Michael East (composer)

{{short description|English composer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

{{listen|type=music

| filename = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Love cannot dissemble, Fancy à2, No.1 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title = Love cannot dissemble, Fancy à2, No.1

| filename2 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - I as well as thou, Fancy à2, No.2 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title2 = I as well as thou, Fancy à2, No.2

| filename3 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Both alike, Fancy à2, No.3 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title3 = Both alike, Fancy à2, No.3

| filename4 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Hold right, Fancy à2, No.4 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title4 = Hold right, Fancy à2, No.4

| filename5 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Draw Out the End, Fancy à2, No.5 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title5 = Draw Out the End, Fancy à2, No.5

| filename6 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Follow me close, Fancy à2, No.6 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title6 = Follow me close, Fancy à2, No.6

| filename7 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Ut re my fa sol la, Fancy à2, No.7 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title7 = Ut re my fa sol la, Fancy à2, No.7

| filename8 = Michael East (ca.1580-1648) - Dally not with this, Fancy à2, No.8 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title8 = Dally not with this, Fancy à2, No.8

| filename9 = Michael East - The Nine Muses - Clio, the Muse of History, Fancy a3, No.9 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title9 = The Nine Muses - Clio, the Muse of History, Fancy à3, No.9

| filename10 = Michael East - The Nine Muses - Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, Fancy a3, No.9 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638).ogg

| title10 = The Nine Muses - Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, Fancy à3, No.10

| description10 = From the Fancies à2, à3 & à4 from the Seventh Set of Bookes (1638). Performed by Phillip W. Serna, Bass Viols

}}

Michael East (or Easte, Est, Este) ({{Circa|1580}}–1648) was an English organist and composer. He was a nephew of London music publisher Thomas East (c. 1540–1608), although it was once thought that he was his son.{{Britannica|176421|Michael East}}

In 1601, East wrote a madrigal that was accepted by Thomas Morley for publication in his collection The Triumphs of Oriana.Horst Seeger: Musiklexikon Personen A–Z / Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig (1981), p. 210. In 1606, he received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of CambridgeGrove Dictionary of Music (online edition) and in 1609 he joined the choir of Ely Cathedral, initially as a lay clerk. By 1618 he was employed by Lichfield Cathedral, where he worked as a choirmaster, probably until 1644, when the Civil War brought an end to sung services.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Elias Ashmole was a chorister at Lichfield, and later recalled that "Mr Michael East … was my tutor for song and Mr Henry Hinde, organist of the Cathedral … taught me on the virginals and organ".H. W. Shaw, The succession of organists of the Chapel Royal and the cathedrals of England and Wales from c. 1538, 1991, p. 146.

East's exact date of death is not known, but he died at Lichfield. His will was written on 7 January 1648 and proved on 9 May 1648. It mentions his wife Dorothy, daughter Mary Hamersly, and a son and grandson both named Michael.

His most highly regarded works are his five-part fantasies for viols:According to Grove's dictionary Thurston Dart is quoted as saying, "despite some slipshod part-writing, they are among the best five-part consorts of the time".