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3 unusual facts about English Madrigal School


English Madrigal School

One of the more notable compilations of English madrigals was The Triumphs of Oriana, a collection of madrigals compiled by Thomas Morley, which contained 25 different madrigals by 23 different composers.

Music in the Elizabethan era

The music of the late Italian madrigal composers inspired native composers who are now labeled as the English Madrigal School.

These composers, among others, would give rise to the English Madrigal School which, while brief, was incredibly popular.


Ellis Gibbons

Ellis Gibbons was evidently counted as having promise by his contemporaries: at the age of 28 he became the only composer, other than the editor Thomas Morley himself, to contribute two madrigals to The Triumphs of Oriana, a collection of 25 madrigals published in 1601, although the American musicologist Joseph Kerman (in his 1962 comparative study of the English madrigal) states that "possibly one of the two is by Edward Gibbons."


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