William Damon (musician)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 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 ...
. 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 St James Garlickhythe is a Church of England parish church in Vintry ward of the City of London, nicknamed "Wren's lantern" owing to its profusion of windows. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London ...
in London, and the parish register of
St Peter le Poer St Peter le Poer was a parish church on the west side of Broad Street in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt in 1540, and again in 1792 to a design by Jesse Gibson with a circular nave. It was demolished in 1907. Early histor ...
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
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 ...
in the vernacular to part-music. His work appeared first in 1579, printed by John Day, with a preface by Edward Hake, 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's press. This work was published by William Swayne, and by him dedicated to Lord Burghley. 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. 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 Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
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