1510

Died: Greenwich, November 23 1585

Type of music: Polyphonic music in Latin/English

 

Main works: Two settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Motets, 20 keyboard pieces

Little is known of Tallis's education. His first significant post was in 1530-1531 where he became the organist of the Benedictine Priory in Dover. In 1538 he joined the choir of Waltham Abbey near London, but it was dissolved in 1540 under the reign of Henry VIII. His name is also listed among the singers of Canterbury Cathedral, where he took up the position of lay clerk.

In 1543 he became a member of the Chapel Royal and from 1572 he shared the position of organist and composer with William Byrd until he died in 1585. In 1575, Queen Elizabeth I granted Tallis and Byrd monopoly for printing music and music paper in England. Their first publication was a collection of 34 motets, 17 by Tallis and 17 by Byrd.

Tallis's work includes an unnamed 4 part Mass, the 5 part Mass 'Salve intmerata', a 7 part mass, 2 settings of the Magnificat and 2 settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Two of his most noteable Latin works, the 7 part 'Miserere nostri' and the 40 part Motet 'Spem in alium' show his great understanding of counterpoint.

Tallis was one of the very first composers to write music for the English Church. He wrote a complete service called 'In the Dorian mode' which consists of morning and evening Canticles and the communion service.

Tallis's work is still popular in the 21^st century. Ralph Vaughan Williams work 'Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis' was based on Tallis's third Psalter Tune.

'As he did live, so also did he die, in mild and quite sort (O! happy man) – Thomas Tallis's epitaph 


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Tomás Luis de Victoria

Nationality: Spanish 

 

Born: Ávila, 1548

Died: Madrid, 1611

Type of music: Polyphonic Sacred music

Main works: Requiem Mass for the Dowager Empress Maria (1603), 21 Masses, 16 Magnificats

Victoria was born into a prominent family, and in his early years he was a choirboy at the cathedral in Avila, where his uncle was a cannon. His education started at a reputable Jesuit school in Avila but in 1565, King Philip II of Spain sent him to the 'Jesuit Collegio Germanico' in Rome. It is most likely that he studied composition with Giovanni Pierluigi here as he succeeded him as the director of music at the Roman seminary.

In 1578 Victoria met the Dowager Empress Maria and later King Philip II assigned him as her Chaplain. In 1584 she entered the convent of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid, where Victoria served her until she died. Here he attained the position of Priest and organist and remained at the convent until his own death in 1611.

Unlike a lot of his contemporaries, Victoria only wrote Sacred music, although his output is still considerable. It includes 21 Masses, 44 Motets, Psalm settings, hymns, Magnificats, and 4 offices for the dead.

He also wrote music for holy week services, including 2 passions: 'The Imporperia' and 'The Lamentations of Jeremiah'.

Victoria's last work was a Requiem he wrote in 1605, dedicated to the memory of the Empress Maria. 


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Orlando di Lasso

 

Nationality: Flemish

Born: Mons, 1530 or 1532

Died: Munich, June 14 1594 

 

Type of music: Polyphonic Sacred music, lyrical secular music

Main works: Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales (1584), Tristis est anima mea (1568), 'Adoremus te, Christe' (1604)

Lasso lived in Mons as a child and became a choir boy at the church of St. Nicholas. Here he attained recognition for his voice and it's said this lead to him being kidnapped three times by other choirs. He spent the rest of his early years travelling in Sicily and Italy serving the households of various Italian Nobles.

In 1556, he joined the court and was serving Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich. By 1563, he attained the position of 'Maesto di capella', which he would retain until he died in 1594. His duties included providing a mix of sacred and secular music for Chapel services, court entertainment, banquets and state visits. In 1569 he composed music for the marriage ceremonies of Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria to Renee of Lorraine.

Lasso's earliest compositions were published in Antwerp an Vienna when he was in his early 20's. It included collections of madrigals, songs and motets.

Lasso's music was definite of the Franco-Netherlandish style in the late Renaissance period. He wasa direct contemporary of Giovanni Pierluigi as they died the same year.

