Harley John. The World of William Byrd: Musicians, Merchants and Magnates

Ashgate Publishing, 2010. — 325 p.: ill.: figures: tables
William Byrd (birth date variously given as c.1539/40 or 1543 – 1623) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music.
The largest and most versatile composer of the Elizabethan era.In "The World of William Byrd" John Harley builds on his previous work, William Byrd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal (Ashgate, 1997), in order to place the composer more clearly in his social context. He provides new information about Byrd's youthful musical training, and reveals how in his adult life his music emerged from a series of overlapping family, business and social networks. These networks and Byrd's navigation within and between them are examined, as are the lives of a number of the individuals comprising them.