John Wilson (5 April 1595 – 22 February 1674) was an English composer, lutenist and teacher. Born in
Faversham, Kent, he moved to London by 1614, where he succeeded
Robert Johnson as principal
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
for the
King's Men, and entered the King's Musick in 1635 as a
lutenist. He received the degree of D.Mus from
Oxford in 1644, and he was
Heather Professor of Music there from 1656 to 1661. Following the
Restoration, he joined the Chapel Royal in 1662. He died at
Westminster.
[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com ''Oxford Music Online'', s.v. John Wilson]
Wilson was part of a coterie of artists and musicians surrounding the court of
Charles I that included the likes of
Ben Jonson,
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
,
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh c ...
,
Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes.
Life
Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Mus ...
and
Giovanni Coprario. Following the execution of the King in 1649 he showed his clearly Royalist sympathies in his ''Psalterium Carolinum'', a versification of the ''
Eikon Basilike'' by
Thomas Stanley, with a dedicatory poem by Henry Lawes, published in 1657.
Works
# ''Select Ayres'' 1652
# ''Catch that catch can''
# ''Pleasant Musical Companion'' 1667
# ''Psalterium Carolinum, the devotions of His Sacred Majestie in his solitude and suffering, rendered in verse by T. Stanley, and set to musick for three voices and an organ or theorbo,'' 1657
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John
English lutenists
English classical musicians
17th-century English composers
English male composers
British performers of early music
Heather Professors of Music
1595 births
1674 deaths
17th-century male musicians