Peter Philips (c. 1560 ? 1628) was an eminent English composer, organist, and Catholic priest exiled to Flanders after the start of the Protestant Reformation. He was one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos of his time, and transcribed or arranged several Italian motets and madrigals by such as Lassus, Palestrina, and Giulio Caccini for his instruments. Some of his keyboard works are found in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Philips also wrote many sacred choral works. Life Philips was born in 1560 or 1561, possibly in Devonshire or London. From 1572 to 1578 he began his career as a boy chorister at St Paul's Cathedral in London, under the aegis of the Catholic master of choristers, Sebastian Westcote (d. 1582), who had also trained the young William Byrd some twenty years earlier. Philips must have had a close relationship with his master, as he lodged in his house up to the time of Westcote's death, and was a beneficiary of hi

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