In 1611 his name appears as an associate with Byrd and Bull in a work called Parthenia, a collection of pieces for the Virginals of which I shall speak later on.
We do not hear much more of him until 1612, with the exception of a mention in the State Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in reversion of forty marks per annum of Duchy lands, without fine, as promised him by the Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of his First sett of Madrigals and Mottets of 5 parts, apt for viols or voyces. Newly composed by ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, Organist of H. M. Chapel in Ordinary. The work is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, and the dedication runs thus: "They were most of them composed in your owne house and doe therefore properly belong to you. The language you provided them, I only furnished them with tongues to utter the same." It is thought from this that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons was on terms of close intimacy with him. Another proof of this is shown by a piece in Ben Coszyn's Virginal Book, where Gibbons is represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The collection, Madrigals and Mottets, is rather misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet in it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some divided into 2, 3 and 4 sections, each as long as an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is The Silver Swan.
It has been stated that besides the published Madrigals, no secular or vocal compositions exist in MS. except a kind of Burlesque Madrigal called The Cryes of London for 6 voices.
This statement is altogether incorrect. To mention one, a song, A Soldier's Farewell to his Mistress ("My love, adieu") is in existence, and I have often had it performed. And the statement about the Burlesque Madrigal is truly absurd. It is curious that the musical historians have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to notice the existence of the work on the Cryes of London, or have, quite incorrectly, called it a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting form of composition. Like Weelkes' Humourous Fancy, it has parts for Viols and a superimposed vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices) consisting of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in one respect from Weelkes', for it is an "In Nomine" for strings. This is an older form of the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part for the Viol—an inner part—being allotted a well-known old ecclesiastical melody. This Plainsong melody is to be found in the Sarum Missal to the words "Gloria Tibi Trinitas," and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is used by many composers of "In Nomines," Byrd and Ferabosco amongst others. But this is the only example I have come across where a sacred melody is introduced in connection with secular, and, in the case of Cryes, somewhat humourous words. Examples of the introduction of secular tunes into the sacred works by composers of the Italian school of the 16th century are, of course, very common. This is a curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the introduction of a sacred tune into a secular vocal work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he is able to write very effective and flowing Viol parts and to introduce so many examples of the old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong persistently played by one of the Viols. The copy from which this interesting work is taken is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616, so the Fancy was composed before that date. The copyist who preserved this work for us was the Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 and 1622 must have been published the best known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection is dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, and Wray was dismissed in 1622. Fantasies of Three parts composed by Orlando Gibbons, Batchelor of Musick, and late organist to His M. Chapel Royal in Ordinary. Cut in Copper, the like not here-to-fore Extant. The word "late" is rather surprising, when he is not recorded to have resigned his position at the Chapel Royal. He was appointed Organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623.
These Fantasies were published by The Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843; and in some respects this publication has been the cause of a good deal of ignorance as to the real progress which Instrumental music made in the early years of the 17th century. They are undoubtedly somewhat dull when placed by the side of Fancies by Byrd and others. No doubt the veneration for Gibbons and the rightful appreciation of his fine Cathedral music made the members of the old and valuable Musical Antiquarian Society more ready to edit his Fancies than to select from less eminent Church writers. But one cannot have much respect for Burney's judgment when he pronounces Orlando Gibbons to have been "utterly contemptible in his productions for instruments." He must be judged alongside of other 16th century composers; for, although he indeed lived through the first quarter of the seventeenth century, his instrumental music is characteristic of the sixteenth.
In common with other composers of his day, Gibbons shows in his Clavier works an earlier and more successful attempt at a true Instrumental style than he does in his music for Strings. The Viols were later in forsaking the vocal polyphonic style than the keyed instruments, simply because the vocal style suited the bowed instruments so much better than the Clavier. So we find composers for the Clavier borrowing the rhythmic features of folk-songs and dance-tunes much earlier than they found it desirable or necessary to do in Viol music.
Out of six pieces by Gibbons in Parthenia, three are dances (a Pavane and two Galliards); one (The Queenes Commande) is an air with variations; and the other two are the Preludium (a piece of very simple harmonic design, with florid figuration like the early organ preludes) and a quite remarkable Fantasia in four parts—remarkable because rather exceptional as a Clavier piece, and also because of its protracted and serious working in the Canzona style. In the Fitzwilliam Collection the only pieces by Gibbons are an air with variations, The Woods so Wilde, and a Pavane—the latter, however, being identical with The Lord of Salisbury his Pavin, which is found also in Parthenia.
With regard to the Fancies written for "Base Viall," "Mean Viall," and "Trebble Viall," after the manner of the period, these were published absolutely devoid of any indications of pace, of phrasing, or of expression. To this fact is probably due some of their loss of popularity. They require artists to interpret them, and in good hands are capable of considerable effect in the old quaint style. The robust tones of the modern 'Cello, Viola and Violin can hardly give us a correct impression of these pieces, but by muting them a very good suggestion of "Viall" tone is obtainable.
One may mention another "Fancy" written this time for two "trebble Vialls" and a "Base." Whether it is the difference of the instruments, or the fact that it is a later number in the collection and may therefore be a later composition, I cannot say; but there is a distinctly more modern spirit about this "Fancy." It is more rhythmic, the sections are more marked, and at the end there is a complete repetition of an eight-bar phrase, the only difference in the repeat being that the first viall here takes the second part, and vice versa.