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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39935-8.txt b/39935-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6685e22 --- /dev/null +++ b/39935-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4122 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twelve Good Musicians, by Frederick Bridge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twelve Good Musicians + From John Bull to Henry Purcell + +Author: Frederick Bridge + +Release Date: June 7, 2012 [EBook #39935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: DR. JOHN BULL. _From the painting in the Music School, +University of Oxford._] + + + + + +TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS + +From JOHN BULL to HENRY PURCELL + + + +BY + +SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE + +C.V.O., M.A., Mus.D. + + King Edward Professor of Music in the University of London, + Gresham Professor, Emeritus-Organist of Westminster Abbey + + + + +LONDON: + +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. + +NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. + +1920 + + + + +{v} + +INTRODUCTORY + +In the Preface of his admirable contribution to the _Oxford History of +Music_ (Vol. III.) the late Sir Hubert Parry writes: "The seventeenth +century is musically almost a blank, even to those who take more than +the average interest in the Art; and barely a score of composers' names +during the whole time suggest anything more than a mere reputation to +modern ears." Of course the distinguished author is speaking of the +musical world in general, not of our own country's music only. I am +inclined to think it is a little severe on us. I have always found +that great interest is taken in the 17th century music and musicians of +England. + +Surely the century which began with the great Madrigal school at its +highest point, which saw the Masque at its best in Milton's _Comus_, +which witnessed the supersession of the viol by the violin, and which, +at the close, had to its credit the complete works of our greatest +composer, Henry Purcell, ought not to be in any sense "almost a blank," +to English students at least. + +But if our musical students will only read Volume III of the _Oxford +History_--so full of the author's admirable criticisms and so amply +{vi} illustrated by selections from the great composers of the +period--they will certainly form a high opinion of what was +accomplished then, and, having finished the volume, their minds will +assuredly not be a "blank." + +To help to a useful view of what was done in our own country in the +17th century I took that period for my University Course in this +session 1919-1920, and for my subject Twelve Good Musicians from John +Bull to Henry Purcell. The substance of these lectures is given in the +following chapters. + +For many biographical details and other matter I have availed myself of +the valuable articles in Grove's _Dictionary_ and in the _Dictionary of +National Biography_, which I beg to acknowledge. + +To Mr Barclay Squire I am deeply indebted for much information. His +work in Musical History is most valuable, and deserves the best thanks +of all students. + +To my brother, Professor J. C. Bridge, M.A., Mus.D., of Chester, and to +Mr Jeffrey Pulver and Dr Borland I am also grateful for many +interesting facts contained in these pages. + +J. FREDERICK BRIDGE. + +_The Cloisters, Westminster Abbey,_ + _October_, 1920. + + + + +{vii} + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + I. DR JOHN BULL, 1563 (?)--1628 + II. WILLIAM BYRD, 1542-3--1623 + III. THOMAS MORLEY, 1557--1603 + IV. THOMAS WEELKES, 1575 (?)--1623 + V. ORLANDO GIBBONS, 1583--1625 + VI. RICHARD DEERING, 1580 (?)--1630 + VII. JOHN MILTON, 1553--1646-7 + VIII. HENRY LAWES, 1595--1662 + IX. MATTHEW LOCKE, 1630 (?)--1677 + X. PELHAM HUMFREY, 1647--1674 + XI. DR JOHN BLOW, 1648--1708 + XII. HENRY PURCELL, 1658--1695 + + + + +{1} + +Twelve Good Musicians + + + + +1. DR. JOHN BULL. + +1563 (?)--1628. + +There is, I venture to think, a fitness in the choice of the first +musician of the Twelve to be considered. John Bull is a name familiar +to Englishmen, though I do not know that the musician bearing that name +has anything to do with the historical and political personage whose +jovial portrait is so well known to us. But Dr. John Bull, was the +first to hold anything like a University Professorship in London--or +indeed in England. It is true Gresham College has not developed into a +University, but its founder, Sir Thomas Gresham, certainly seems to +have had such an end in view, and John Bull was the first Gresham Music +Lecturer. As his successor at Gresham College, and as I have the +honour to be the first Musical Professor in the University of London, I +think there is a {2} justification for beginning this course in the +University with a consideration of the old Gresham Professor. I must +premise that in selecting twelve good men I have by no means exhausted +the number of such men available, but I hope to have chosen good +representatives of the various Schools and movements in the musical +world of England in the 17th century. And, although necessarily +concentrating my attention on the selected twelve, yet, of course, +undoubtedly I shall make many references to their fellow-musicians both +in this country and abroad. But it is to our own men and our own music +in the 17th century that I shall direct my chief attention. + +To begin then with the first of my twelve good musicians--the first +Gresham Professor of Music, Dr. John Bull. Born about 1563 of a +Somersetshire family, he became one of the Children of the Chapel Royal +(as will be seen, always a great nursery of young English Musicians), +his master being Blytheman who, we are told, "spared neither time nor +labour to advance his natural gifts." + +Organist of Hereford Cathedral for a time, we find him in 1585 a member +of the Chapel Royal Choir--not then organist, a post to which he +attained a few years later, succeeding his old {3} master, Blytheman. +He was evidently determined to get on in his profession, for, besides +all these posts and varied activities, he found time in 1586 to take +the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford (it being stated he had +"practised the faculty of music for 14 years"), following this up with +a Doctor's degree--this time at Cambridge. + +He appears to have met with a somewhat serious adventure at Tewkesbury, +in 1592, "being robbed in those parts." A Mr. W. Chelps, of Tewkesbury +showed him "rare kindness" and was rewarded, no doubt by Bull's +influence, with the post of a Gentleman Extraordinary in the Chapel +Royal. + +In 1592 our indefatigable musician took another degree, that of Doctor +of Music at Oxford, the delay in taking it having been caused, +according to a contemporary writer, by his having met with "rigid +puritans there, that could not endure Church Music." + +The next important step in his varied career was his appointment as +first Gresham Professor of Music. His lectures should have been given +in Latin, but he was allowed to deliver them in English. Unfortunately +there is no copy of his lectures to be found, but Mr. Barclay Squire in +an article on Bull in the Dictionary of National Biography, gives the +following title-page of {4} the first lecture which is all that +survives of it: + +"_The oration of Master John Bull, Doctor of Music and one of the +Gentlemen of his Majestie's Royal Chapel, as he pronounced the same +before divers worshipful persons the Aldermen and Commoners of the +Citie of London, with a great multitude of other people the_ 6_th day +of October_ 1597,_ in the new erected College of Sir Thomas Gresham, +Knight, deceased: made in the Commemoration of the said worthy Founder, +and the excellent Science of Musicke._ (Imprinted at London by Thomas +Este)." + +Although a great misfortune that the Lecture itself is not to be found; +it is interesting to learn the subject of the oration from the +title-page. + +It would, however, have been more interesting to read the lecture +itself, if only to see what Bull said about Sir Thomas Gresham and to +know his views upon music in general. Of one thing we may be certain: +he must have given his audience a real treat by his Clavier +performance; for doubtless he obeyed the directions given in the +Founder's will--directions which are observed to this day. It was wise +on the part of Gresham to insist that the lectures should be adequately +illustrated: an audience gains {5} much from _hearing the examples_ +which have been commented upon by the lecturer. The directions are: + + + "The solemn music lectures twice every week, in manner following, + viz: the theoretique part for one half hour or thereabouts, and the + practique by concert of voice or instruments for the rest of the + hour." + + +Bull has been credited with the composition of our National Anthem. +The matter has been investigated by many, but, so far, there seems no +proof of it. We know, however, that he was honoured by King James I, +as his name was amongst those to whom were given "gold chains, plates, +or medals." + +He appears to have been admitted into the freedom of the Merchant +Taylors' Company in 1606, and in 1607 he played before the King and +Prince Henry when they dined at Merchant Taylors' Hall. According to +Stowe, "John Bull, Doctor of Music, one of the Organists of His +Majestie's Chapel Royal and free of the Merchant Taylors', being in a +citizen's goune, cappe and hood, played most excellent melodie upon a +small payre of Organs placed there for that purpose only." + +The Musical arrangements for this great City Company's feast were on a +very elaborate scale. {6} Besides Bull's performance (which was +apparently for the King only, who dined alone in a separate chamber +"where Dr. Bull did play all dinner time"), the Singing Men and +Children of the Royal Chapel sang melodious songs, and some of the best +singers of the day sang songs by Coperario, from a ship which was +suspended in the great Hall. Besides all this the Choir of St Paul's +sang songs, the words of which were by Ben Jonson. The King must have +had a pretty good programme of music to listen to, unless he spent the +evening in his own room where he dined alone--with Dr Bull playing to +pass the time. + +The numerous singers in the great Hall seem to have been rather a +trouble to the givers of the feast. Bull and Gyles, the master of the +Children of the Chapel Royal, who performed in the King's chamber, were +rewarded the next day by being admitted into the livery of the Company +as a recognition of their services at the entertainment, which are +stated to have been "gratis, whereas the musicians in the greate Hall +exacted unreasonable somes of the Company for the same." + +During an absence abroad in 1601 his deputy at Gresham College was +Thomas Byrd, son of the composer W. Byrd. Bull's fame had so spread +{7} that he had many tempting offers to attach himself to the "French +and Spanish Courts," but he obeyed Queen Elizabeth's order to return to +England. + +In 1607, on account of a desire to marry, he relinquished the Gresham +post, celibacy being one of the conditions of the appointment. The +lady of his choice was "Elizabeth Walter of the Strand, maiden, aged +about 24, daughter of Walter, citizen of London." + +Nothing much is chronicled of him for the next four years, but in 1611 +his name heads the list of the Prince of Wales' musicians at a salary +of £40 a year, and another mention is made of him in connection with +Princess Elizabeth's marriage, on which occasion (Feb. 14th, 1613) a +benediction, _God the Father, God the Son_, was sung to an anthem "made +new for that purpose by Dr. Bull." + +We now come to the mysterious portion of Bull's life which culminated +in his flight from England. The first hint is suggested by the +following letter from Bull to Sir M. Hicks, secretary to the Earl of +Salisbury: + + + "Sir, + + I have bin many times to have spoken with you, to desire your favor + to my Lord and Mr. Chancellor, to graunte me theire favors to + chaunge my name, and put in my childes, leaving out my {8} owne. + It is but £40 by yeare for my service heretofore, the matter is not + great, yet it will be some reliefe for my poor childe, having + nothing ells to leave it." + + +The letter proceeds to mention some others whose interest had been +moved, and is written in a tone of great humiliation. Was it an +instance of coming events casting their shadows before? The following +entry in the Chapel Royal cheque-book rather supports the supposition: + + + "John Bull, Doctor of Music, went beyond the seas without licence, + and was admitted into the Archduke's Service, and entered into paie + there about Michaelmas." + + +Peter Hopkins filled his place, and his quarter's salary, Michaelmas to +Christmas, was divided amongst members of the Royal Chapel. + +His departure created some sensation, as it is said he "was so much +admired for his dexterous hand on the Organ, that many thought there +was more than man in him." Wood puts it down to his "being possessed +with crotchets, as many musicians are." A letter, however, from the +British Minister at Brussels to King James I, puts a rather different +complexion on it. It would appear that the Minister had been charged +by James I, to express his displeasure at the Archduke's want of +courtesy in engaging Bull, {9} and in the letter announcing the +fulfilment of his mission the Minister says: + + + "And I told him plainly, that it was notorious to all the world, + the said Bull did not leave your Majesty's Service for any wrong + done unto him or for matter of Religion, under which fained pretext + he sought to wrong the reputation of your Majesty's justice, but + did in that dishonest manner steal out of England through the guilt + of a corrupt conscience to escape punishment which notoriously he + had deserved and was designed to have been inflicted on him by the + hand of justice for his ..... grievous crimes." + + +It will be noticed the writer scoffs at Bull's religious sensitiveness, +but there is no doubt he was, like Byrd, a Papist at heart. + +In 1617 he succeeded Waelrant at Antwerp Cathedral, dying in that city +on the 12th or 13th of March, 1628, and being buried in the Cathedral. + +Bull was evidently well thought of by his Antwerp friends, and +Sweelinck, the great Dutch organist, included a Canon by Bull in his +work on Composition. Bull returned the compliment by writing a +Fantasia on a Fugue by Sweelinck. + +Bull is most favourably known as a composer for the Virginals. Many +fine examples are to be found in the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_, and +his powers as performer must have been very great, judging from his +compositions. He joined Byrd and Gibbons in contributing to the +celebrated {10} collection _Parthenia_ ("the first music for the +Virginals ever published in England.") There are examples of his +Church Music in Boyce's Cathedral Music (1760), but, like many other +specimens contained in that valuable and well-known collection, these +compositions of Bull do not seem to me to be the best examples of his +powers. A really beautiful little motet contained in Sir William +Leighton's _Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soule_ (1614) +entitled _In the Departure of the Lord_ gives me a very high opinion of +his Church Music. It is for four voices and full of beautiful harmony +and expressive modulation. Indeed, I think it compares favourably with +much of the kind written by contemporary musicians. + +I hope to be able to edit it, with other specimens of Bull's sacred +music, in the early future. + +A portrait exists in the University of Oxford, and round it is written + + "The Bull by force in field doth rayne + But Bull by skill good-will doth gaine." + + +A copy of this portrait is prefixed to this book. + + + + +{11} + +II. WILLIAM BYRD + +1542 or 3--1623 + +A great contemporary of John Bull comes next for consideration. +William Byrd is certainly one of the most distinguished of the +remarkable company of English composers living in the early years of +the 17th century. Curiously enough, he was not included amongst the +contributors to _The Triumphs of Oriana_. There may be a reason, of +which more anon. Anthony Wood tells us "he was bred up to musick under +Thomas Tallis," and the eminent Church musician was god-father to +Byrd's son Thomas. Byrd was also Tallis' executor. In early life the +subject of my Lecture was Organist of Lincoln, in which city he was +married on the 14th of September, 1568. His eldest son was born at +Lincoln in 1569, and a daughter in 1571-2. This proves he did not at +once come to London on his appointment to the Chapel Royal. This was +in 1569, when he succeeded Robert Parsons as Gentleman of the Chapel +Royal, the said Robert Parsons having been drowned at Newark in January +of that year. It seems probable that Byrd kept up some kind of +connection with {12} Lincoln for some time after his appointment to the +Chapel Royal, for an entry in the Chapter Records of Lincoln mentions +the appointment of Thomas Butler as Organist and Master of the +Choristers on the "nomination and commendation of Mr William Byrd." In +London he shared with his old master, Tallis, the post of Organist of +the Royal Chapel and he also enjoyed with him a privilege of a more +profitable nature, which was no less than a patent, granted by Queen +Elizabeth to print and sell music, English or foreign, and to rule, +print and sell music