George Kirbye

Who was George Kirbye?

George Kirbye was an English composer of the late Tudor period and early Jacobean era. He was one of the members of the English Madrigal School, but also composed sacred music.

Little is known of the details of his life, though some of his contacts can be inferred. He worked at Rushbrooke Hall near Bury St Edmunds, evidently as a tutor to the daughters of Sir Robert Jermyn. In 1598 he married Anne Saxye, afterwards moving to Bury St Edmunds. Around this time he probably made the acquaintance of John Wilbye, a much more famous madrigalist, who lived and worked only a few miles away, and whose style he sometimes approaches. In 1626 his wife died, and he is known to have been a churchwarden during the next several years until his death.

Kirbye's most significant musical contributions were the psalm settings he wrote for East's psalter in 1592, the madrigals he wrote for the Triumphs of Oriana, the famous collection dedicated to Elizabeth I, and an independent set of madrigals published in 1597.