Sunday in the Octave of Christmas 2024
Processional hymn: God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, 807
Recessional hymn: Angels We Have Heard On High, 812
Credo V, 784
Kyriale: Mass for 3 Voices, William Byrd
Offertory hymn: Crudele Herodes, Chant
Communion hymn: Puer Natus in Bethlehem, Chant
The Mass for 3 Voices is one of William Byrd’s three settings of the Ordinary of the Latin Mass were published in undated editions, without title-pages, sometime between 1592 and 1595. Though the standard choral arrangement for composition is four voices, Byrd’s setting manages to convey a full texture even with one fewer voice.
William Byrd (c. 1543–1623) became Catholic in the 1570s and he composed much music for the church against government ordinances. In 1605 the first volume of the Gradualia, which are settings of the propers of the Mass, was banned in England under penalty of imprisonment along with all of his Catholic music. By the time of his death he was seen favorably as a composer by both Anglican and Catholic alike.