1583--1625
Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most outstanding name of the English
musicians in the early part of the 17th century. A good deal of this
is, no doubt, due to the fact that his contributions to Sacred Music
have been one of the great possessions of our Cathedral School, and
their presence in service lists has been--and I venture to hope will
always be--a constant tribute to their excellence.
Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as turned his mind naturally,
though by no means exclusively, to Church Music.
He was the son of one of the City waifs of Cambridge, William Gibbons,
and was born in 1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, he is
mentioned amongst the Choristers during the years 1596-97; at which
time his elder brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the College.
It might be noted in passing that this Edward Gibbons was himself a
B.Mus. of both {35} Universities; and, after occupying an appointment
at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th century, was, later, organist
and Priest Vicar at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a charge
of neglecting his duties; this, however, he managed to do successfully.
He died about 1653.
To return to Orlando. There are some interesting entries in the
College Records of 1601, 1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d.
paid to Gibbons--or Gibbins, as it is there spelt--for music composed
"_in festo Dominae Reginae_," and also in the two latter years for
music for the Purification. No Christian name is given, but there is
little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. He was placed in an important and
honourable appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he became Organist
of the Chapel Royal, and in 1606 took his bachelor's degree at
Cambridge.
In 1611 his name appears as an associate with Byrd and Bull in a work
called _Parthenia_, a collection of pieces for the Virginals of which I
shall speak later on.
We do not hear much more of him until 1612, with the exception of a
mention in the State Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition
in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in reversion of forty
marks per annum of Duchy {36} lands, without fine, as promised him by
the Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of his _First sett of
Madrigals and Mottets of_ 5 _parts, apt for viols or voyces_. _Newly
composed by ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, Organist of H. M.
Chapel in Ordinary_. The work is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton,
and the dedication runs thus: "They were most of them composed in your
owne house and doe therefore properly belong to you. The language you
provided them, I only furnished them with tongues to utter the same."
It is thought from this that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons
was on terms of close intimacy with him. Another proof of this is
shown by a piece in Ben Coszyn's _Virginal Book_, where Gibbons is
represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The collection, _Madrigals and
Mottets_, is rather misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet
in it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some divided into 2, 3 and
4 sections, each as long as an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is
_The Silver Swan_.
It has been stated that besides the published Madrigals, no secular or
vocal compositions exist in MS. except a kind of _Burlesque Madrigal_
called _The Cryes of London for_ 6 _voices_.
This statement is altogether incorrect. To {37} mention one, a song,
_A Soldier's Farewell to his Mistress_ ("My love, adieu") is in
existence, and I have often had it performed. And the statement about
the _Burlesque Madrigal_ is truly absurd. It is curious that the
musical historians have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to
notice the existence of the work on the Cryes of London, or have, quite
incorrectly, called it a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting
form of composition. Like Weelkes' _Humourous Fancy_, it has parts for
Viols and a superimposed vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices)
consisting of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in one respect
from Weelkes', for it is an "In Nomine" for strings. This is an older
form of the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part for the Viol--an
inner part--being allotted a well-known old ecclesiastical melody.
This Plainsong melody is to be found in the _Sarum Missal_ to the words
"_Gloria Tibi Trinitas_," and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is
used by many composers of "_In Nomines_," Byrd and Ferabosco amongst
others. But this is the only example I have come across where a sacred
melody is introduced in connection with secular, and, in the case of
Cryes, somewhat humourous words. Examples of the introduction of
secular tunes into the sacred works by {38} composers of the Italian
school of the 16th century are, of course, very common. This is a
curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the introduction of a sacred tune
into a secular vocal work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he is
able to write very effective and flowing Viol parts and to introduce so
many examples of the old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong
persistently played by one of the Viols. The copy from which this
interesting work is taken is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616,
so the Fancy was composed before that date. The copyist who preserved
this work for us was the Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church
adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 and 1622 must have been
published the best known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection is
dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, and
Wray was dismissed in 1622. _Fantasies of Three parts composed by
Orlando Gibbons, Batchelor of Musick, and late organist to His M.
