The Hatter's Diary
06 Aug 2025
In the latest Hatter post, which covers the compositions for 2025, I explained:William has temporarily proven a dead end. Long story short, a book on William Byrd was eventually deemed "lost in the mail." By the time I got my hands on a copy, I was no longer in the mood to read something drier than a caucus race. You can track that adventure here, where I take notes on much of Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum instead.
Wikipedia tells me that William Byrd married Juliana Birley in 1568, and they had at least 7 children. The only names we have for the children are Christopher, Elizabeth, and Thomas. Thomas Byrd, who was likely the second son of William Byrd, was the godson of Thomas Tallis, another successful English composer from the Renaissance. While "The Son" or "Son William" could be Christopher or Thomas to you, he is very clearly Thomas to me.
To outline the unknowns, I don't know if I'll keep Tommy's verses from the first composition or rewrite
it. At this point in time, I'm leaning towards rewriting it. I know that Father William's verses will not have piano accompaniment, but I'm not sure if the texture will be 3 or 4 voices. I'm leaning towards four, and the four characters would be William, The Caterpillar, Tommy, and Alice.
My assignments, in order of least to most entertaining, are:
Take notes on understandable snippets from "The Technique of Byrd's Vocal Polyphony"
Analyze a handful of pieces from Byrd's Gradualia Book 1
(The volume begins with 32 motets for 5 voices which I will ignore.)
Motets for 4 Voices:
1. Cibavit Eos p. 116
2. Oculi Omnium p. 119
3. Sacerdotes Domini p. 123
4. Quotiescunque Manducabitis p. 124
5. Ave Verum Corpus p. 127
6. O Salutaris Hostia p. 129
7. O Sacrum Convivium p. 132
8. Nobis Datus Nobis Natus p. 134
9. Ecce Quam Bonum p. 139
10. Christus Resurgens p. 143
11. Visita Quæsumus Domine p. 148
12. Salve Regina p. 151
13. Alma Redemptoris Mater p. 155
14. Ave Regina Cœlorum p. 159
15. In Manus Tuas p. 168
16. Lætania p. 166
17. Salve Sola Dei Genetrix p. 169
18. Senex Puerum p. 172
19. Hodie Beata Virgo p. 174
20. Deo Gratias p. 176
Motets for 3 Voices:
1. Quem Terra Pontus p. 177
2. O Gloriosa Domina p. 181
3. Memento Salutis Auctor p. 183
4. Ave Maris Stella p. 186
5. Regina Cæli p. 192
6. Alleluia. Quae Lucescit p. 196
7. Hæc Dies p. 198
8. Angelus Domini Descendit p. 199
9. Post Dies Octo p. 200
10. Turbarum Voces p. 202
11. Adorna Thalamum Tuum Sion p. 205
Watch videos from https://www.earlymusicsources.com/youtube
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Gradualia Book 2, if you were curious, contains 19 motets for 4 voices, 18 motets for 5 voices, and 9 motets for 6 voices. So far, I have very helpfully not reviewed my Fux, and gotten distracted by watching the early music video on castrati. I learned that castrati had abnormally long limbs and whiskerless faces, and that "the last castrato " Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922) was the only castrati to have ever made recordings. My favorite recording of his seems to be Crucifixus.
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The Hatter's Diary
2025
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The Hatter's Diary
2025
The Hatter's Diary
2025
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The Hatter's Diary
2025
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The Hatter's Diary
2025
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The Hatter's Diary
2025
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