A gorgeous, short choral piece (a 'Gradual', sung during Mass), beautifully recorded by Stile Antico on their 2023 recording, The Golden Renaissance, which marks the 400th anniversary of composer William Byrd's death in 1623:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6t11927pwTTjZCiMt4DMZo
YouTube: https://youtu.be/giREzzu45ic
 
This Marian communion antiphon is assigned to Mass for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has been transposed down a tone from the original (1610) version, note values have been halved for easier reading (this is not an academic edition, rather an edition for serioius amateur choirs and singers) and the arrangement moves the lower parts between split tenor and bass parts, specifically for choirs with good availability of men's voices. No changes have been made to the original notes and harmony.
 
Source: William Byrd: Gradualia, ac cantiones sacrae. Liber primus (2nd edition, 1610) vol. 1 no. 25. [https://imslp.org/wiki/Gradualia_ac_cantiones_sacrae%2C_Liber_1_(Byrd%2C_William)]
 
Text: Luke 10:42.
 
Optimam partem elegit sibi Maria
Quae non auferetur ab ea in aeternum.
 
Mary has chosen for herself the best part,
which shall never be taken away from her.
 
Den besten Teil hat sich Maria erwählt,
der ihr nicht weggenommen werden soll auf ewig.
 
William Byrd (ca. 1539/40–4 July 1623) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school) and consort music.
 
Read more about London-based Stile Antico here: www.stileantico.co.uk/about
 
Sheet music cover painting:
Nederlands: Maria Tenhemelopneming (Mary's Assumption) by Dutch painter Pieter Fransz. de Grebber (ca. 1600-1652), held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium.
 
Engraving of William Byrd: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1927-1008-351