The discovery of this Fancy is the reason why I select Weelkes instead of Wilbye, one of his great contemporaries, and I think all lovers of Shakespeare will be glad to make acquaintance with the music of the Cryes of London which saluted the Poet's ears in his daily walks.
Weelkes paid a loving tribute to "his dearest friend" Morley, on the latter's death. The date of Weelkes' death (1623) and other particulars have been brought to light by the investigations of the Rev. Dr. Fellowes, whose devotion to the madrigal school is so well known and appreciated. His paper on Weelkes (Musical Association, May, 1916) is an eloquent testimony to the worth of this composer, to whose madrigal writing I have not space quite to do justice. The Humorous Fancy, however, shows him in a new and interesting light.
V. ORLANDO GIBBONS
1583—1625
Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most outstanding name of the English musicians in the early part of the 17th century. A good deal of this is, no doubt, due to the fact that his contributions to Sacred Music have been one of the great possessions of our Cathedral School, and their presence in service lists has been—and I venture to hope will always be—a constant tribute to their excellence.
Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as turned his mind naturally, though by no means exclusively, to Church Music.
He was the son of one of the City waifs of Cambridge, William Gibbons, and was born in 1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, he is mentioned amongst the Choristers during the years 1596-97; at which time his elder brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the College. It might be noted in passing that this Edward Gibbons was himself a B.Mus. of both Universities; and, after occupying an appointment at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th century, was, later, organist and Priest Vicar at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a charge of neglecting his duties; this, however, he managed to do successfully. He died about 1653.
To return to Orlando. There are some interesting entries in the College Records of 1601, 1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. paid to Gibbons—or Gibbins, as it is there spelt—for music composed "in festo Dominae Reginae," and also in the two latter years for music for the Purification. No Christian name is given, but there is little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. He was placed in an important and honourable appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he became Organist of the Chapel Royal, and in 1606 took his bachelor's degree at Cambridge.