Thomas Morley

c. 1557 – October 1602 (~45)

2 live poems · English

In the golden twilight of Elizabeth I's reign, when England's cultural confidence soared as high as her naval ambitions, there emerged a composer whose melodies would capture the very essence of Renaissance joy and melancholy. Thomas Morley, born around 1557 in the bustling city of Norwich, would become the architect of England's madrigal tradition and one of the most influential musicians of his generation. His life…

“Most of our churchmen, so they can cry louder in their choir than their fellows, care for no more, whereas by the contrary they ought to study how to vowel and sing clean, expressing their words with devotion and passion.”

Thomas Bateson

c. 1575 – March 1630 (~55)

2 live poems · English

In the golden twilight of the English Renaissance, when madrigals flourished in the courts and cathedrals of England and Ireland, few composers demonstrated such exquisite taste in wedding poetry to music as Thomas Bateson. Born around 1575 in the rolling countryside of Cheshire, this Anglo-Irish composer would become one of the most significant figures of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean musical landscape, le…

“In truth I must confess, they are like young birds feared out of the nest before they be well feathered, and find no place so fit to light on as on the branches of your favour: where (such is your love to me and music) I hope they will be so shrouded in the leaves of your good liking, that you will give leave neither to any ravenous kite nor crafty fowler (I mean neither to any open-mouthed Momus nor more sly detractor) to devour, or harm them, that cannot succour nor shift for themselves.”