It is always a delight to see a composer such as William Byrd featuring in one of our national newspapers, even if the title runs “Was the great composer William Byrd secretly a traitor to England”, as recently in The Telegraph. Unlike other Roman Catholic composers such as Richard Dering and Peter Phillips who left England for the Low Countries, Byrd stayed at home and at the very least lived a complicated life as one of Elizabeth I’s favoured musicians. His musical legacy happily enriches both Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions, as will be heard this month at Hampstead Parish Church.

A few weeks ago we performed his dazzling motet ‘Laudibus in sanctis’, and this month we sing his ‘Preces’ & Responses each week, as well as his Short Service, and in the final week movements of his ‘Mass for Four Voices and communion motet ‘Ave verum corpus’. Evensong ends each week with a Final Amen taken from Byrd’s ‘Caroll for New-yeares day’ published in 1611 in his collection Psalms, Songs and Sonnets.

As we gradually emerge from compulsory Covid-19 restrictions, Byrd’s ‘Mass for Four Voices’ is one of the five settings chosen for August which are all fairly concise in nature.