Michael East

(c.1580 - 1648)

English composer. Probably the son of Thomas East. Provided a madrigal to The Triumphs of Oriana(1601); took a B.Mus. at Cambridge in 1606; perhaps served the Hatton family for a time; cited as a clerk at Ely Cathedral, 1609-14. He was master of the choristers at Lichfield by 1618; supplied an anthem for St. John's College, Oxford, in 1620. He issued seven publications: two madrigal books (1604, 1606); two varied collections of madrigals, consort songs, and anthems, the earlier print also containing a series of viol fancies (1610, 1618); two books exclusively for viol (1618-38); and a collection of anthems and consort songs. Service music and other anthems remain in manuscript.

Published Madrigales to 3. 4. and 5. parts: apt for viols and voices (1604); The Second Set of Madrigales to 3. 4. and 5. parts (1606); The Third Set of Bookes (1610); The Fift Set of Bookes ... as apt for Vyols as Voyces (1618); The Fourth Set of Bookes (1619); The Sixt Set of Bookes (1624); The Seventh Set of Bookes (1638)



Guide to the English Madrigal | The English Madrigalists | IV M: England Through 1635