Mass for Four Voices Gradualia Propers for Candlemas
​ * William Byrd, perhaps the greatest composer of the Renaissance, was known (in the words of Thomas Morley) as "A Father of Musick, never without reverence to be named of the musicians." ​ * Byrd's hauntingly beautiful Mass for Four Voices is universally acclaimed as one of the greatest Mass settings ever composed ​ * The liturgy for Candlemas begins with the blessing of the candles used at Mass throughout the year, and a candle-lit procession recalling the prophet Simeon's procession in the temple with the infant Jesus in his arms. ​ * English Catholics of Byrd's time referred to the Nunc dimittis, the canticle sung by Simeon--and set by Byrd for Candlemas--as Simeon's "swan song." Byrd may have begun his monumental Gradualia with his luminous Propers for Candlemas because he saw the entire collection as his own "swan song."