George Kirbye (ca. 1565 - 1634) was a composer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean era active in Suffolk, England. He composed sacred music but is best known as one of the first composers of the English Madrigal School and for the Winchester Old psalm tune.
Here is a brief timeline with a few musical samples:
ca. 1565: Probably born in the area of Bury St Edmunds.
1578: Queen Elizabeth I makes a progress through Suffolk with an enormous entourage and stays several days at the former Abbot's Palace in Bury St Edmunds, now owned by Sir Thomas Badby, uncle to Robert Jermyn of Rushbrooke. Both Robert Jermyn and Thomas Kitson are knighted by the Queen. (1)
1592: First mention of Kirbye's name in Thomas East's London publication The Whole Book of Psalms, set for four voices. In the preface East states that he obtained the help of "Experts in the Arte." Kirbye contributed no less than twelve tunes used in twenty Psalms and four other sacred works. (2)
East started the practice of naming the tunes, often after English locales. Let's listen to the Winchester Old tune that George Kirbye composed for Psalm 84 first played on the organ, then on ukulele. We will hear it again at Christmas time as the very popular While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. The tune is also use as a hymn at Communion in France and Italy as C'est toi, Seigneur, le pain rompu and Sei tu Signore il pane. Kirbye's tune was a four-voice setting of the second part of the meane of Chapter VIII of Christopher Tye's Acts of the Apostles (1553). (3)
1592: John Wilbye comes to neighbouring Hengrave Hall as Chief of Minstrels in service of the Kitsons, a family of Roman Catholic recusants. Hengrave Hall is four miles west of Bury St Edmunds. (4)
Before 1597: Enters in the service of Sir Robert Jermyn at Rushbrooke Hall and tutors at least two of seven Jermyn children, as explained below. Robert Jermyn is a Puritan holding 'extreme protestant views.'(2) Rushbrooke Hall is located three miles south-east of Bury St Edmunds. (5)
Even though their respective patrons, both knighted early on by Elizabeth I, lived on opposites of the religious spectrum, George Kirbye's was probably good friends with John Wilbye who was active at Hengrave Hall.
1597: Composes and publishes The first set of English Madrigals, a collection of 24 unaccompanied madrigals, six for four, twelve for five, and six for six voices, also printed by Thomas East in London. The work is dedicated to Anne and Frances Jermyn, two of five daughters of Robert Jermyn whom Kirbye calls his 'mistresses.' The scores can be found here. With this collection Kirbye makes his mark as an English Madrigalist. The madrigals mostly sing of love's woes.
Kirbye and Wilbye 'both set the words 'Alas, what hope of speeding' in friendly rivalry.' (6) George Kirbye's version was the second of the four-voice settings.
No. 17 See What a Maze of Error, is one of the five-voice pieces.
1597/98: Kirbye's madrigals of love and woe mollify at least one female heart. Not long after Kirbye marries Anne Saxye in Bradfield St George six miles south of Bury St Edmunds.
1601: A six-voice Kirbye madrigal is included in different editions of the Triumphs of Oriana (1601), a prestigious collection dedicated to Elizabeth I: in some sources, for ex. the Bodleian Library, it is With angel's face and brightness, in others it is the madrigal Bright Phoebus greets most clearly.
No works are published after 1601. The following are preserved in manuscripts:
- Two madrigalian Latin motets at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. At YouTube we find the very beautiful Vox in Rama for six voices, telling the story of Rachel who weeps for her children perished in the massacre of Bethlehem by King Herod. (7) It follows the model of the Franco-Flemish composer Clemens non Papa's setting of the same text (Published in Augsburg, 1549) but uses techniques learned from studying the works of William Byrd and from the Italian composer and possible spy for Elizabeth I, Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder. (8) It has survived incomplete. The missing part is here reconstructed by Ross Duffin.
This is the Clemens non Papa version:
- Seven madrigals for five voices also at the Bodleian Library.
- Three copies of madrigals from the 1597 collection but with different texts at Christ Church, Oxford.
- Nine unpublished madrigals in a manuscript collection of twenty-six at the Royal College of Music, London.
1598-1626: At some point the Kirbyes move to Bury St Edmunds in St Mary's Parish probably already in the house on Whiting Street where Kirbye lives for the rest of his life. Is is a few blocks from the cathedral and the old abbey complex.
1622: Kirbye is listed among the best English composers of the day in The Compleat Gentleman of Henry Peacham. (10)
1626: George's wife dies and is buried at St. Mary.
1626-1627: Kirbye is mentioned twice in St. Mary's register and may have been a churchwarden.
