page_title: Ellis Gibbons
section_title: Music
hierarchical_section_title: Ellis Gibbons / Music
caption_attribution_description: Alto part for a madrigal from Thomas Morley's The Triumphs of Oriana
context_page_description: Ellis Gibbons was an English composer of the late Renaissance and member of the English Madrigal School. Born in Cambridge to a musical family, Gibbons was the second surviving son of William Gibbons, a town wait. By 1598 he was known to be living in Cambridge's High ward, and later the Market ward. He owned property in Cambridge and London and probably spent much time there, presumably as a musician of some kind. At the age of 28 he became one of only two composers to contribute two pieces to The Triumphs of Oriana, a collection of 25 madrigals published in 1601. These madrigals were Long live faire Oriana and Round about her Charret – although some have doubted his authorship; none of his other works survive. Two months after his mother's death, his career was cut short by his early death in May 1603, leaving behind his brothers Edward, Ferdinando and Orlando, who would become the most famous musician of the family.
context_section_description: Other than two madrigals for The Triumphs of Oriana, no works by Gibbons survive. He was the only composer to contribute two madrigals to The Triumphs of Oriana other than the editor, Morley. American musicologist Joseph Kerman furthers this oddity by noting that prominent English composers like William Byrd and Giles Farnaby are excluded, which he explains by speculating that one of the madrigals may be by Ellis Gibbons' older brother Edward. Kerman even goes so far as to describe Ellis Gibbons as a "non-entity". Based on stylistic evidence, Fellowes suggests that both madrigals are by the then 19 year old Orlando, but notes there is no valid evidence to support this claim.
  The pieces Ellis Gibbons contributed to The Triumphs of Oriana were the 5 part madrigal Long live fair Orianae and a six part madrigal entitled Round about her Charret. The former is considered by Fellowes and musicologist John Harley to be more sophisticated, although Harley notes that it is still demonstrated "at best an unpracticed composer". Long live faire Oriana has been criticized by Fellowes and Harley as being dull and having "the appearance of being written at the keyboard".
caption: Ellis Gibbons - Long live faire Oriana (1601), cantus part
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