William Cranford [Cranforth]

(late 16th century-1650/75)


English composer and singer. He was, according to Anthony Wood, a lay vicar at St Paul's Cathedral in the time of Charles I. He contributed two settings to Ravenscroft's 1621 psalter, and wrote the well-known Anglican hymn tune 'Ely.' His verse anthem O Lord, make thy servant Charles,also known as The King shall rejoice,must have been written in the early part of the reign of Charles I, and was apparently his most popular work of this kind: it is in a simple, semi-polyphonic style. Most of his church music survives in imperfect or fragmentary form. More than twenty compositions for viols are known, many perhaps dating from the period of suppression of choral services. A total of nine three-voice catches are contained among Hilton's and Playford's publications.





Consort Music Composers  |   IV M: England Through 1635