Thomas Robinson (composer)

Thomas Robinson (* around 1560 in England ; † around 1610) was an important composer and music teacher of the English Renaissance around 1603 . He taught and wrote music for lute , cister , orpheoreon , pandora , viola da gamba and vocals .

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Very little is known about his life; one can only draw some conclusions about his life from the text of the introductions to his books. Apparently his father was in the service of the 1st Earl of Salisbury, Robert Cecil , and the young Thomas Robinson in the service of the 1st Earl of Exeter, Thomas Cecil , Robert Cecil's brother. The Cecil family sponsored artists, especially musicians, including William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons .

Later, at least before 1589, was Thomas Robinson in Danish Helsingør private music teacher of Princess Anne of Denmark , daughter of King Frederick II. , And Queen Sophie . Thomas Robinson was probably around 20 years old at the time, which is why it is believed that he was born around 1560. At that time, the Danish court employed many foreign musicians, including from England , France , Germany and the Netherlands . The most famous lutenist of the English Renaissance, John Dowland , worked as a court lutenist in Denmark from 1598–1606.

In 1603 Thomas Robinson published the book Medulla Musicke . There are no more known copies of it. Although Thomas Robinson seems to refer to it in the introduction to his second work, The Schoole of Musicke , there has even been speculation (John M. Ward, see below under “Literature”) that it may never have been published.

In the same year Thomas Robinson published his most famous work today, The Schoole of Musicke . This was a new textbook mainly for lute, but also for Pandora, Orpheoreon (these two instruments belong to the Cister family, but are tuned like a lute) as well as for viola da gamba and voice. At that time it apparently became the most important English textbook for lute in England. It replaced John Alford's book A Briefe and Easye Instru (c) tion from 1574, the English translation of Adrian Le Roy's Briefve et facile instruction pour apprendre la tabulature , after 29 years.

In 1609 New Citharen Lessons was published , a textbook for cisters aimed at beginners and advanced learners.

Robinson's works are partly his own compositions , partly arrangements , some of them from well-known pieces by John Dowland, such as “My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home” in The Schoole of Musicke , or “Can She Excuse My Wrongs?” In New Citharen Lessons .

There is no recorded information about Thomas Robinson's life after 1609.

Works

• The Schoole of Musicke ( Tho. Este , London 1603)
• New Citharen Lessons (London 1609)
• Medulla Musicke ( The Stationer's Company , London 1609) (not preserved)
• Individual compositions and arrangements by Thomas Robinson can also be found outside of his books, in various manuscripts that have survived:
  • Spanish Pavan (in Add. MS 3056 ( Cozens Lute Book ) , ca.1595, Cambridge University Library ) - a version in major
  • May (in Dd. 9.33 , 1600, Cambridge University Library)
  • Pipers Galliard Jo Dowland. Tho. Robinson (in Ms. Dd. 4.23 , Cambridge University Library)
  • Galliard TR (in Ms. Dd. 4.23 , Cambridge University Library)
  • [The Hunt's Up] T: R. (in Ms. Dd. 4.23 , Cambridge University Library)

literature

• David Lumsden (Ed. And Transkr.): Thomas Robinson: The Schoole of Musicke, 1603. Editions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris 1971, ISBN 2-222-01343-7
• William Casey (Ed.): Alfredo Colman (Ed.), Thomas Robinson: New Citharen Lessons (1609) , 1997 Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas, ISBN 0-918954-65-7
• John M. Ward: Sprightly and Cheerful Musick. Notes on the Cittern, Gittern & Guitar in 16th- & 17th-Century England. In: The Lute Society Journal . Volume 21, 1979-1981, pp. 69 f.

Web links

• Works by Thomas Robinson in tablature and MIDI on the server of the University of Dartmouth (New Hampshire, USA)

Remarks

1. ↑ See also Heinz Teuchert (Hrsg.): Meister der Renaissance (= My first guitar pieces. Book 3). G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag, Munich 1971 (= Ricordi. Sy. 2201), ISBN 978-3-931788-33-9 , p. 19 ( Robinson's May , around 1600).