William Lawes (1602–1645) was an English composer and musician.
Lawe… Read Full Bio ↴William Lawes (1602–1645) was an English composer and musician.
Lawes was born at Salisbury in Wiltshire and was baptised on 1st May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right.
His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I. William was appointed as "musician in ordinary for lutes and voices" in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this.
William Lawes spent all his adult life in Charles's employ. He composed secular music and songs for court masques (and doubtless played in them), as well as sacred anthems and motets for Charles's private worship. He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol music. His use of counterpoint and fugue and his tendency to juxtapose bizarre, spine-tingling themes next to pastoral ones in these works made them disfavoured in the centuries after his death; they have only become widely available in recent years.
When Charles's dispute with Parliament led to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lawes joined the Royalist army and was given a post in the King's Life Guards, which was intended to keep him out of danger. Despite this, he was "casually shot" by a Parliamentarian in the massacre of Royalists at Rowton Heath, near Chester, on 24th September 1645. Although the King was in mourning for his kinsman Bernard Stuart (killed in the same massacre), he instituted a special mourning for Lawes, apparently honouring him with the title of "Father of Musick". The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings:
Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.
Lawe… Read Full Bio ↴William Lawes (1602–1645) was an English composer and musician.
Lawes was born at Salisbury in Wiltshire and was baptised on 1st May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right.
His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I. William was appointed as "musician in ordinary for lutes and voices" in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this.
William Lawes spent all his adult life in Charles's employ. He composed secular music and songs for court masques (and doubtless played in them), as well as sacred anthems and motets for Charles's private worship. He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol music. His use of counterpoint and fugue and his tendency to juxtapose bizarre, spine-tingling themes next to pastoral ones in these works made them disfavoured in the centuries after his death; they have only become widely available in recent years.
When Charles's dispute with Parliament led to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lawes joined the Royalist army and was given a post in the King's Life Guards, which was intended to keep him out of danger. Despite this, he was "casually shot" by a Parliamentarian in the massacre of Royalists at Rowton Heath, near Chester, on 24th September 1645. Although the King was in mourning for his kinsman Bernard Stuart (killed in the same massacre), he instituted a special mourning for Lawes, apparently honouring him with the title of "Father of Musick". The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings:
Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
I. Paven
William Lawes Lyrics
No lyrics text found for this track.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
Carl Harris
I am greatly taken by Parthenia's beautifully felt and highly subtle performance of this amazingly passionate and melancholic music with its dissonances and harmonic unpredicatability. The players really allow the music to properly breathe, and interplay so well. This is really special. Wish there was a CD. Indeed, it is wonderfully refreshing to hear this in these 'straitened' times. I am a professional contemporary composer, and has made me want to write for viols.
Parthenia Viols
Hi Carl. Your comments are very kind - thank you!. You can buy MP3 download of our “Musical Games” live concert recording on Bandcamp. This Lawes Paven is on that program. https://parthenia.bandcamp.com/album/musical-games-live-concert
Also if you’d like to talk about composing for viols, write us at info@parthenia.org.
All best for the new year!
elfpix
Really nice declamation here, the phrasing and form is brought out, and instead of an organ-like bank of blurred sound, we can actually hear a story line.
David Jones
For goodness sake, who could possibly give this the thumbs down. One of England’s greatest composers, must have been one of Oliver’s army I suppose. Caligula perhaps, Lions 6294 Christians 0. Isn’t it windy, no it’s Friday, shut gob and put the kettle on. And then...LISTEN
A Valentino
This is great.
John Raymond
The music of William Lawes is still so little known to the musical public. For me he is one of the most original and composers of all time. I first heard recordings of his music in the late 60's when I was a teenager and have been captivated ever since.
The beautiful pavan in g minor played so beautifully and passionately here here was a relatively recent discovery for me. This is music written for the inner circle of the court of Charles 1st who possibly participated in playing this music too as he was himself a fine gamba (bass viol) player and learned to play under the tuteledge of Coperario who taught Lawes, too. I feel that in a way Lawes had a sort of intuition into the the unfolding tragedy of Charles's kingship and he was in a way able to process the monarch's anguish in his music. Not heeding Charles's advice William Lawes enlisted in the royalist army and was killed at the battle of Rowton Heath near Chester in September 1645. Notwithstanding the loss of his cousin Lord Bernard Stuart on the same day it was recorded that the The King had a "Special mourning for his dear servant William Lawes whom he loved when living and often called "The Father of Music"
Cynthia Copeland
Fabulous.
John Raymond
A pavan for the beginning of the "distracted tymes" of the English civil war. Thomas Tomkins wrote the sequel at its end.