Byrd: Infelix ego & Other Sacred Music (Byrd Edition 13)

Featuring

Andrew Carwood
The Cardinall's Musick
William Byrd

Did you know?

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Composition History

The text for "Infelix ego" is a meditation on Psalm 50 by Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar who led a campaign against the Medici family in Florence and was later executed for heresy.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Byrd, a Catholic, used his music to express his faith, the deprivation he felt, and his hope, speaking directly to the Catholic community in Elizabethan England.

Performer Biography

The Cardinall's Musick, named after the 16th-century English cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is known for its extensive study of English Renaissance music and its thoughtful, themed programs.

Composer Biography

William Byrd, born during the reign of Henry VIII, lived through the tumultuous English Reformation, experiencing the changes under Edward VI, Mary's Catholic restoration, and the reign of Elizabeth I.

Historical Context

Despite anti-Catholic legislation and the dangerous period after the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, Byrd published Latin music, including texts for Catholic Mass and Divine Office.

Recording & Production

This disc is the final release in The Cardinall's Musick's series dedicated to William Byrd's Latin Church Music, a project that revealed many new discoveries.

Composer Biography

Byrd never left England, and his musical brilliance, which allowed him to assimilate past sounds and learn from contemporaries, may have protected him from serious penalties for his Catholic beliefs.