John Farmer (composer)
Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Use dmy dates John Farmer (c. 1570Template:Spaced ndashc. 1601) was an important composer of the English Madrigal School.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref> He was born in England during the Elizabethan period, and was also known by his skillful settings for four voices of the old church psalm tunes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His exact date of birth is not known – a 1926 article by Grattan Flood posits a date around 1564 to 1565 based on matriculation records.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Farmer was under the patronage of the Earl of Oxford and dedicated his collection of canons and his late madrigal volume to his patron.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref>
In 1595, Farmer was appointed organist and master of children at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and also, at the same time, organist of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> In 1599, he moved to London and published his only collection of four-part madrigals, which he dedicated to Edward de Vere.
His Lord's Prayer is performed widely throughout many churches and cathedrals, mostly in Britain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is included in Volume 2 of Oxford Choral Classics, published by Oxford University Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Giles Farnaby dedicated a pavan to him,Template:Cn included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as Farmer's Paven (no. CCLXXXVII).
Farmer's Divers & Sundry Waies was the source of the fugues in Michael Maier's book, Atalanta Fugiens.<ref>Ludwig, Loren. "John Farmer's Sundry Waies: The English Origin of Michael Maier's 'Alchemical FuguesTemplate:'". Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier's "Atalanta fugiens" (1618) with Scholarly Commentary. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2020. Template:Doi</ref> Of the 50 three-part fugues in Atalanta Fugiens, 40 have been shown by Ludwig to be based on Farmer's compositions in Divers & Sundry Waies.
Selected works
- Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone
- Fair Nymphs, I Heard One Telling
- A Little Pretty Bonny Lass
- Take Time While Time Doth Last