Composer of the Week is broadcast on Radio 3 at 12pm, Monday to Friday. Programmes in June are:
29 May – 2 June Domenico Scarlatti
5-9 June Rossini
12-16 June Falla
19-23 June JC Bach
26-30 June Gershwin
When William Byrd died in the summer of 1623, the octogenarian composer’s peers lamented the loss of ‘a father of music’. Yet only a thin sliver of his output lived on in the music lists of England’s cathedrals in the centuries that followed until 100 years ago, when Byrd’s creative achievements were marked with the launch of a scholarly edition and a tercentenary series of recordings by the pioneering English Singers. Interest in him continues to soar today, propelled by new editions, a cottage industry of archival research and recordings that encompass his sacred compositions, secular songs, keyboard pieces and fantasias for viol consort. Appreciation of Byrd’s music has developed in tandem with growing awareness of
