Composers

Giles Farnaby

Voice
Harpsichord
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Mixed chorus
Organ
Piece
Dance
Canzonets
Fantasia
Pavan
Madrigal
Secular choruses
Choruses
Allemande
Gigue
by alphabet
Alman for 2 Virginals, FVB 55A Toye, FVB 270Sometime She WouldGiles Farnaby's Dreame, FVB 194His Rest. Galiard, FVB 195Farnabye's Conceit, FVB 273The Old Spagnoletta, FVB 289Loth to Depart, FVB 230Tell mee, Daphne, FVB 280Spagnioletta, FVB 54Daphne, FVB 112A Maske, FVB 199A Maske, FVB 209The New Sa-Hoo, FVB 148Wooddy-Cock, FVB 141His Humour, FVB 196The King's Hunt, FVB 53Grounde, FVB 240Fantasia, FVB 229Tower Hill, FVB 245A Maske, FVB 198Bony sweet Robin, FVB 128Fantasia, FVB 237Fantasia, FVB 296Farmer’s Paven, FVB 287Mal Sims, FVB 281Fantasia, FVB 129Pavana, FVB 285Pawles Wharfe, FVB 113Praeludium, FVB 246Rosasolis, FVB 143Why aske you, FVB 286Fantasia "Ay me, poore heart", FVB 233Galiarda, FVB 269The L. Zouches Maske, FVB 239Up Tails All, FVB 242Walter Erle's Paven, FVB 235A Gigge, FVB 267Fantasia, FVB 208Fantasia, FVB 232Fantasia, FVB 234Fantasia, FVB 236Fantasia, FVB 238The Flatt Pavan, FVB 284Meridian Alman, FVB 291Put up thy Dagger, Jemy, FVB 127Quodlings Delight, FVB 114Fantasia, FVB 231Muscadin, FVB 293Album of Selected PiecesAlmande à 6Among the DaffadilliesAy Me, Poor Heart!Blind Love was ShootingCanzonetsDaphne on the Rainbow RidingLady, When I Behold Your PassionsLove shooting at anotherMy Lady's Coloured CheeksNobodys Jigg, FWB CXLIXPearce did Dance with PetronellaPearce did Love Fair PetronelPhillida BewailedThe Wavering PlanetThrice Blessed be the GiverWitness, Ye Heavens
Wikipedia
Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 – November 1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
Giles Farnaby was born about 1563, perhaps in Truro, Cornwall or near London. His father, Thomas, was a Cittizen and Joyner of London, and Giles may have been related to Thomas Farnaby (c. 1575–1647), the famous schoolmaster of Kent, whose father was a carpenter. But it was his cousin Nicholas Farnaby (c. 1560–1630), who may have turned him to music. Nicholas was a virginal maker, at this time a generic word that included the entire family of plucked keyboard instruments: the harpsichord, virginal, muselar and doubtless the clavichord, and it is for these instruments that Farnaby's compositions are best known. Like his father however, Giles trained as a joiner or cabinet-maker, starting his apprenticeship in about 1583, and gave this trade as his occupation for most of his life.
He married Katherine Roane on 28 May 1587, and first lived in the parish of St. Helen's Bishopsgate, in London. The couple had a daughter, Philadelphia, baptised on 8 August 1591, when the Farnabys moved to the neighbouring parish of St Peter's, Westcheap, and later a son, Richard Farnaby (1594–1623). After Philadelphia's premature death, prior to 1602, the Farnabys had three more children: a son Joy (1599), a daughter, also baptised Philadelphia (1602), and a last son, Edward (1604).
In spite of his social background, hardly suited at this time to a university education, he graduated from Christ Church, Oxford on 7 July 1592, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in music. This was the very same day that John Bull, his eminent fellow composer to be, obtained his degree: Bull evidently knew Farnaby, and influenced his musical style considerably.
In 1602 the family moved to Aisthorpe in Lincolnshire, where they remained until at least 1610. Farnaby obtained a position in the household of Sir Nicholas Saunderson of Fillingham, as music teacher to his children. By 1614 the Farnabys had returned to London, registered at Grub Street, Cripplegate in 1634, where Giles died in 1640 and was buried on 25 November.
Farnaby is considered one of the great English virginalists, together with William Byrd, John Bull, Orlando Gibbons, Peter Philips and Thomas Tomkins among others. Unlike them however, he is the only one not to have been a professional musician.
His best known works are included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, which contains 52 of his pieces. Notable among them are 11 fantasias, a wonderful and technically demanding set of variations called Woody-Cock, and short but charming descriptive pieces such as Giles Farnabys Dreame, His Rest, Farnabyes Conceit and His Humour. There are also four pieces by his son, Richard. His entire keyboard works and a biography are available in a modern edition.
In addition to his keyboard compositions, Farnaby also composed madrigals, canzonets and psalms.