Thomas Vautor ( fl.1592 – 1619) was an English musician, known as a composer of

madrigal 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 o ...

Life

Vautor was a household musician in the family of Mary Beaumont, of

Glenfield, Leicestershire Glenfield is a large village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Glenfields, in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. At the 2011 Census, Glenfields had a population of 9,643. Its located at the northwestern fringe of the ...

; and held the same position to Sir George Villiers after his marriage with her in 1592. The couple were the parents of the future

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...

. On 11 May 1616, Vautor supplicated for the degree of Mus. Bac. 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 ...

, which was granted on condition of his composing a choral hymn for six voices; he was admitted on 4 July. At this time the younger George Villiers, son of Vautor's patrons, was rising in the favour of King James I, and in 1619 was created Marquess of Buckingham, Vautor dedicated to the Marquess a collection of 22 madrigals, entitled ''The First Set; being Songs of diverse Ayres and Natures for Five and Sixe parts; Apt for Vyols and Voices''. Nothing further is known of Vautor.

Works

A list of the 22 pieces was in

Edward Francis Rimbault Edward Francis Rimbault (13 June 1816 – 26 September 1876) was an English organist, musicologist, book collector and author. Life Rimbault was born in Soho, London, to a family of French Huguenot extraction that had emigrated to England in 1685 ...

's ''Bibliotheca Madrigaliana''. They are diverse, and were composed over an extended period of time; they also run a gamut of styles from the Elizabethan period to the contemporary. Some commemorate Elizabeth I,

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland; and his wife Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuar ...

, and Thomas Beaumont. One madrigal is based on a

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

References

External links

* * ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Vautor, Thomas Year of birth missing 1619 deaths English classical musicians English madrigal composers 17th-century English people 17th-century English musicians People from Glenfield, Leicestershire