JOHNSON, EDWARD (fl. 1601), musical composer, of Caius College, Cambridge, was admitted Mus.Bac. 1594. He composed the madrigal, ‘Come, blessed bird,’ in Morley's ‘Triumphs of Oriana,’ 1601, and some psalm-tunes in Este's ‘Whole Book of Psalms,’ 1592. A madrigal, ‘Ah! silly John,’ with its second part, ‘That I love her,’ is in a manuscript collection of madrigals in the Royal College of Music Library. In a manuscript book, British Museum Addit. MS. 30484, is a madrigal, ‘Eliza is ye fayrest quene,’ with a note appended: ‘Mr. E. Johnson, chaplain to Queen Ann Boleyn.’ Apparently Johnson was not a priest, and the memorandum probably refers to Robert Johnson (fl. 1550) [q. v.]
[Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 36; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 304; Sacred Harmonic Society's Cat. of Music, p. 221.]