Richard Nicholson (baptised 26 September 1563 – 1638 or 1639) was an English composer and organist and the first

Heather Professor of Music The Heather Professor of Music is the title of an endowed chair at the University of Oxford. The post and the funding for it come from a bequest by William Heather (c. 1563 – 1627). Following the example of his friend William Camden who had left p ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Life

Richard Nicholson was baptised in Durham and sang in

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

choir from 1576 to 1580. He became organist of

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, in January 1596 and obtained his Bachelor of Music degree from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in the following month. In 1626,

William Heather William Heather (c. 1563 – 1627) was a musician, and founder of the position of the Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford. Life and career William Heather was born in Harmondsworth,DNB and sang in the choir of Westminster Abbey ...

appointed him as the first "Master of the Musicke" for the university, following a donation by Heather of music books, instruments and money for the purpose of theoretical and practical instruction in music. He was succeeded in the professorship by

Arthur Phillips Arthur Phillips (born April 23, 1969) is an American novelist. His books include ''Prague'' (2002), ''The Egyptologist'' (2004), ''Angelica'' (2007), ''The Song Is You'' (2009), '' The Tragedy of Arthur'' (2011), and ''The King at the Edge of the ...

in November 1639, but he may have died in the previous year as the Magdalen College account books do not mention Nicholson after 1638. Music known to be by Nicholson is mostly choral, although a few pieces for groups of instruments have been attributed to him. "O pray for the peace of Jerusalem" shows the influence of

Thomas Tomkins Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mus ...

. "When Jesus sat at meat" is for singers, including boy soloists, and instruments (

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), suggesting that it was composed for the classes that Nicholson was required to teach at Oxford. The Jews Dance for instrumental ensemble was recorded by the Julian Bream Ensemble in 1988. He also composed a five-part Latin motet, "''Cantate Domino''", which may have been for the purposes of his Oxford degree. He also contributed to ''

The Triumphs of Oriana ''The Triumphs of Oriana'' is a book of English madrigals, compiled and published in 1601 by Thomas Morley, which first edition has 25 pieces by 23 composers (Thomas Morley and Ellis Gibbons have two madrigals). It was said to have been made to ...

'' in 1601.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Richard 1563 births 1630s deaths English classical organists British male organists 16th-century English composers English male composers 17th-century English composers Heather Professors of Music 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists