Secret Service

It wasn’t cool, or even legal, to be Catholic in post-Reformation England. That’s why William Byrd, appreciated for his compositions for the Anglican service and credited for his role in forging Elizabethan culture in his homeland, kept his Catholic faith quiet. But not so quiet as to deter him from composing a series of three Catholic Masses between 1592 and 1595, secretly presented in private homes with purposely small groups of singers to evade the very real possibility of imprisonment for treason. Together these deeply personal and devout Masses represent a remarkable portrait of faith in a time of religious persecution. Te Deum AntiquaÍs presentation of one of these, ByrdÍs Mass for Five Voices, will include chants that would likely have been part of the clandestine services, in the intimate environment of a century-old midtown church that will transport the audience to a different time and place.