The renaissance English composer William Byrd (1543-1623) wrote a set of six variations on the English song Mistress Mine I Must. This song is not contained in My Lady Nevell's Book of 1591, but rather the later Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, and is thought to postdate the earlier collection.

This piece is one of the finest slow works written by Byrd. Byrd is at his most masterful in the polyphonic writing and ornamentation applied to the melody. He chooses to set his own varied harmonies, which change between the variations, but retains the song in the treble throughout creating a strong sense of melody. Although only a small set of variation, he increases the tension throughout guiding the listener's attention towards the final variation where all is resolved.

This is thought to be one of the last variation sets written by Byrd, and is certainly one of the best. It successfully marries a genre set in his relative youth with a more mature writing style to produce one of the gems of the English keyboard tradition.

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