A galliard is a lively dance in three time often associated with the slower processional pavan in duple time. The galliard which had turns and steps w Show More...
A galliard is a lively dance in three time often associated with the slower processional pavan in duple time. The galliard which had turns and steps was a popular dance all over Europe in the 16th century. This plain score will be updated with an edited music score. Music in Elizabethan times was composed referencing the modal system and one of the main features and ambiguities of the writing is that often there are conflicts in accidentals. This is commonly referred to as false relation. The flat 7th in the scale is a feature in English music that is also evident in the folk tradition collected and written down in much later centuries The English style did tend to be chordal demonstrated particularly in the lighter style of madrigal (a popular part song) referred to as the ballet. Left hand keyboard writing is characterised by open sounds featuring fifths and octaves. The keyboard music of the time was rhythmically organised with more and more notes sounding to increase the intensity of the movement as it unfolded. A four part texture can be evidenced in the score. The Galliard in the realisation plays back at 104 half note beats to the minute. This is music that needs to move because its origins were as a dance. The galliard was a 3 section work ABC, with each section repeated as a variation. Metre changes 3 into 2 and back again were frequently in place. In the YouTube video the music editor has made indicated pause marks and changed the meter when appropriate. These are not in place in the pdf sheet music downloads. Generally, there is a great amount of rhythmic inventiveness in the keyboard writing of Byrd and his contemporaries. Playing the instruments at their disposal with their light touch they would literally have flown through pieces. Understandably, there isn’t a record of performance practice of the time. The music editor’s intention has been to prepare a score for performance on the piano. A lightness of touch will be essential and the premise it that each section is intended to be played at the same tempo. An additional challenge is to present the movement in a contemporary context. An awareness of a half note or minim pulse and beat needs to be communicated in the playing. As there are so many modal shifts that occur the music editor has put in some additional accidental reminders. A challenging piece for audiences as well as for the instrumentalist. But what a movement to challenge listeners and players to engage with music of the past. . The source material for much instrumental music in Byrd’s time were the popular tunes of the day and there were many good ones. Variations were a popular form although the term divisions was the one often to be used suggesting a variation on a melody where notes were divided into shorter, faster-moving ones – Divisions on a Ground Bass was a much favoured title. There are some wonderful Elizabethan collections of keyboard music to which Byrd contributed including Parthenia sharing music by John Bull and Orlando Gibbons. My Ladye Nevells Booke consists of 42 pieces for keyboard by William Byrd. The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is another important collection of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean times containing music by both English and continental composers. Music was not commonly read and it was only the educated, usually musicians brought up singing in cathedrals that progressed to becoming composers and individuals who held court and church positions. Much music was copied by hand and both alterations and mistakes were made making it difficult for music to be authenticated although Byrd did check scores that had been copied. In the Elizabethan period meantone tuning was in different and pitch levels were lower than today The music editor suggests learning the piece without ornaments in the first instance. William Byrd was one of England’s greatest composers. All his music in its many forms and contexts are worth studying whether as a listener, singer or instrumentalist He originates from Lincoln where he started off life as a chorister and organist. In 1572 he became a member and responsible for the music of the Chapel Royal, a professional choir, maintained by the monarch. As a composer he absorbed many of the stylistic influences around him and then was able to refresh and update them with his own compositional style. Byrd belongs to and is identified with the Golden Age of Elizabethan Music and the Renaissance. He composed music both sacred and popular in modern parlance and is identified in the keyboard sense with the English Virginalist’s school. The virginals are a harpsichord type instrument in that the strings were plucked although the strings were parallel to the keyboard rather than like the strings in a grand piano or harpsichord. Byrd lived at a time when the faith tradition was alive and although he composed much Anglican music his later allegiance lay more with the Catholicism. Queen Elizabeth I as monarch tolerated both the Anglican and Catholic traditions providing there was an allegiance to the crown. This was challenged by the Roman church leading to additional conflict and ambiguity for many composers of the period. Byrd as a catholic often composed Masses for performances in private homes and chapels. Along with many other composers and his wife he is identified with a group of individuals known and referred to as recusants. Many of them including Peter Phillips, a pupil of Byrd’s were later to flee the country. Music printing at this time was controlled and it was both Byrd and Tallis who held a monopoly on music printing Byrd was an important teacher of many composers who followed him although the English music style in the succeeding Jacobean period ended up in something of a cul-de-sac. Close
