Byrd and the Baron

ne of the worst-kept secrets of Elizabethan England was the unlawful Catholic faith of the composer of the Chapel Royal, William Byrd. Under Protestant rule, Byrd almost literally played with fire when he secretly composed and performed explicitly Catholic music; in his final years, apostate Catholics were regularly burned alive or otherwise cruelly executed.

This ReRenaissance programme imagines how this group of hidden Catholic companions celebrated Advent and Christmas in secret and in danger at Ingatestone Hall in Essex.

Elizabeth Sommers – violin, voice

Elizabeth Rumsey – viola da gamba

Simon MacHale – voice

Grace Newcombe – voice, organ; direction