Chapel Royal in Ordinary_. Cut in Copper, the like not here-to-fore
Extant. The word "late" is rather surprising, when he is not recorded
to have resigned his position at the Chapel Royal. He was appointed
Organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623.
{39}
These Fantasies were published by The Musical Antiquarian Society in
1843; and in some respects this publication has been the cause of a
good deal of ignorance as to the real progress which Instrumental music
made in the early years of the 17th century. They are undoubtedly
somewhat dull when placed by the side of Fancies by Byrd and others.
No doubt the veneration for Gibbons and the rightful appreciation of
his fine Cathedral music made the members of the old and valuable
Musical Antiquarian Society more ready to edit his Fancies than to
select from less eminent Church writers. But one cannot have much
respect for Burney's judgment when he pronounces Orlando Gibbons to
have been "utterly contemptible in his productions for instruments."
He must be judged alongside of other 16th century composers; for,
although he indeed lived through the first quarter of the _seventeenth_
century, his instrumental music is characteristic of the _sixteenth_.
In common with other composers of his day, Gibbons shows in his Clavier
works an earlier and more successful attempt at a true Instrumental
style than he does in his music for Strings. The Viols were later in
forsaking the vocal polyphonic style than the keyed {40} instruments,
simply because the vocal style suited the bowed instruments so much
better than the Clavier. So we find composers for the Clavier
borrowing the rhythmic features of folk-songs and dance-tunes much
earlier than they found it desirable or necessary to do in Viol music.
Out of six pieces by Gibbons in _Parthenia_, three are dances (a Pavane
and two Galliards); one (_The Queenes Commande_) is an air with
variations; and the other two are the _Preludium_ (a piece of very
simple harmonic design, with florid figuration like the early organ
preludes) and a quite remarkable _Fantasia in four parts_--remarkable
because rather exceptional as a Clavier piece, and also because of its
protracted and serious working in the Canzona style. In the
_Fitzwilliam Collection_ the only pieces by Gibbons are an air with
variations, _The Woods so Wilde_, and a Pavane--the latter, however,
being identical with _The Lord of Salisbury his Pavin_, which is found
also in _Parthenia_.
With regard to the Fancies written for "Base Viall," "Mean Viall," and
"Trebble Viall," after the manner of the period, these were published
absolutely devoid of any indications of pace, of phrasing, or of
expression. To this fact is probably due some of their loss of
popularity. They require artists to interpret them, and in {41} good
hands are capable of considerable effect in the old quaint style. The
robust tones of the modern 'Cello, Viola and Violin can hardly give us
a correct impression of these pieces, but by muting them a very good
suggestion of "Viall" tone is obtainable.
One may mention another "Fancy" written this time for two "trebble
Vialls" and a "Base." Whether it is the difference of the instruments,
or the fact that it is a later number in the collection and may
therefore be a later composition, I cannot say; but there is a
distinctly more modern spirit about this "Fancy." It is more rhythmic,
the sections are more marked, and at the end there is a complete
repetition of an eight-bar phrase, the only difference in the repeat
being that the first viall here takes the second part, and _vice versa_.
In the domain of Sacred Music Orlando Gibbons certainly holds the
foremost place amongst the English composers of the contrapuntal
school. No name is better known in our Cathedrals. In great
gatherings of Cathedral Choirs in my young days (alas! we do not now
have such gatherings to any great extent) Gibbons' splendid Service in
F was always an item to which we looked forward. And he has left us
almost as great a collection of anthems as {42} Purcell did in later
years. Many of them were composed for special occasions. One was a
wedding Anthem "for my Lord Somerset"; another "made for the King's
being in Scotland" (this was, of course, James I, and it was from this
Anthem I extracted the splendid concluding "Amen" which was sung at the
Coronations of King Edward VII and King George V, and which is now the
recognized "Abbey Amen").
