Tobias Hume's two published collections, 'The first part of Ayres' (1605) and 'Captaine Humes Poeticall Musicke' (1607), are significant for the viola da gamba and especially the lyra viol.
Instruments
The lyra viol, a type of viola da gamba, was designed to be more effective for the new musical style, similar to how the viola bastarda developed in Italy.
Compositional Technique
Tobias Hume's music is notated in tablature, which indicates finger positions rather than pitches, allowing for flexibility in tuning and instrument size to achieve different timbres.
Critical Reception
Tobias Hume was largely ignored or forgotten by his contemporaries and successors, with the only notable mention coming from lutenist John Dowland in a polemical preface.
Compositional Technique
A key element of Tobias Hume's music is the extensive use of chords, creating a polyphonic texture that allows the instrument to accompany itself, a style known as 'Lyra-way'.
Composer Biography
Tobias Hume, the composer, was a soldier by profession, and considered music his only "effeminate part," which he pursued out of passion rather than for mercenary gain.
Composer Biography
Tobias Hume's later life was marked by poverty and mental instability, as evidenced by his entry into a London almshouse in 1629 and a confused petition to the House of Lords in 1642.
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