Byrd Studies in the Twenty-First Century (Clemson University Press: Studies in British Musical Cultures)

Byrd Studies in the Twenty-First Century demonstrates current approaches to Byrd studies in the twenty-first century and represents the sole major print effort to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2023. The volume's chapters, by both early-career and established scholars, cover topics that engage with Byrd’s milieu and music, incorporating themes such as reception history, exploration and exile, historiography, digital scholarship, literary criticism, and reconstruction. It also expands upon established areas of Byrd scholarship, including Byrd’s Catholicism, analysis, performance practice, and reformation politics, investigating how approaches to Byrd and his music have changed over since the last major anniversary in 1923. This timely volume not only marks the quatercentenary of a beloved English composer but works to situate scholarship on Byrd within the changing landscape of interdisciplinary music study. It includes contributions from scholars drawing widely from literary studies, visual culture, music theory, performance studies, and cultural history. Byrd's exceptional life at the heart of elite and courtly culture during tumultuous late-Elizabethan England is a unique window to late-sixteenth, early-seventeenth century England that will be of value to scholars and students from both within and without music studies. Byrd Studies in the Twenty-first Century provides new approaches and perspectives on Byrd's music, performance, and legacy.