William Byrd's "The Battell"

Throughout September, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates the music of 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century England.


https://youtu.be/jomZcpqkfUI

The great English composer William Byrd (1543–1623) wrote his wonderfully descriptive virginals piece "The Battell" after the great Armada victory of 1588, although most musicologists believe that it is more likely to have been inspired by a smaller skirmish, perhaps an uprising of some sort.

Sally Mosher has said of "The Battell": "By the 17th century, battle pieces had become a popular genre, so Byrd can be said to have launched a new keyboard genre in addition to composing the first English keyboard suite. All in C major, sections of ‘The Battle’ are harmonically very simple; for the most part they alternate between the tonic and the dominant, using no more than a handful of chords. Like the march, they often suggest trumpets and drums, but they also quite successfully suggest the sounds of soldiers marching, of horses walking or running, of flutes, drones and bagpipes. Their presence in a number of later manuscripts indicates their popularity well into the 17th century. . . . Like the music used for silent films, they certainly seem intended as accompaniment for some sort of theatrical piece portraying military action."

Byrd wasn't usually so light-hearted as he is in "The Battell"; the more unkind critics say that it is one of his worst works. But I think it is a fascinating example of the unusual genre of renaissance program music.

My classical music post for today is William Byrd's "The Battell."

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