Thomas Simpson

This expert viol player from England was also a musical editor who collected a number of works by other composers utilizing them as pieces paired with galliards that he composed. Simpson served at courts in Heidelberg, Buckeburg and Copenhagen and in all wrote over fifty consort compositions as well as single piece dance pairs, mostly galliards and courantes. His music betrays a conflation of flavors from the continent and England. Antiphonal dialogues exist between the upper voices for five-voiced compositions and variations were employed by Simpson rather than fugal conventions from England. One of the only elements of English music that Simpson appears to have drawn upon was music from the masques. ~ Keith Johnson