paper for twenty-one years, and all other printers +were forbidden to infringe this license under penalty of forty +shillings. A petition from some printers, having reference to this +license, shows it was not altogether a popular privilege. The +complainants say: "Byrd and Tallys, her Majesty's Servants, have +musicke bokes with note, _which the Complainants confess they would not +print_, nor be furnished to print, tho' there were no privilege." I +think this may be regarded as a little specimen of professional +jealousy. + +Whether the privilege was a great financial benefit to the two old +Masters one cannot say, but, anyhow, it was of great advantage in one +way, and that was the opportunity it gave of printing and publishing +their own works, and {13} Byrd was not slow in taking advantage of it. +In 1575 appeared his first published work, as a set of "Cantiones" in +4, 5, and 6 parts. Some of the compositions were by Tallis and some by +Byrd, and they are fine and dignified specimens of both composers. One +by Tallis in particular is a beautiful example of his treatment of a +Chorale, the parts flowing in charming melody and the whole work +abounding in interesting and clever "imitation." I have been able to +publish this fine example of early Church music, and it has been well +received "in Quires and places where they sing." With the exception of +"If ye love me" I do not know any anthem by Tallis which compares with +it in solemn and chaste expression. It shows Byrd's old master--one of +the founders of our Cathedral music--at his very best. + +On the death of Tallis 1585, the patent was enjoyed by Byrd alone, and +he made very good use of it. One of his first publications was +entitled _Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of sadness and pietie, made into +musicke of_ 5 _parts; whereof some of them going abroad among divers, +in untrue coppies, are heere truely corrected, and the other being +Songs very rare and newly composed, are heere published, for the +recreation of all such as delight in Musicke_ (1588). + +{14} + +At the back of the title-page of this work are the following "Eight +Reasons briefly set down by the Author to perswade every one to learn +to sing:" + + + 1. First it is a knowledge easily taught and quickly learned where + there is a good Master and an apt Scholar. + + 2. The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, and good to + preserve the health of Man. + + 3. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast and doth open the + pipes. + + 4. It is a singular good remedy for Stutting[1] and Stammering in + the speech. + + 5. It is the best means to procure a perfect pronunciation, and to + make a good Orator. + + 6. It is the only way to know where Nature hath bestowed the + benefit of a good voice, which gift is so rare, as there is not one + among a thousand that hath it, and in many that excellent gift is + lost, because they want Art to express Nature. + + 7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to + that which is made of the voices of Men, where the voices are good + and the same well sorted and ordered. + + 8. The better the voice is the meeter it is to honour and serve God + therewith, and the voice of man is Chiefly to be imployed to that + End." + + +To the above is added the following couplet: + + Since Singing is so good a thing + I wish all men would learne to sing. + + +In the same year appeared a work which was {15} destined to wield +tremendous influence upon English Musical Art. This was a collection +of Madrigals called _Musica Transalpina_. _Madrigals translated out +of_ 4, 5, _and_ 6 _parts, chosen out of divers excellent Authors, with +the first and second parts of La Virginella made by MAISTER BYRD upon +two stanzas of Ariosto and brought to speak English with the rest_. +The inclusion of his name in this connection gives Byrd the claim to be +considered one of the first, if not the first, of English Madrigal +writers. And the fact that he contributed to this work may have +possibly been the cause of the absence of his name from the collection +made by Morley--which, of course, was an imitation of the publication +which had appeared some twelve years before. This is merely a +supposition, but there must be some reason for the exclusion of such a +distinguished composer, and one already famous as a Madrigal writer. +It is the more remarkable from the fact that Morley spoke of Byrd with +the greatest respect and even affection.[2] + +Two years later he wrote two settings of _This sweet and merry month of +May_ for Watson's _First sett of Italian Madrigals Englished_. Among +his other vocal compositions are _Psalms, Songs {16} and Sonets, some +solemne, other joyfull framed to the life of the words_. _Fit for +voyces or viols_. He also was a contributor to Leighton's _Teares and +Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul_, the work in which Bull's beautiful +Motet appears. One of his works he dedicated to the Earl of +Northampton, and the dedication infers that not only had Byrd reason to +be grateful to that nobleman, but so also had the Gentlemen of the +Chapel Royal, as he seems to have been the means of securing an +increase in their salaries. Of course many of Byrd's works were not +published, and this is particularly the case with his compositions for +the Virginals. Many are in the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_[3] and also +in _Lady Nevill's Booke_, which is a collection of Virginal Lessons, +copied by a singing Man of Windsor named John Baldwin. Before leaving +Byrd's professional life it is interesting to note his connection with +another musical worthy contemporary, Alfonso Ferabosco; a joint +publication of theirs will show this. It was entitled _Medulla +Musicke, sucked out of the sappe of Two of the most famous Musicians +that ever lived, Master William Byrd and Master Alfonso Ferabosco, +Either of whom having made 40 severall ways (without contention) +shewing most rare and {17} intricate skill in 2 parts in one upon the +Plaine Song Miserere_. This work was most probably the outcome of a +"friendly contention" which they had "each one judging his rival's +work, they both set plaine song 40 different ways." + +In private life Byrd's religious feelings made his career rather an +anxious one; like many others on the Chapel Royal Staff, though +outwardly Protestant, he was probably a Roman Catholic. It was known +that the Byrd family were "Papisticall recusants"; as early as 1581 he +is mentioned as living at one of the places frequented by recusants, +and is also set down as "a friend and abettor of those beyond the Sea, +and is said to be living with Mr. Lister over against St Dunstans or at +the Lord Padgettes house at Draighton." It is a noticeable thing that +though his duties called him to the Chapel Royal, he lived nearly the +whole of his life out of London. At one place, Stondon, Essex, he had +some sequestrated property granted to him for three lives, but had a +good deal of dispute with the previous owners, which went so far as to +necessitate the King's intervention. In a law-suit in connection with +it "one Petiver submitted the said Byrd did give him vile and bitter +words," that when told he had no right to the property replied that "yf +he could not hould it by right {18} he would hould it by might." Byrd +lived a long life, and died on July 4, 1623. + +The exact entry recording this fact in the Chapel Royal Cheque Book +runs "1623, William Byrd, a Father of Musick, died the 4th of July, and +John Croker, a Counter Tenor of Westminster, was admitted for a year of +probation of his good behaviour and civill carriage." + +Mr Barclay Squire has discovered much of interest concerning Byrd, +notably his Will. In this he expresses a hope that he "may live and +dye a true and perfect member of God's holy Catholic Church, (without +which I believe there is no salvation for me). My body to be +honourably buried in that parish or place where it shall please God to +take me oute of this life, which I humbly desyre (if it shall please +God) may be in the parish of Stondon where my dwellinge is, and this to +be buried neare unto the place where my wife lyeth buryed." + +Of late years much attention has been devoted to Byrd's sacred music, +which includes some remarkably fine Masses, some of which have been +reprinted and used in the Roman Catholic Church. But Byrd has never +been forgotten in the Cathedrals of England, for his Anthem _Bow Thine +ear_ has always found a place in the lists of the daily musical +services. There is, also, a fine {19} specimen of his composition in +the volume of Cathedral music published by Dr. Hayes. It has English +words, and for a long time appeared in the Abbey list as by Hayes, but +it was identified as one of Byrd's Latin motets, and now is ascribed to +the rightful owner. + +An interesting specimen of his Clavier compositions is to be found in +the Fitzwilliam volume being an arrangement of the air _O Mistress +Mine_. This is one of the few pieces of Shakesperean music which was +published in the Poet's life-time. It is charmingly treated by Byrd. +The same air appeared in a work by Morley, an arrangement of various +airs for a small Band consisting of the Treble Viol, Flute, Cittern, +Pandora, Lute, and Bass Viol. It seems probable that this air was a +popular tune and that Shakespeare wrote words to it, or possibly (as he +did in _Willo! Willo!