Morley, Thomas (1557 or 1558-1602), was an English composer of the Renaissance period. He is best known for his lighthearted unaccompanied vocal pieces known as madrigals (see Madrigal ).
Morley’s most popular madrigal is Now is the month of Maying, with its nonsense refrain “Fa la la.” Another popular Morley song is It was a lover and his lass, with words from William Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It. Morley’s songs for two voices, called canzonets, are still used as models by music theory students.
Morley was born in Norwich. He was educated at Oxford University and became a noted music teacher. In 1597, he published a composition textbook, written as a dialogue, which tells us much about how music was taught and written in his time. Morley also made arrangements for a consort, a group of instruments used in the theater of his day.
