John Marbeck
- Marbeck also spelled:
- Merbecke
- Born:
- c. 1510
- Died:
- c. 1585
- Also Known As:
- John Merbecke
- Notable Works:
- “Concordance”
- “The Booke of Common Praier Noted”
- Subjects Of Study:
- Bible
John Marbeck (born c. 1510—died c. 1585) was an English composer, organist, and author, known for his setting of the Anglican liturgy.
Marbeck apparently spent most of his life at Windsor, where he was organist at St. George’s Chapel. In 1544 he was sentenced to the stake for heresy but was pardoned through the intervention of Bishop Gardiner of Winchester. At that time Marbeck’s “greate worke,” his English Concordance to the Bible, was taken from him and destroyed. On his release he began it again, and in 1550, under Edward VI, it was published in abbreviated form. In 1550 he also published his setting of plainchant for the Anglican liturgy, Booke of Common Praier Noted (i.e., set to musical notes). This setting was superseded in 1552, but interest in it revived during the Oxford Movement in the late 19th century, and it was printed in facsimile in 1939.