A desire, borne of guilt, to get back to church-going arises in me around Easter, and this year I decided to do something about it and start watching the services posted online by the local Episcopal Church. I figured that I really had no excuse, as video had taken away all the typical impediments that had kept me from attending in person: the need to shower, get dressed, get in a good enough mood to be around others. And because the services have been recorded and left on YouTube, I haven’t even had to get up for a 10 o’clock service. All I’ve needed to do every Sunday is pick an hour when I can sit by myself with a set of ear buds and my phone. As a lazy, slightly skeptical, churchgoer, it’s been heaven.

The church services have not been heavy on music, and I didn’t expect them to be, given the difficulty of creating so-called virtual choirs. I was glad, then, to see this on April 26 service and charmed by the performance:

The piece is William Byrd‘s “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless” (“Non vos relinquam orphanos“), performed here by the principal singers of the St. James Episcopal Church choir. It’s from the composer’s Gradualia, a set of 109 sacred motets published in two volumes in 1605 and 1607. The five-voice piece sets John 14:18 and 16:22:

I will not leave you comfortless, Alleluia
I go, and I will come to you, Alleluia.
and your heart shall be joyful, Alleluia.

Byrd (1543-1623) spent his entire career in the service of the British Royal Family, which is remarkable given that he was a staunch Catholic at a time during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I when the practice of Catholicism was illegal. With the Gradualia, Byrd may have been expressing a commitment to his branch of Christianity, demonstrating a rebellious streak, or preparing for the return of Catholicism to England (because at that time, Anglicanism was not necessarily a done deal). Whatever the motivation, he wrote the Gradualia as unapologetically Catholic music. It was no one-off either, as he composed a number of pieces for the Catholic mass, including versions of the Ordinary set for three, four, and five voices. None of this music was probably heard during Byrd’s time by anyone but the composer and a small group of Catholic loyalists; people were arrested for simply owning the Gradualia.

In the Gradualia, Byrd ascribed each motet to a particular feast day in the Catholic liturgical year. He wrote “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless” for Pentecost, which just happens to be today. Happy Pentecost!