The Byrd Ensemble: Musical Politics – Motets of Influence
$18-$28
William Byrd
—
Ne irascaris Domine
Gregorio Allegri — Miserere mei, Deus
Arvo Pärt — The Woman with the Alabaster Box
William Byrd — Tribue Domine
Thomas Tallis — Gaude gloriosa Dei mater
Gabriel Jackson — To Morning
Gregorio Allegri — Miserere mei, Deus
Arvo Pärt — The Woman with the Alabaster Box
William Byrd — Tribue Domine
Thomas Tallis — Gaude gloriosa Dei mater
Gabriel Jackson — To Morning
William Byrd – Ne irascaris Domine
Gabriel Jackson – To Morning
Thomas Tallis – Gaude gloriosa
Gregorio Allegri – Miserere
Arvo Pärt – The Woman with the Alabaster Box
William Byrd – Tribue Domine
Sacred music generally served a liturgical purpose, and often also a political one. Whether it was Tallis and Byrd dedicating large collections of motets to the Queen in return for a monopoly on music printing rights, or the music from Tallis’s Gaude gloriosa used as a battle rallying cry when the King was at war with France, each piece on the program comes with an interesting story and gives us a peek into the composers’ allegiances and a sense of the intertwined religious and political turbulence of the time.