Composer of the Week: England's Golden Age

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: England's Golden Age: Thomas Tomkins – a last flowering of the Golden Age

Thomas Tomkins – a last flowering of the Golden Age

England's Golden Age

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, England's Golden Age, Thomas Tomkins – a last flowering of the Golden Age

Donald Macleod surveys the later life of the last surviving composer of the Golden Age.

Donald Macleod surveys the later life and work of the composers, especially Thomas Tomkins - the last surviving member of the group as England girded its loins for revolution.

The composers of 16th-century England flourished under the rule of Elizabeth I, rapidly developing a diverse musical culture unparalleled anywhere on the continent, a truly Golden Age for English music. In this week of programmes Donald Macleod explores six composers who were key to this ascent - Thomas Morley, John Bull, Peter Philips, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Tomkins. These composers were all active at around the same time as the “Father of British Musick” William Byrd and John Dowland, and all either studied or worked with Byrd, but they don’t often receive the same attention as those more famous names. In Friday’s programme, Donald surveys the later life and work of the composers, especially Thomas Tomkins- the last surviving member of the group as England girded its loins for revolution.

Weelkes: Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend 
The Queen’s Six

Tomkins: Cloris When As I Woo
The Queen’s Six

Tomkins: O Let Me Live for True Love
I Fagiolini
Robert Hollingworth, conductor

Tomkins: Be Strong and of good courage
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor

Tomkins: Offertory
Bernard Cuillier, virginals

Tomkins: Thou Art My King
Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford
Phantasm
Daniel Hyde, conductor

Tomkins: Pavan “for these distracted times”
Guy Penson, virginals

Tomkins: The Lady Folliot’s Galliard
Edward Parmentier, harpsichord

Tomkins: Burial Sentences
Vox Luminis


Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Wales

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod surveys the music of composers who flourished under the rule of Elizabeth I

Donald Macleod surveys the music of six English composers who flourished under the rule of Elizabeth I.

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Composer of the Week

England's Golden Age

Thomas Tomkins – a last flowering of the Golden Age

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