Gibbons, Orlando

1583-1625

Noted English organist and composer; was born at Cambridge. He sang in the choir of King's College, Cambridge, in 1596, and became organist of the Chapel Royal in 1604. The degree of Doctor of Music was conferred on him at Oxford in 1622, and in 1623 he was organist of Westminster Abbey. He died at Canterbury, where he had been summoned to appear at the production of his festival music for the wedding of Charles I.

His elder brother, Edward, born about 1570, graduated as Bachelor of Music at Cambridge, and in 1592 became organist and choirmaster of King's College, later organist of Bristol Cathedral, and in 1609 at Exeter. A few of his compositions remain in manuscript at Oxford and the British Museum.

Christopher, son of Orlando Gibbons, was born in 1615, was organist of Winchester Cathedral from 1638 to 1644, and in 1660 became organist of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey. A few of his compositions remain in manuscript, but he was chiefly known as an organist. His best compositions were sacred, and his style grand and dignified, but lacking in freshness, and somewhat overburdened with a pedantic use of counterpoint. Orlando Gibbons was the last of the early school of English church composers, and has been called the English Palestrina. His sacred compositions are learned and contrapuntal, but considerably better than those of his contemporaries, and he has been ranked by some'i writers as a genius. His anthem, O Clap Your Hands, is still in use, and Hosanna was spoken of in the middle part of the Nineteenth Century as a model of its kind. He is considered one of the greatest of English musicians. " In imagination, fancy, scientific knowledge, and in his power of concentration," says Lahee, in The Organ and Its Masters, " he may be considered the musical Shakespeare of his age." His compositions include Morning and Evening Service in F; Te Deum and Jubilate in D minor; Venite exultemus in F; Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D minor and in F; Te Deum and Benedictus in F; and the anthems, Hosanna; Almighty and Everlasting God; and O Lord Increase Our Faith. He also published a number of collections, wrote a few pieces for the harpsichord, which are of historical value only, and many madrigals.

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