The Huntes upp

The Huntes upp is a keyboard work in C major by William Byrd, based on an Elizabethan song. The words are:

The hunt is up, the hunt is up,
And it is a well nigh day;
And Harry our king has gone hunting,

To bring his deer to bay.

The piece has 11 variation (music)s on the songs The Hunt is Up and The Nine Muses. It is usually played on a harpsichord or piano and takes around 7 minutes.

The work is included in two of the most important collections of keyboard music of the Renaissance, My Ladye Nevells Booke and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.