Byrd song
Sir: Peter Phillips mentions (Arts, 3 May) hearing Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices in the unlikely setting of Lusaka, Zambia. I too have a happy memory of hearing a Byrd Mass, in this case for Three Voices, in an unexpected setting some years ago. My wife and I were members of a small congregation at a service of Holy Communion at Stiffkey Church, Norfolk. Just before the service began three young men entered the church and told the priest that they would be pleased to sing the Byrd Mass as an accompaniment. One of the three I believe was Michael Chance, the celebrated alto. Anyway, these three young men left my wife and I with a wonderful feeling of elation that such a thing could happen in a small country church.
Bill Marshall
Linslade, Bedfordshire
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