William Byrd

Even in an era so richly stocked with great names, William Byrd demands particular attention as the most prodigiously talented, prolific, and versatile composer of his generation, and together with his continental colleagues Giovanni Palestrina and Orlando de Lassus, one of the acknowledged great masters of the late Renaissance, due to his substantial volume of high-quality compositions in every genre of the time. Byrd's pre-eminent position at the beginning of music publication in England allowed him to leave a significant printed legacy at the inception of many important mus...