This edition was prepared by David Fraser — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
As I beheld I saw a herdman wild
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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As I beheld I saw a herdman wild by William Byrd — Lyrics
As I beheld, I saw a heardman wild,
with his sheephook a picture fine deface,
which he sometime his fancie to beguild,
had carv’d on barke of beech in secret place,
& with despite of most afflicted minde,
through deepe dispaire, of hart, for love dismaid,
he puld even from the tree, the carved rind,
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About As I beheld I saw a herdman wild
William Byrd, a giant of English Renaissance music, wrote this secular partsong for SATTB voices. The text speaks of a heartbroken shepherd who, in a fit of despair, destroys a carving of his beloved Philida. He laments that he cannot so easily erase her image from his heart, as it is indelibly printed there, just as it was on the bark of a tree. Byrd's setting captures the raw emotion of the poem, moving from anguish to resignation. The rich SATTB texture allows for a dramatic unfolding of the shepherd's desperate plea and ultimate sorrow, making it a compelling example of English polyphony.
