The Sixteen

This programme spans the whole of the 16th-century, the age of the Tudors and an unrivalled era in our musical heritage for both sacred and secular music. All the composers had connections either to the court as gentlemen of the Chapel Royal or held positions in the iconic churches of St Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey.

Religiously it was a century of constant change and composers either went with the flow like Tallis and Tye or preserved their Catholic faith like Byrd and Morley, despite possible persecution. By Gibbons’ time, life was a little more straightforward.