1. William Byrd All music heard in this presentation was composed by William Byrd, unless otherwise stated.

2. William Byrd was born in England in 1543 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Who is the current monarch of England?

3. William learned composition from one of the best teachers in England at the time. He was another great composer named Thomas Tallis. You are listening to Tallis right now.

4. At age 20, William became the organist at the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England.

5. After staying at the Lincoln Cathedral for 10 years, Byrd moved to London to become a gentleman of the “Chapel Royal.”

6. The “Chapel Royal” was the Chapel that the Queen and other royalty attended for church services. Only the finest singers and musicians in England were permitted to be members.

7. Queen Elizabeth I was fond of music and was said to be musically skilled as well. One biographer of her time wrote, “she sings quite exceptionally.”

8. Queen Elizabeth I grew fond of William Byrd and his teacher, Thomas Tallis, and she granted them a monopoly on all music printing in England. Byrd Tallis What is a monopoly?

9. A monopoly is complete control over a product or service. If McDonald’s bought all of the other fast food restaurants and changed them to McDonald’s, they would have a monopoly on fast food. They could charge you high prices because they would have no competition. A monopoly is illegal in the United States. It’s bad for the consumer when there’s no competition. One computer company has a monopoly on the computer market and they get fined about 1 million dollars a day by the government. Who is it? Microsoft – They make so much money that 1 million a day is like a drop in a bucket to them.

10. This monopoly gave Byrd and Tallis absolute control over all music that was printed in England in all languages, AND the ruled paper upon which music is composed. Staff paper

11. Byrd was a devout Roman Catholic, but the Queen and all of England was Protestant. It was illegal to be Catholic. Byrd wrote Catholic masses, but he kept them secret and didn’t put a title on them just in case they were found.

12. Most of Byrd’s music is acapella and was written to be performed in a church service. This type of music is called S _ _ _ _ _. A C R E D

13. However, some of Byrd’s music was intended to be performed at home by people looking for something to do after dinner. The lyrics to these songs were not religious in any way. This type of music is called S _ _ _ _ _ _. E C U L A R

14. The most popular form of secular music that Byrd wrote is called a “madrigal.” The madrigal style came from Italy. A madrigal is a vocal song that uses music to paint a clear picture of the words. This is known as … Text painting – Also used by Josquin des Prez

15. Just like Josquin des Prez, William Byrd also has musical groups named after him. This is the William Byrd Ensemble.

16. William Byrd died in England on July 4, 1623. He is considered one of England’s finest composers.

17. Composer: William Byrd Song Title: Laudibus in Sanctis (even though he spoke English, Latin was still the language of the church)