Mass for 4 Voices

The 1590s was not really the time to be writing Masses in Protestant England. But William Byrd published three of them, discreetly but explicitly for use in secret Catholic services which were both illegal and dangerous—circumstances which only seem to have sharpened Byrd’s creativity. His Mass for Four Voices is the most personal and intense of his three settings, and it was probably the first to be printed, around 1592. Anyone still alive in Byrd’s time who remembered the old Masses of Henry VIII’s reign would have had a shock at the start of Byrd’s new work, which dispenses with the traditional English “Kyrie” sung to plainsong, and instead launches straight into rich, soaring polyphony for the full choir. The heart of Byrd’s Mass is the final “Agnus Dei.” Up until now, the music has remained concise, the harmony simple and word repetition kept to a minimum. But as we arrive at the Mass’ last phrase, Byrd opens up emotionally. For him, the three words “Dona nobis pacem” (“grant us peace”) were not just the conventional prayer with which the Mass normally ended. Living at a time when most Catholics knew only persecution, these words were a deeply felt plea for spiritual peace and salvation. The repeated appeals of the text, set to waves of biting dissonances, are unique in Byrd’s output, and the expression of such extreme feelings is almost unprecedented in Masses of the time.