Showing 1 - 25 of 55
Artist: Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe
An outstanding bass violist who is credited with the seven string viol by two of his students. He was active in Paris and considered a virtuoso upon his instrument. He was a student of Hotman and had students ranging from Rousseau to Marais. Sainte-Colombe's playing style was descriptively cantabile and his compositions included approximately... [+] Read More
Artist: Robert de Visée
A French guitarist as well as a theorbo and viol player who became a court musician and taught guitar to Louis XIV from 1695-1719. ~ Mary K. Scanlan, All Music Guide [+] Read More
Artist: John Pickens Jenkins
A lute and lyra viol player and the foremost consort musician of his day. Jenkins composed over 800 instrumental pieces, as well as sacred and secular vocal music. ~ Mary K. Scanlan, All Music Guide [+] Read More
Artist: Charles Dollé
Highly influenced by Italian music this composer, violist and teacher maintained a French flavor in his music with the continued use of ornamentation. Dolle's compositions included sonatas, trios, duets and pieces primarily for the viol and bass viol. The Italian manner of his compositions included extended reaches between intervals, rhythms... [+] Read More
Artist: Marin Marais
Marais was the leading figure and the focal person in the French school of bass viol playing. He spent all of his lifetime in the city of Paris and served the royal family much of that time. Having studied with Sainte-Colombe and Lully, Marais composed four operas the most notable being "Alcione." It is memorable for its act containing a storm... [+] Read More
Artist: Tobias Hume
Hume was a profesional officer in both the Swedish and Russian armies. As a viol player he published two volumes of Lyra Viol music. Most of the music he wrote was composed in the tablature style making it inaccessible to most modern musicians. Upon self-reflection Hume considered himself a soldier and not a musician, the ability of which he... [+] Read More
Artist: Osbert Parsley
Parsley was an English composer who spent most of his life in Norwich where he is reported to have sung in the cathedral choir for fifty years. He scored music in both the Latin and the English rites as he was a composer who lived his life during the course of the Reformation. The compositions which he scored for the Latin services are... [+] Read More
Artist: William Young
An excellent violist and da gamba player, little is known of Young's early life but he was a continental musician who served in the court of Ferdinand Karl, the then Governor of the Netherlands. He accompanied Ferdinand and his wife on their trip to Italy visiting a number of cities on the peninsula. Young was also well-received and admired by... [+] Read More
Artist: Jean-Baptiste Forqueray
The son of Antoine, a noted viol player, Jean-Baptiste had a difficult childhood exemplified by his later imprisonment by his father at the age of 20. Jean-Baptistse himself was an exceptional harpsichord player and viol technician. He took the scores of his father and reworked them for harpsichird making them undistiguishable from his own.... [+] Read More
Artist: John Hingeston
Musically Hingeston's name first appears as a member of the choir in York Minster in 1618. It is fairly certain that he was a student of Orlando Gibbons, a teacher of John Blow and an overseer to Henry Ourcell's apprenticeship. Hingeston served in the court of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and in the court after the Restoration. He was a viol... [+] Read More
Artist: Nicholas Hotman
Although Hotman performed and worked in France he was probably of German origin. He was praised in France and was in service to the court until 1661. Rousseau and Mersenne agreed that Hotman and Maugars were incomparable in the art of playing the viol. A line of bass viol players, renowned in France for over a century, eminated from Maugars... [+] Read More
Artist: John Ward
In addition to being a composer, John Ward was an Attorney in the Exchequer and maintained dual careers throughout his life. He found a patron in Henry Fanshawe and served as household musician for his family, composing sacred and secular music for them. These positions allowed Ward to become wealthy in his own right, leaving a considerable... [+] Read More
Artist: Claude Gervaise
An arranger and editor of music for Pierre Attaingnant, Marie Attaingnant (who took over the printing business after Pierre's death) and other composers such as Certon and Gentian. He is known to have redacted and corrected books three, four and five of Pierre's "Danceries" and composed some dances for the sixth book. The predominant forms he... [+] Read More