_) took the old words which were set to the melody +and incorporated them in his play. + +A contemporary opinion of Byrd can be gathered from Peacham's estimate +of him in the _Compleat Gentleman_. Writing in 1622, he says: "In +Motets and Musicks of piety and devotion, as well for the honour of our +nation as the merit of the man, I preferre above all other our Phoenix, +Mr. Wm. Byrd, whom, in that kind, I know not whether any may equall, I +am sure none excell, {20} even by the judgment of France and Italy. +His _Cantiones Sacrae_ and also his _Gradualia_ are meere Angelicall +and Divine and being himself naturally disposed to gravity and piety, +his veine is not so much for light Madrigals and Canzonets, yet his +Virginella and some others in his first set cannot be mended by the +best Italian of them all." And Morley speaks of him as "my loving +master, never without reuerence to be named of Musicians." + +His name has always been associated with the Canon _Non nobis Domine_, +but it would be very difficult to establish his claim to the authorship. + +Altogether the old musician has a remarkable list of varied +compositions to his credit. Besides those already mentioned he wrote +some excellent _Fancies_ and _In Nomines_ for strings, making a real +advance upon the somewhat stilted specimens of Instrumental Music then +in vogue, and helping to free the Instrumental form of composition from +the vocal. _Fancies_ and _In Nomines_ I shall speak of in detail in a +later lecture. + +William Byrd had a long and honourable career and contributed in a +remarkable degree to the development of the Art of Music in England in +the 17th century. There is much truth in Peacham's verdict that his +music "cannot be mended by the best Italian of them all." + + + +[1] _i.e._, stuttering; originally _stot_, from the German _stottern_. +To "stut" is still used in Cheshire dialect, (_v._ Wilbraham's +_Glossary of Cheshire Words_.) + +[2] It may have been because he was a Roman Catholic and his name would +not have been welcome to Elizabeth. + +[3] Now published. Edited by Mr. Fuller Maitland and Mr. Barclay +Squire. + + + + +{21} + +III. THOMAS MORLEY. + +1557--1603 + +The next of our twelve musicians in chronological order of birth is +Thomas Morley, born in 1557, when Byrd was a young man, though his +course was run long before that veteran had finished with the affairs +of this world. He was a pupil of Byrd, and was probably a chorister of +St Paul's Cathedral. In 1588 he graduated B.Mus. at Oxford, and some +three years later was appointed Organist of St Paul's. This position +he did, however, not hold long, as in 1592, he was appointed a +Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1598 he was granted the licence, +which had previously been held by Tallis and Byrd, for the exclusive +right of printing and selling Books of Music and Ruled Paper, and many +of the musical works which were published at that time were issued by +Este, Peter Short, William Barley, and others, as the assigns of Thomas +Morley. In 1602 he resigned his positions at the Chapel Royal, +probably from ill-health, as one gathers {22} from the Introduction to +his _Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Music_ that he was +rather a confirmed invalid. Some have taken the year of his +resignation as that of his death, but there is nothing to support this, +and though Hawkins and Burney are at one in placing his death in 1604, +the correct date is 1603. + +Details of Morley's life are scanty, by his works we must know him. +His compositions are both vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular; +and, in addition to his work in the various branches of composition, +much of his fame rests upon his authorship of the first really +satisfactory treatise on music, _The Plaine and Easie Introduction_ +already referred to. + +This work is full of interest, and has been a book of reference and of +valuable information to musicians for the past three centuries. +Written in the form of a dialogue between Master and Pupil, it contains +many quaint discourses, and it is in the early chapters of this work +that the story is told of the unfortunate gentleman who could not read +music at sight when asked to do so by his hostess, with the humiliating +result that the company wondered "where he had been brought up." + +Morley's book was translated into German by I. C. Frost, Organist of St +Martin's, Halberstadt. {23} It is interesting to observe that more +than one of his works was translated into German (e.g., the _Canzonets +or Little Short Songs to Three Voyces_, published here first in 1593, +was translated into German and issued at Cassel in 1612 and at Rostock +in 1624; and the _Ballets for Five Voyces_ of 1595 was issued at +Nuremberg in 1609). + +This is a striking testimony to his merits, but the most celebrated of +his publications was the great edition of Madrigals called _The +Triumphs of Oriana_. This is said to have been compiled as a tribute +to Queen Elizabeth, whose title of "Gloriana" is well known. In this +portly volume he includes no fewer than twenty-six Madrigals, +contributed by many of the most famous living English composers. The +work helped to make the practice of Madrigal-singing very popular in +England, and to this day its influence is great and few programmes of +Madrigal-music are ever issued without some specimen taken from this +splendid collection. + +And it is to Morley we owe a delightful contemporary setting of words +by Shakespeare--the beautiful Lyric "It was a lover and his lass" from +_As You Like It_. This is one of the very few things which we +possess--with the words by Shakespeare and the music by a contemporary +{24} musician. Unfortunately, the charming song has been often sadly +mutilated by editors, sometimes by the introduction of unwarranted +"accidentals" and also by actual curtailment. I have, however, had the +opportunity of referring to one of the few copies in existence of the +original publication (formerly in the Halliwell-Phillip's collection), +and have so been enabled to issue it in its correct form. Various +attempts have been made to arrange it as a duet, on the ground that it +was sung in the play by "two pages." The dialogue which precedes the +song is very amusing and rather suggests that Shakespeare had some +little experience of the peculiar weaknesses of singers, both amateur +and professional. The following is the little episode in question: + + +_Enter Two Pages._ + + 1st Page: Well met, honest gentleman. + + Touchstone: By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit and a song. + + 2nd Page: We are for you: sit i' the middle. + + 1st Page: Shall we clap into't roundly, without + hawking or spitting or saying we are + hoarse; which are the only prologues + to a bad voice? + + 2nd Page: I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, + like two gipsies on a horse. + _As You Like It_, Act V., scene 3. + + +The words "two gipsies on a horse" have been {25} taken to suggest that +as the two gipsies must have ridden one behind the other, the two pages +should sing, not in unison, but one after the other. Hence the effort +to arrange the music in Canon, as it is termed. But there is no +warrant for this; neither will the song admit of it.