George Kirbye (c. 1565 – buried 6 October 1634) was an English composer of the late

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...

and early

Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Ca ...

. He was one of the members of the

English Madrigal School The English Madrigal School was the brief but intense flowering of the musical madrigal in England, mostly from 1588 to 1627, along with the composers who produced them. The English madrigals were a cappella, predominantly light in style, and gener ...

, but also composed sacred music. Little is known of the details of his life, though some of his contacts can be inferred. He worked at

Rushbrooke Hall Rushbrooke Hall was a British stately home in Rushbrooke, Suffolk.GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Rushbrooke, in St Edmundsbury and Suffolk , Map and description, ''A Vision of Britain through Time''. http://www.vision ...

near

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

, evidently as a tutor to the daughters of Sir

Robert Jermyn Sir Robert Jermyn DL (1539–1614) was a prominent East Anglian landowner and magistrate, of strongly reformist views in religion, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1589. Jermyn was the eldest surviving son of ...

. In 1598 he married Anne Saxye, afterwards moving to Bury St Edmunds. Around this time he probably made the acquaintance of

John Wilbye John Wilbye (baptized 7 March 1574September 1638) was an English madrigal composer. Early life and education The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, England. (Brome is near Diss.) Career Wilbye received the patronage of the Cornwa ...

, a much more famous madrigalist, who lived and worked only a few miles away, and whose style he sometimes approaches. In 1626 his wife died, and he is known to have been a

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

at St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds during the next several years until his death. Neale(1818) p4

Kirbye's most significant musical contributions were the psalm settings he wrote for

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

, ''The Whole Book of Psalmes'' (1592), the

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

s he wrote for the ''Triumphs of Oriana'' (1601), the famous collection dedicated to

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, and an independent set of madrigals published in 1597. Kirbye was employed by East to arrange tunes featured in his psalter, and it is his arrangement, with the melody in the tenor, of Tye's melody to accompany

Psalm 84 Psalm 84 is the 84th psalm of the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms forms part of the ''Ketuvim'' section of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version o ...

"How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place" which is today sung to While Shepherds watched their flocks by night. Stylistically, his madrigals have more in common with the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

models provided by

Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the f ...

than do many of the others by his countrymen: they tend to be serious, in a minor

mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

, and show a careful attention to text setting; unlike Marenzio, however, he is restrained in his specific imagery. Kirbye avoided the light style of

Morley Morley may refer to: Places England * Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish * Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish * Morley, Cheshire, a village * Morley, County Durham, a village * Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish * M ...

, which was hugely popular, and brought into the madrigal serious style of pre-madrigal English music. He is not as often sung as Morley,

Weelkes Thomas Weelkes (baptised 25 October 1576 – 30 November 1623) was an English composer and organist. He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigals, anth ...

or Wilbye, but neither was he as prolific; still, some of his madrigals appear in modern collections, such as the

Oxford Book of English Madrigals ''The Oxford Book of English Madrigals'' was edited by Philip Ledger, and published in 1978 by the Oxford University Press. It contains words and full music for some 60 of the madrigal (music), madrigals and songs of the English Madrigal School. ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirbye, George 1560s births 1634 deaths English classical composers Renaissance composers 16th-century English composers 17th-century English composers English male classical composers 17th-century male musicians