John Bull

John Bull was an English composer, organist, virginalist and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on John Bull (composer).

From the period sources

John Bull was recognized as one of the “great masters of the time,” contributing to Sir William Leighton’s 1614 collection of musical airs and songs for voices and instruments, “The Teares or lamentations of a sorrowful soule,” alongside figures like Bird, Orlando Gibbons, and Dowland (A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Vol. 2, 1875). His standing as a composer of harpsichord lessons was such that Benjamin Cosyn’s extant works were deemed “in no respect inferior to those of Bull” (A General History, Vol. 2, 1875). In 1586, Bull was admitted to the degree of bachelor of music at Oxford, at the same time as John Mundy, organist of Eton College and Windsor.