Gibbons, Orlando

Gibbons, Orlando
born 1583, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.
died June 5, 1625, Canterbury, Kent

English composer and organist.

Son of a musician, he became organist of the Chapel Royal с 1605 and remained there the rest of his life, serving also as organist at Westminster Abbey for his last two years. A versatile composer, he wrote several Anglican services, some 40 anthems, about 50 secular keyboard pieces, about 35 fantasias for chamber ensembles, and some 15 madrigals.

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▪ English composer
born 1583, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.
died June 5, 1625, Canterbury, Kent

      organist and composer, one of the last great figures of the English polyphonic (polyphony) school.

      Gibbons was the most illustrious of a large family of musicians that included his father, William Gibbons (c. 1540–95), and two of his brothers, Edward and Ellis. From 1596 to 1599 Orlando Gibbons sang in the King's College Choir; he entered the University of Cambridge in 1598. In 1603 he became a member of the Chapel Royal and later became the chapel's organist, a post that he retained for the remainder of his life. In 1619 he was appointed one of the “musicians for the virginalles to attend in his highnes privie chamber,” and in 1622 he was made honorary doctor of music of the University of Oxford. The following year he became organist at Westminster Abbey, where he later officiated at the funeral service of King James I. Gibbons was part of the retinue attending Charles I when the king traveled to Dover to meet his bride, Henrietta Maria, but he died shortly before her arrival from France.

      Gibbons's full anthems (anthem) are among his most distinguished works, as are the “little” anthems of four parts. His Madrigals and Motetts of 5 Parts was published in 1612. This collection contains deeply felt and very personal settings of texts that are, for the most part, of a moral or philosophical nature. It shows Gibbons's mastery of the polyphonic idiom of his day and contains many masterpieces of late madrigalist (madrigal) style, among them the well-known "The Silver Swan" and "What Is Our Life?" The earlier Fantasies in Three Parts Compos'd for Viols (c. 1610) is believed to have been the first music printed in England from engraved copperplates.

      Gibbons was famous as a keyboard player, and toward the end of his life he was said to be without rival in England as an organist and virginalist (virginal). Several of his virginal pieces were published in Parthenia (c. 1612), and more than 40 others survive in manuscript.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Gibbons, Orlando — (1583–1625)    Composer.    Gibbons served as organist of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey in London. He was the first composer to write music only for the English Protestant rite and many of his anthems are still sung today, particularly… …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Gibbons, Orlando — (1583 1625)    English composer and keyboard artist. Born at Oxford into a family of musicians and reared in Cambridge, where he took a baccalaureate in music in 1606, he received a position in the choir of King s College, Cambridge, in 1596 and… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • Gibbons, Orlando — (1583, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Inglaterra–5 jun. 1625, Canterbury, Kent). Compositor y organista inglés. Hijo de un músico, fue organista de la capilla real desde 1605 hasta su muerte y desempeñó además el mismo cargo en la abadía de Westminster en… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Gibbons, Orlando — (1583, Oxford – 5 June 1625, Canterbury)    Composer, member of the Chapel Royal, probably from 1603. An organist by profession, he made significant and very popular contributions to the Anglican repertory: 40 anthems, a short service, a second… …   Historical dictionary of sacred music

  • GIBBONS, ORLANDO —    an eminent English musician, composer of many exquisite anthems, madrigals, &c., born at Cambridge; in 1604 he obtained the post of organist in the Chapel Royal, London, and two years later received the degree of Mus. Bac. of Cambridge, while… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Orlando Gibbons — (baptised 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day …   Wikipedia

  • Orlando Gibbons — (* getauft 25. Dezember 1583 in Oxford; † 5. Juni 1625 in Canterbury) war ein englischer Komponist der Renaissance. Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons entstammt einer Musikerfamilie, sein Vater William (um 1540–1595), seine Brüder Edward (1568–1650) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Orlando Gibbons — Orlando Gibbons. Orlando Gibbons (1583 1625), músico y organista renacentista. Biografía Nacido en la ciudad de Oxford, realizó su formación musical desde 1596 en el King s College de Cambridge donde se nutrió del mundo que le circundaba y es… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Orlando Gibbons — [Orlando Gibbons] (1583–1625) an English ↑composer and musician. He was the greatest player of keyboard instruments of his time, and wrote many pieces of music for the ↑Church of England which are still used today …   Useful english dictionary

  • Orlando — se refiere a: ● Orlando es el nombre de una ciudad de los Estados Unidos (Florida). ● Orlando es el equivalente italiano del francés Roland (en español, Roldán) que aparece como personaje central en una serie de romances en verso del siglo XV en… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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