Richard Farrant was a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 of English church music

Anglican church music

Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical performance in Anglican church services.Almost all of it is written for choir with or without organ accompaniment...

, also a choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

master, playwright and theatrical producer noted for creating the Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...

 that hosted children's companies.

Very little is known about him. He became a gentleman of the Chapel Royal

Chapel Royal

A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

 in the reign of Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

, but resigned his post in 1564 on being appointed master of the children of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In this capacity he presented a play before the Queen at Shrovetide 1567, and again at Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 of the same year, receiving on each occasion the sum of £6: 13: 4d. His plays, on classical themes, are all lost. In November 1569 he became Master of the Chapel Royal, holding this post concurrently with that at Windsor.

Few of Farrant's compositions survive. The best known are a service

Service (music)

In Anglican church music, a service is a musical setting of certain parts of the liturgy, generally for choir with or without organ accompaniment.-Morning Prayer:*Venite *Te Deum or Benedicite...

 and the anthem

Anthem

The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...

s Call to remembrance and Hide not thou thy face. The anthem Lord, for thy tender mercies sake, often attributed to him, does not appear in any source under his name before the late 18th century and is now thought to be by the elder John Hilton

John Hilton (composer)

John Hilton was an English early baroque composer. He is best known for his books Ayres or Fa-Las for Three Voices and Catch That Catch Can.- Life :...

. Other compositions attributed simply to "Farrant" in early sources may be by him or by one of two or more John Farrants, active in Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

in the late 16th and early 17th century.