Ye sacred muses

Ye Sacred Muses is a five-part elegy by William Byrd . Byrd wrote it on the occasion of the death of his friend and teacher, the composer Thomas Tallis . The English text is:

Ye sacred Muses, race of Jove,
whom Music's lore delighteth,
Come down from crystal heav'ns above
to earth where sorrow dwelleth,
In mourning weeds, with tears in eyes:
Tallis is dead, and Music dies.