William Byrd: The English Renaissance Composer
William Byrd was an English Renaissance composer renowned as one of the greatest musical figures of the 16th and early 17th centuries, celebrated for his sacred polyphony, keyboard works, and secular compositions.Byrd served as organist and choirmaster at Lincoln Cathedral and the Chapel Royal under Elizabeth I. A devout Catholic in Protestant England, he navigated religious tensions while producing masterpieces including three Latin Masses, the 'Great Service', and seminal keyboard works in ...