The Anthem "This is the record of John" has a string accompaniment for
Viols; this was "made for Laud, President of St John's, Oxford, for St
John Baptist's Day." Another "Behold thou hast made my days" was
composed at the entreaty of Dr Maxey, Dean of Windsor, "the same day
se'night before his death."
Mention must also be made of "O clap your hands," which has always had
a suspicion attached to it of having played the part of Dr Heyther's
Doctor's Exercise. This suspicion is deepened by the fact that Dr
Cummings possessed a MS. of it with the following inscription upon it:
"Dr Heyther's Commencement Song Composed by Dr Orlando Gibbons". They
both took their degrees at Oxford on the same occasion viz: the
foundation of the Camden History {43} Professorship. Heyther was a Lay
Vicar of Westminster, and it was he who founded the Oxford Music
Lecture, now represented by the Professorship. It was originally worth
L3 a year. The degrees were conferred on the two friends of Camden at
his special request.
Gibbons was also a contributor to Wither's _Hymns and Songs of the
Church_. Withers himself pays him the following tribute: "He hath
chosen to make his music agreeable to the matter, and what the common
apprehension can best admit, rather than to the curious fancies of the
time; which path both of us could more easily have trodden."
Gibbons appears to have had a sense of humour, judging from a letter
which we found in the Westminster Abbey Muniment Room some years ago.
I believe this is the only letter of Gibbons' that is known. It is
addressed to the Treasurer of the Abbey, asking that the organ-tuner,
one Burrard, might be paid; it runs as follows:
Mr. Ireland: I know this bill to be very resonable for I have
alredy cut him off ten shillings therfore I pray despathe him, for
he hath delt honestly wth ye church soe shall I rest yr servant,
Orlando Gibbons.
The whole bill was very small, and by "cutting him off ten shillings" I
think old Orlando was rather hard!
{44}
We get a glimpse of Orlando Gibbons' organ-playing in the Abbey from
the _Life of Archbishop Williams_, sometime Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal. The French Ambassadors who came over to arrange the marriage of
the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) with Henrietta Maria were
entertained at supper in the Jerusalem Chamber. But before the Supper
we are told "The Embassadors, with the Nobles and Gentlemen in their
Company, were brought in at the North Gate of the Abbey, which was
stuck with Flambeaux everywhere that strangers might cast their eyes
upon the stateliness of the Church. At the Door of the Quire the Lord
Keeper besought their Lordships to go in and take their seats there for
a while. At their entrance the organ was touched by the best Finger of
that age, Mr Orlando Gibbons. The Lord Embassadors and their Great
Train took up all the stalls where they continued about half-an-hour,
while the Quiremen, vested in their Rich Copes, sang three several
Anthems with most exquisite voices before them."
This Dean Williams was a very great man, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
of England, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop of York; he
was Dean of Westminster in 1620. We are told in his _Life_, written by
John Halket, {45} Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry: "He procured the
sweetest music both for the organ and for voices of all parts, that
ever was heard in English music. In those days the Abbey and the
Jerusalem Chamber, where he gave entertainment to his friends, were the
votaries of the Choicest Songs that the Land has heard. The greatest
masters of that delightful faculty frequented here above all others."
I think it must be to this patron of music that we owe the fine
collection of Madrigals and Motets (including the very rare and
valuable books of Deering) which are now preserved in the Abbey Library.
This account of the perfection of the music at the Abbey in these
remote days, under the fostering care of a Dean distinguished both as a
statesman and a musician, may perhaps be followed by a contemporary
description of the members of a choir--not, of course, of the Abbey
Choir in particular by another Dean. This was Dean Earle, the first
Dean after the Restoration. But the work from which I quote was first
printed in 1628, so that it is only a year or two after the time of
Gibbons. Earle was not Dean of Westminster until more than 30 years
later. The book is entitled _Microcosmographie: a piece of the World
discovered in Essays and Characters_, and was first published
anonymously. {46} I hope this description of what the writer calls "A
Merry Crew, the Common Singing-men in Cathedrall Churches," is not a
true description of the great body of such choirs at the time, but it
is worth quoting.
