Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was an English organist and member of the Chapel Royal. His work represents a transitional phase in the output of English composers of the early seventeenth century, and paves the way for the later developments of Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes.

E.H. Fellowes published his edition of the Evening Service in 1936, which is still in use today in many churches. However, two further voice parts from the manuscript set at Peterhouse, Cambridge were discovered around 1948, hidden behind a panel in the college library. These partbooks in question supply additional voice parts (Contratenor II and Medius) for the opening verse of the Magnificat, without which the organ plays an unusually long introduction before the customary entry of Contratenor I.