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Consort Songs - Music by William Byrd and His Contemporaries anon When Daphne from fair Phoebus did fly* [02:47] John DOWLAND (1563-1626), arr William WIGTHORPE (c1560-after 1610) Sorrow come (Dowland's sorrow, set by Mr. William Wigthorpe)* [03:46] John WARD (c1571-c1638) Fantasia a 4 [03:43] William BYRD (c1539-1623) O that we woeful wretches* [04:40] Sermone Blando [02:20] Ye sacred muses (An elegy upon the death of Thomas Tallis)* [04:42] Miserere [01:30] Out of the orient crystal skies* [03:21] Christe Redemptor [02:45] O Lord how vain* [08:48] Christe qui Lux [02:50] Richard NICHOLSON (1570-1639) Joan quoth John* [03:49] William BYRD Fantasia a 4 [02:19] anon Farewell the Bliss* [03:25] William BYRD In Nomine a 4 Alfonso FERRABOSCO I (1578-1628) Hear me, O God (A Himn to God the Father ..., sett as 'Four notes Pavan' by Mr Alfonso Ferrabosco II)* [08:33] Orlando GIBBONS (1583-1625) In Nomine a 4 [02:47] John BENNETT (c1570-1615) Venus' birds* [01:49] Jill Feldman, soprano (*) Concerto delle Viole: Roberto Gini, Kees Boeke, Marco Angilella, viola da gamba; Sabina Colonna Preti, violone Recorded in September 2003 at the Pieve SS. Tiburtio e Susanna, Badia Agnano, Arezzo, Italy DDD OLIVE MUSIC OM 004 [66:49]

The Reformation in England had far-reaching consequences in musical realms. Composers were used to writing polyphonic masses and motets for the Roman-Catholic liturgy. The much more sober liturgy of the Church of England had no need for these, so there weren't many opportunities left to compose in polyphonic style. One of these opportunities was the viol consort, an ensemble of three to five viols which under Henry VIII had been imported from Italy. During the 16th century many pieces for viol consort were composed, and in these composers often used old liturgical chants as cantus firmus. It is even possible that in the performance of these pieces the cantus firmus was sung. Several examples of this kind of consort music are performed here, as the tracklist shows. From here it was a little step towards what is known as the 'consort song', a polyphonic piece in which mostly one voice is supported by an ensemble of viols. One of the composers who put many efforts into this genre was William Byrd, one of the foremost composers of church music in the second half of the 16th century. He wasn't much interested in Italian-style madrigals as they were written in England in his time, nor in the lute song. Consort music, and especially the consort song, was much more appealing to this champion of elaborate music. Byrd wrote more than forty consor