1627-1634: Lives on Whiting Street until his death.
1633-October 1634: Writes a will in 1633. The will is proved in October of the following year. He leaves some money to a brother and sister and some for the poor. All remaining possessions go to Agnes Seaman, his servant and a relative of his late wife. He also directs Agnes as his executrix to pay monies he received for the benefit of two sons of Bury St Edmunds tailor when they reach age 24. (11)
There are many gaps in this timeline:
- Where did his family come from and where exactly did he grow up?
- We learn for example near to nothing about Kirbye's musical education. Was he a choirboy in a nearby church, abbey, or cathedral as so many other composers were at the time? Maybe it was St. Mary's Church, part of the old abbey complex in Bury St Edmunds that had just been expanded with gifts from two generous benefactors and boasts of a long choral tradition?
- How did his work get published by Thomas East in London early on and then no longer after 1601?
- What did he do from 1601 until his death in 1634? His will describes his property on Whiting Street with 'houses, buildings, yards, easements, and commodities and appurtenances thereto belonging.'(10) Maybe this was just legal speak, or maybe this was a big property that kept him plenty busy.
- Did Kirbye ever travel? He never strays far from Bury St Edmunds in the timeline.
John Wilbye's story has sparked the creative mind of filmmaker/composer Tony Britten who is just now coming out with a feature film Draw on Sweet Night. This historical fiction movie, 30% fact and 70% fiction, depicts John Wilbye as a lifelong bachelor and consummate ladies' man starting with Anne Saxye ('Ann Sixye' in the movie) who is then whisked away by George Kirbye. (12) The music is performed by I Fagiolini. Since a full post on Wilbye may never come about, let's listen to Draw on Sweet Night right here.
________________________________________________________________________________
(1) G. Booth, "Rushbrook Parish Registers, 1567 to 1850: With Jermyn and Davers Annals." Rushbrook, Eng. (Parish), 1903 , p. 208. (https://books.google.com/books?id=maRCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (09/04/2015))
(2) Thomas East's last name is also spelled East, Este, Est, etc. (Wikipedia entry, 08/04/2015). The psalms are listed with the respective composer on page 8 of an 1844 reprint by the London-based Music Antiquarian Society of the 1592 edition. Some tunes were used for more than one Psalm. East's book first went to reprints in 1594 and 1604. (sscm-jscm.org/v14/no1/fisher.html (08/04/2015))
(3) Both Tye and Kirbye, and probably also East, are due credit for Winchester Old: Tye composed the tune; Kirbye set it for four voices for East's Psalter; East named it the Winchester Old tune.
(4) Both Roman Catholics recusants and Puritans who held extreme protestant views were out of favor with the established church and state. (See St Edmunds Church chronicle website, Year 1572. (http://www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk/Chronicle/1539-1699.htm#1690 (09/04/2015))
(5)"The Garden Guide: Suffolk."The Garden, 06/07/1873, p. 432. (https://books.google.com/books?id=Lc87AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA432&ots=CdAaFnmWJ8&dq=distance%20from%20hengrave%20hall%20to%20rushbrooke%20hall&pg=PA432#v=onepage&q=distance%20from%20hengrave%20hall%20to%20rushbrooke%20hall&f=false (09/04/2015))
(6) Chris Whent, "John Wilbye." Composer page, Here Of A Saturday Morning (HOASM) website. (http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/Wilbye.html (09/05/2015))
(7) Beverly Simmons, "Vox in Rama, by George Kirbye (1570-1634)." Video notes, ChoirPlace website, 12/25/2013. (http://www.choirplace.com/videos/4557/vox-in-rama-by-george-kirbye-1570-1634 (09/04/2015))
(8) David Humphreys, "George Kirbye's Clemens parody." Abstract, Early Music (2008) 36 (1): 41-50, Oxford Journals website. (http://em.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/1/41.abstract (09/04/2015))
(9)"Madrigalian Motets from Jacobean England."CD description, Idea Stream website. (http://wclv.ideastream.org/content/madrigalian-motets-jacobean-england (09/04/2015))
(10) Henry Peacham, "Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, 1634." Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1634, p. 103. (https://books.google.com/books?id=7aDwI74mhCAC&source=gbs_navlinks_s (09/04/2015))
(11) George Kirbye, edited by J. Arkwright, "Six Madrigals: To Six Voices." London, J. Williams, The Old English Edition, 1892, p. B2. (https://books.google.com/books?id=IaYQAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s (09/04/2015))
(12) Some of the facts are related in Chris Whent, Ib.
