1583–1625

Introduction

Baptized: Christ­mas Day, 1583, St. Mar­tin’s Church, Bla­don, Eng­land.

Died: June 5, 1625, Can­ter­bury, Eng­land, of apo­ple­xy.

Buried: Can­ter­bu­ry Ca­thed­ral, Eng­land.

portrait

Biography

Gibbons came from a mu­sic­al fa­mi­ly: His fa­ther Will­iam was a mu­si­cian in Ox­ford, and his bro­ther Will­iam played the or­gan in Exe­ter.

Orlando’s mu­sic­al ca­reer start­ed at age 13, when he joined the King’s Col­lege choir.

He en­rolled at King’s Col­lege in 1599, re­ceived a Ba­che­lor of Mu­sic de­gree from Cam­bridge in 1606, and Doc­tor of Mu­sic from Ox­ford in 1622.

Gibbons was a fa­vo­rite court mu­si­cian. He was ap­point­ed or­gan­ist for the Roy­al Cha­pel in 1605, and for Wes­tmin­ster Ab­bey in 1623.

He had a huge­ly suc­cess­ful ca­reer, and found time to com­pose an­thems, ma­dri­gals, fan­ta­si­as, and danc­es.

Sources

Music