Thomas Ravenscroft

Thomas Ravenscroft (c. 1588 – 1635) was an English musician, theorist and editor, notable as a composer of rounds and catches, and especially for compiling collections of British folk music. Little is known of Ravenscroft's early life. He probably sang in the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral from 1594, when a Thomas Raniscroft was listed on the choir rolls and remained there until 1600 under the directorship of Thomas Giles. He received his bachelor's degree in 1605 from Cambridge.

Ravenscroft's principal contributions are his collections of folk music, including catches, rounds, street cries, vendor songs, "freeman's songs" and other anonymous music, in three collections: Pammelia (1609), Deuteromelia or The Seconde Part of Musicks Melodie (1609) and Melismata (1611), which contains one of the best-known works in his collections, The Three Ravens. Some of the music he compiled has acquired extraordinary fame, though his name is rarely associated with the music; for example "Three Blind Mice" first appears in Deuteromelia.[2] He also published a metrical psalter (The Whole Booke of Psalmes) in 1621. As a composer, his works are mostly forgotten but include 11 anthems, 3 motets for five voices and 4 fantasias for viols.

As a writer, he wrote two treatises on music theory: A Briefe Discourse of the True (but Neglected) Use of Charact'ring the Degrees (London, 1614), and A Treatise of Musick, which remains in manuscript (unpublished).

Links to Peel
Peel would play tracks composed by Thomas Ravenscroft, covered by several artists to illustrate the composer's name being the same as his son, Tom Ravenscroft. On one occasion, Peel read parts of a poem by the composer's Pammelia publication on his 21 June 1979 show.

Interestingly Peel's real name, John Ravenscroft, was also a 17th century composer, who wrote sonnets, but there is no evidence that he was related to Thomas Ravenscroft or that Peel played any tracks composed by John Ravenscroft on his shows. However, there seems to be very few material written by John Ravenscroft on vinyl, cassette, CD or any other music formats.

Covered
Performing Artist | Song | First Known Play
 * Canterbury Clerkes with London Serpent Trio: We Be Three Poor Mariners 18 November 1986
 * Consort Of Musicke: Of All The Birds That Ever I See 21 July 1991
 * Consort Of Musicke: Yonder Comes A Courteous Knight 07 August 1982
 * Pro Cantione Antiqua & Mark Brown: Trudge Away Quickly 05 September 1981