As a madrigalian composer Kirbye was much more than an artisan but less than an innovative genius; he was at least a refined craftsman. The musical contributions he made to England's musical corpus included not only maddrigals but also instrumnetal viol music and psalms. "With angels face" was perhaps his most famous madrigal and is found in Morley's "The Triumphes of Oriana." The madrigals of Kirbye demonstrate a consistency and surety with an ability to adapt the music based upon the character of the text. Musically his harmonies were fluid, he would occasionally incorporat chromatic intervals and employ the use of flexible rhythms. He composed one volume of madrigals (1597) including two settings for "Sleep now my muse." The first version was written for four voices while the second version was set for six voices. Kirbye was employed domestically at Rushbrooke Hall for Sir Robert Jermyn and was probably familiar with Wilbye who was employed nearby at Hengrave Hall. The Latin settings which he composed were arranged for morality texts and viol accompaniment. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi