Ellis Gibbons

Who was Ellis Gibbons?

Ellis Gibbons was a composer and one of the older brothers of Orlando Gibbons.

Gibbons was born in Cambridge. His father William was one of the Oxford town waits, but moved to Cambridge between the birth and christening of Orlando. Ellis's older brother Edward became master of the choristers at Cambridge.

Ellis Gibbons was evidently counted as having promise by his contemporaries: at the age of 28 he became the only composer, other than the editor Thomas Morley himself, to contribute two madrigals to The Triumphs of Oriana, a collection of 25 madrigals published in 1601, although the American musicologist Joseph Kerman states that "possibly one of the two is by Edward Gibbons."

Ellis Gibbons was never, and could not have been, organist of Salisbury cathedral as is recorded in some Georgian reference works.