Thomas Tomkins
1572 — 1656
Thomas Tomkins was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort music, and the last member of the English virginalist school.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Thomas Tomkins.
From the period sources
Thomas Tomkins hailed from a family prolific in music, with his father, Thomas Tomkins, serving as Chanter of Gloucester choir. Recognizing his son’s musical inclination, the elder Tomkins placed him under the tutelage of Byrd, whose instruction proved so beneficial that the younger Thomas became a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and later its organist, also holding the post of organist at Worcester Cathedral (A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Vol. 2, 1875). He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1607 from Magdalen College, Oxford, and was still living after the Grand Rebellion, as Wood relates (A General History, 1875).
Tomkins was a noted composer of his era, contributing madrigals to the famous 1601 collection, The Triumphs of Oriana, published by Thomas Morley (A General History, 1875; Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886). His own Musica Deo sacra et Ecclesise Anglicanse, a work in ten books, comprised anthems, hymns, and other compositions for church service, which he appended with a recommendatory Latin note in its 1668 publication (A General History, 1875; Grove’s Dictionary, Vol. 1, 1904). His compositions are also found in Ravenscroft’s 1621 Booke of Psalmes (Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1886). Tomkins was part of a distinguished lineage, with his brother John Tomkins, organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, described in an epitaph as “Organista sui temporis celeberrimus” (The Story of the Organ, 1916).