John Farmer (c. 1570c. 1601) was an important composer of the English Madrigal School.[1] He was born in England during the Elizabethan period, and was also known by his skillful settings for four voices of the old church psalm tunes.[2] His exact date of birth is not known – a 1926 article by Grattan Flood posits a date around 1564 to 1565 based on matriculation records.[3] Farmer was under the patronage of the Earl of Oxford and dedicated his collection of canons and his late madrigal volume to his patron.[4]
In 1595, Farmer was appointed organist and master of children at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and also, at the same time, organist of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.[5] [6] In 1599, he moved to London and published his only collection of four-part madrigals, which he dedicated to Edward de Vere.
His Lord's Prayer is performed widely throughout many churches and cathedrals, mostly in Britain.[7] It is included in Volume 2 of Oxford Choral Classics, published by Oxford University Press.[8]
Giles Farnaby dedicated a pavan to him, included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as Farmer's Paven (no. CCLXXXVII).
Farmer's Divers & Sundry Waies was the source of the fugues in Michael Maier's book, Atalanta Fugiens.[9] Of the 50 three-part fugues in Atalanta Fugiens, 40 have been shown by Ludwig to be based on Farmer's compositions in Divers & Sundry Waies.