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Thomas Morley
Life Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, and organist born around 1557 in Norwich and died in 1602 in London, celebrated as the leading figure of the English Madrigal School. A pupil of William Byrd, he served as master of choristers at Norwich Cathedral before moving to London, where he became organist at St…
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Ennemond Gaultier
Life Ennemond Gaultier, known as ‘Vieux Gaultier’ or ‘Gaultier de Lyon,’ was a French lutenist and composer born around 1575 in Villette, Dauphiné, and died on 11 December 1651. He worked first in Lyon before becoming valet to the Queen Mother Marie de’ Medici and a court lutenist in Paris around 1620, and is thought…
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Jean-Baptiste Besard
Life Jean-Baptiste Besard was a French lutenist, composer, and anthologist, born around 1567 in Besançon. He studied law at the University of Dole before traveling to Rome, where he studied medicine and also learned lute from the celebrated virtuoso Lorenzino del Liuto. He later worked in Cologne and Augsburg within the Holy Roman Empire. In…
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Claudio Monteverdi
Life Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, choirmaster, and string player, baptized on 15 May 1567 in Cremona and died 29 November 1643 in Venice. Around 1590 he began working for the Duke of Mantua as a string player and composer, and in 1613 he became director of music at St. Mark’s Basilica…
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Orlando Gibbons
Life Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, organist, and virginalist born in 1583 in Oxford and died in 1625 in Canterbury, regarded as one of the last great masters of the English polyphonic tradition. Coming from a large musical family, he sang as a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, before earning his degree there in…
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Charles Mouton
Life Charles Mouton was a French lutenist and composer born in 1617 who died sometime before 1699. Musicians were active on his mother’s side of the family, one of whom served at the French royal court. By 1664 Charles Mouton was living in Paris, where he taught several affluent students, and in 1673 he performed…
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Diomedes Cato
Life Diomedes Cato was an Italian-born lutenist and composer who spent his career in Poland and Lithuania, born between 1560 and 1565 near Treviso, possibly at Serravalle. His Protestant family fled Italy to escape the Inquisition around 1565 and settled in Kraków, where Cato received his entire musical education. He was hired as a lutenist…
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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Life Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian composer born in the town of Palestrina near Rome around 1525, who died in Rome on 2 February 1594. In 1551 Pope Julius III appointed him maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s Basilica; he later held posts at St. John Lateran and Santa…
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Giulio Caccini
Life Giulio Caccini was an Italian composer, singer, and teacher born around 1551, probably in Rome, and buried in December 1618 in Florence, remembered as a founding figure of opera and the new monodic style. Brought to Florence as a young singer under Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici, he became a leading court musician and…
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Jacques Gallot
Life Jacques Gallot, called ‘le vieux Gallot de Paris,’ was a French lutenist and composer born around 1625 and thought to have died around 1695 in Paris. He came from a family of Parisian lutenists, probably the son of the lutenist Antoine Gallot, who served at the Polish court until 1647, and was the brother…