MorleyThomas
Morley (1557-1602) was born in Norwich,
England,
and was a choirboy there
in the cathedral He studied with William Byrd. In 1583 he
became choirmaster at Norwich. Later he studied at Oxford, then he
went to London as organist at St Paul's Cathedral.
As well as composing
music, Morley became a publisher, especially of madrigals, including earlier
Italian ones. However, his own Madrigals acquired his own distinctive character,
with tuneful, light melodies in the soprano part, and plenty of counterpoint in
the other parts. This became established as the "English" style of
madrigal, and it was widely adopted by other English composers of this period.