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William Byrd.

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William Byrd. Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs (1588). Edited by Jeremy Smith. London: Stainer & Bell, c2004. (The Byrd Edition, 12.) [Gen. pref. (Philip Brett), p. v; pref., p. vi-xi; editorial notes, p. xii-xv; texts, p. xvi-xxxvi; notes on the poems, p. xxxvii-xxxix; facsims., p. xl-xliv; score, p. 1-170; extant copies, p. 173-75; index of first lines, p. 176. ISMN M-2202-2043-2; ISBN 0-85249-374-6; pub. no. B374. [pounds sterling]58.]

The year 2004 is a historic one in the publication of music by William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623). Not only does it mark the conclusion of Alan Brown's third revised edition of the composer's Keyboard Music for Musica Britannica (vols. 27-28 [London: Stainer and Bell, 1999-2004]), but more important, sees the completion of the twenty-volume Byrd Edition with the appearance a few months apart of volumes 12 and 13: Byrd's Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs, edited by Jeremy Smith--here under review--and his Songs of Sundrie Natures (1589), edited by David Mateer (and to be reviewed subsequently in Notes).

Published under the general editorship of the late Philip Brett, The Byrd Edition was inaugurated in 1975 to mark the 350th anniversary of the composer's death. It evolved from The Collected Works of William Byrd, the first complete edition, edited by Edmund H. Fellowes between 1937 and 1950, and followed between 1962 and 1971 by five revised reprints of volumes 2, 3, and 12-14 edited by Thurston Dart or Brett, and two new editions of volumes 15 and 17 edited by, respectively, Brett and Kenneth Elliott, between 1962 and 1971. The two new editions were absorbed into The Byrd Edition as volumes 15 and 17 in 1975 and subsequently reissued under the name of the newer series (complete details on these editions will appear in my forthcoming second edition of William Byrd: A Guide to Research [New York: Routledge, 2006]). Whereas Fellowes edited every volume of The Collected Works, Brett farmed out twelve volumes of The Byrd Edition to other editors, unerringly selecting colleagues of stature comparable to his own. He saw the proofs of the final two volumes, 12 and 13, before his death in October 2002 but did not survive to witness their publication.

Printed in London by Thomas East in 1588, Byrd's...

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