Giles Farnaby

Composer, probably born in Truro, Cornwall, SW England, UK. He was a joiner by trade, but graduated in music at Oxford, and lived for a time near Lincoln. By 1614 he seems to have moved to London. His works include madrigals and settings of the psalms, but he is best remembered for his keyboard music.

Giles Farnaby (1560 in Truro, Cornwall, England - November of 1640 in London, England) was an English composer. Nicholas was a virginal maker (a small, rectangular, legless harpsichord popular in the 16th and 17th centuries). He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1592 receiving a Bachelor’s degree in music. His best known works are included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, for which he composed 52 pieces. In addition to his music for the virginal, Farnaby also composed madrigals, canzonets and psalms.