Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623) was an English composer and organist of the Rena… Read Full Bio ↴Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623) was an English composer and organist of the Renaissance period. He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigals, anthems and services.

Thomas Weelkes was baptised in the little village church of Elsted in Sussex on 25 October 1576. It has been suggested that his father was John Weeke, rector of Elsted, although there is no documentary evidence of the relationship. In 1597 his first volume of madrigals was published, the preface noting that he was a very young man when they were written; this helps to fix the date of his birth to somewhere in the middle of the 1570s. Early in his life he was in service at the house of the courtier Edward Darcye. At the end of 1598, at the probable age of 22, Weelkes was appointed organist at Winchester College, where he remained for two or three years, receiving the salary of 13s 4d per quarter. His remuneration included board and lodging.

During his Winchester period, Weelkes composed a further two volumes of madrigals (1598, 1600). He obtained his B. Mus. Degree from New College, Oxford in 1602, and moved to Chichester to take up the position of organist and informator choristarum (instructor of the choristers) at the Cathedral at some time between October 1601 and October 1602. He was also given a lay clerkship at the Cathedral, being paid £15 2s 4d annually alongside his board, lodging and other amenities. The following year he married Elizabeth Sandham, from a wealthy local family. They had three children and it was rumoured that Elizabeth was already pregnant at the time of the marriage.

Weelkes' fourth and final volume of madrigals, published in 1608, carries a title page where he refers to himself as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal; however, records at the Chapel Royal itself do not mention him, so at most he could only have been a Gentleman Extraordinary, one of those who were asked to stand in until a permanent replacement was found.

Weelkes was later to find himself in trouble with the Chichester Cathedral authorities for his heavy drinking and immoderate behavior. In 1609 he was charged with unauthorized absence, but no mention of drunken behavior is made until 1613, and J. Shepherd, a Weelkes scholar, has suggested caution in assuming that his decline began before this date. In 1616 he was reported to the Bishop for being ‘noted and famed for a comon drunckard (sic) and notorious swearer & blasphemer’. The Dean and Chapter dismissed him for being drunk at the organ and using bad language during divine service. He was however reinstated and remained in the post until his death, although his behavior did not improve...

In 1622 Elizabeth Weelkes died. Thomas Weelkes was, by this time, reinstated at Chichester Cathedral, but appeared to be spending a great deal of time in London. He died in London in 1623, in the house of a friend, and was buried on 1 December, 1623 at St Bride's Fleet Street. Weelkes' will, made the day before he died at the house of his friend Henry Drinkwater of St Bride's parish, left his estate to be shared between his three children, with a large 50s legacy left to Drinkwater for his meat, drink and lodging.

In Chichester Cathedral there is a memorial stone with the following inscription:

REMEMBER
IN THE LORD
THOMAS WEELKES
THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN
COMPOSER, ORGANIST OF
WINCHESTER COLLEGE
1598 AND OF THIS
CATHEDRAL CHURCH
FROM 1602 UNTIL HIS DEATH
He died on 30 November 1623
And was buried at St. Bride's
Church. Fleet Street. London

See also:
List of compositions by Thomas Weelkes

A Galliard
Thomas Weelkes Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Thomas Weelkes:

As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending, She spied a maiden…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

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Comments from YouTube:

mark morgan

8y↑2

The Columbia History Of Music sets contain some wonderful gems of early recordings of early music before it became more mainstream in the second half of the 20th century and also attest to the skills of the recording engineers in getting a balanced well rounded sound from such instruments as clavichords and a consort of viols - instruments which to this day challenge sound engineers. They are a treasured part of my 78 collection alongside my classical, hot dance, jazz......... Early music was the first music I responded to at about 6 years old and its still a major area of musical interest, its good to see such pivotal early recordings getting a public airing in a good transcription

6dBperOctave

8y↑2

If you check the photo ‘ Recording the Weelkes Fantasy’, it tells a lot about the Columbia studio which was in a building on Petty France in Westminster. The Westex 1B carbon button microphone is to the left of the photo and the studio floor is marked with a grid, each square has a letter and number. Behind the bass viol and the tenor viol (extreme left and right), you can see cast iron pillars – the studios were in a Victorian/Edwardian iron-framed office building. Behind the middle tenor viol can be seen a pair of doors leading to the recording room. Behind the middle bass viol there is what appears to be a picture on the wall, it is the viewing window from the recording room where the warmed cupboard of prepared waxes, the amplifiers and the cutting lathe were located. There are movable drapes at the walls, and lines tied to the cast iron pillars for lowering/pulling other drapes etc.

If you transcribed the record with a stereo cartridge, the chances are that you had rumble in the vertical. Underground lines ran behind the building.

Columbia merged with HMV to form EMI and vacated the building in 1932 and it was demolished around 1950. An aerial view of it is in the images of some recent Columbia records on my channel. Its footprint was one side of the former Passport Office in Petty France which is now a Ministry of Justice building.

It is in that building that Alan Blumlein was interviewed and recruited by Columbia and worked on his recording system.

David Lewis

Thank you Norman! That was truly lovely music and an excellent transfer to boot! Uncle Dave

Parlophonic

Weelks' motets are a delight to sing and this Fantasy only goes to increase my admiration of his work. We learnt at school the value of the Dolmetsch family's contribution to the further appreciation of early, and especially recorder, music. May I echo the sentiments of your apostle below and ask you to post the rest of the set please. Your work on noise reduction benefits this sort of thing very much.My grateful thanks Norman.