[1] + +With respect to his Instrumental writing, in addition to many examples +for the Virginals, he wrote for combined instruments, as will be seen +later. Much of his Virginal-music is contained in the _Fitzwilliam +Collection_, and in Will Forster's _Virginal Book_ in Buckingham +Palace. For combined instruments may be mentioned the seven Fantasias, +and there is also a collection called _First Book of Consort Lessons +for Six Instruments, Lute, Pandora, Cittern, Bass Viol, Flute and +Treble Viol_. Writing on this collection Dr Burney does not take a +very high estimate of its musical value: "they seem to have been +intended for Civic Feasts" (he says), "and Master Morley, supposing +perhaps that {26} the harmony which was to be heard through the +clattering of knives, forks, spoons, and plates, with the jingling of +glasses and clamorous conversation of a City feast, need not be very +accurate or refined, was not very nice in setting parts to these tunes, +which are so far from correct that almost any one of the City Waits +would have vamped as good an accompaniment on the spot." + +I question if Dr Burney is justified in this scathing criticism. I do +not suppose he ever heard them performed, for the good reason that +there is no complete set of parts to be found, and there is no record +of any such being in existence in his time. A few years ago I did my +best to get these little "Band tunes" performed, but at first only the +Viol and Flute parts could be found. Later on I was fortunate enough +to discover a Cittern part in the Bodleian Library, and, later still, a +part for the Pandora has been found in the Christ Church Library. We +still want the parts for Lute and Bass Viol, but with these four we get +a very good representation of the original, and at the Exhibition +initiated by the Worshipful Company of Musicians we had one of these +little tunes played by the six instruments, under the direction of the +Rev. W. Galpin. We had to supply parts for Lute and Bass Viol, but as +we had the original Harmony supplied {27} by the Flute (i.e. a small +Recorder), which was an inner part, and by the Cittern and +Pandora--both of which played Chords--we could not go far wrong. The +effect was both interesting and charming, and altogether discounted +Burney's unreliable criticism. It would be a great delight to all +lovers of this early music if the two missing parts could be found, but +I fear we shall hunt in vain. + +His Sacred works include two Services and an Anthem, which was +published in Barnard's collection, and a setting of the Burial Service, +which appears in Boyce's collection. There are also examples, in MS. +amongst the Harleian MSS., in the Christ Church Library at Oxford, and +the Fitzwilliam and Peterhouse Libraries at Cambridge. A curious +thing, rather, in connection with his Sacred works is, that, unlike his +secular compositions, none was published during his lifetime. + +His style was not so broad as that of Tallis or so noble as that of +Byrd, but he had a great influence upon the art. His own compositions +include examples of his talent in many directions. As a theoretical +writer he is really distinguished above his contemporaries, and +contributed to the stores of Sacred, Secular, and Instrumental music, +besides writing for the stage. + +{28} + +Morley's early death was a real loss to English music, and he was +mourned by all his contemporaries. One of the most touching +testimonies is a beautiful _Lament for Six Voices_ by Thomas Weelkes, +himself a distinguished composer, whom we shall consider later. The +words are as follows: + + + A remembrance of my friend Mr. Thomas Morley. + + + Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend, + My dearest friend is dead and laid in grave, + In grave he rests until the world shall end, + The world shall end, as end must all things have. + All things must have an end that nature wrought + That nature wrought must unto dust be brought. + + +Another poetical testimony to Morley was written in his life-time, and +may be given here. It is supposed to be by Michael Drayton: + + + Such was old Orpheus' cunning, + That senseless things drew near him; + And herds of beasts to hear him. + The stock, the stone, the ox, the ass came running. + Morley! but this enchanting + To thee, to be the music god, is wanting; + And yet thou needst not fear him. + Draw thou the shepherds still, and bonny lasses, + And envy him not stocks, stones, oxen, asses. + + + +[1] Mr Arkwright gives us an interesting bit of information in +connection with Morley and Shakespeare. "Morley lived in St Peter's, +Bishopsgate, between 1596 and 1601, and his name appears in two _Rolls +of Assessments for Subsidies_. In the earlier of these documents is +the name of William Shakespeare, his goods being valued at the same +amount as Morley's. He and Shakespeare both appealed against the +assessment, and it may be supposed some amount of personal intercourse +existed between them." + + + + +{29} + +IV. THOMAS WEELKES + +1575?--1623 + +In the previous Lecture I have mentioned Thomas Weelkes, and now turn +for a short space to this distinguished composer. As I have said +before, I do not profess to include all the great English musicians of +the 17th century in this short series of Lectures, and Weelkes is +selected, not only as being greatly superior to many others, but +because he has given us something original in the shape of combined +Instrumental and Vocal work, in addition to his valuable contributions +to the Madrigal School. Of this I must speak later. As a +Madrigal-writer he is notable as one of the "glorious company" of +contributors to _The Triumphs of Oriana_. Although little of his +Church music is published, yet as Organist of Chichester Cathedral and, +as a member of the Choir of the Chapel Royal, he was an experienced +Church musician. He left many Anthems, which are preserved in MS. in +various Libraries; and he contributed {30} two pieces to Leighton's +_Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul_. In his _Fancies for +Strings_ he displays a very fertile imagination. I have had some of +his _Fancies_ performed at my various Lectures, and have found them +remarkable for melodic interest and very advanced as regards Harmony. +His instrumental writing is surprising; and, when one compares his +Fancies with those by Orlando Gibbons, one is astonished at the novelty +of his ideas. As will be seen later I shall have much to say in +connection with Gibbons, Deering, and Purcell in regard to the Fancy. +But I may as well at once explain that this was the form which was +supreme in the early days of the 17th century as a vehicle for +Instrumental writing. An enormous number of these compositions exist, +and it was not until Purcell's time that the Fancy disappeared--being +supplanted by the Sonatas for three strings and a Basso Continuo. It +was a form which helped on the progress of writing for Instruments in a +wonderful way. "Apt for Voices and Viols" was the usual title-page +which composers loved. But, when the Fancy developed, the writing was +far too elaborate to be "apt for voices," and so we get the independent +instrumental Fancy. It was, as a rule, a work of some considerable +length, and, while full of variety, it was lacking in {31} any real +development. The composer indulged his "Fancy," and wandered from +point to point at his own sweet will. + +It was with the Fancy that Weelkes made an early experiment of adding a +vocal part quite independent of the strings. And he took for his vocal +part the popular series of "Cryes" which were then common to the +streets of London. He did not, as has so often been wrongly stated, +"set the Cryes of London to music," but he took the words and the music +of these old and very interesting things and added the vocal part to +what was a real Fancy for strings. It is said Morley did the same +thing, but I have, so far, failed to find any example of it. +Ravenscroft took many of these same old Cryes and worked them up as +Rounds, and Campion introduced _Cherry Ripe_ into a charming song +"There is a Garden in her face" in 1617; but the _Humorous Fancy_ by +Weelkes is, so far as I can see at present, the earliest of this kind +of work. Later, in connection with Gibbons and Deering, I shall have +much to say on this subject, as these composers also wrote _Humorous +Fancies_, the vocal parts being the same old Cryes of London but +treated in a more elaborate manner. + +Weelkes' example is very charming, and although his string parts are +somewhat stilted, {32} yet there is always life in them. He makes one +point which shows he was not altogether able to forget his Madrigals +and Ballets. Like the latter, the _Fancy_ at one point leaves its +regular course, and for a few bars a delightful Dance tune is +introduced, to the words--whatever they mean--"Twincledowne Tavye." It +is as if the vendors of fish, fruit and vegetables met in the street +and had a bit of a frolic together. The Fancy is resumed with the +Cryes of the Chimney Sweep, Bellows-Mender etc., and later on a +beautiful song for the seller of "Broome" is introduced. The words of +this song date back before Weelkes, being found with slight variation +in an old play called _Three Ladies of London_, 1584. They are sung by +a character named "Conscience" who enters with brooms, and sings the +song. + +No doubt the tune given by Weelkes is the original one. + +The conclusion of this Fancy is very charming and rather like an Anthem: + + Then let us sing + And so we will make an end + With Alleluia. + + +There are two MSS. of this work in the British Museum. I have followed +the shorter version, {33} as the