BULL John (B-150)

English composer, organist, virginalist and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium. In 1586 he received his degree from Oxford, and in 1591 he became organist at the Chapel Royal; in 1592 he received his doctorate from Oxford, and in 1596 became the first professor of music at Gresham College on the recommendation of Queen Elizabeth, who admired him. Bull left England for good, secretly and with great haste in October 1613 after the charge of adultery. In 1615 Antwerp Cathedral appointed him as assistant organist, and as principal organist in 1617.