Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choralatSalisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right. It is possible the young William was a member of the cathedral choir there.[1]
His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I. William was appointed as "musician in ordinary for lutes and voices" in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this.
Lawes spent all his adult life in Charles's employ. He composed secular music and songs for court masques (and doubtless played in them), as well as sacred anthems and motets for Charles's private worship. He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol music. His use of counterpoint and fugue and his tendency to juxtapose bizarre, spine-tingling themes next to pastoral ones in these works made them disfavoured in the centuries after his death.
When Charles's dispute with Parliament led to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lawes joined the Royalist army. During the Siege of York, Lawes was living in the city and wrote at least one piece of music as a direct result of the military situation – the roundSee how Cawood's dragon looks, a vivid and defiant response to the Parliamentarian capture of Cawood Castle, about ten miles from York.[2]
He was given a post in the King's Life Guards, which was intended to keep him out of danger. Despite this, he was "casually shot" by a Parliamentarian in the rout of the Royalists at Rowton Heath, near Chester, on 24 September 1645.
Although the King was in mourning for his kinsman Bernard Stuart (killed in the same defeat), he instituted a special mourning for Lawes, apparently honouring him with the title of "Father of Musick."[3]
The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings:
Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.[3]
Lawes' body was lost or destroyed and his burial site is unknown.[4]
Lawes' instrumental music is typical of the 17th-century genre in England. Intense rhythmical gestures and dissonant harmonies stand in stark contrast with the traditional rules of counterpoint such as practiced by previous composers which were known to Lawes, like William Byrd. His writing style is highly mannered, oft experimental and virtuosic; melodies may be fragmented and altered with varied articulation and accentuation. Lawes was known to be a virtuoso on the lyra viol. There as well his music features chromatic extremes which are not normally encountered in works of the early Baroque. Nevertheless, his works, including two compositions on the cantus firmus In nomine, show that he was aware of the theoretical practices of his day.
He is particularly known for his ensemble dance music, which takes the form of suites called "consort sets," well appreciated by his contemporaries and successors.[1] Ten of these sets form a fine and varied collection called the Royal Consort, completed in 1635 for Charles I of England. This was issued in two versions: for two treble viols, tenor viol, bass viol and theorbocontinuo; and, later, for two violins, two bass viols and two theorbos. Until recently the violin version was the better known, thanks to editing work done in the 1960s, but scholarship has revealed the four-viol version to be of much better quality, having been the original setting. Many of Lawes' consort sets seem to have been composed as functional music or pedagogical pieces.
Note that the Royal Consort sets below exist in a primary scoring of 2 Treble Viols, Tenor Viol, Bass Viol and Theorbo (as thorough-bass, or continuo) as well as in an alternative, but recently discredited, scoring of 2 Treble Viols, 2 Bass Viols and 2 Theorbos (with the option of violins replacing the treble viols). Sources with the two-theorbo scoring show extra movements, notably a Fantasy and an Ecco each to open and close Sets 1 and 6, and adjustments to the sequence of movements.
Almain for 2 Lutes, ca. 1625
Almain for 3 Lyra-Viols, vdgs564, ca. 1630
Almain for 4 Viols and Continuo, vdgs260, 1625
Courante 1 for 2 Lutes, ca. 1625
Courante 2 for 2 Lutes, ca. 1625
Divisions on a Pavan in g for 2 Bass Viols and Organ, ca. 1638
Eight Sonatas (Fantasy Suites) for Violin, Bass Viol and Organ, ca. 1630
Eight Sonatas (Fantasy Suites) for 2 Violins, Bass Viol and Organ, ca. 1630
Fantasy for 3 Lyra-Viols, vdgs567, ca. 1630
Fantasy in c for 4 Viols, vdgs108, ca. 1630
Organ Consort Set 1 (Fantasy—Air—Air) a 5 in g, On the Playnsong, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 2 (Fantasy—Fantasy—Air) a 5 in a, For Ye Violls, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 3 (Fantasy—Air—Pavan—Air) a 5 in c, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 4 (Fantasy—Pavan—Air) a 5 in F, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 5 (Fantasy—Pavan—Air) a 5 in C, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 6 (Pavan—Fantasy—Air) a 6 in g, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 7 (Fantasy—Fantasy—Air) a 6 in C, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 8 (Air—Fantasy—Air—Fantasy) a 6 in F, Sunrise, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 9 (Fantasy—Air—In nomine) a 6 in Bb, ca. 1638
Organ Consort Set 10 (Fantasy—Fantasy—In nomine—Air) a 6 in c, ca. 1638
Pavan for 4 Viols and Continuo, vdgs76, 1625
Royal Consort Set 1 in d for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 2 in d for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 3 in d for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 4 in D for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 5 in D for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 6 in D for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 7 in a for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 8 in C for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 9 in F for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
Royal Consort Set 10 in Bb for 4 Viols and Continuo, 1635