longer is not only rather dull and +prolonged but includes a little deviation into vulgarity, and so is +hardly suitable for modern ears. The "Alleluia" occurs in the longer +MS. and I have included it in my version. + +It is fortunate that there are two sets of parts, as neither of them is +complete. But having been so fortunate as to find these two sets I +have been able to restore the missing part. + +The discovery of this Fancy is the reason why I select Weelkes instead +of Wilbye, one of his great contemporaries, and I think all lovers of +Shakespeare will be glad to make acquaintance with the music of the +_Cryes of London_ which saluted the Poet's ears in his daily walks. + +Weelkes paid a loving tribute to "his dearest friend" Morley, on the +latter's death. The date of Weelkes' death (1623) and other +particulars have been brought to light by the investigations of the +Rev. Dr. Fellowes, whose devotion to the madrigal school is so well +known and appreciated. His paper on Weelkes (Musical Association, May, +1916) is an eloquent testimony to the worth of this composer, to whose +madrigal writing I have not space quite to do justice. The _Humorous +Fancy_, however, shows him in a new and interesting light. + + + + +{34} + +V. ORLANDO GIBBONS + +1583--1625 + +Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most outstanding name of the English +musicians in the early part of the 17th century. A good deal of this +is, no doubt, due to the fact that his contributions to Sacred Music +have been one of the great possessions of our Cathedral School, and +their presence in service lists has been--and I venture to hope will +always be--a constant tribute to their excellence. + +Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as turned his mind naturally, +though by no means exclusively, to Church Music. + +He was the son of one of the City waifs of Cambridge, William Gibbons, +and was born in 1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, he is +mentioned amongst the Choristers during the years 1596-97; at which +time his elder brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the College. +It might be noted in passing that this Edward Gibbons was himself a +B.Mus. of both {35} Universities; and, after occupying an appointment +at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th century, was, later, organist +and Priest Vicar at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a charge +of neglecting his duties; this, however, he managed to do successfully. +He died about 1653. + +To return to Orlando. There are some interesting entries in the +College Records of 1601, 1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. +paid to Gibbons--or Gibbins, as it is there spelt--for music composed +"_in festo Dominae Reginae_," and also in the two latter years for +music for the Purification. No Christian name is given, but there is +little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. He was placed in an important and +honourable appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he became Organist +of the Chapel Royal, and in 1606 took his bachelor's degree at +Cambridge. + +In 1611 his name appears as an associate with Byrd and Bull in a work +called _Parthenia_, a collection of pieces for the Virginals of which I +shall speak later on. + +We do not hear much more of him until 1612, with the exception of a +mention in the State Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition +in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in reversion of forty +marks per annum of Duchy {36} lands, without fine, as promised him by +the Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of his _First sett of +Madrigals and Mottets of_ 5 _parts, apt for viols or voyces_. _Newly +composed by ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, Organist of H. M. +Chapel in Ordinary_. The work is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, +and the dedication runs thus: "They were most of them composed in your +owne house and doe therefore properly belong to you. The language you +provided them, I only furnished them with tongues to utter the same." +It is thought from this that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons +was on terms of close intimacy with him. Another proof of this is +shown by a piece in Ben Coszyn's _Virginal Book_, where Gibbons is +represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The collection, _Madrigals and +Mottets_, is rather misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet +in it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some divided into 2, 3 and +4 sections, each as long as an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is +_The Silver Swan_. + +It has been stated that besides the published Madrigals, no secular or +vocal compositions exist in MS. except a kind of _Burlesque Madrigal_ +called _The Cryes of London for_ 6 _voices_. + +This statement is altogether incorrect. To {37} mention one, a song, +_A Soldier's Farewell to his Mistress_ ("My love, adieu") is in +existence, and I have often had it performed. And the statement about +the _Burlesque Madrigal_ is truly absurd. It is curious that the +musical historians have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to +notice the existence of the work on the Cryes of London, or have, quite +incorrectly, called it a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting +form of composition. Like Weelkes' _Humourous Fancy_, it has parts for +Viols and a superimposed vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices) +consisting of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in one respect +from Weelkes', for it is an "In Nomine" for strings. This is an older +form of the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part for the Viol--an +inner part--being allotted a well-known old ecclesiastical melody. +This Plainsong melody is to be found in the _Sarum Missal_ to the words +"_Gloria Tibi Trinitas_," and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is +used by many composers of "_In Nomines_," Byrd and Ferabosco amongst +others. But this is the only example I have come across where a sacred +melody is introduced in connection with secular, and, in the case of +Cryes, somewhat humourous words. Examples of the introduction of +secular tunes into the sacred works by {38} composers of the Italian +school of the 16th century are, of course, very common. This is a +curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the introduction of a sacred tune +into a secular vocal work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he is +able to write very effective and flowing Viol parts and to introduce so +many examples of the old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong +persistently played by one of the Viols. The copy from which this +interesting work is taken is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616, +so the Fancy was composed before that date. The copyist who preserved +this work for us was the Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church +adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 and 1622 must have been +published the best known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection is +dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, and +Wray was dismissed in 1622. _Fantasies of Three parts composed by +Orlando Gibbons, Batchelor of Musick, and late organist to His M. +Chapel Royal in Ordinary_. Cut in Copper, the like not here-to-fore +Extant. The word "late" is rather surprising, when he is not recorded +to have resigned his position at the Chapel Royal. He was appointed +Organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623. + +{39} + +These Fantasies were published by The Musical Antiquarian Society in +1843; and in some respects this publication has been the cause of a +good deal of ignorance as to the real progress which Instrumental music +made in the early years of the 17th century. They are undoubtedly +somewhat dull when placed by the side of Fancies by Byrd and others. +No doubt the veneration for Gibbons and the rightful appreciation of +his fine Cathedral music made the members of the old and valuable +Musical Antiquarian Society more ready to edit his Fancies than to +select from less eminent Church writers. But one cannot have much +respect for Burney's judgment when he pronounces Orlando Gibbons to +have been "utterly contemptible in his productions for instruments." +He must be judged alongside of other 16th century composers; for, +although he indeed lived through the first quarter of the _seventeenth_ +century, his instrumental music is characteristic of the _sixteenth_. + +In common with other composers of his day, Gibbons shows in his Clavier +works an earlier and more