_The Common Singing-men in Cathedral Churches_
Are a bad Society, and yet a Company of good Fellowes, that roare
deep in the Quire, deeper in the Taverne. They are the eight parts
of speech, which goe to the Syntaxis of Service, and are
distinguish't by their noyses much like Bells, for they make not a
Consort but a Peale. Their pastime or recreation is prayers, their
exercise drinking, yet herein so religiously addicted that they
serve God oftest when they are drunke. Their humanity is a legge
[=consists in a bow] to the Residencer, their learning a Chapter,
for they learne it commonly before they read it, yet the old Hebrew
names are little beholden to them, for they mis-call them worse
then one another. Though they never expound the Scripture, they
handle it much, and pollute the Gospell with two things, their
Conversation and their thumbes. Upon worky-dayes they behave
themselves at Prayers as at their pots, for they swallow them downe
in an instant. Their Gownes are lac'd [=streaked] commonly with
steamings of ale, the superfluities of a cup or throat above
measure. Their skill in melody makes them the better companions
abroad, and their Anthemes abler to sing Catches. Long liv'd for
the most part they are not, especially the base, they overflow
their banke so oft to drowne the Organs. Briefly, if they escape
arresting, they dye constantly in God's Service; and to take their
death with more patience, they have Wine and Cakes at their
Funerall: and now they keepe the {47} Church a great deale better,
and helpe to fill it with their bones as before with their noyse.
This quotation must not be taken too seriously. Earle's book was
written when he was a young man, probably under the inspiration of
Casaubon's translation of the fourth-century Theophrastus' _Characters_
published in 1592. It consists of 77 "Characters," some of them
serious studies, and others, such as the above, humorous or satirical
sketches, not intended to be true representations, yet containing a
basis of truth. Richard Baxter, writing to Earle, says: "In charity,
and gentleness, and peaceableness of mind, you are very eminent."
A very unusual adventure is chronicled as having taken place on St
Peter's Day, 1620: "Eveseed, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, did
violently and sodenly without cause runne upon Mr Gibbons, took him up
and threw him down upon a Standard whereby he received such hurt that
he is not yet recovered of the same, and withal he tare the band from
his neck to his prejudice and disgrace."
In 1625 Gibbons had to compose and direct the music for the reception
at Canterbury of Henrietta Maria, on the occasion of her marriage with
Charles I. It was to be his last commission, for he died on
Whitsunday, June 5th.
{48}
With regard to his death, we have always been led to believe that he
died of small-pox--all the histories, including the admirable Grove's
_Dictionary_, have taught us so. Mr W. Barclay Squire, of the British
Museum, has, however, shown this to be incorrect. In a letter, which
he found among the State Papers, from Sir Albertus Morton to Lord
Edward Conway, and endorsed "Mr Secretary Morton, touching the Musician
that dyed at Canterburie and supposed to have died of the plague," a
medical certificate is enclosed signed by Drs Poe and Domingo, stating
that his sickness was at first "lethargicall" followed by convulsions:
"he grew apoplecticall and so died"--thus refuting the small-pox theory
in favour of apoplexy.
His portrait is in the collection at Oxford, and a fine monument with
an excellent bust was erected in Canterbury Cathedral by the composer's
widow.
It was my privilege to suggest and organize a Musical Festival of
Gibbons' works in Westminster Abbey in 1907. Some of his finest Church
music was given by a very large choir, and a beautiful replica in black
marble of the bust of the composer, which is in Canterbury Cathedral,
was unveiled. It has always seemed to me a reflection upon the Abbey
that no memorial to {49} the greatest of its organists--save
Purcell--should be found there. This Festival created very great
interest, and brought a munificent offer from Mr Crews, a well-known
amateur and Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, to defray
the expense of a bust of the celebrated organist. It is well placed in
close proximity to the memorials of his worthy successors, Blow,
Purcell, and Croft.
{50}