Peter Lupo was an Italian viol

Viol

The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...

 player and composer active for 40 years or more at the court of Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

. Born in Venice to Ambrose Lupo

Ambrose Lupo

Ambrose, Ambrosius or Ambrosio Lupo was a court musician and composer to the English court from the time of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth I and James I, and the first of a dynasty of such court musicians...

 and his first wife Lucia, he and his brother Joseph

Joseph Lupo

Joseph Lupo was an Italian viol player and composer active for 40 years or more at the court of Elizabeth I of England. His brother Peter and their father Ambrose also served as court musicians...

 first went to Antwerp, where Peter joined the musicians' guild on 20 August 1557; He married his first wife Katherine Wicke, and had his first child in Antwerp before moving to England, where Ambrose had served in the royal viol consort since 1540. In 1567, Peter succeeded Albert of Venice, another Italian who had died on 17 January 1555. Peter Lupo was among the musicians who played at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. His nephew Thomas Lupo the elder and son Thomas Lupo the younger also became court musicians. Another son, Philip, moved to Virginia and became the founder of the American branch of the Lupo family.

Royal gifts to Peter included "a payr of perfumed gloves" and "v songe books".