ABSTRACT
Byrd entered on his career as a publisher after he and Thomas Tallis obtained a patent for the printing of music at the beginning of 1575. The patent also professed to grant control over the printing of music paper and the importation of music. The Latin pieces have a kinship with the liturgical and paraliturgical music which flourished before the mid-sixteenth century, and they continued the 'psalm motet' tradition into a new age. Lord Hunsdon's position as Lord Chamberlain made him a natural choice as the dedicatee of Songs of sundrie natures in 1589, but his patronage suggests that Byrd's relations with him were friendly. While the English collections include lighter songs, the Latin songs are concerned entirely with religious matters. Nearly all those published in 1589 and 1591 have texts which are from the Bible, or are closely related to the Bible, though New Testament texts are avoided almost completely.
