Christopher Gibbons (1615 1676) was an English
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
and
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
. He was the second son, and first surviving child of the composer
Orlando GibbonsOrlando Gibbons was an English composer and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day.-Biography:Gibbons was born in Oxford...
.
As a child, Gibbons sang in the
Chapel RoyalA Chapel Royal is a department of the Ecclesiastical Household of the monarch in right of either Canada or the United Kingdom, formally known as the royal Free Chapel of the Household...
under the direction of
Nathaniel GilesNathaniel Giles was an English Renaissance organist and composer. He was the organist for Worcester Cathedral and did Anglican anthems. While Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal he took over Blackfriars Theatre and there he worked with Ben Jonson on a children's company...
. Gibbons most likely studied initially with his father as Orlando Gibbons was the leading church musician with the courts of
James IJames I may refer to:* James I, Count of La Marche , Count of Ponthieu* King James I of Aragon * King James I of Sicily , also King James II of Aragon...
and Prince (later King) Charles. After his father's early death in 1625, Gibbons moved to
ExeterExeter is a city and district in Devon, England; it is the county town of Devon. Exeter is located approximately northeast of Plymouth, and southwest of Bristol, on the River Exe. The city has a population of 111,076 according to the 2001 Census....
to live, for a short period, with his uncle, and father's eldest brother, Edward Gibbons who was also a well-regarded church musician in London and Master of the Choristers at Exeter Cathedral.
In 1638, Gibbons, himself already a noted organist and Gentleman Chorister of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey, succeeded organist Thomas Holmes and began playing in the
Winchester CathedralWinchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun and is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and...
.
Christopher Gibbons (1615 1676) was an English
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
and
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
. He was the second son, and first surviving child of the composer
Orlando GibbonsOrlando Gibbons was an English composer and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day.-Biography:Gibbons was born in Oxford...
.
As a child, Gibbons sang in the
Chapel RoyalA Chapel Royal is a department of the Ecclesiastical Household of the monarch in right of either Canada or the United Kingdom, formally known as the royal Free Chapel of the Household...
under the direction of
Nathaniel GilesNathaniel Giles was an English Renaissance organist and composer. He was the organist for Worcester Cathedral and did Anglican anthems. While Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal he took over Blackfriars Theatre and there he worked with Ben Jonson on a children's company...
. Gibbons most likely studied initially with his father as Orlando Gibbons was the leading church musician with the courts of
James IJames I may refer to:* James I, Count of La Marche , Count of Ponthieu* King James I of Aragon * King James I of Sicily , also King James II of Aragon...
and Prince (later King) Charles. After his father's early death in 1625, Gibbons moved to
ExeterExeter is a city and district in Devon, England; it is the county town of Devon. Exeter is located approximately northeast of Plymouth, and southwest of Bristol, on the River Exe. The city has a population of 111,076 according to the 2001 Census....
to live, for a short period, with his uncle, and father's eldest brother, Edward Gibbons who was also a well-regarded church musician in London and Master of the Choristers at Exeter Cathedral.
In 1638, Gibbons, himself already a noted organist and Gentleman Chorister of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey, succeeded organist Thomas Holmes and began playing in the
Winchester CathedralWinchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun and is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and...
. However, the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
- which began in earnest in 1641 - lead to a suppression of Church music, and put an end to Gibbon's position. He literally fought for the
RoyalistA royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
cause but, after the judicial murder of
Charles ICharles I may refer to:* Kings:** Charlemagne, Charles I, Holy Roman Emperor ** Charles I of Naples ** Charles I of Hungary ** Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Charles I of Bohemia,...
and the collapse of Royalist resistance following the battle of Worchester (1651), Gibbons moved to London where he lived from late in 1651 to his death in 1676. Worthy of mention is his work with respected contemporary
Matthew LockeMatthew Locke was an English Baroque composer and music theorist.As a boy he was trained in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons...
on the masque or quasi-opera
Cupid and Death in 1653 - it is one of the few works from this period that still exists in full score. From 1653 until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Gibbons made his living primarily as a music teacher and, more occasionally, as a composer of incidental music for the restricted theatres of
CommonwealthCommonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good or in which all participants have equal standing...
London.
With the return of
Charles IICharles II may refer to:* Charles the Bald , king of the West Franks and Holy Roman Emperor* Charles II of Naples * Charles II of Alençon * Charles II of Navarre * Charles II, Duke of Lorraine...
to English throne Gibbons, in part because of his loyalty to the crown, was immediately welcomed into the artistic fold of the new court and, with church music again flourishing, was swiftly reinstated as a Gentleman and Organist of the Chapel Royal. He subsequently became one of Charles' most important post-
InterregnumAn interregnum is a period of discontinuity of a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next , and the concepts of interregnum and regency therefore overlap...
composers, teachers and musical advisors. Christopher Gibbons was one of the few Royalist musicians not to flee England for the safety of the continent (such as did
Nicholas LanierNicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere was an English composer, singer, lutenist and painter....
) during the Interregnum - and this may explain Gibbons' rapid rise in the king's favour - for it had been no easy thing to remain a known Royalist in
Cromwell- People :* Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, English statesman in the reign of Henry VIII of England* Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland , great-great nephew of the above, and his sons:...
-controlled London and had cost some their lives.
Gibbons was well-known and influential in the later part of his life (1660-1676) - he is recorded several times in the diaries of
Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys, FRS was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II...
- and importantly (given his direct link to the musical traditon of the Elizabethan period) he was responsible for the nurturing of several great Restoration composers including
BlowJohn Blow was an English composer and organist. His pupils included William Croft and Henry Purcell.Blow was probably born at Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire...
,
HumfreyPelham Humfrey was the first to prominence of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration....
and, most significantly,
Henry PurcellHenry Purcell , was an English Baroque composer. Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements but devised a peculiarly English style of Baroque music.-Early life and career:...
.
His music is little known - and few examples exist of any - but it is as a teacher and up-holder of the English musical tradition before the almost thirty year interruption to it, by war and Cromwell's excessive Puritanism, that secures for him a substantial role in the rebirth of English music, particularly church music, during the second half of the 17th century.