Tags: Classical Music Composition.
Ye Sacred Muses is William Byrd’s Musical elegy on the death of his colleague and sometime mentor Thomas Tallis. It is scored for 5 vv (usually four viols and countertenor). The words are:-Ye sacred Muses race of Jovewhom Music’s lore delightethCome down from crystal heav’ns aboveto earth where sorrow dwellethIn mourning weeds with tears in eyes:Tallis is dead and Music dies.The concluding lines are particularly effective and are repeated.