Campion, Thomas 02/12/1567 - 03/01/1620

Thomas Campion, sometimes Campian, (* February 12, 1567 in London; † March 1, 1620 ebenda) was an English composer, poet, and physician.

Thomas Campion was born in London and studied at ''Peterhouse'' in Cambridge before he began studies in 1586 in London in order to obtain a law degree. It appears that he never practiced as a lawyer. He studied later outside of London in Europe and upon his return to England practiced as a physician. Capion gave his debut as poet in 1591 with five of his works having been published in an addition of Sir Philip Sidney's ''Astrophel and Stella''.

His ''Songs for Mourning'' which were originally published in 1613 were edited and dubbed by John Cooper after the death of Prince Henry. Campion critized the practice of rhyming in poetry in his literary theoretical work ''Observations in the Art of English Poesie'' (1602). Campion wrote five volumes with over one hundred songs with sound accompaniment. His first collection of songs appeared in 1601 followed by four additional volumes up to 1617 and several masques. In 1615 he published a book on counterpoint titled ''A New Way of Making Fowre Parts in Counterpoint By a Most Familiar and Infallible Rule'' which was reprinted in 1660. Campion died 1620 in London probably as a result of the plague.

(Source: Wikipedia)
(Note: Translated directly from the German language into English)