Author Description

This is the first comprehensive study of the madrigal as a musical form, a detailed study of the Elizabethan madrigal, and a critical survey of the composers of the period. Part I -- The English madrigal in relation to other forms of choral song -- The prolonged neglect of the madrigal -- English preference for vocal music -- The origin of the English madrigal school -- Etymology and use of the term madrigal -- Elizabethan madrigals and kindred contemporary art forms -- The part-books and the voices employed -- Title-pages, patrons, and printers of the original editions -- Some technical features of the notation -- The methods and idioms -- Rhythm and barring -- The madrigal lyrics. Part II -- Byrd -- Morley -- Weelkes -- Wilbye -- John Mundy, George Kirbye, Nathaniel Pattrick, William Holborne, Giles Farnaby, Michael Cavendish, John Farmer, John Bennet, the Oriana composers -- Richard Carlton, Michael East, Thomas Bateson, Thomas Greaves, Richard Alison, Robert Jones, Henry Youll, Thomas Ravenscroft, Orlando Gibbons -- John Ward, Francis Pilkington, Henry Lichfield, Thomas Vautor, Martin Peerson, Thomas Tomkins, John Hilton, Peter Philips -- The English lutenists -- Appendices. Edmund Horace Fellowes CH MVO (1870-1951), was a clergyman and scholar known for his work in promoting the revival of 16th- and 17th-century English music. He carried out a voluntary labor of considerable importance by cataloguing the prints and manuscripts in the library of St Michael's College, Tenbury Wells, of which he was honorary librarian (1918-48). Fellowes' editions of Tudor church music represent an incalculable contribution to musical scholarship, making the music accessible to composers and scholars, notably Vaughan Williams, whose English Hymnal was influenced by study of Fellowes' editions. Fellowes lectured extensively on the subject, travelling numerous times to the States for this his was the foremost work in the Anglican Tudor revival of the early 20th century.