View source for Ye Sacred Muses

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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{{No footnotes|date=January 2023}}
'''''Ye Sacred Muses''''' is [[William Byrd]]'s Musical [[elegy]] on the death of his colleague and mentor, [[Thomas Tallis]], in the form of a [[consort song]] or secular madrigal. It is scored for 5 parts (four [[viol]]s and [[treble voice]]) or SATTB vocal ensemble.

The words are:-

:Ye sacred [[Muses]], race of [[Jove]],
:whom Music's lore delighteth,
:Come down from crystal heav'ns above
:to earth where sorrow dwelleth,
:In mourning [[Mourning#United Kingdom|weeds]], with tears in eyes:
:Tallis is dead, and Music dies.

The concluding lines are particularly effective and are repeated. The tonality of the piece is slightly ambiguous, as despite its ending on a D major chord, it never really settles in any one key. Byrd uses the Dorian mode whilst his Renaissance contemporaries generally avoided the use of Medieval modes either by sharpening leading tones or lowering the fourth in the Lydian mode. Byrd's use of the Dorian mode can be seen in the very first phrase of the piece.

==External links==
*{{ChoralWiki|Ye_sacred_muses_(William_Byrd)|prep=of}}
*[http://jfa.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/~john/webstar/john/Wolftooth/Music/Muses.html Informal performance by 'Wolftooth' (viol consort and alto)]

{{William Byrd}}
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[[Category:Funerary and memorial compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions by William Byrd]]
[[Category:Thomas Tallis]]
[[Category:Composer tributes (classical music)]]


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