Robert White (also Whyte;[1] c. 1538 – 1574) probably born in Holborn, a district of London, was an English composer whose liturgical music to Latin texts is considered particularly fine.
Although White seems to have spent much of his life working to the north of the capital, his will (dated 7 November 1574) stated that he left property of some substance in Sussex and directed that he be buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster "nere unto my children".
The Sarum works comprise antiphons, hymns and a respond, all on equal-note cantus firmi, and a large-scale six-part Magnificat that, like two of Taverner's settings, has a psalm tone as the tenor of the full-choir sections.
[7] The Compline hymn Christe qui lux es et dies follows the established pattern of alternating plainchant verses with polyphonic ones that incorporate the chant, in this instance in the tenor part.
Its text, an evening prayer for peaceful rest, full of imagery of light and darkness, seems to have held special appeal for White, who made four separate settings of it.