Deliver Us from Obscurity: How Persecution Shaped William Byrd into One of England’s Finest Composers

Authors

Abigail Lilite, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publication Date

10-16-2024

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Byrd, Elizabeth I, Catholic, Anglican, motets, persecution, oppression, political music, inspiration

Abstract

Because of the persecution and religious oppression William Byrd faced, his compositional process was forced to be more intricate, innovative, and creative. Consequently, he penned some of the greatest music England has ever seen. Elizabethan England’s history shows how the tenor of Byrd’s relationship with Elizabeth I is deeply ironic, as Elizabeth protected Byrd from the persecution that she afflicted upon him. Even though many of Byrd’s works appear docilely Anglican upon first glance, a deeper analysis reveals many hidden allusions to his Catholic beliefs, developing a masterful level of complexity to his compositions. Many of his motets had double meanings inherent in their composition. Byrd’s most exquisite music achieved that status because of his underlying expression of his non-compliant beliefs and spiritual character of musical inspiration.

Volume

15

Issue

2

Article Number

2

First Page

53

Last Page

68

DOI

10.15385/jmo.2024.15.2.2

Recommended Citation

Lilite, Abigail (2024) "Deliver Us from Obscurity: How Persecution Shaped William Byrd into One of England’s Finest Composers," Musical Offerings: Vol. 15: No. 2, Article 2.
DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2024.15.2.2
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol15/iss2/2

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.