In William Byrd's massive Gradualia collections are contained, in addition to numerous settings of various Mass Propers as needed for feasts and celebrations throughout the year (such as the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 25 or, of course, the Nativity), a number of pieces that do not necessarily fall into a strict categorization but might be employed in a number of ways and at a number of times. Such a work is the three-voice Marian antiphon from the Easter office, Regina coeli, published in the first book of Gradualia in 1605. It is thought that most of the Gradualia music was originally intended for use in private ceremonies (Byrd was, after all, living in a Protestant state, and it was only after retiring from active duty with the Royal Chapel that he began to compose music for the Catholic services that he took part in), and, indeed, the intimacy of Regina coeli's three-voice texture and the restraint with which Byrd explores the music/text relationship (the latter a characteristic of many Gradulia pieces) would seem to support such an idea. Although the Regina coeli text is relatively brief, Byrd sets it in an expansive way, devoting an entire section of music to each of the text's four lines and expanding the "alleluias" that appears at the end of each line into four full-blown sections. Thus is born an eight-part structure in which each section is of nearly equal duration—around fourteen or fifteen breves apiece. First comes the text "Regina coeli laetare (Rejoice, Heaven's Queen)", set in a highly melismatic fashion and cadencing, as does the following alleluia, in the home tonal level (within the Dorian context). Byrd chooses to set the two central verses, "quia quem meruisti portare (for he whom you were fit to bear)" and "rexurrit sicut dixit (has risen as foretold)", in a less melodically decorative style; these two portions come to closes a third above and a third below the basic tonal level, respectively. For the final verse, "Ora pro nobis Deum (Pray to God for us)", the florid style of the opening section is recalled, and the half- cadence on which the verse ends is suitably resolved by the following, fourth, alleluia.



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