The compositions of

Orlando Gibbons Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical famil ...

(1583–1625) include works in virtually every genre of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

and

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 ...

s. Due to his sudden and early death, Gibbons' output was not as large as that of his older contemporary

William Byrd William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...

, but he still managed to produce various

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

vocal works, including consort songs,

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

, more than 40 full anthems and

verse anthem In religious music, the verse anthem is a type of choral music, or song, distinct from the motet or 'full' anthem (i.e. for full choir). In the 'verse' anthem the music alternates between sections for a solo voice or voices (called the 'verse') ...

s, a set of 20

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

as well as at least 20 keyboard works and various

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

ensemble pieces including nearly 30

fantasies Fantasy is a genre of fiction. Fantasy, Fantasie, or Fantasies may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Fantasia (music), a free-form musical composition * ''Fantasie'' (Widmann), a 1993 composition for solo clarinet by Jörg Widmann * ...

for

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

s. He is well known for the 5-part verse anthem ''

This Is the Record of John "This Is the Record of John" is a verse anthem written by the English composer Orlando Gibbons (1583—1625). It is based on a text from the Gospel of John in the ''Geneva Bible'' and is a characteristic Anglican-style composition of its time. " ...

'', the 8-part full anthem ''O Clap Your Hands Together'', 2 settings of

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

and what is often thought to be the best known English madrigal: '' The Silver Swan''.

List of compositions

Sacred Vocal works

Services

* Incomplete or lost work

=Adaptations

Full Anthems

* Incomplete or lost work

=Doubtful Attributions

Verse Anthems

* Incomplete or lost work

=Adaptations

= Various adaptations of Gibbons' Verse Anthems exist, two of which – ''O Thou the central orb'' and ''Great Lord of Lords'' – are especially common. Both of these versions were created for Sir Frederick Ouseley's 1873 edition of Gibbons' church music, with new words by

Henry Ramsden Bramley Henry Ramsden Bramley (4 June 1833 – February 1917) was an English clergyman and hymnologist perhaps best known for his collaborations with the composer Sir John Stainer.

=Doubtful Attributions

Hymne tunes

George Withers' 'Hymnes and Songs of the Church', published 1623, contains 16 works by Gibbons in the original edition and adds a 17th in a later edition. All texts are by George Wither.

Secular Vocal works

The First Set of Madrigals and Motets

Consort songs

Keyboard works

Parthenia

Fantasies

Pavans and Galliards

Other pieces

Instrumental works

Fantasies of Three Parts

Fantasies of Three Parts dedicated to Edward Wraye.

Viol fantasias of two parts

Viol fantasias with double bass

Viol fantasias of six parts

* Incomplete or lost work

Viol In Nomines

Other pieces for viols

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

Free scores by Orlando Gibbons at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

List of Works by Orlando Gibbons on Grove Music

Index
from

Stainer & Bell Stainer & Bell Limited is a British music publisher, specialized in classical sheet music. History Stainer & Bell was founded in 1907. In 1917, Stainer & Bell was appointed publisher of the Carnegie Edition. Stainer & Bell acquired Augener & ...

of vocal works by Gibbons {{portalbar, Classical music Anthems Christian songs Compositions by Orlando Gibbons Gibbons, Orlando