‘Dances and Puzzles’
William Whitehead, keyboards
Like any profound composer, William Byrd took the standard forms of music and inlaid extra meaning, nuance and structure into them. The stately duple Pavan and its companion three-time Galliard were set many times by Byrd over his career, but each of his examples has unique features, deepening and varying the standard form. He frequently enriches the dance with dialogues and counterpoints, even including canons.
Alongside Byrd I set the music of John Lugge, one-time Organist of Exeter Cathedral, and pursuer of similar rhythmic and intellectual enrichments in his compositions. The earliest known double voluntaries are by him, in other words needing two manuals on the organ, and I end the programme with his most exuberant example.
William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) Pavan and Galliard, BK 71
John Lugge (c. 1580 – after 1645) Christe qui lux
William Byrd Pavan: Canon 2 in 1, BK 74; Galliard, BK 77
John Lugge Ut re mi fa sol la
William Byrd Ut re mi fa sol la, BK 58; Pavan and Galliard, BK 31
John Lugge Voluntarie in 3 parts (Double Voluntary)
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Part of LIFEM23
