Fancy in C (William Byrd)

An important source of William Byrd's keyboard music is the handwritten manuscript known as “My Ladye Nevells Booke”, which contains 42 pieces including this Fancy (Fantasia) in C Major. The manuscript dates from 1591, and at one time belonged to Queen Elizabeth I (who herself played the virginals) and, in the 18th century, to Charles Burney. It is now in the British Library, and can be viewed in its entirety online on the library’s website. In fact the pieces have been available to the music-loving public since 1926, when Hilda Andrews prepared a beautifully typeset edition. In this home recording, Douglas Amrine performs on a ‘Dulcken’ harpsichord built by Martin Skowroneck in 1962. Amrine attended Stanford University and Oberlin College Conservatory, and did his post-graduate studies at the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, where he studied with Gustav Leonhardt. He was a prizewinner at the Albert Schweitzer International Organ Competition in 1982, and has recorded two solo CDs of the harpsichord and organ music of JS Bach. He has appeared as soloist in many European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, Singapore and India.

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