Thomas Bateson, ''Batson'' or ''Betson'' (c.1570 – 16 March 1630) was an Anglo-Irish composer of

madrigals A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

and vocal church music in the early 17th century.

Life

Probably born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, Bateson was organist of

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

from 1599. He came to Dublin in April 1609 and served as organist and vicar choral at

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the e ...

from 1609 until his death. In 1612 Bateson was the first Bachelor of Music at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, a degree for which he submitted a seven-voice

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

entitled ''Holy, Lord God Almighty''.Barra Boydell: ''Music at Christ Church Before 1800: Documents and Selected Anthems'' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1999; with a music edition on pages 187–193). He is known to have written more church music, but only this anthem has survived. His fame mainly rests on madrigals, which give him an important place among late

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

and Jacobean composers. He published two sets of madrigals in 1604 and 1618, and both collections have been reprinted in 1922 and again in 1958–60. He died in Dublin.

References

Citations

Sources

* Brian Boydell: "Thomas Bateson and the Earliest Degrees in Music Awarded by the University of Dublin", in: ''Hermathena'' vol. 146 (1989), pp. 53–60. * William Henry Grindle: ''Irish Cathedral Music. A History of Music at the Cathedrals of the Church of Ireland'' (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast, 1989). * Barra Boydell: ''Music at Christ Church Before 1800: Documents and Selected Anthems'' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1999). * Barra Boydell: ''A History of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin'' (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2004).

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bateson, Thomas 1570s births 1630 deaths 16th-century English composers 17th-century English composers 17th-century English male musicians English male organists Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin English classical composers of church music English male composers English organists Irish classical composers Irish male organists Musicians from Cheshire