There are over 2000 compositions by Lasso that survive, and many of them were printed between 1555 and 1604. His works include Madrigals, up to 516 Motets, a collection of Chansons, 7 collections of Lieder (German songs), and Dutch songs.

A noteable trait of Lasso's music was the attention he paid to relating his music to the meaning of his texts. This is a method that would influence and continue in 17^th century Baroque music.

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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Nationality: Italian

Born: Praeneste, (Modern Palestrina), c.1525

Died: Rome, 2 February 1594

Type of music: Polyphonic Sacred music

Main works: Missa Papae Marcelli (1567), Missa assumpta est Maria (1567), Missa brevis (1570), Stabat Mater (1590)

Pierluigi left Praeneste as a child for nearby Rome and became a choirboy at the Basilica of Sta. Maria Maggoire. He also studied music here between 1537 and 1539. Pierluigi's career then properly began in Rome where he was an Organist and choir master. In 1552, he became the choir master at the Julian chapel, the training school for the Sistine choir. After 3 years he was dismissed by a new pope because he was married, so he then succeeded Lassus as the choir master at the church of St John Lateran.

Pierluigi's musical output includes 105 masses, together with roughly 375 motets for between 4 and 12 voices and many other liturgical works.

He is another composer who achieved the balance between sacred and secular music. His secular music includes two books of Madrigals (One published in 1555 and the other in 1586).

A trademark of Pierluigi's music was the use dissonant notes on the weak beats in a bar. This produced an overall sound of consonant polyphony and given that Palestrina was a leading composer in Europe, this sound is considered to be definitive of late Renaissance music. His continual development in compositional style is shown in his masses. The mass 'Missa sine nomine' was influential to J.S.Bach who studied and performed it while writing his own mass in B minor.

'The most frivolous and gallant words are set to exactly the same music as those of the bible, the truth is he could not write any other kind of music” - Berlioz, Memoirs.




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Josquin des Prez

Nationality: Franco-Flemish

Born: c1440/1455

Died: Conde, 27 August 1521

Specialist Genres: Polyphonic Sacred music, Secular songs.

Major works: 19 Masses, including Pange Lingua and De beata virgine.

Little is known of the early life of Josquin, but it's most likely that he was born in Belgium or just across the border in France. He moved to Milan and sang in the cathedral choir and worked for the Sforza family and in the late 1480's he was a member of the papal choir. In c1500 he was working for the French court and for the Dukes of Ferrara. When the plague broke out in Ferrara in 1503 he fled north becoming a provost of the church of Notre-Dame in Conde.

Josquin wrote the elegy “Nymphes des boies”, as a tribute to Ockeghem so it is possible that he may have been a pupil of his.

In the early 1500's, the Venetian printer published three of his Masses which is a testimony to the fame of Josquin as publications devoted to a single composer were rare for the time.
 

He was one of the first composers to relate music to text.

His later masses, including Ave Maris Stella, L'homme arme, and Pange linguna use free form techniques such as the parody technique and motto themes.

  "Josquin is the master of the notes; others are mastered by them". - Martin Luther

Johannes Ockeghem

Nationality: Flemish

Born: c1410/1425

Died: February 6, 1497

Specialist Genres: Polyphonic Sacred music

Major works: 14 Masses

Ockeghem was one of the composers who visited Guillaume Dufay in Cambrai and went on to become the most celebrated composer of the last half of the 15^th Century.

He entered the service of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, at Moulins in France. In the early 1450's he was employed by Charles VII of France as a Chaplain and it seems as if he remained in royal service until he died.

Relatively few of his works have survived. One being a polyphonic requiem Mass, which is the earliest surviving example. Also 9 Motets and a few secular chansons.

The earlier Masses are based, like Dufay's, on an existing melody, but the later ones are more original. Ockeghem shared the cantus firmus between the voices (not keeping it just in the tenor part) which created texture and contrapuntal complexity.

He is the first composer known to have used melodies from his own songs for the Cantus firums of a mass setting. This technique is called “parody mass” and can be found in his Masses “Fors Seulement”, 'Au travail suis' and 'Ma maistresse'.

Some of his works, most notably 'Missa prolationum', do not rely on the Cantus firmus but are written in a free form.