Edward Johnson (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1572–1601) was an English composer. Johnson's compositions were highly regarded in his time, but few of them survive.

Life

Johnson was born about 1549.According to a 1601 deposition in which he gave his age as about fifty-two. See Ian Harwood, ‘Johnson, Edward (b. c.1549, d. in or after 1602)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 2 July 2014
(subscription required) He composed pieces for members of the Elizabethan aristocracy, and had a long association with the Kitson family, who had houses in London and Hengrave, Suffolk.

Sir Thomas Kitson Sir Thomas Kitson (1485 – 11 September 1540) was a wealthy English merchant, Sheriff of London, and builder of Hengrave Hall in Suffolk. Family Thomas Kitson was the son of Robert Kitson (or Kytson) of Warton, Lancashire. His mother's name ...

(1540-1603) and his wife

Elizabeth Kitson Elizabeth, Lady K(i, y)tson born Lady Elizabeth Cornwallis (1546/7 – 2 August 1628) was an English music patron. She lived and managed Hengrave Hall in Suffolk where she and her husband employed personal musicians and created a music collection ...

also employed the composer

John Wilbye John Wilbye (baptized 7 March 1574September 1638) was an English madrigal composer. Early life and education The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, England. (Brome is near Diss.) Career Wilbye received the patronage of the Cornwal ...

from the 1590s. Johnson obtained a

Mus. Bac. Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pr ...

degree in 1594 from Caius College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

. He appears in documentary records relating to the beginning of the seventeenth century. With John Wilbye he corrected the proofs of Dowland´s ''Second Book of Songs'', which was published in London in 1600. He was also mentioned in connection with arrangements for the funeral of his patron Sir Thomas Kitson, an event which took place in Hengrave in 1603. It is not known what happened to him subsequently.Ian Harwood, ‘Johnson, Edward (b. c.1549, d. in or after 1602)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 2 July 2014
(subscription required)

Works

Perhaps his best-known work is "Eliza Is the Fairest Queen" (a tribute to Elizabeth I). Other works include: * "Come, blessed bird":

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

for six voices (SSAATB) from ''

The Triumphs of Oriana ''The Triumphs of Oriana'' is a book of English madrigals, compiled and published in 1601 by Thomas Morley, which first edition has 25 pieces by 23 composers (Thomas Morley and Ellis Gibbons have two madrigals). It was said to have been made to ...

'' * "Jhonsons Medley" ( Fitzwilliam Virginal Book).Keith Johnson, Rovi.
Edward Johnson (16th c.-fl. 1572-1601); ENG, About/Bio
, classicalarchives.com. Retrieved 10 September 2011.

References

External links

* English classical composers English madrigal composers Renaissance composers 16th-century English composers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown English male classical composers Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge {{composer-stub