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There is a wealth of information abounding in the petitions wherein masters expostulate to the court the reasons for wishing to free their slaves. The petitions reveal relationships between diverse cultures and races, and many of them depict those relatio ... Read more

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William Byrd’s Gradualia is one of the most unusual and elaborate musical works of the English Renaissance. This large collection of liturgical music, 109 pieces in all, was written for clandestine use by English Catholics at a time when they were forbidden to practice their religion in public. When Byrd began to compose the Gradualia, he turned from the penitential and polemical extravagances of his earlier Latin motets to the narrow, carefully ordered world of the Counter-Reformation liturgy. It was in this new context, cut off from his familiar practice of choosing colorful texts and setting them at length, that he first wrote about the "hidden and mysterious power" of sacred words to evoke a creative response.

Liturgy and Contemplation in Byrd’s Gradualia responds to Byrd’s own testimony by exploring how he read the texts of the Mass and the events of the church calendar. Kerry McCarthy examines early modern English Catholic attitudes toward liturgical practice, meditation, and what the composer himself called "thinking over divine things." She draws on a wide range of contemporary sources — devotional treatises, commentaries on the Mass, poetry, memoirs, letters, and Byrd’s dedicatory prefaces — and revisits the Gradualia in light of this evidence. The book offers a case study of how one artist reimagined the creative process in the final decades of his life.

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This symposium celebrates the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Byrd, one of the greatest English composers. Twelve scholars contribute essays which together cover all the genres of Byrd's prolific output. Topics discussed in this collection include authentication of the canon, applications of technology to Byrd research, Byrd's relationship to earlier English traditions and his influence on his successors. There are studies concerned with manuscript sources and aspects of performance and the final contribution is a comprehensive listing of Byrd recordings made between 1923 and 1988. The essays in this volume show a variety of approaches to musical analysis and some of the conclusions are controversial, or offer revisions of earlier opinions. ... Read more

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In 1728, William Byrd, the wealthy, English-educated master of Westover plantation, undertook a journey with a troop of commissioners, surveyors, and woodsmen to determine the exact boundary between North Carolina and Virginia. Byrd was not only an indefatigable explorer but also an amateur naturalist and diarist of considerable skill. He recorded the journey in two classics of colonial literature--The History of the Dividing Line and The Secret History of the Line--which showcase in varying measure his keen observations of natural phenomena, his erudition, his predilection for exercise and sexual conquest, and his witty and elegant prose.

William Byrd and Stephen Ausband are separated by almost three hundred years, but they share a similar literary inclination complemented by an amateur interest in nature. Like Byrd, Ausband has tramped the dividing line and returned with a lively, informative book.

Byrd's Line is Ausband's dialogue with Byrd across the years. It still requires a hike or a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach the remote beach where Byrd began his survey. As Ausband slogs through the Great Dismal Swamp and the thickets and forests that Byrd wrote about, he interlaces his own adventure with quotations from Byrd. These range from descriptions of chestnut trees and passenger pigeons, both gone now, to accounts of the local inhabitants, both native and European.

Byrd often mused about what would happen to the land in the future. While some of the dividing line still feels like wilderness, it is crisscrossed today by bridges and roads, its forests felled and paved over for parking lots and subdivisions, its waters diverted or drained. Ausband's story, therefore, is a natural history of a changed region. It is also an accessible introduction to the mind and words of an extraordinary early American. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An easy, delightful read--and not a hint of leather or tweed
Dr. Ausband's elegant, easy, affable writing style (threaded with humor and just a hint of the bawdy) mirrors that of his subject, and reading this book is very much like listening in on a conversation between two men sharing their thoughts, observations, and tall tales about their adventures in a land they both love, while warming their hands around a steaming mug of coffee before an autumn campfire. The fact that they are separated by three centuries of "progress" is no barrier to their camaraderie, and because the book is so well written, the reader becomes a member of Byrd's expedition team, too, as Ausband does---without having to clean the mud off his or her boots, or cut through the brush in the Dismal Swamp. Almost incidentally, he or she also gets an education in botany, ornithology, and zoology along the imaginary line that separates Virginia from North Carolina, the descriptions of the animals, plants, and people Byrd encountered (and Ausband revisits) as colorful as the Carolina parakeet that once overran the area--and nowhere to be found is the cloying smell of leather elbow patches and tweed the one might expect such a book to exude.

