William Byrd: Retire my soul
(Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets... London, 1611)
Stile Antico
Live recording, 15 July 2023
Score: www.cpdl.org (David Fraser)
Performed a tone below written pitch.
Retire my soul, consider thine estate,
and justly sum thy lavish sin's account,
Time's dear expense and costly pleasures rate
how follies grow, how vanities amount.
Write all this down, in pale Death's reckoning tables,
thy days will seem but dreams, thy hopes but fables,
