If your browser is rigged to play midi files, you can click on the
speaker icon to hear Byrd's crab canon Diliges Dominum. This was
written for 8 voices: two sopranos, two countertenors, two tenors, and two
basses. Each pair sings its line forwards and backwards. That is, the second
soprano's line is the exact reverse of the first soprano's; the second bass's
line reverses the first bass's. You can't hear that in the music. But if you
look at the sopranos' lines at the midpoint, you can see what's happening.
The words are from Matthew 22:37 and 39: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto
corde tuo, et in tota anima tua, et in tota mente tua. Diliges proximum
tuum sicut te ipsum.
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times since 28 October 1998.