Giles Farnaby

Giles Farnaby (1563–1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period. Farnaby was born about 1563, perhaps in Truro, Cornwall or near London. 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. 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. 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 51 of his 52 surviving pieces.