A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Whythorne, Thomas

WHYTHORNE, or WHITEHORNE, Thomas, born in 1528, is known only as the composer of a collection of part-songs which issued from the press of John Day in 1571, bearing the quaint title of 'Songes for three, fower and five voyces, composed and made by Thomas Whythorne, Gent., the which songes be of sundrie sortes, that is to say, some long, some short, some hard, some easie to be sung, and some between both; also some solemne and some pleasant or mery, so that according to the skill of the singers (not being musicians) and disposition and delite of the hearers, they may here find songes to their contentation and liking.' A woodcut portrait of the composer is on the back of the title. The compositions do not rise above mediocrity. A portrait of Whythorne, painted in 1569, is in the possession of Mr. Julian Marshall [App. p.817 "Mr. W. H. Cummings"].

[ W. H. H. ]