John Farmer (1570-1601)

John Farmer was one of the composers from the “English School of Madrigalists”. The Italians created the madrigal (secular music based on a love poem), but the English eventually began composing their own madrigals with a distinctive English character. English madrigals are lighter in feeling and more festive than Italian madrigals.

While John Farmer was not as popular as the other madrigal composers of the time, one of his madrigals became a very popular piece from the renaissance period. His composition “Fair Phyllis I saw Sitting All Alone” uses word painting to tell a love story about fair Phyllis and her lover.