Byrd: Two Serious Songs à5 (viols)

These two songs come by William Byrd come from his Psalms, Sonets and Songs, published in London in 1588.
Although both quite short, they are typically intense and economical in their construction.
Byrd’s collection appeared a few years before the rush of madrigals that erupted in England around ten years later, and the pieces are relatively free from Italian influence.