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Byrd: Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets (1611): London

Thursday 23 March 2023

7.30pm

Venue: Wigmore Hall

Hear us sing

This Sweet and Merry Month of May

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Overview

Performance Time: 2 hours (including interval) minutes

Tickets available on the door

Access Information

Wigmore Hall aims to ensure it is accessible to all. Please see the venue website for full details.

The Sixteen is joined by celebrated viol consort, Fretwork, for a performance of William Byrd's 1611 Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets.

The Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets of 1611 was William Byrd’s final publication. And what a superbly fitting culmination to a lifetime of musical service it is! As well as being packed with variety and invention – including both sacred and secular music and using a range of forces from small trios to consorts to full choir – it is probably the happiest, most serene collection of music Byrd ever produced.

PROGRAMME

Byrd
Retire my soul
The eagle’s force
This sweet and merry month of May a4
Let not the sluggish sleep
Ah silly soul
Wedded to will is witless
A feigned friend
Fantasia a6
Crowned with flowers and lilies
Fantasia a6
O God that guides the cheerful sun
Awake mine eyes
Come jolly swains
Praise our Lord, all ye Gentiles
How vain the toils
Come woeful Orpheus
Fantasia a4
Arise Lord into thy rest
Pavan and Galliard
In winter cold/Whereat an ant
Make ye joy to God
What is life
Turn our captivity, O Lord
Have mercy upon me O God