Biography
Known for producing the earliest surviving pieces built on continuous bass, Dering served as organist to Queen Henrietta Maria and also at a Brussels convent maintained for English nuns, electing to remain abroad in keeping with many British Catholics of the period. During that time he encountered both Bull and Philips. His output divides into separate English and Italian phases. The English phase encompassed calm and melodic fantasias, conventional anthems, dances for viols, and pleasant yet complex madrigals. By contrast the Italian phase brought forth madrigals and canzonettas that characteristically conveyed pathos while employing the basso continuo.