Choral Evensong: Byrd 400

4th July 2023 marks 400 years since the death of one of England's most influential composers. To celebrate, we are holding a very special service of Choral Evensong here at St. Cuthbert's on Saturday 8th July.

William Byrd (c.1540-4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer.  Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on musicians both from his native country and abroad. He is often considered alongside Henry Purcell as one of England's most important early music composers.

St. Cuthbert’s, Darlington, is using one of its regular monthly "come and sing" Choral Evensongs to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Byrd’s death by singing the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from his so-called, magnificent Great Service, along with two of his anthems.

Byrd wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony (music with several distinct lines, often imitating one another), keyboard, and works for groups of instruments (often viols).  He produced sacred music for services in the newly created Church of England, but during the 1570s became a Roman Catholic, and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life.

Unlike much of Byrd's sacred music, the Great Service was not printed in his lifetime, and its survival is mainly owed to incomplete sets of church choir part-books, including those at Durham Cathedral and York Minster, as well as three contemporary organ parts.

The Great Service was originally scored for two five-part choirs with some sections written for groups of soloists to contrast with the sections for all the singers. The choir was normally doubled by the organ, and sometimes by loud wind instruments, a practice which caused much indignation among contemporary Puritans.  Modern performances are often sung by eight-part choirs, as we are doing this evening. Byrd intended the Great Service for the Chapel Royal Choir who would have sung it on major liturgical feasts and state occasions during the early Stuart period.  

Guest conductor, Richard Bloodworth, says “it’s wonderful that St. Cuthbert’s is giving local singers the opportunity to sing one of the most complex and magnificent settings of the Church of England’s Evening liturgy – William Byrd’s Great Service.  We are all looking forward to it enormously – it’s a big challenge and will be a great musical and spiritual experience for choir and congregation alike.”

If you would like to find out more about our "come and sing" events, please email [email protected]