'The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local History'. Programme

 Curtain up for the special event at our Church.

Here is the Programme.

Programme

Welcome to the first of three events celebrating the life and work of our local composer and musician William Byrd who died here in 1623.

Let us take you this evening back to the sixteenth and early 17^th centuries. This was a time when worship in the Church of England was compulsory and refusal to attend subject to large fines. William Byrd was a recusant Catholic. Tonight, we will explore his life and times and the company he kept.

The script has been especially written for the occasion and we invite you to buy a copy of the accompanying book, price £5.00, which is a longer version of the research in support of a project to raise money for a memorial outside the church to mark Byrd’s quatercentenary.   

Our “cast” in order of appearance are:

 

Narrator                                                  Andrew Smith

Revd. Reeve                                          John Hughes

William Byrd                                           John Cannon

Narrator 2                                               Anne Springate

Roy Hattersley                                        Kevin Wood

Minister                                                  Gail Hughes

Queen Elizabeth I                                  Revd. Sam Brazier Gibbs

Father Edmund Campion                       Steve Drinkall

John Stow                                               Kevin Wood

Father William Weston                           Steve Drinkall

The Times reporter                                 Sandra Wood

Stondon Massey churchwarden             Jan Macintosh

Father Henry Garnet                              Steve Drinkall

Earl of Northampton                               Kevin Wood

Non-speaking parts:

Mrs Jane Shelley                                    Sandra Keeble

Mrs Bellamy                                           Elaine Smith

 Still to come:

Sunday 2 July:    3.00pm.   William Byrd Commemorative Service.

Tuesday 4 July:  8.00pm.   Stondon Singers Concert – all seats sold.

 Listen to ‘Composer of the Week’ on BBC Radio 3 at midday every day week commencing 3 July. Andrew Smith was interviewed ‘on location’ about Byrd’s time at Stondon Massey and will appear in the programmes on Monday and Friday.

 Our story unfolds as follows:

The Prologue

1.  Introduction

2.  Queen Elizabeth I

 3.  William Byrd. Biography

 4.  The Paget Family. A web of intrigue

 5.  Priests and Plotters. Father Edmund Campion and others

 6.  Questionable Company

 

-      Interval -

Our Byrd table may have

seeds and nuts but there will be wine to partake,

and other drink.

We will be hawking Byrd books:

“The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local History” £5.00

“William Byrd: Some Notes” £3.00. (or buy both for £7.00)

 7.  The Petre Family

 8.  William Byrd at Stondon Massey

 9.  Gradualia and the Gunpowder Plot

 10. William Byrd Tercentenary Celebrations

 11. Epilogue

For more information about William Byrd, our church, and our project please visit: www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com .

This Evening. Our Special Talk to commemorate Byrd

 Fri. 30 June: 7.30-9.30pm The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local Histo Tickets, Fri 30 Jun 2023 at 19:30 | Eventbrite A final opportunity to buy tickets online for our event to be held at Stondon Massey Church this evening.

A limited number of tickets may be available at the door, price £7.00.  

'William Byrd 400 - Fantasia' Cycle Ride

 

On Sunday morning, 2 July, we will be welcoming to St Peter & St Paul Church Stondon Massey a group of cyclists from Ingatestone as they celebrate William Byrd.  The church will be open to visitors from about 11.00am to noon.

Hello Lincoln!

 Lincoln Cathedral celebrates the life and work of William Byrd in a sequence of concerts and lectures between 30 June and 4 July 2023.  The highlight will be the unveiling of a memorial to the great composer.

Byrd 400: celebrating our great choral composer - Lincoln Cathedral

William Byrd was Master of the Choristers at the cathedral from 1563 to 1672, during which time he composed much music for the relatively newly translated services of the Church of England. Byrd married a local woman, and his family grew during the time that he lived in Minster Yard.  At a time when failing to follow wholeheartedly the practice of the Church of England was seen as a treason, Byrd was stubbornly Catholic and made no attempts to hide it. His wife and other members of his household were arrested several times for recusancy (failing to give up their Catholic practices), and later in life Byrd himself was placed under house arrest in 1585. However, the appreciation of his musical talent by Queen Elizabeth led to the dropping of any charges ‘by order of the queen.’

Leaving Lincoln to become a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1572, Byrd’s grew in reputation and fame until his retirement to Essex where he died on 4th July 1623.  On the day of his death, an entry in the chequebook of the Chapel Royal described him as “Wm. Bird, a Father of Musick.”

'The Life and Times of William Byrd. A Local History'. Friday 30 June 2023, 7.30pm

 

Tickets for our local celebration of William Byrd are for sale here: Fri. 30 June: 7.30-9.30pm The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local Histo Tickets, Fri 30 Jun 2023 at 19:30 | Eventbrite 

Final preparations are under way for the talk on William Byrd at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, CM15 0LD. Book covers are printed with content to be run off and stapled in readiness for the evening which is a talk on the composer's life and times.  It will include the voices of the former Rector and historian of Stondon, the churchwarden, Jesuit priests and William Byrd himself all played by local members of our benefice. 

We are looking forward to meeting you too and hope you will join us in interval refreshments, buy a book, and contribute towards our planned project to commemorate Byrd in his 400th year - of which more about later. (We have a plaque inside the Church marking the Tercentenary.)

BBC Radio 3: Composer of the Week. Episode 5 of 5 on Friday 7 July 2023 entitled 'Stondon Massey'

The BBC has announced the playlist of works by William Byrd for inclusion in the final episode of 'Composer of the Week' to be broadcast at 12.00pm on Friday 7 July 2023. The programme is entitled 'Stondon Massey' and will include two contributions to the programme by our local historian Andrew Smith.

