Morley, Thomas

Morley, Thomas, c.1557–1603, English composer; pupil of William Byrd. He was gentleman of the Chapel Royal to Queen Elizabeth I and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral. He set to music some of Shakespeare's songs. Morley's works include motets, music for Anglican services, madrigals that are among the most charming examples of this form. He wrote a unique guide to 16th-century English musical practice, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1597, new ed. 1952).

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Morley, Thomas

(born 1557/58, Norwich, Norfolk, Eng.—died October 1602, London) English composer, organist, and music theorist. He was educated at Oxford and studied with William Byrd. Though he composed a number of anthems and psalms, he is best known for his secular songs, including those published in the First Booke of Ayres (1600), and for the treatise A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musick (1597). By editing and printing several anthologies of Italian music (often reworked), he was instrumental in bringing the Italian madrigal to England. He also edited The Triumphes of Oriana (published 1603), the most significant collection of English madrigals.