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Orlando Gibbons’s life throws a light on the political turbulence affecting Britain in the early 17th century. As King James VI and I struggled to establish the concept of British identity, his court was blessed with one of England’s most talented musicians of the time, Orlando Gibbons.

Today, Donald Macleod looks at Gibbons’s life in the royal household of the newly crowned king, James VI of Scotland and I of England. Gibbons’s ascent seems to have been a confident and steady one, from unpaid Gentleman Extraordinary in 1603 to senior organist just before James’s funeral in 1625.

Great King of Gods
Robert Quinney, organ
Westminster Abbey Choir
James O'Donnell, conductor

Pavan a 6
The Rose Consort of Viols

Pavan and galliard Lord Salisbury
Glenn Gould, piano

Fantasies in Three Parts Compos’d for Viols
No 6, No 8, No 9
London Baroque

This is the Record of John
Fantasia No 10 in C Major
Jeffrey Thomas, tenor
University of California Chamber Chorus
Berkeley Festival Consort of Viols
John Butt, director

Ne’er let the Sun
Yet if that age
Trust not too much fair youth
Consort of Musicke

Lift Up Your Heads
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly, director

Produced by Iain Chambers for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Audio Wales & West