Artist: Thomas Brewer
Brewer composed a number of fantasies particularly for his instrument the viol. He also wrote a number of songs while in the employ of Sir Nicholas Lestrange. "Turn, Amaryllis, to thy swain" was one of Brewer's most famous songs as was "O that mine eyes". A number of later sources employed the latter song for decorative variation. ~ Keith... [+] Read More
Artist: Michael Cavendish
An English composer of madrigals and airs. Many of the songs that Cavendish composed include lute accompaniment but are reminiscent of viol accompaniments. His melodic lines were pleasant and seemingly popular and he had a penchant for inserting triple timed measures into otherwise duple-metered verses. A great deal of borrowing occurred both in... [+] Read More
Artist: William Corkine
An English composer of little note who may have played the lyra viol as the pieces attributed to him were written for that instrument. The most noted of Corkine's Ayres were "Come live with me and be my love" and "Sweet sweet let me goe". Melodic sweetness prevails in these otherwise harmoniously nascent compositions. ~ Keith Johnson, All Music... [+] Read More
Artist: Adalbert Dankowski
A Polish composer and violinist whose compositions were known throughout Poland during his lifetime. Dankowski played the viol for the German theatre (Lwow) and was able to conduct and compose while serving at Gniezno Cathedral. Within the generic scope of his compositions were masses, requiems, vespers, litanies, motets and at least two... [+] Read More
Artist: Michael East
A great deal of the music composed by this musician was published and printed. The body of his compositions were contained in seven books and include madrigals, consort songs, instrumental pieces with an emphasis on the viol and sacred compositions. East's collections are not innovative and he often borrowed texts as well as musical lines from... [+] Read More
Artist: Giovanni Maria Da Crema
Giovanni's lute arrangements were respected enough to be included in later collections. He may have been a member of the sextet of Italian viol players who performed at the court of Henry VIII. His "First book for intablature of the lute" contained 15 ricercares, vocal compositions with intablatures, and chansons and motets by a number of... [+] Read More
Artist: Agostino Guerrieri
As a singer in the Cathedral of Milan, Guerrieri composed the "Sonate di violini." This is his only known collection and contains parts for double harp, theorbo and bass viol in several of the sonatas. The volume contains compositions by other composers, suites and variations, and a dedication by Geurrieri to a nun from Genoa. ~ Keith Johnson,... [+] Read More
Artist: George Kirbye
As a madrigalian composer Kirbye was much more than an artisan but less than an innovative genius; he was at least a refined craftsman. The musical contributions he made to England's musical corpus included not only maddrigals but also instrumnetal viol music and psalms. "With angels face" was perhaps his most famous madrigal and is found in... [+] Read More
Artist: Johann Christoph Pepusch
Though Pepusch was born in Germany and served in the Prussian court he left at the age of thirty for a more judicious country having witnessed the execution of a Prussian soldier for mere insubordination. He settled in London around 1704 and was able to earn his living first as a viol player at Drury Lane and then as the harpsichordist there.... [+] Read More
Artist: Thomas Tomkins
Tomkins composed over one hundred anthems contained in "Musica Deo sacra," numerous madrigals of which "When David heard" is considered to be one of the most powerful settings for this text, fifty keyboard pieces and some unique galliards, pavans and fantasias for the viol family ensemble. Byrd was probably one of Tomkins teachers. He served as... [+] Read More
Artist: Louis de Caix d'Hervelois
An independent French composer who lived by the support of patrons. As a bass violist, Caix composed pieces for his instrument maintaining a melodic finesse not usually attributed to this instrument. The best compositional format for Caix was the dance (he did not seem to be able to sustain his musical abilities through any extensive... [+] Read More
Artist: Richard Dering (Deering)
Composer of the oldest known works to use the continuous bass. Dering played the organ for Queen Henrietta Maria and at a convent for English nuns in Brussels; he chose to live outside of England like many British Catholics of the time. While he was there he came into contact with both Bull and Philips. Periodically Dering's music can be divided... [+] Read More
