MORLEY, THOMAS (1557-1603), English musical com poser, was a pupil of William Byrd, but nothing is known as to his origin and very little as to the incidents of his career. He was admitted (July 5, 1588) Mus. Bac. at Oxford, and in 1596 entered the Chapel Royal, where he successively filled the offices of epistler and gospeller. On Sept. 11, 1598, Morley received a licence for twenty-one years to print ruled music-paper and song books in English, Latin, French or Italian. His rights under this grant were assigned to him by various publishers. On Oct. 7, 1602, his place in the Chapel Royal was filled up, and on Oct. 25, 1603, administration of his goods was granted to his widow. Morley was incontestably one of the greatest of the secular Elizabethan composers. His madrigals, canzonets and ballets are remarkable for their beauty and admirable workmanship, and his Plaine and Easie Introductione to Practice Musicke, in spite of its frequent obscurity, is invaluable for the history of musical science in England.
His works are: (I) Canzonets to Three Voices (1593; 2nd ed., 16o6; 3rd ed., 1631 ; Ger. trans.: Cassel, 1612, and Rostock, 1624) ; (2)
Madrigals to Four Voices (1594; 2nd ed., 1600) ; (3) First Book of Ballets to Five Voices (1595; an Ital. ed. appeared in London in the same year; 2nd ed., 1600; Ger. ed., Nuremberg, 16°9) ; (4) First Book of Canzonets to Two Voices (1595; 2nd ed., i6I9) ; (5) Canzonets or Short Little Songs to Four Voices, selected out of Italian Authors (1597) ; (6) Canzonets to Five and Six Voices (1597) ; (7) A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1597; 2nd ed., 1608; 3rd ed., 1771) ; (8) Madrigals to Five Voices, selected out of Italian Authors (1598) ; (9) The First Book of Consort Lessons, made by divers authors, &c. (1599; 2nd ed., 1611); (io) The First Book of Airs to Sing and Play to the Lute with the Base Viol (1600) ; (II) The Tri umphs of Oriana to Five and Six Voices, composed by divers several authors (i6oi). Besides the above, services, anthems, motets and vir ginal pieces by Morley are to be found in various collections, both printed and manuscript.