William Byrd My Ladye Nevells Booke Videos
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2024-03-26
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William Byrd Eberhard Kraus Kraus 1543 1591 1623
William Byrd (c. 1543 – 1623) Excepts from "The Battell" from My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) 1. The souldiers sommons. 0:05 2. The marche of footemen. 01:14 3. The Irish marche. 1:56 4. The bagpipe and the drone. 3:21 5 The flute and the droome. 4:47 6. Ye souldiers dance. 6:03 7. The buriing of the dead. 6:43 Eberhard Kraus, harpsichord.
William Byrd was perhaps the greatest English composer who ever lived (my apologies to those who believe that honor should go to Paul McCartney). His psalms, motets and madrigals have endured for over more than four centuries as works highly admired by even the most discerning of listeners. Byrd was also a prolific keyboard composer. This, my first recording of a composition by Byrd, presents the first piece in the manuscript known as “My Ladye Nevells Booke”, a collection of 42 of his keyboard pieces that were written out for said Lady Nevell, who was probably a patroness of Byrd (and possibly his pupil as well). The manuscript was completed in 1591, and contains most of the pieces that Byrd had composed up to that time. After playing/recording this work using the sound of as simple virginal, I decided to experiment: I added a 4’ stop to one virginal sample set, and a 16’ stop to the samples of a second virginal. Next, I combined both virginal sounds. I thus obtained a very full sound: it’s as if I were playing on a “super virginal” that had two 8’ stops, plus a 4’ and 16’! (Such a creature did not exist in the world of virginals, but as you can see, thanks to modern-day audio technology, one can be created.) I find that the resulting full sound is quite appropriate to the grave, yet ceremonial nature of this magnificent piece by William Byrd. Tell me what you think! Do have a look at my books on music: 1) How to Memorize Music – A Practical Approach for Non-Geniuses (http•••) 2) How to overcome Stage Fright − The ultimate Guide for performing Musicians (http•••) 3) Play it with Feeling! - Expressing Emotion in Musical Performance (http•••) All available at Amazon.com Please join my channel! P.S. You might want to join my Facebook Group: "The Digital Harpsichordist": (http•••)
William Byrd Gustav Holst Arthur Oldham Michael Tippett Lennox Berkeley Benjamin Britten Humphrey Searle William Walton
Much keyboard music from the 16th and early 17th centuries has been preserved as hand-written manuscripts in a number of collections held in English Museums. The most important of these collections is the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book since it has almost 300 pieces. A virginal is a small harpsichord-like instrument which was common at the time in aristocratic homes. Among the many pieces by William Byrd in the collection (and also included in a Byrd collection called "My Ladye Nevells Booke") is a set of variations on "Sellenger's Round" (or Sellinger's Rownde), which in turn is thought to be an Irish folk melody (sometimes called "The Beginning of the World") which had been introduced to England. A round is a dance where the dancers form a circle, and the tune continues to be used by dance troops who perform English folk dances including Morris and Maypole style dancing. The melody has been used by other classical composers including Imogen Holst (daughter of Gustav Holst), and the work "Variations on an Elizabethan Theme" which was jointly composed by Arthur Oldham, Michael Tippett, Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Humphrey Searle and William Walton. Good Listening.
William Byrd's "My Ladye Nevells Grownde" from My Ladye Nevells Booke of virginal music, "finished & ended the leventh of September in the yeare of our lorde god 1591..." More information about the piece and the whole manuscript, together with a full scan from the British Library, available online: (http•••) The instrument is an original Ruckers virginal-spinet (Piccola Academia di Montisi // Accardi Collection). Performed by Aleksander Mocek, Montisi 2013 (http•••)
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