The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, it has "probably the largest and finest Romanesque" crossing tower in England.
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre, volume, and construction throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing pitch, timbre, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical family dynasty, by the 1610s he was the leading composer and organist in England, with a career cut short by his sudden death in 1625. As a result, Gibbons's oeuvre was not as large as that of his contemporaries, like the elder William Byrd, but he made considerable contributions to many genres of his time. He is often seen as a transitional figure from the Renaissance to the Baroque periods.
Sir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today, was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music that are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at Oxford.
Thomas Tomkins was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort music, and the last member of the English virginalist school.
Renatus Harris was an English master organ maker in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Stephen Bicknell was a leading British organ builder and writer about the organ.
William Drake (1943–2014) was the founder of the firm of William Drake, Organ Builder, that manufactures pipe organs in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. He held a Royal Warrant as organ builder to Queen Elizabeth II.
St Michael le Belfrey is an Anglican church in York, England. It is situated at the junction of High Petergate and Minster Yard, directly opposite York Minster, in the centre of the city.
Sir Walter Galpin Alcock was an English organist and composer. He held a number of prominent positions as an organist and played at the coronations of three monarchs. He was professor of organ in the Royal College of Music, London.
Heinrich Edmund Schulze was a German organ builder. He was the last of five generations of the Schulze family to build organs, starting with Hans Elias Schulze (1688–1762), Edmund's great-great-grandfather. He died of tuberculosis.
Owen Price was a Welsh schoolmaster and writer.
Dallam was the surname of a family of English organ builders, active in England and Brittany. The first known member of the family, Thomas Dallam, originated from Dallam in Lancashire.
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational hymn-singing and play liturgical music.
Thomas Dallam was an English organ-builder. Dallam served an apprenticeship and became a member of London's Blacksmiths' Company. He travelled frequently to build organs on site, going as far as Turkey.
John Hingston (1612–1683) was an English composer, organist and viol player who served Charles I of England, the Protector Oliver Cromwell and Charles II of England.
Thomas Swarbrick was an organ builder active in England in the eighteenth century.
John Varley Roberts was an English choirmaster, organist and composer. He spent most of his career at Magdalen College, Oxford.
The Milton Organ is a 17th-century instrument in Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire, which has been relocated several times.
