This text provides a study of William Byrd's life and works, taking in to account the most up to date scholarship. The biographical section includes many facts about Byrd and his family, while in the chapters dealing with his music, an attempt is made to outline the chronology of his compositions.

First published in 1999, this volume is the first full-length study to deal with the life and music of Orlando Gibbons since E.H. Fellowes's short book, originally published in 1923. John Harley investigates in detail the family and musical background from which Orlando Gibbons emerged, and gives a fascinating account of the activities of his father, William Gibbons, as a wait in Oxford and Cambridge. He traces, too, the activities of Orlando's brothers - Edward, who was the master of the choristers at King's College, Cambridge and later at Exeter Cathedral; Ferdinando, who may have taken...