It's a skillful piece of work, written by a master storyteller, and will be of interest to anyone who is a student of Byrd of Westover, a resident of the geographic area, a fisherman or hunter or hiker, or a bibliophile unable to resist the lure of an exceptionally well-wrought book. ... Read more

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These pages contain a wealth of information transcribed from obscure and fragile, original documents housed at the North Carolina State Archives. Papers were listed under the general headings of "Slaves and Free Negroes," "Slaves and Free Persons of Color ... Read more

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These pages contain a wealth of information transcribed from obscure and fragile, original documents housed at the North Carolina State Archives. Every attempt has been made to transcribe the complete collection, including partial or fragmented documents. ... Read more

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Attempt to transcribe the complete collection of original documents housed at the NC State Archives. Stokes Co. is bound by Rockingham, Forsyth, and Surry counties, and by the state of Virginia. Yadkin Co. was formed from Surry Co. in 1850, and is bound b ... Read more

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North Carolina Slaves And Free Persons Of Color: IredellCounty – William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith. These pages containa wealth of information transcribed from obscure and fragile, originaldocuments housed at the North Carolina State Archives. Every attempthas been made to transcribe the complete collection, including partialor fragmented documents. Papers were listed under the general headingsof "Slaves and Free Negroes," "Slaves and Free Persons ofColor" and "Miscellaneous Records."

Iredell County, named in honor of James Iredell of Edenton, wasestablished in 1789, and is bound by Rowan, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg,Lincoln, Catawba, Alexander, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Davie counties. Therewere several boundary changes between Iredell, Burke and Wilkescounties (1793-1818). Anyone researching this area will want to addthis rich catalog of names to their library.

Interactions between Blacks and Whites are displayed on both legal and domestic levels, giving the reader a vivid account of everyday life in the Antebellum South. Criminal cases are filled with intrigue—murder, felonies, trading with slaves and harboring slaves. Records are grouped by category, including: Civil Actions, Criminal Actions, Miscellaneous Records, and Petitions to Sell Slaves. A table of cases for criminal and civil actions, a full name and subject index, and a glossary of legal terms augment this work.

This is the fifth Heritage Book by these authors in the NorthCarolina And Free Persons Of Color series. 2002, 198 pp., glossary,index, paper ... Read more

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These pages contain a wealth of information transcribed from obscure and fragile, original documents housed at the North Carolina State Archives. Every attempt has been made to transcribe the complete collection, including partial or fragmented documents. ... Read more

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The evolution of North Carolina's Slave Codes begins in 1669, and for the most part, ends in 1862. Nestled within those years, was an ever growing number of new laws enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly; the purpose of which was to control the great numbers of not-always-docile slaves in the Colony of North Carolina, and later, the State of North Carolina. There were insurrections, uprisings, and runaways; all of which were crushed in the end. Some slaves were treated fairly, and others were treated brutally. Slavery in the South was a perfect example of man's inhumanity to man. The North Carolina Slave Codes speak for themselves. Read this book and weep.A Chronology of Laws and a full-name plus subject index augment this valuable work. ... Read more

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North Carolina Slaves And Free Persons Of Color: McDowell County – William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith. These pages contain a wealth of information transcribed from obscure and fragile, original documents housed at the North Carolina State Archives. Every attempt has been made to transcribe the complete collection, including partial or fragmented documents. Papers were listed under the general headings of "Slaves and Free Negroes," "Slaves and Free Persons of Color" and "Miscellaneous Records." McDowell County, established from Rutherford and Burke in 1842, was named for Colonel Joseph McDowell, and is bound by Burke, Rutherford, Henderson, Buncombe, Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties. Marion is the county seat. Anyone researching this area will want to add this rich catalog of names to their library. Interactions between Black and White are displayed on both legal and domestic levels, giving the reader a vivid account of everyday life in the Antebellum South. The criminal cases are filled with intrigue involving murder, felonies, arson, trading with slaves, disturbing the peace, and other petty crimes. Records are grouped by category, including: Criminal Actions, Civil Actions, Petition Exparte, and Miscellaneous. A table of cases for criminal and civil actions, a full name and subject index, and a glossary of legal terms augment this work. This is the seventh Heritage Book by these authors in the North Carolina And Free Persons Of Color series. This is Mr. Byrd’s eleventh Heritage Book. 2002, 332 pp., glossary, index, paper. ... Read more

