An Elizabethan Christmas: Byrd, Holborne, Gibbons, Peerson, Weelkes

Featuring

Helen Charlston
Emma Walshe
Lucy Cox
Amy Lyddon
Guy Cutting
Malachy Frame

Edmund Saddington
Fretwork
William Byrd
Anthony Holborne
Orlando Gibbons
Martin Peerson
Thomas Weelkes
Anonymous

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Orlando Gibbons, a composer on this album, was a chorister at King's College, Cambridge, and served in the Chapel Royal and royal service for the rest of his life until his death at 52 from a brain tumour.

Instruments

Orlando Gibbons's 'Fantazy No. 2 a 4 'For Ye Great Dooble Bass'' refers to an exceptionally large viol, tuned a fourth below the standard bass.

Composer's Artistic Vision

William Byrd, a Catholic composer, aimed to please diverse tastes with his 1588 publication, offering psalms for prayer, sonnets for merriment, and songs of sadness and piety for lamentation.

Performer Biography

Fretwork, the viol consort on this album, is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2021 and has commissioned over 40 new works from prominent contemporary composers.

Compositional Technique

William Byrd virtually created the consort song form, where a single voice is accompanied by four viols, and later adapted these for five voices by adding words to the instrumental lines.

Historical Context

Advent in Elizabethan England was a period of fasting, in contrast to the feasting that would commence once Christmas arrived.

Historical Context

In Elizabethan times, the Christmas season lasted strictly for twelve days, from Christmas Eve to Epiphany (Twelfth Night), rather than the extended period observed today.