page_title: Orlando Gibbons
section_title: Early career and marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Orlando Gibbons / Life and career / Early career and marriage
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of James I of England wearing the jewel called the Three Brothers in his hat.
context_page_description: Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist who was one of the last masters of the English Madrigal School. By the 1610s he was the leading composer and organist in England yet would have has career cut short by his sudden death in 1625. As a result, Gibbons' oeuvre was not as large as that of his contemporaries, like the elder William Byrd, but his compositional versatility led to him having written significant works in virtually every form of his day. He is often seen as a transitional figure from the Renaissance to the Baroque periods.
  Born in Oxford, Gibbons was born into a musical family where his father, William Gibbons, was a wait, his brothers, Edward, Ellis and Ferdinand musicians and Orlando being expected to follow the musical tradition. It is not known under whom he studied, although it may have been with his father, an older brother or Byrd as he was the most famous composer of the time. Irrespective of his education, he was musically proficient enough to be appointed an unsalaried member of the Chapel Royal in May of 1603 and a full fledged gentleman of the Chapel Royal as junior organist by 1605.
context_section_description: Gibbons's abilities had reached the point to allow him become a Musician of the Chapel Royal on 19 May 1603. His name appears at this time in a Cheque book from the Chapel Royal for services to King James I, as he was likely Gentleman Extraordinary (unpaid substitute) awaiting the vacancy of a paid position. 1603 was a year of mixed fortunes: he received his first position as a professional musician, but in the same year both his mother and his brother Ellis died. Eventually Gibbons's awaited vacancy occurred with the death of Arthur Cook, and on 21 March 1605 he secured the prestigious position of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, as the junior chapel organist. Edward Gibbons's friendship with the former organist, Arthur Cook, and the senior chapel organist, John Bull, may have helped his younger brother secure this position. Either way, becoming a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal at the age of only 21 would have been an impressive feat at the time and he kept this position until the end of his life.
  In 1606 Gibbons married Elizabeth Patten on 17 February. Her father, John Patten, was a Yeoman of the Vestry in the Chapel Royal, and probably well acquainted with Gibbons, which would have helped to bring about the marriage. When Patten died in 1623, he made Gibbons his sole heir, residuary legatee and left 200 pounds for his children. The same year, shortly after his marriage, Orlando graduated from Cambridge with the degree of Bachelor in Music. Gibbons and his wife lived in Woolstaple (now Bridge Street) which was in the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster, the church where Gibbons's seven children would be baptised, including the well-known composer, Christopher Gibbons.
caption: Employer of Orlando Gibbons, James I of England
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