DESCRIPTION: Pavan and galliard a 6, for instrumental consort in C major (ca. 1590)
Rose Consort of Viols
While William Byrd's many Pavan and Galliard pairs for virginal form an extensive and integral part of his instrumental output and remain among the best-known of all his works, he may have composed just one example of the genre for a non-keyboard ensemble, the consort Pavan and Galliard a6 in C published in the modern Byrd Edition, Volume 17 (some of the keyboard pieces may, however, have originally been written for consort). Although a precise dating of the work is impossible, it is certainly one of his very last compositions (probably written sometime in the vicinity of 1610), featuring not only a very forward- looking harmonic and melodic layout but also an advanced degree of thematic interconnectedness between the two movements that marks much of the composer's best and most mature output. Byrd uses an archaic one-flat key signature throughout the piece, but this should not fool either the player or listener into believing it to be anything but a sure C major-only in a few instances does Byrd choose to not raise the B flat to a natural (these few moments of flat-seven, however, being the most thoroughly "Renaissance"-sounding of the piece). The Pavan portion of the work is cast in three eight- bar sections, each of which is marked to be repeated. As the piece unfolds, the steady, sure rhythms of the opening passage give way to ever-faster and more energetic gestures, so that by the end of the Pavan we are inundated with constant sixteenth-note imitation and syncopations. The opening of the Galliard is nothing more or less than the first few measures of the Pavan reworked into a triple-meter context. Again the basic, ascending dotted rhythm melody is doubled at the sixth below by the tenor, and again the bass and second alto outline a move from the tonic (C major) to the dominant. Again a three-section structure is set up, and throughout the other two portions similar tributes are paid to the Pavan's general outlines of voice-leading and harmony. The final cadence is an example of just how vague the boundaries between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods really are. [allmusic.com]
