Giles Farnaby’s compositions comprise no less than one-sixth of the contents of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, an immense anthology of keyboard works by the English virginalists. These pieces firmly establish Farnaby in the esteemed company of Byrd, Bull, Gibbons and Tomkins. The fantasias are notable for their richly ornamented counterpoint and for keyboard pyrotechnics without parallel in the music of continental European composers.