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The records in this book were gleaned from papers found in the North Carolina State Archives, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. Chapter One is comprised of records pertaining to the Tuscarora Indians of North Carolina and New York. Th ... Read more

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William Byrd, 1674-1744 and Edmund Ruffin, 1794-1865
The Westover Manuscripts: Containing the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina; A Journey to the Land of Eden, A.D. 1733; and A Progress to the Mines. Written from 1728 to 1736, and Now First Published.
Petersburg, VA: Printed by Edmund and Julius C. Ruffin, 1841. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Another For Academics Only?
I bought this and Vol I of "The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book" to help me understand Schott ("Playing The Harpsichord) better. This is a much thinner and thus less unwieldy tome than "The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book" but it is still a music desk destroyer in weight and will not lie flat unless the binding is broken. I'm grateful to Dover for the work but implore them to find a better and not necessarily more expensive form of presentation. As with the Fitzwilliam, this book has a lot of information and, glory be, it is set in a larger and easier to read type face. Most of us beginners are going to have to work hard to make music using this reference but the effort will have been worth it.

Awesome!
This is the best pre-Bach harpsichord music I've heard. You just enjoy listening to it. I did have one question. I am ready to purchase the book, but I know that music written before around 1700 had some very different clefs/staffs, Other than the normal treble and bass clefs, and the 5 line staff. Does this book contain any of those? If they do, someone please say so.

Here's what's in it
1. MY LADYE NEVELS GROWNDE
2. QUI PASSE: for my ladye nevell
3. THE MARCHE BEFORE THE BATTELL
4. THE BATTELL
5. THE GALLIARDE FOR THE VICTORIE
6. THE BARELYE BREAKE
7. A GALLIARDS GYGGE
8. THE HUNTES UPP
9. UT RE MI FA SOL LA
10. THE FIRSTE PAVIAN
11. THE GALLIARDE TO THE FIRSTE PAVIAN
12. THE SECONDE PAVIAN
13. THE GALLIARDE TO THE SECONDE PAVIAN
14. THE THIRD PAVIAN
15. THE GALLIARDE TO THE THIRD PAVIAN
16. THE FOURTH PAVIAN
17. THE GALLLIARDE TO THE FOURTH PAVIAN
18. THE FIFTE PAVIAN
19. THE GALLIARDE TO THE FIFTE PAVIAN
20. PAVANA THE SIXTE: KINBRUGH GOODD
21. THE GALLIARDE TO THE SIXTE PAVIAN
22. THE SEVENTH PAVIAN
23. THE EIGHTE PAVIAN
24. THE PASSINGE MESURES: THE NYNTHE PAVIAN
25. THE GALLIARDE TO THE THE NYNTHE PAVIAN
26. A VOLUNTARIE : for my ladye nevell
27. WILL YOW WALKE THE WOODS SOE WYLDE
28. THE MAIDENS SONGE
29. A LESSON OF VOLUNTARIE
30. THE SECOND OF GROWNDE
31. HAVE WITH YOW TO WALSINGAME
32. ALL IN A GARDEN GRINE
33. LORD WILLOBIES WELCOME HOME
34. THE CARMANS WHISTLE
35. HUGHE ASHTONS GROWNDE
36. A FANCIE
37. SELLINGERS ROWNDE
38. MUNSERS ALMAINE
39. THE TENNTHE PAVIAN: MR. W. PETER
40. THE GALLIARDE TO THE TENNTHE PAVIAN
41. A FANCIE
42. A VOLUNTARIE

Great Stuff for Keyboard
William Byrd wrote a lot of church music, and it's still performed. His keyboard music isn't performed, but I think that this music is really "listenable". It's not like most "classical" music. It's not "heavy". It's not bombastic like Beethoven, soporific like Mozart, sappy like Chopin, or chaotic like Schumann. It's pretty, it has cool rhythms, and there's a tonne of counterpoint for nerds. I can't see why anyone would dislike this stuff!

Byrd Keyboard Music
William Byrd was the first composer to write music specially for the harpsichord or Virginal. His music is among the best for harpsichord and among my favorite music (I am a professional harpsichord player). This bookgives you a splendid edition of his best music for a very low price. Highlyrecommended for all harpsichord players and others interested in EarlyMusic or the harpsichord repertoire. ... Read more