John Adson

John Adson was a composer and performer born some time late in the sixteenth century. He was proficient at playing the flute, cornett and recorder having played as a member of the Blackfriars theatre and as a "musician in ordinary" for the king's ensemble. The major contribution made by Adson to composition are his scores for the 'loud' music in Shirley's masque "The Triumph of Peace' and Adson's own "Courtly Masquing Ayres". The latter includes 31 different instrumental works including five and six part arrangements. Adson's simple melodic themes are charcterized by an aesthetic quality awhich set him apart from his contemporaries Brade and Simpson. Similar to their music, however, Adson did use a liberal-dance structure in the first three parts of the score while the fourth "movement" was written in triple meter. ~ Keith Johnson