https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3454-1425
-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Richard Rastall, Byrd facsimiles, Early Music, Volume 52, Issue 1, February 2024, Pages 126–128, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caae007
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Late in 2023, the year marking the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death, seems an appropriate time to publish facsimiles of the three printed sets of partbooks containing his Latin motets, joining the previous issue of his Mass settings (DIAMM facsimiles 3, 2012). It is also fitting that the first of these should include the published motets of Byrd’s great teacher and colleague, Thomas Tallis. Each of these three sets has a brief but informative introduction by Kerry McCarthy, which includes some basic explanation of the notation and printing conventions of the period.
Choosing the right copies from which to work is always a major decision in reproducing printed matter. The example chosen must be clean and legible, without too obviously presenting problems with under- or over-inking; it must not be bound too tightly, so that the printed image can be photographed even into the gutter margins; and it must be available for both photography and publication. Sometimes the decision is a difficult one: but the Oxford-based Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) is lucky in being able to work with good and available copies owned by Christ Church, Oxford.
