ABSTRACT
Thomas Tomkins took up his appointment as master of the choristers at Worcester in 1596. Fido had been the organist at Hereford Cathedral for only fifteen months before his transfer to Worcester. But in that short time had shown himself to be hopelessly insubordinate, and in 1594 had been reprimanded for using 'slanderous words against the custos and vicars. Nevertheless, Fido was an able organist and composer. He also maintained his contact with Hereford, visited other cathedrals and academic institutions, and had a keen eye for business. A manuscript of particular significance with regard to both Fido and Tomkins, a Southwell Minster tenor partbook, is to be found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The appointment to Worcester in 1596 Tomkins would have found his colleagues in the cathedral community both alarmed by the danger of recusancy and relieved by the appointment, in April, of a new bishop, Thomas Bilson.
