John Bull was an English composer, organist, and virginalist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque era. He served as organist at Hereford Cathedral, held posts at the Chapel Royal in London, and became the first professor of music at Gresham College (1596-1607), before leaving England in 1613 amid personal scandal to work in Flanders, becoming principal organist at Antwerp Cathedral in 1617. His output centers on keyboard music for virginals and organ, verse anthems, and an extensive collection of 120 canons, many based on the Miserere; his keyboard works are represented in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. He died in Antwerp and was buried on 15 March 1628.

Bull is regarded as one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the early 17th century, ranking alongside contemporaries such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and William Byrd. His virtuosic and technically demanding keyboard writing, preserved chiefly in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, represents a high point of the English virginalist school and influenced keyboard composition on the continent through his later career in Flanders.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bull_(composer)