Robert Parsons (composer)

[3] This brand new liturgy suddenly demanded that new music be written in English for the church, and musicians of the Chapel Royal such as Thomas Tallis, John Sheppard, and Parsons were called upon to demonstrate that the new Protestantism was no less splendid than the old Catholic religion.

His earliest known composition is his First Service, a setting of text from the 1549 Prayer Book of King Edward VI and his largest surviving work.

[6] Parsons is especially noted for his choral motets, and he is recognised as a master of polyphonic writing for choirs with the skilled use of cantus firmus within his works.

[7] Notable works include his setting of Ave Maria, the anthem Deliver me from mine enemies,[8] and some instrumental pieces.

Parsons worked with other composers of his day and it is thought that he collaborated with Richard Farrant on dramatic productions during the early 1560s.

Parsons is believed to have died in January 1571/2, when he fell into the then swollen River Trent at Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire and drowned.