by Paul Matheson

Secret Byrd’: The Gesualdo Six’s immersive performance of Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices.

On 13 September 2023 at the Lammermuir Festival, Gesualdo Six gave the first Scottish performance of their immersive theatrical concert ‘Secret Byrd’ – a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of English composer William Byrd, who composed music for the celebration of Mass at a time when it carried the death penalty in England.

The shadow of religious persecution and clandestine worship was evoked even before a note was sung, as visitors to St Mary’s, Haddington waited at the door and were slowly admitted in small groups, then led into the dark, candlelit church by members of the Gesualdo Six ensemble, all dressed in 16th century costume. The choristers invited us to freely explore the church and to pause at the printed banners suspended from pillars, and to read their information about the commemorative event we were shortly to experience. More about those banners in a moment.

We strolled through the deep, candlelit church, listening to Byrd’s elegant instrumental music performed by the Fretwork viol consort. Then, thrillingly, the Gesualdo Six began to sing their programme of Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices, his elegy for Thomas Tallis, his Easter motet Haec Dies and his setting of Savonarola’s Latin meditation on the penitential ‘Miserere’ (Psalm 51) Infelix Ego.  Both the sight and the sound of the Gesualdo Six’s singing was spellbinding: the rich, resonant, reverberant bass/baritone; the lush, sweet tenors and the ecstatic, angelic counter-tenors all sat around a circular table, facing each other, their faces lit by candlelight.