William Byrd contributions to music - Research Paper Example

He gained heavy recognition for madrigals and dance performances which were light hearted in nature and he is even well known for the production of Latin music which represented the archaic cycle and this music was especially composed for different events that take place in the calendar of church. During the 17th century he continued to compose his own style of music without being influenced by the Baroque fashion of music but his contributions in the form of keyboard are recognized as the starting point of Baroque fashion and style which was harpsichord in nature.

He was even well known for being a composer for the Anglican court for a major portion of his musical life, but towards the end of his life, he made contribution to Roman liturgy through his music and lost his life in relative darkness. During 1605 when the Gunpowder Plot was made and there was a frenzy of anti-Catholic attitude, his music experienced banning and he even experienced imprisonment in the region of England and some of his ban music has been a part of English cathedrals for over a period of four centuries (Kerman, 1981, p.227). Byrd’s Works Most of the musicians of the Renaissance era started their musical career at a very early age; similarly, Byrd even started his musical career at a very tender age. . At the age of 18, he was not longer a part of the court, this time period marks the replacement of Queen Marry with Queen Elizabeth.

He returned to the scene during middle years of twenties and was working as choir master and organist in the Lincoln Cathedral and in this setting he had to be warned for playing for extra long period of time during service sessions at the Cathedral. During the period of 1572 he returned back to London and was awarded a high paying job along with extra benefits and was even regarded as the Chapel Royal’s Gentleman (Crabtree, 2005, p.208). During his stay in London he operated and worked in different musical roles such as singer, organist and music writer for a period of more than two decades.

As soon as he gained the position of a gentleman, he along with Tallis were able to acquire a printing license from the Queen and with this license he was able to print three different groups of Latin motets. The first of these motets were published during the period of 1575 with the assistance of his teacher and later he published two more groups of motets during the period of 1591and this time he did it all alone as his teacher was not longer alive (Kennedy, 2004, p.114). While he was working on the Latin motets, he purchased two musical anthologies in English language and he even purchased songs, sonnets and psalms during the session of 1588 and later in the year 1589, he made a purchase of Songs of Sundrie Natures.

He even made contributions to the Royal Chapel by writing music in the style of Anglican Church which even includes the master piece of the ten-voice Great Service and even composed well recognized anthems including the