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Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1579 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a prerequisite to which was being at least 50 years old, though there is no certainty over this. He had made his living as a professional soldier, serving as an officer with the Swedish and Russian armies.[3]
His published music includes pieces for viols (including many solo works for the lyra viol) and songs. They were gathered in two collections, The First Part of Ayres (or Musicall Humors, 1605) and Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke (1607). He was a particular champion of the viol over the then-dominant lute, something which caused John Dowland to publish a rebuttal of Hume's ideas.
Hume was also known as a prankster, as some of his somewhat unusual compositions illustrate. His most notorious piece was "An Invention for Two to Play upone one Viole", also known as Prince's Almayne.[4] Two bows are required and the smaller of the two players is obliged to sit in the lap of the larger player. This work was notated in tablature and is indeed technically possible to play.[4] His instructions to "drum this with the backe of your bow" in another piece, "Harke, harke," from the First Part of Ayres, constitute the earliest known use of col legno in Western music.[5]
At Christmas 1629 he entered Charterhouse as a poor brother. His mind seems to have given way, for in July 1642 he published a rambling True Petition of Colonel Hume to parliament offering either to defeat the rebels in Ireland with a hundred 'instruments of war,' or, if furnished with a complete navy, to bring the king within three months twenty millions of money. He styles himself 'colonel,' but the rank was probably of his own invention, for in the entry of his death, which took place at Charterhouse on Wednesday, 16 April 1645, he is still called Captain Hume.[2]
^McGuiness, David. Captain Tobias Hume: A Scottish Soldier (liner notes). Concerto Caledonia. it was only in 1991 that the court accounts of James VI's consort Anne of Denmark were found to establish his nationality, in a 1606 payment to 'Tobias Hume a Scottish Musicion in reward from her Majestie'.
^ ab"Hume, Tobias" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
^Michael Morrow, Colette Harris, and Frank Traficante, "Hume, Tobias", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press (accessed 22 April 2015),
^ ab"Hume [For 2 to play on 1 viol]: The prince´s almayne Cichoń & Urbanetz". YouTube.
^Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.
TobiasHume (possibly 1579 – 16 April 1645) was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier. Tobacco, No.3, the First Part of Ayres - The Musicall Humours...
(ca.1650) Captaine TobiasHume (1569–1645) – Tobacco, No.3 The First Part of Ayres – The Musicall Humours (1605) Captaine TobiasHume (1569–1645) – The...
viol has been favorably compared to both the lute and the violin, by TobiasHume and Roger North respectively. The name lyra viol came into use because...
piece entitled "Harke, harke," from the First Part of Ayres (1605) by TobiasHume, where he instructs the gambist to "drum this with the backe of your...
health-giving properties of pipe-smoking. A popular song of the early 1600s by TobiasHume proclaimed that "Tobacco is Like Love".[2] The importation of tobacco...
(c. 1470 – after 1554) Robert Carver (composer) (c. 1485 – c. 1570) TobiasHume (possibly 1579 – 1645) John Abell (1653 – after 1724) John Clerk (1676–1755)...
2016).[unreliable source?] Morrow, Michael, and Colette Harris. 2001. "Hume, Tobias". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited...
Paul Sacher) Nicolaus A. Huber Der Ausrufer steigt ins Innere (1984) TobiasHume Kleine Stücke für Cello solo (Small pieces ) Book 1 (originally for Gamba)...
(c. 1565–1622) Thomas Campion (1567–1620) Philip Rosseter (1568–1623) TobiasHume (c. 1569–1645) John Coprario (John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626)...
Psalmen und christliche Gesäng for four voices (Nuremberg: Paul Kauffmann) TobiasHume – Captaine Humes Poeticall Musicke (London: John Windet), a collection...
Werner Henze Dick Higgins Gustav Holst Toshio Hosokawa Alan Hovhaness TobiasHume Charles Ives Ben Johnston Garth Knox Panayiotis Kokoras Nikita Koshkin...
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris) with pieces by Dietrich Stöeffken, TobiasHume, Daniel Farrant, Thomas Ford, Nicolas Hotman, August Verdufen, Jean Lacquemant...
Baptista Comes 1568 – 1643 Spanish Philip Rosseter c. 1568 – 1623 English TobiasHume c. 1569 – 1645 English Responsible for the earliest known use of col...
Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie (1732–1781) Iain Hamilton (1922–2000) TobiasHume (c.1579–1645) Hamish MacCunn (1868–1916) John Blackwood McEwen (1868–1948)...
1600) April 6 – William Burton, British antiquarian (b. 1575) April 16 – TobiasHume, English composer (b. 1559) April 17 – Daniel Featley, English theologian...
song composer Robert Jones (fl. 1597-1615); 5 books of ayres, 1600–1610 TobiasHume (d. 1648), serious and comic songs Philip Rosseter (c.1567-1623), prolific...
has quotations related to Tobias Smollett. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Author:Tobias Smollett Tobias Smollett at the Eighteenth-Century...
The first recognised use of pizzicato in classical music is found in TobiasHume's Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke (1607), wherein he instructs the viola...
c. 1602) 3 April (bur.) – Emilia Lanier, poet (born 1569) 16 April – TobiasHume, composer (born c. 1579 in Scotland) 17 April – Daniel Featley, Calvinist...
Anon.: The King's Morisk; John Bull: The Duchess of Brunswick's Toy; TobiasHume: Musical Humors: Touch me lightly, Harke, harke, A Souldiers Resolution;...
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