English Madrigal School

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There can be little doubt that the English Madrigal writers of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period constitute our finest School of national composition. This was the period during which, according to Thomas Morley himself, anyone unable to take part at sight in a Madrigal or in a consort of viols was considered to fall below the standard of a gentlemanly education.