The English composer William Byrd's (1543-1623) second set of Variations, Browning my dear (also known as The leaves be green) was not following a long-established tradition. The most popular consort genre of the time, after dance music, was the In Nomine. The variation form, while tracing its ancestry back to semi-improvised genres, was an exception rather than the norm.

This work is a set of twenty variations on the popular tune Browning my dear. It is written for unspecified instrumental consort of five instruments, and can be performed on recorders, viols or any other family of renaissance instruments. It was one of Byrd's most popular consort pieces and was being copied into manuscripts by 1580.

This set of variations is not the first on Browning. A set of five exist by Stonings, and of ten by Woodcock, and Byrd must have known of these. However Byrd's work is superior to these earlier works by the nature of the brilliance of the writing and technically masterful counterpoint.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.