successful attempt at a true Instrumental +style than he does in his music for Strings. The Viols were later in +forsaking the vocal polyphonic style than the keyed {40} instruments, +simply because the vocal style suited the bowed instruments so much +better than the Clavier. So we find composers for the Clavier +borrowing the rhythmic features of folk-songs and dance-tunes much +earlier than they found it desirable or necessary to do in Viol music. + +Out of six pieces by Gibbons in _Parthenia_, three are dances (a Pavane +and two Galliards); one (_The Queenes Commande_) is an air with +variations; and the other two are the _Preludium_ (a piece of very +simple harmonic design, with florid figuration like the early organ +preludes) and a quite remarkable _Fantasia in four parts_--remarkable +because rather exceptional as a Clavier piece, and also because of its +protracted and serious working in the Canzona style. In the +_Fitzwilliam Collection_ the only pieces by Gibbons are an air with +variations, _The Woods so Wilde_, and a Pavane--the latter, however, +being identical with _The Lord of Salisbury his Pavin_, which is found +also in _Parthenia_. + +With regard to the Fancies written for "Base Viall," "Mean Viall," and +"Trebble Viall," after the manner of the period, these were published +absolutely devoid of any indications of pace, of phrasing, or of +expression. To this fact is probably due some of their loss of +popularity. They require artists to interpret them, and in {41} good +hands are capable of considerable effect in the old quaint style. The +robust tones of the modern 'Cello, Viola and Violin can hardly give us +a correct impression of these pieces, but by muting them a very good +suggestion of "Viall" tone is obtainable. + +One may mention another "Fancy" written this time for two "trebble +Vialls" and a "Base." Whether it is the difference of the instruments, +or the fact that it is a later number in the collection and may +therefore be a later composition, I cannot say; but there is a +distinctly more modern spirit about this "Fancy." It is more rhythmic, +the sections are more marked, and at the end there is a complete +repetition of an eight-bar phrase, the only difference in the repeat +being that the first viall here takes the second part, and _vice versa_. + +In the domain of Sacred Music Orlando Gibbons certainly holds the +foremost place amongst the English composers of the contrapuntal +school. No name is better known in our Cathedrals. In great +gatherings of Cathedral Choirs in my young days (alas! we do not now +have such gatherings to any great extent) Gibbons' splendid Service in +F was always an item to which we looked forward. And he has left us +almost as great a collection of anthems as {42} Purcell did in later +years. Many of them were composed for special occasions. One was a +wedding Anthem "for my Lord Somerset"; another "made for the King's +being in Scotland" (this was, of course, James I, and it was from this +Anthem I extracted the splendid concluding "Amen" which was sung at the +Coronations of King Edward VII and King George V, and which is now the +recognized "Abbey Amen"). + +The Anthem "This is the record of John" has a string accompaniment for +Viols; this was "made for Laud, President of St John's, Oxford, for St +John Baptist's Day." Another "Behold thou hast made my days" was +composed at the entreaty of Dr Maxey, Dean of Windsor, "the same day +se'night before his death." + +Mention must also be made of "O clap your hands," which has always had +a suspicion attached to it of having played the part of Dr Heyther's +Doctor's Exercise. This suspicion is deepened by the fact that Dr +Cummings possessed a MS. of it with the following inscription upon it: +"Dr Heyther's Commencement Song Composed by Dr Orlando Gibbons". They +both took their degrees at Oxford on the same occasion viz: the +foundation of the Camden History {43} Professorship. Heyther was a Lay +Vicar of Westminster, and it was he who founded the Oxford Music +Lecture, now represented by the Professorship. It was originally worth +£3 a year. The degrees were conferred on the two friends of Camden at +his special request. + +Gibbons was also a contributor to Wither's _Hymns and Songs of the +Church_. Withers himself pays him the following tribute: "He hath +chosen to make his music agreeable to the matter, and what the common +apprehension can best admit, rather than to the curious fancies of the +time; which path both of us could more easily have trodden." + +Gibbons appears to have had a sense of humour, judging from a letter +which we found in the Westminster Abbey Muniment Room some years ago. +I believe this is the only letter of Gibbons' that is known. It is +addressed to the Treasurer of the Abbey, asking that the organ-tuner, +one Burrard, might be paid; it runs as follows: + + + Mr. Ireland: I know this bill to be very resonable for I have + alredy cut him off ten shillings therfore I pray despathe him, for + he hath delt honestly wth ye church soe shall I rest yr servant, + + Orlando Gibbons. + + +The whole bill was very small, and by "cutting him off ten shillings" I +think old Orlando was rather hard! + +{44} + +We get a glimpse of Orlando Gibbons' organ-playing in the Abbey from +the _Life of Archbishop Williams_, sometime Lord Keeper of the Great +Seal. The French Ambassadors who came over to arrange the marriage of +the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) with Henrietta Maria were +entertained at supper in the Jerusalem Chamber. But before the Supper +we are told "The Embassadors, with the Nobles and Gentlemen in their +Company, were brought in at the North Gate of the Abbey, which was +stuck with Flambeaux everywhere that strangers might cast their eyes +upon the stateliness of the Church. At the Door of the Quire the Lord +Keeper besought their Lordships to go in and take their seats there for +a while. At their entrance the organ was touched by the best Finger of +that age, Mr Orlando Gibbons. The Lord Embassadors and their Great +Train took up all the stalls where they continued about half-an-hour, +while the Quiremen, vested in their Rich Copes, sang three several +Anthems with most exquisite voices before them." + +This Dean Williams was a very great man, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal +of England, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop of York; he +was Dean of Westminster in 1620. We are told in his _Life_, written by +John Halket, {45} Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry: "He procured the +sweetest music both for the organ and for voices of all parts, that +ever was heard in English music. In those days the Abbey and the +Jerusalem Chamber, where he gave entertainment to his friends, were the +votaries of the Choicest Songs that the Land has heard. The greatest +masters of that delightful faculty frequented here above all others." +I think it must be to this patron of music that we owe the fine +collection of Madrigals and Motets (including the very rare and +valuable books of Deering) which are now preserved in the Abbey Library. + +This account of the perfection of the music at the Abbey in these +remote days, under the fostering care of a Dean distinguished both as a +statesman and a musician, may perhaps be followed by a contemporary +description of the members of a choir--not, of course, of the Abbey +Choir in particular by another Dean. This was Dean Earle, the first +Dean after the Restoration. But the work from which I quote was first +printed in 1628, so that it is only a year or two after the time of +Gibbons. Earle was not Dean of Westminster until more than 30 years +later. The book is entitled _Microcosmographie: a piece of the World +discovered in Essays and Characters_, and was first published +anonymously. {46} I hope this description of what the writer calls "A +Merry Crew, the Common Singing-men in Cathedrall Churches," is not a +true description of the great body of such choirs at the time, but it +is worth quoting. + + + _The Common Singing-men in Cathedral Churches_ + + Are a bad Society, and yet a Company of good Fellowes, that roare + deep in the Quire, deeper in the Taverne. They are the eight parts + of speech, which goe to the Syntaxis of Service, and are + distinguish't by their noyses much like Bells, for they make not a + Consort but a Peale. Their pastime or recreation is prayers, their + exercise drinking, yet herein so religiously addicted that they + serve God oftest when they are drunke. Their humanity is a legge + [=consists in a bow] to the Residencer, their learning a Chapter, + for they learne it commonly before they read it, yet the old Hebrew + names are little beholden to them, for they mis-call them worse + then one another. Though they never