William Byrd is one of the best-known com­posers in a 16^th-cen­tu­ry England that was plagued by reli­gious con­flicts. Byrd, him­self a devout Catholic, com­posed music for the Anglican ser­vice. True to his faith, he con­tin­ued to com­pose music for Catholic gath­er­ings. In his Latin motets, there are often hid­den mes­sages, protests and lamen­ta­tions. Crises often serve as breed­ing grounds for art, and Byrd’s motets are a prime exam­ple of this.

With the sup­port of Visit Bruges