ABSTRACT
The evidence surrounding William Byrd’s later Latin works suggests that he wrote them with the demands of their particular genre, function, and narrative in mind-and that his strategy in composing a Mass proper cycle was fundamentally different from his compilation of a motet book along the lines of the 1589 and 1591 Cantiones. Such a claim, if it is to be considered seriously, must stand up under musical analysis as well as under extramusical speculation. How is Byrd’s close reading of liturgical texts reflected in the structure and detail of his music?