Here is a brief timeline with a few musical samples:
ca. 1565: Probably born in the area of Bury St Edmunds.
1578: Queen Elizabeth I makes a progress through Suffolk with an enormous entourage and stays several days at the former Abbot's Palace in Bury St Edmunds, now owned by Sir Thomas Badby, uncle to Robert Jermyn of Rushbrooke. Both Robert Jermyn and Thomas Kitson are knighted by the Queen. (1)
1592: First mention of Kirbye's name in Thomas East's London publication The Whole Book of Psalms, set for four voices. In the preface East states that he obtained the help of "Experts in the Arte." Kirbye contributed no less than twelve tunes used in twenty Psalms and four other sacred works. (2)
East started the practice of naming the tunes, often after English locales. Let's listen to the Winchester Old tune that George Kirbye composed for Psalm 84 first played on the organ, then on ukulele. We will hear it again at Christmas time as the very popular While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. The tune is also use as a hymn at Communion in France and Italy as C'est toi, Seigneur, le pain rompu and Sei tu Signore il pane. Kirbye's tune was a four-voice setting of the second part of the meane of Chapter VIII of Christopher Tye's Acts of the Apostles (1553). (3)
1592: John Wilbye comes to neighbouring Hengrave Hall as Chief of Minstrels in service of the Kitsons, a family of Roman Catholic recusants. Hengrave Hall is four miles west of Bury St Edmunds. (4)
Before 1597: Enters in the service of Sir Robert Jermyn at Rushbrooke Hall and tutors at least two of seven Jermyn children, as explained below. Robert Jermyn is a Puritan holding 'extreme protestant views.'(2) Rushbrooke Hall is located three miles south-east of Bury St Edmunds. (5)
Even though their respective patrons, both knighted early on by Elizabeth I, lived on opposites of the religious spectrum, George Kirbye's was probably good friends with John Wilbye who was active at Hengrave Hall.
1597: Composes and publishes The first set of English Madrigals, a collection of 24 unaccompanied madrigals, six for four, twelve for five, and six for six voices, also printed by Thomas East in London. The work is dedicated to Anne and Frances Jermyn, two of five daughters of Robert Jermyn whom Kirbye calls his 'mistresses.' The scores can be found here. With this collection Kirbye makes his mark as an English Madrigalist. The madrigals mostly sing of love's woes.
Kirbye and Wilbye 'both set the words 'Alas, what hope of speeding' in friendly rivalry.' (6) George Kirbye's version was the second of the four-voice settings.
No. 17 See What a Maze of Error, is one of the five-voice pieces.
1597/98: Kirbye's madrigals of love and woe mollify at least one female heart. Not long after Kirbye marries Anne Saxye in Bradfield St George six miles south of Bury St Edmunds.
1601: A six-voice Kirbye madrigal is included in different editions of the Triumphs of Oriana (1601), a prestigious collection dedicated to Elizabeth I: in some sources, for ex. the Bodleian Library, it is With angel's face and brightness, in others it is the madrigal Bright Phoebus greets most clearly.
No works are published after 1601. The following are preserved in manuscripts:
- Two madrigalian Latin motets at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. At YouTube we find the very beautiful Vox in Rama for six voices, telling the story of Rachel who weeps for her children perished in the massacre of Bethlehem by King Herod. (7) It follows the model of the Franco-Flemish composer Clemens non Papa's setting of the same text (Published in Augsburg, 1549) but uses techniques learned from studying the works of William Byrd and from the Italian composer and possible spy for Elizabeth I, Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder. (8) It has survived incomplete. The missing part is here reconstructed by Ross Duffin.
These Latin motets are from the reign of James I when the Church of England had no sanctioned Latin liturgy and Catholic services were illegal.(9)
This is the Clemens non Papa version:
- Seven madrigals for five voices also at the Bodleian Library.
- Three copies of madrigals from the 1597 collection but with different texts at Christ Church, Oxford.
- Nine unpublished madrigals in a manuscript collection of twenty-six at the Royal College of Music, London.
1598-1626: At some point the Kirbyes move to Bury St Edmunds in St Mary's Parish probably already in the house on Whiting Street where Kirbye lives for the rest of his life. Is is a few blocks from the cathedral and the old abbey complex.
1622: Kirbye is listed among the best English composers of the day in The Compleat Gentleman of Henry Peacham. (10)
1626: George's wife dies and is buried at St. Mary.
1626-1627: Kirbye is mentioned twice in St. Mary's register and may have been a churchwarden.
