Peter Philips (c.1560 – 1628) was an eminent English
composer, organist, and Catholic priest exiled to
Flanders. He was one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos
of his time, and transcribed or arranged several
Italian motets and madrigals by such composers as
Lassus, Palestrina, and Giulio Caccini for his
instruments. Some of his keyboard works are found in
the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Philips also wrote many
sacred choral works.
Philips was born in 1560 or 1561, possibly in
Devonshi...(+)
Peter Philips (c.1560 – 1628) was an eminent English
composer, organist, and Catholic priest exiled to
Flanders. He was one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos
of his time, and transcribed or arranged several
Italian motets and madrigals by such composers as
Lassus, Palestrina, and Giulio Caccini for his
instruments. Some of his keyboard works are found in
the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Philips also wrote many
sacred choral works.
Philips was born in 1560 or 1561, possibly in
Devonshire or London. From 1572 to 1578 he began his
career as a boy chorister at St Paul's Cathedral in
London, under the aegis of the Catholic master of
choristers, Sebastian Westcott (died 1582), who had
also trained the young William Byrd some twenty years
earlier. Philips must have had a close relationship
with his master, as he lodged in his house up to the
time of Westcote's death, and was a beneficiary of his
will.
In the same year (1582), Philips left England for good,
like so many others for reasons of his Catholicism, and
stayed briefly in Flanders before travelling to Rome
where he entered the service of Alessandro Farnese
(1520–1589), with whom he stayed for three years, and
was also engaged as organist at the English Jesuit
College. It was here that in February 1585 he met a
fellow Catholic exile, Thomas, third Baron Paget (c.
1544–1590). Philips entered Paget's service as a
musician, and the two left Rome in March 1585,
travelling over several years to Genoa, Madrid, Paris,
Brussels and finally Antwerp, where Philips settled in
1590 and where Paget died the same year.
After settling, Philips married and gained a precarious
living by teaching the virginals to children. In 1593
he went to Amsterdam "to sie and heare an excellent man
of his faculties", doubtless Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,
whose reputation had by then long been made. On his way
back, Philips was denounced by a compatriot for
complicity in a plot on Queen Elizabeth's life, and he
was temporarily imprisoned at the Hague, where he
probably composed the pavan and galliard Doloroso
(Fitzwilliam Virginal Book nos. LXXX and LXXXI).
Philips himself translated the accusations made against
him during his trial, revealing that he could by then
speak Dutch. He was acquitted and released without
further charges.
In 1597 Philips was appointed organist to the chapel of
Albert VII, Archduke of Austria at the Coudenberg
Palace in Brussels
Philips' fortunes took a turn for the better on his
return, and in 1597 he was employed in Brussels as
organist to the chapel of Albert VII, Archduke of
Austria who had been appointed governor of the Low
Countries in 1595. Here, after his wife – and child's
– deaths, he was ordained a priest in either 1601 or
1609 – opinions differ; in any case, he received a
canonry at Soignies in 1610, and another at Béthune in
1622 or 1623. In his position at court, Philips was
able to meet the best musicians of the time, including
Girolamo Frescobaldi, who visited the Low Countries in
1607–1608, and his fellow-countryman John Bull, who
had fled England on a charge of adultery. His nearest
colleague, however, was Peeter Cornet (c. 1575–1633),
organist to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Philips'
employer the archduke.
Philips was an extremely prolific composer: his
surviving motets number in the hundreds, and he also
composed both instrumental and consort music. His
keyboard pieces are mostly in the tradition of the
English virginalist school, but his choral works,
although retaining occasional English characteristics,
are largely in the style of more conservative Italian
contemporary composers such as Giovanni Croce.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Philips).
Although originally composed for Double Choir
(SSAATTBB), I created this interpretation of the "Beati
estis" (Blessed are thee) Motet à 8 for Winds (Flute,
Oboe, English Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC