Composer · 1572 - 1619
Daniel Bacheler
Biography
Daniel Bacheler
(bap. Aston Clinton, Bucks, 16 March 1572; bur. Lee, Kent, 29 Jan 1619). English lutenist and composer.
He was apprenticed at age seven to his uncle Thomas Cardell, lutenist and dancing master to Queen Elizabeth, suggesting that special talent was already evident. In 1587 his apprenticeship was transferred to the Queen’s principal secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, a move that was to determine the course of Bacheler’s career. In that same year he took part as a page in the funeral procession of Walsingham’s son-in-law Sir Philip Sidney. The earliest music attributed to Bacheler survives in the Walsingham consort books whose date, 1588, indicate that the music was composed and copied when Bacheler was only 15 or 16. His contribution includes seven pieces scored for the recently developed mixed consort of treble and bass viols, flute, lute, cittern and bandora.