Biography
Born toward the close of the sixteenth century, John Adson earned his living as both composer and performer. Fluent on flute, cornett, and recorder, he served in the ensemble at Blackfriars theatre and held the post of “musician in ordinary” to the king. His most significant surviving works are the instrumental scores for the “loud” sections of Shirley’s masque The Triumph of Peace and the collection he himself titled Courtly Masquing Ayres. The latter volume contains thirty-one separate pieces scored for five and six parts. What distinguishes Adson’s plain melodic lines is an expressive elegance that sets them apart from those of his contemporaries Brade and Simpson; like theirs, however, the first three sections follow a lively-dance framework while the fourth movement shifts to triple meter.