Composer of the Week

William Byrd (c1540-1623)

Episode 5 of 5

Stondon Massey

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), Stondon Massey 

Donald Macleod sees Byrd retire to the country and pursue new directions in music and in life.

This week, Donald Macleod marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, the greatest British musician of his age. Donald is joined all week by Byrd expert Kerry McCarthy to explore Byrd’s story and reveal a composer of determined ambition and powerful convictions. Those who encountered him, found Byrd could be a difficult adversary as well as a loyal friend. Donald also visits Essex to discover what remains of Byrd’s legacy in the places where he felt most at home, and to see how the composer navigated a hazardous path between his Catholic faith and his duty to the crown at a time of great religious intolerance.

Today, Donald returns to Stondon Massey where Byrd lived for nearly 30 years, and searches for clues to his final resting place there. He looks at the legal battles Byrd initiated with some of his neighbours and explores the daring new musical project Byrd set for himself, now he was free of his regular obligations at the Chapel Royal.

Haec dies
Choir of Clare College Cambridge, directed by Timothy Brown

The Battell (extract)
Terence Charlston, virginals
Galiardo ‘Mrs. Mary Brownlow’
Catalina Vicens (virginals)

Responsum accepit Simeon
Nunc dimittis
The William Byrd Choir, directed by Gavin Turner

Come Jolly Swains
Have Mercy on me, O God
Blow up the Trumpet
The Sixteen
Fretwork, directed by Harry Christophers

Galiardo ‘The Earle of Salisbury’
Flora Papadopoulos, double harp

Tristitia et anxietas
Gallicantus

 

BBC Radio 3: Composer of the Week. Series on Byrd announced

 

The BBC has published today details of a series of programmes to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd. The webpage includes a playlist of the music in each episode.

Our local historian Andrew Smith was interviewed this week at Stondon Massey Church and will appear (all being well!) in the first episode which is entitled, appropriately for Byrd, 'A Man of Many Parts'.

Composer of the Week

William Byrd (c1540 – 1623)

Episode 1 of 5

A Man of Many Parts

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), A Man of Many Parts accessed 8 June 2023

Will be broadcast at 12.00pm, Monday 3 July 2023

Donald Macleod shines a light on the intricate tangle of relationships, duties and ideas that surrounded Byrd.

This week (week commencing 3 July 2023), Donald Macleod marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, the greatest British musician of his age. Donald is joined all week by Byrd expert Kerry McCarthy to explore Byrd’s story and reveal a composer of determined ambition and powerful convictions. Those who encountered him, found Byrd could be a difficult adversary as well as a loyal friend. Donald also visits Essex to discover what remains of Byrd’s legacy in the places where he felt most at home, and to see how the composer navigated a hazardous path between his Catholic faith and his duty to the crown at a time of great religious intolerance.

Today (Monday 3 July 2023), we’re introduced to some of Byrd’s varied roles and identities, as a public servant and a private individual. Plus, Donald investigates how this sometimes isolated composer connected with the community in which he lived.

O Lux Beata Trinitas
Alamire, directed by David Skinner

The Bells
Sophie Yates, virginals

Praise the Lord all Ye Gentiles
The Cambridge Singers, directed by John Rutter

Have Mercy on me O God
Fantasia No 2
Red Byrd
Rose Consort of Viols

Laudibus in Sanctis
Oxford Camerata, directed by Jeremy Summerly

John come kiss me now
Aapo Häkkinen, harpsichord

O You that hear this voice
In fields abroad
Grace Davidson, soprano
Fretwork, directed by David Skinner

Galliard a6
Fretwork

Other episodes during the week are

Episode 2 of 5: Tuesday 4 July 2023

Lincoln

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), Lincoln 

Episode 3 of 5: Wednesday 5 July 2023

The Chapel Royal

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), The Chapel Royal 

Episode 4 of 5: Thursday 6 July 2023

Recusant

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), Recusant 

Episode 5 of 5: Friday 7 July 2023

Stondon Massey

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, William Byrd (1543-1623), Stondon Massey 

BBC Radio 3 Visit Stondon Massey Church

It was something of a 'red letter day' for Stondon Massey Church when earlier (on Wednesday 7 June) we welcomed Donald Macleod, presenter, and Chris Taylor, producer, of BBC Radio 3's 'Composer of the Week'.  The week beginning Monday 3 July marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Renaissance composer William Byrd.

Andrew Smith was interviewed on aspects of Byrd's life while he lived in early retirement in Stondon Massey. He discussed the Byrd family's recusancy: the refusal to attend Church Services at a time when Anglican worship was compulsory, and his frequent naming before the Archdeaconry Court by the churchwardens, one of whom was Denis Lolly. 

Byrd's time at Stondon Place, where he obtained a short lease from the Crown, was considered and the legal cases he had with Mrs Jane Shelley who claimed joint ownership with her disgraced and deceased husband William. 

Finally there was a reflection on the content of Byrd's Last Will and Testament where the composer asked to buried next to his wife, Julian, in Stondon Massey churchyard.

Composer of the Week will be broadcast at midday from Monday 3 July to Friday 7 July 2023, with Andrew's edited contributions appearing in the first and last programmes.

The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local History. A talk to be given at Stondon Massey Church on 30 June 2023, beginning 7.30pm

Tickets are on sale for our celebration of William Byrd on 30 June.  We will be holding a talk presented "semi-staged" by local people.  For tickets visit Eventbrite: Fri. 30 June: 7.30-9.30pm The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local Histo Tickets, Fri 30 Jun 2023 at 19:30 | Eventbrite

A Byrd in the Hand. A keyboard recital at St Nicolas Church, Witham. Sunday 16 July 2023, 4pm