William Byrd: The Three Masses I

Mass for Three Voices and Mass for Four Voices

Sunday 9 June 2002, 8pm

Pre-concert talk 7.45pm

Sacred Heart Cathedral
Hill Street
Wellington

William Byrd's three settings of the Ordinary of Mass for the underground Recusant Catholic church in England are among the most remarkable sacred works of the Renaissance. Their emotional intensity and sheer compositional genius raise Byrd above his contemporaries as England's finest polyphonist.

Byrd's settings of the mass Propers for Easter come from his collection of music for the mass, the Gradualia (covertly published in two volumes in 1605 and 1607). Byrd's settings of the movements of the Easter Propers differ from those of his continental contemporaries in that Byrd's settings maintain a sense of intimacy, focusing on the expression of the Easter texts rather than attempting to achieve grandiloquent gestures.

The Tudor Consort presents these remarkable works in separate performances in two of Wellington's finest choral acoustics.

Programme

William Byrd: Mass for Three Voices and Mass for Four Voices with plainsong propers

Mass for Three Voices

Introit: plainsong
Kyrie: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
Gloria in excelsis Deo: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
Collect for Sexagesima: chant
Gradual: plainsong
Credo: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
Preface: chant
Sanctus / Benedictus: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
Pater Noster: chant
Agnus Dei: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd

Interval

Mass for Four Voices

Introit: plainsong
Kyrie: Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd
Collect for Holy Monday: chant
Gradual: plainsong
Credo: Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd
Preface: chant
Sanctus / Benedictus: Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd
Pater Noster: chant
Agnus Dei: Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd

Mass for Three Voices soloists: Megan Hurnard, Alastair Carey, Simon Baskerville
Mass for Four Voices soloists: Brian Hesketh, Christopher Warwick, Alastair Carey, Kenneth Trass, Glenn Denby, Philip Roderick, Timothy Hurd, Matthew Painter

Costumed performance

Entry to both performances: $30 / $15 (normally $40 / $20)
Tickets for the 11 June performance available for purchase at the 9 June performance.

This concert was part of the 2002 Performance Series.