Renaissance Music

See "copyright" for attributions for the music on these pages.

The music on these Shakespeare pages comes from a great Elizabethan collection of hits, the FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK.

Numerous authors contributed to this popular volume of songs and airs. You should read up on one of the most famous of these composers, William Byrd. Many of Byrd's songs were used for dance music, such as Sellenger's Round.

The FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK can be seen today at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. Other major Renaissance music books attest to the widespread popularity of this kind of music in Europe during the Renaissance.

If you are interested, you can learn more about early music generally at the Early Music FAQ site.