1627-1634: Lives on Whiting Street until his death.
1633-October 1634: Writes a will in 1633. The will is proved in October of the following year. He leaves some money to a brother and sister and some for the poor. All remaining possessions go to Agnes Seaman, his servant and a relative of his late wife. He also directs Agnes as his executrix to pay monies he received for the benefit of two sons of Bury St Edmunds tailor when they reach age 24. (11)
There are many gaps in this timeline:
- Where did his family come from and where exactly did he grow up?
- We learn for example near to nothing about Kirbye's musical education. Was he a choirboy in a nearby church, abbey, or cathedral as so many other composers were at the time? Maybe it was St. Mary's Church, part of the old abbey complex in Bury St Edmunds that had just been expanded with gifts from two generous benefactors and boasts of a long choral tradition?
- How did his work get published by Thomas East in London early on and then no longer after 1601?
- What did he do from 1601 until his death in 1634? His will describes his property on Whiting Street with 'houses, buildings, yards, easements, and commodities and appurtenances thereto belonging.'(10) Maybe this was just legal speak, or maybe this was a big property that kept him plenty busy.
- Did Kirbye ever travel? He never strays far from Bury St Edmunds in the timeline.
John Wilbye's story has sparked the creative mind of filmmaker/composer Tony Britten who is just now coming out with a feature film Draw on Sweet Night. This historical fiction movie, 30% fact and 70% fiction, depicts John Wilbye as a lifelong bachelor and consummate ladies' man starting with Anne Saxye ('Ann Sixye' in the movie) who is then whisked away by George Kirbye. (12) The music is performed by I Fagiolini. Since a full post on Wilbye may never come about, let's listen to Draw on Sweet Night right here.
________________________________________________________________________________
(1) G. Booth, "Rushbrook Parish Registers, 1567 to 1850: With Jermyn and Davers Annals." Rushbrook, Eng. (Parish), 1903 , p. 208. (https://books.google.com/books?id=maRCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (09/04/2015))
(2) Thomas East's last name is also spelled East, Este, Est, etc. (Wikipedia entry, 08/04/2015). The psalms are listed with the respective composer on page 8 of an 1844 reprint by the London-based Music Antiquarian Society of the 1592 edition. Some tunes were used for more than one Psalm. East's book first went to reprints in 1594 and 1604. (sscm-jscm.org/v14/no1/fisher.html (08/04/2015))
(3) Both Tye and Kirbye, and probably also East, are due credit for Winchester Old: Tye composed the tune; Kirbye set it for four voices for East's Psalter; East named it the Winchester Old tune.
(4) Both Roman Catholics recusants and Puritans who held extreme protestant views were out of favor with the established church and state. (See St Edmunds Church chronicle website, Year 1572. (http://www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk/Chronicle/1539-1699.htm#1690 (09/04/2015))
(5)"The Garden Guide: Suffolk."The Garden, 06/07/1873, p. 432. (https://books.google.com/books?id=Lc87AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA432&ots=CdAaFnmWJ8&dq=distance%20from%20hengrave%20hall%20to%20rushbrooke%20hall&pg=PA432#v=onepage&q=distance%20from%20hengrave%20hall%20to%20rushbrooke%20hall&f=false (09/04/2015))
(6) Chris Whent, "John Wilbye." Composer page, Here Of A Saturday Morning (HOASM) website. (http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/Wilbye.html (09/05/2015))
(7) Beverly Simmons, "Vox in Rama, by George Kirbye (1570-1634)." Video notes, ChoirPlace website, 12/25/2013. (http://www.choirplace.com/videos/4557/vox-in-rama-by-george-kirbye-1570-1634 (09/04/2015))
(8) David Humphreys, "George Kirbye's Clemens parody." Abstract, Early Music (2008) 36 (1): 41-50, Oxford Journals website. (http://em.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/1/41.abstract (09/04/2015))
(9)"Madrigalian Motets from Jacobean England."CD description, Idea Stream website. (http://wclv.ideastream.org/content/madrigalian-motets-jacobean-england (09/04/2015))
(10) Henry Peacham, "Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, 1634." Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1634, p. 103. (https://books.google.com/books?id=7aDwI74mhCAC&source=gbs_navlinks_s (09/04/2015))
(11) George Kirbye, edited by J. Arkwright, "Six Madrigals: To Six Voices." London, J. Williams, The Old English Edition, 1892, p. B2. (https://books.google.com/books?id=IaYQAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s (09/04/2015))
(12) Some of the facts are related in Chris Whent, Ib.