The renaissance English composer William Byrd (1543-1623) wrote a set of four variations on Fortune, My Foe based upon the harmonic scheme of the passamezzo antico, a stock bass which he had used previously in his Passing Measures Pavan. Fortune, My Foe is similar enough to suggest that the two were written about the same time.

This appears to be one of Byrd's earliest variation sets and bears many similarities to the grounds he wrote in the 1570s. He only departs from the theme slowly, and ends the piece with a virtuosic section similar to that found in the grounds. Byrd's writing is slow and somewhat melancholy, similar to that in the Pavan. The song, Fortune, My Foe, has sorrowful words, and Byrd perhaps took his inspiration from there.

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