Orlando Gibbons

GIBBONS, Orlando. b. Oxford, 1583; d. Canterbury, 5 June 1625. Born the son of a town wait, Gibbons served as a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge (1596-99). He was admitted to the degree of MusB in 1606. From 1603 until his death he was a musician in the Chapel Royal. He was also court musician to Prince Charles as Prince of Wales, and from 1619 was virginalist in the royal privy chamber. In 1623 he was appointed joint organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey. He died at Canterbury while the court, with the Chapel Royal, was there to receive the new queen, Henrietta Maria. The cathedral contains a monument to him. Gibbons was one of the leading English composers of...