Daniel Bacheler

Who was Daniel Bacheler?

Daniel Bacheler, also variously spelt Bachiler, Batchiler or Batchelar, was an English lutenist and composer. Of all the English lutenist-composers, he is now credited as probably being the most successful in his own lifetime.

Bacheler was born at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, a son of Richard Bachelor and his wife Elizabeth. He served an apprenticeship with his uncle, Thomas Cardell, who was a lutenist and dancing-master in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

He worked for Sir Francis Walsingham, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and finally as a groom of the privy chamber for Queen Anne of Denmark, consort of James I.

At the royal court he composed some fifty lute pieces. These included a number of pavans, galliards, almaines and fantasies, including a set of variations on the popular tune "Monsieurs Almaine". Elizabeth Roche, reviewing a CD of his work for the Daily Telegraph commented on the current neglect of Bacheler's music, suggesting that one reason is the "difficulty of his ornamental style, including arpeggios, trills, and even the dazzling tremolos that conclude his variations on Monsieurs Almaine".