The early 1920s were noteworthy years for discoveries by Englishmen. Most sensationally, Howard Carter uncovered the relatively untouched tomb of King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in late 1922. For lovers of English church music an equally important, if less trumpeted discovery was made some years before by Rev. Edmund Fellowes, a minor canon of St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Sifting through manuscripts in the library of Durham cathedral, the priest-musician came across most of the music for what is now known as William Byrd’s Great Service.

This monumental work contains music for the three main services of the Book of Common Prayer: Mattins, Holy Communion and Evensong. Cast in seven movements for two choirs of five parts each, with up to ten independent parts, the score lives up to its nickname and is undoubtedly the grandest of the composer’s liturgical creations. This may seem a somewhat ironic distinction for a recusant Catholic, but there was a limit to the complexity of music destined to be sung in a priest hole. 

In all probability, the