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Peter Philips, Composer and Organist 1561 – 1628

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

A.G. Petti
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Extract

Among the many English musicians exiled for the Catholic Faith was Peter Philips the composer and organist. As is often the case with these musicians, little is generally known about him, and so I am taking the opportunity of using material which has come to light in recent months, in conjunction with the little information which was previously established, to attempt a biography of him, however incomplete. This new material comes from various sources, including the State Papers Holland for 1593, which are in the Public Record Office; a letter to Fr. Persons from Richard Verstegan in the Stonyhurst Archives; the Pilgrims’ Book at the English College Rome; and court accounts and a certificate of residence in the Archives Générales du Royaume, Brussels.

Type
Articles
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , October 1957 , pp. 48 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1957

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References

Notes

1. The State Papers Holland (S.P. 84 vol 47 ff. 46, 50, 62, 68, 81, 98) contain letters concerning the incident in 1593 in which Philips was brought before the Council at the Hague to answer certain charges made against him by another Englishman. Philips's reported statements in these letters give many important biographical details of his early life which up till now has been almost a complete blank. The Verstegan letter in question is that dated 13th January 1594 (Stonyhurst MSS. Collectanea B f. 152 to f. 154.) Transcripts of some of the relevant extracts from these manuscripts can be found in the Musical Record for March 1957 in my article “New Light on Peter Philips”. I am indebted to Fr. A.J. Loomie S.J. for the reference to the autographed certificate of Philips's residence at Brussels which is in the Royal Archives, Brussels. A transcript of this document is printed for the first time below.

2. Archives du Royaume de Belgique, Papiers d'Etat et de l'Audience. 1398 t. Here is a transcript of the document:

Scachent tous a quil appartiendra que M.tre Pierre Philippe Organiste Anglois, (de lage de 36 annes) est sorty hors du Royaume D'.Angleterre poṛ la foy catholique des lan octante deux se refugiant a Rome ou il a demeure le space de trois ans au service du Seigṛ III.me Cardinal Farnese deffunct, de la se mettant au service du my Lord Barron Paget a faict le voyage despagne avec luy, puis retornant en france y a cōtinué sa demeure iusque a ce que ledit Seigr. Barron fut cōmande de la part de sa mate. de sacheminer en ces pais lors que larmee naualle estoit sur mer pour L'Angre. afin de se Joindre auec elle sous la cōduitte du Serme. duc de parme amenant ledit philipe auec luy, layant seruy iusque au jour de sa mort et depuis a passe son temps a Anuers, iusque a ce que naguere il a pieu au Serme. Archiduc, Cardinal gouuerneur gnal de ce pais le retenir du nombre de ses seruiteurs domestiques, residant en ceste ville du testmoin de quoy il a soubsigne le pnte de son nom ce 4 Aoust 1597. Pier Phillipps.

3. Thus it is now possible to have an idea of Philips's age at the time of the composition of his dated works. For example his earliest known work, a piece in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book dated 1580 was written when Philips was 19. The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book contains two hundred and ninety seven pieces, nineteen of which are by Philips. It is generally held that it was compiled by the younger Francis Tregian. Tregian probably knew Philips; he stayed for some time in Brussels while Philips was there.

4. S.P. Holland vol. 47, f.62. George Gilpin to Lord Burghley, September 22nd 1593.

5. First and second Diaries of the English College Douai, edited by T.F. Knox, 1878. p. 190. Among the entries for August 1582 there is: “18 die ex Anglia venerum D. Leonardus Norley, D. Franciscus Inglebie, D. Tho. Holford, D. Petrus Phillippes musicus et Jo. Bucke, qui ad nostra eaque superiora communia sunt admissi; ita tarnen ut duo primi propriis sumptibus alantur”.

6. The original MS is in the English College Rome. There is a transcript of it in the P.R.O., 31/9 no. 12. “Petrus Philippus, Anglus, dioceses(lacuna), receptus fuit hospitis 20 Octobris 1582 ad 12 dies”. Foley in his Records S.J. vol.6, printed these records in English. Although he frequently gives short biographical notes on the people mentioned in the Book, he makes no comment on the name Philips.

