Reformation and Renaissance: Choral Masterpieces of the 16th Century

The dissolution of the monasteries, including the great Hyde Abbey, under Henry VIII swept away a musical and liturgical world, but echoes of that world survive in the works of some composers of the later Tudor period.

This concert evokes this turbulent period, opening with plainchant from the medieval Breviary of Hyde Abbey, and continuing with motets by the two greatest English composers of the time, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.

Tallis's career spanned the destruction of the monasteries, which he experienced at first hand. Some of his most deeply expressive music and that of his famous pupil Byrd reflects these events and the plight of the Catholic community in England.

Programme:

Sacred polyphony from the period of the dissolution including
Tallis Sancte Deus
Tallis Videte miraculum
Tallis Lamentations

Music from the English recusant community
Byrd Mass for five voices
Tallis In ieiunio et fletu
Byrd Civitas sancti tui
Byrd Infelix ego