William Daman (or William Damon; died 1591) was a musician in England in the royal household of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. His few surviving compositions include an early setting of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

to part-music.

Life

Daman is thought to have come to England as a servant of

Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (153619 April 1608) was an English statesman, poet, and dramatist. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer. Biography Early life ...

on his return from Rome in 1866. In November of that year Daman married Anne Derifield at St James Garlickhythe in London, and the parish register of St Peter le Poer shows entries for baptisms or burials of eight of their children from 1572 to 1585. From 1576 until his death he was in the royal household of Elizabeth I, where he was one of six musicians in a recorder consort that played dance music. He died in 1591, and was buried at St Peter le Poer on 26 March.

Works

Daman was probably the earliest composer who set the

in the vernacular to part-music. His work appeared first in 1579, printed by John Day, with a preface by

Edward Hake Edward Hake (fl. 1579), English satirist, was educated by John Hopkins, the part-author of the metrical version of the Psalms. Biography He lived at Gray's Inn and Barnard's Inn, London. In the address ''To the Gentle Reader'' prefixed to hi ...

, who relates how these compositions were secretly "gathered together from the fertile soyle of his honest frend, Guilielmo Daman", by one "John Bull, citezen and goldsmith of London", and how Bull "hasted forthwith of himself … to commit the same to the presse". The work appeared in four oblong quarto part-books, and is now of great rarity, the edition probably being bought up by the composer or his friends. In 1591 another version of Daman's Psalms appeared from

Thomas East Thomas East, (also spelled Easte, Est, or Este) (''c.''1540 – January 1609), was an English printer who specialised in music. He has been described as a publisher, but that claim is debatable (the specialties of printer and bookseller/publish ...

's press. This work was published by William Swayne, and by him dedicated to

Lord Burghley William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1 ...

. In the preface to this work Swayne says that the former publication "not answering the expectation that many had of the auctor's skill, gave him occasion to take uppon him a new labour to recover the wrong his friend did in publishing that that was so done". The work appeared in two forms, in one of which the melody of the psalm is in the tenor part, in the other in the treble. Both versions are in four separate part-books. The words of both the 1579 and 1591 editions are taken from Sternhold and Hopkins's version of the Psalms, but the contents of the two editions are not the same. Neither is entered in the register of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

. In the later publication Daman is styled "late one of her Majestie's Musitions". Other surviving compositions include three instrumental works, one of which, a fantasia in six parts, was probably in the repertory of his recorder consort. A ''Miserere'' by Daman is preserved in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Damon, William 1591 deaths 16th-century English composers 16th-century English musicians Classical composers of church music