7. MS. Vatican Lat. 5525. The reference is to “Mauritius Anglus, Bassus”, This information was kindly communicated to me by Fr. A. Kenny.

8. S.P. Holland vol.47 f.62 ‘Ye late lorde Paget cam thither (i.e. to Rome) in 1585 when he became his ma and was wth him in spayne fraunce and ye Low Cotryes til he dyed, imployed in no service but as a Musitian”. See also note 2.

9. Elizabeth Cole in “Seven Problems of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book’ in Proceedings of Royal Musical Association, 1952, p. 139, states that these two pieces were dedicated to Charles Paget (Paget’s younger brother), but I think it more likely that they were dedicated to Thomas Paget, since he was Philips's patron.

10. S.P. Holland vol.47, f.46. September 11th 1593. Gilpin to Burghley.

11. The Balbani were a noble family of Lucca, a branch of which settled first at Bruges and then at Antwerp in the 16th century, (cf. P. Bergmans, L'Organiste des Archiducs Albert et Isabella, p.7.)

12. Baudartius. Memory en ofte Cort Verhael der Gedenckweerdichste Gheschedenissen van Nederland, Arnhem 1624. Pt. II, 12th Bk. p. 163. The exact text is as follows: “beroemd voor den alder-cloechsten ende constichsten Organist deser eeuwe. Welcken lof de constrijcke Organist ende Musicien Pedro Philippi Organist binnen Brussel ende alle andere hem geern gheven hem eerende als eenen Phoebus ofte Apollo”.

13. Verstegan to Fr. Persons, 13 January 1594. Stonyhurst Archives Coll. B. f.152.

14. S.P. Holland vol. 47. f.68. Gilpin to Burghley, September 27th.

15. Bergmans, P., L'Organiste des Archiducs Albert et Isabella, p. 8.Google Scholar

16. It is not my intention to give an exhaustive list of Philips's works in this article.

17. ‘Registres journaux des lettres patentes de l'audience 1608-1618’ (fig. 844 f. 60 vo.., Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels.)

18. Comptes communaux de Malines, 1610-11 fo 165.vo. The original Dutch Ms. is transcribed in Bergmans, op. cit.

19. Account “des frais occasionés par les funerailles …” in the General Archives, Brussels, transcribed by E. Van der Straeten in La Musique aux Pays-Bas avant le XIXe siècle, Brussels, 1872, pt 2. p.9. Philips is referred to in the Account as “Petro Philippe, organiste de la chapelle. …”

20. This edition is not mentioned in Bergmans or in Grove. A basso continuo copy of it exists in the British Museum. The date 1617 it bears on the title page, is not, I think a misprint for 1612, the date of the first edition, as the B.M. Catalogue suggests, because there are many signs in the copy that it belongs to a different edition.

21. Chambre des Comptes MSS nos 1837 and 1838. Archives générates du Royaume, Brussels. I am indebted to the Central Research Fund of the University of London for enabling me to carry on research in Brussels, amongst other places.

22. P.R.O. S.P. 77. no. 11. 250.

23. Archives générales du Royaume. Papiers d'Etat et de l'Audience Reg. 942. ff. 60-61, 63-64. Transcripts are printed in Bergmans, p.23-26.

24. This is also the order given in Butkens Supplément aux Trophée s du Brabant La Haye, 1726., Part I, book 1, p.224.

25. Archives générales du Royaume. A transcript of the document appears in E. Van der Straeten, op. cit.

26. Printed from the manuscript in Catholic Record Society, Vol I, 1905. cf. p. 33.

27. One example which comes to mind is Verstegan's Exercitien van verstandt which contains a dedication by the author dated March 1641 when Verstegan had died in February of the previous year! In Philips's case however, no dedication signed by him is later than March 1628.

28. Philips's fantasy appears also in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.