John Wilson (5 April 1595 – 22 February 1674) was an English composer, lutenist and teacher. Born in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

, Kent, he moved to London by 1614, where he succeeded

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

as principal composer for the King's Men, and entered the King's Musick in 1635 as a

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can re ...

. He received the degree of D.Mus from

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1644, and he was

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 ...

there from 1656 to 1661. Following the Restoration, he joined the Chapel Royal in 1662. He died at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com ''Oxford Music Online'', s.v. John Wilson Wilson was part of a coterie of artists and musicians surrounding the court of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

that included the likes of

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

, Inigo Jones, Anthony van Dyck,

Henry Lawes Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes. Life Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Musi ...

and Giovanni Coprario. Following the execution of the King in 1649 he showed his clearly Royalist sympathies in his ''Psalterium Carolinum'', a versification of the ''

Eikon Basilike The ''Eikon Basilike'' (Greek: Εἰκὼν Βασιλική, the "Royal Portrait"), ''The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings'', is a purported spiritual autobiography attributed to King Charles I of England. ...

'' by Thomas Stanley, with a dedicatory poem by Henry Lawes, published in 1657.

Works

# ''Select Ayres'' 1652 # ''Catch that catch can'' # ''Pleasant Musical Companion'' 1667 # ''Psalterium Carolinum, the devotions of His Sacred Majestie in his solitude and suffering, rendered in verse by T. Stanley, and set to musick for three voices and an organ or theorbo,'' 1657

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John English lutenists English classical musicians 17th-century English composers English male composers British performers of early music Heather Professors of Music 1595 births 1674 deaths 17th-century male musicians