ORLANDO

GIBBONS (1583-1625)  , English musical composer, was the most illustrious of a family of musicians all more or less able . We know of at least three generations, for Orlando's father, William Gibbons, having been one of the waits of Cam-bridge, may be assumed to have acquired some proficiency in the art . His three sons and at least one of his grandsons inherited and further developed his talent . The eldest, Edward, was made bachelor of music at Cambridge, and successively held important musical appointments at the cathedrals of Bristol and Exeter; Ellis, the second son, was organist of Salisbury cathedral, and is the composer of two madrigals in the collection known as the The Triumphs of Oriana . Orlando Gibbons, the youngest and by far the most celebrated of the brothers, was born at Cambridge in 1583 . Where and under whom he studied is not known, but in his twenty-first year he was sufficiently advanced and celebrated to receive the important post of organist of the Chapel Royal . His first published composition " Fantasies in three parts, composed for viols," appeared in 161o . It seems to have been the first piece of music printed in England from engraved plates, or " cut in copper, the like not heretofore extant." In 1622 he was created doctor of music by the university of Oxford . For this occasion he composed an anthem for eight parts,Oclap your Hands, still extant . In the following year he became organist of Westminster Abbey . Orlando Gibbons died before the beginning of the civil war, or it may be supposed that, like his eldest brother, he would have been a staunch royalist . In a different sense, however, he died in the cause of his master; for having been summoned to Canterbury to produce a composition written in celebration of Charles's marriage, he there fell a victim to smallpox on the 5th of June 1625 .

For a full

list of his compositions, see Grove's Dictionary of Music . His portrait may be found in Hawkins's well-known History . His vocal pieces, madrigals, motets, canons, &c., are admirable, and prove him to have been a great master of pure polyphony . We have also some specimens of his instrumental music, such as the six pieces for 'the virginals published in Parthenia, a collection of instrumental music produced by Gibbons in conjunction with Dr Bull and Byrd .