expound the Scripture, they + handle it much, and pollute the Gospell with two things, their + Conversation and their thumbes. Upon worky-dayes they behave + themselves at Prayers as at their pots, for they swallow them downe + in an instant. Their Gownes are lac'd [=streaked] commonly with + steamings of ale, the superfluities of a cup or throat above + measure. Their skill in melody makes them the better companions + abroad, and their Anthemes abler to sing Catches. Long liv'd for + the most part they are not, especially the base, they overflow + their banke so oft to drowne the Organs. Briefly, if they escape + arresting, they dye constantly in God's Service; and to take their + death with more patience, they have Wine and Cakes at their + Funerall: and now they keepe the {47} Church a great deale better, + and helpe to fill it with their bones as before with their noyse. + + +This quotation must not be taken too seriously. Earle's book was +written when he was a young man, probably under the inspiration of +Casaubon's translation of the fourth-century Theophrastus' _Characters_ +published in 1592. It consists of 77 "Characters," some of them +serious studies, and others, such as the above, humorous or satirical +sketches, not intended to be true representations, yet containing a +basis of truth. Richard Baxter, writing to Earle, says: "In charity, +and gentleness, and peaceableness of mind, you are very eminent." + +A very unusual adventure is chronicled as having taken place on St +Peter's Day, 1620: "Eveseed, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, did +violently and sodenly without cause runne upon Mr Gibbons, took him up +and threw him down upon a Standard whereby he received such hurt that +he is not yet recovered of the same, and withal he tare the band from +his neck to his prejudice and disgrace." + +In 1625 Gibbons had to compose and direct the music for the reception +at Canterbury of Henrietta Maria, on the occasion of her marriage with +Charles I. It was to be his last commission, for he died on +Whitsunday, June 5th. + +{48} + +With regard to his death, we have always been led to believe that he +died of small-pox--all the histories, including the admirable Grove's +_Dictionary_, have taught us so. Mr W. Barclay Squire, of the British +Museum, has, however, shown this to be incorrect. In a letter, which +he found among the State Papers, from Sir Albertus Morton to Lord +Edward Conway, and endorsed "Mr Secretary Morton, touching the Musician +that dyed at Canterburie and supposed to have died of the plague," a +medical certificate is enclosed signed by Drs Poe and Domingo, stating +that his sickness was at first "lethargicall" followed by convulsions: +"he grew apoplecticall and so died"--thus refuting the small-pox theory +in favour of apoplexy. + +His portrait is in the collection at Oxford, and a fine monument with +an excellent bust was erected in Canterbury Cathedral by the composer's +widow. + +It was my privilege to suggest and organize a Musical Festival of +Gibbons' works in Westminster Abbey in 1907. Some of his finest Church +music was given by a very large choir, and a beautiful replica in black +marble of the bust of the composer, which is in Canterbury Cathedral, +was unveiled. It has always seemed to me a reflection upon the Abbey +that no memorial to {49} the greatest of its organists--save +Purcell--should be found there. This Festival created very great +interest, and brought a munificent offer from Mr Crews, a well-known +amateur and Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, to defray +the expense of a bust of the celebrated organist. It is well placed in +close proximity to the memorials of his worthy successors, Blow, +Purcell, and Croft. + + + + +{50} + +VI. RICHARD DEERING + +1580 (?)--1630 + +In considering the careers and works of the first five musicians on my +list of twelve, I have, it is true, been treating of men whose names +are to be found in all musical histories. But of the next name on my +list I am able to say I am on comparatively new ground. There is +nothing so surprising to me as the universal neglect--nay, I may even +use the word disdain--with which musical historians of many periods +have treated the name of Richard Deering. In common with most people +of my own age I knew very little about this composer, and certainly in +common with, I venture to say, all my contemporaries, I never heard a +note of his music until a few years ago. + +The story of my awakening to the real merits of this admirable composer +is simple. Looking over the music in the Chapter Library at +Westminster, I found among many fine collections of Madrigals--original +copies, mostly published in the 16th and early part of the 17th +centuries--two sets of Latin Motets in 5 and 6 parts by {51} Richard +Deering. They were bound up in covers made out of an illuminated MS. +On looking at the bindings, our late Dean, Dr Armitage Robinson (always +interested in the Library, and also, I may add, in my musical +researches) found that they were part of the Wedding Service of the +fourteenth century. The binding was promptly taken off, the Deering +books rebound, and handed on to me. I proceeded to score some of the +first book--published in 1617--and had not done many bars before it was +plain I was indeed about to unearth a treasure. Full of beautiful +Harmony and Contrapuntal devices with examples of melodic progressions, +new and original, these works were speedily brought to a hearing at my +Gresham Lectures, and, with as little delay as possible, edited (with +English translations), published, and introduced into the Abbey +Services. Since then many Cathedrals and great Churches have used +them. The Bach Choir has performed some of them, and Deering's fame +has, I hope, been re-established! + +I may say, before proceeding to give details of Deering's career, that +nearly a hundred years ago an effort was made by a musical amateur to +get these Motets scored. By a curious chance I have come into the +possession of letters which passed between the owner of copies of these +fine things {52} and Mr Sale of Westminster Abbey. The owner was the +Rev Thomas Streatfeild, Vicar of Chart Edge, a well-known Kentish +antiquary, and he came into possession--probably at a sale of some of +the old Deering books--of a set of parts of these Motets. He applied +to Mr Sale (a very prominent member of the musical profession, a +Lay-Vicar of Westminster Abbey and a principal singer at the "Ancient +Concerts") to get these Motets scored for him. A letter from Sale's +daughter apologizes for delay, and says "her father does not think it +will be worth while to go to any great expense, as he has tried some +parts of it (_i.e._ the music of the Motets) with some who are used to +and admire that ancient style of music and they do not form a very high +opinion of it!" Curiously enough, a few bars in score of one of the +most beautiful Motets was enclosed with a note from a copyist saying +that it would take much time and be very expensive. So Deering's +Motets were laid to rest again for nearly 100 years. I may add Mr Sale +was the music instructor to Queen Victoria when she was a child. + +Mr Streatfeild's copies of the 1617 Motets (_uncut!_) were sold (at his +death) by auction, and fetched £4 16s. 0d. + +The neglect of Deering is certainly extraordinary. He was, as usual, +absurdly criticized {53} by Dr Burney, who spoke of his music as "very +sober, innocent, psalmodic, dry, and uninteresting," and further he +"was never able to discern in any of his works a single stroke of +genius, either in his melody or modulation." And Sir Frederick Ouseley +actually writes of his style as "severe and correct, but very dry"! +These verdicts amaze me! They are absolutely untrue, at least as +regards Deering's great works, his Motets. I question if Burney or +Ouseley ever heard one of them. They may have founded their opinion +upon some of his less important works, published by Playford some 30 or +40 years after Deering's death, which Playford himself does not vouch +for as being certainly by Deering. And, as regards Deering's Fancies, +I can hardly believe either Burney or Ouseley had any real knowledge of +them, for one which I produced at a University Lecture in 1912 was of a +high order of merit. + +That Deering was appreciated at his proper value by his contemporaries +is apparent from the way in which Peacham, in his _Compleat Gentleman_ +(1622) couples his name with others "for depth of skill and quickness +of concept." Almost the only bit of information which historians tell +us is that "Cromwell was very fond of his music," and that John +Kingston, the {54} organist, with two of his boys, often sang Deering's +music to the Protector. The mention of "two boys" points to the +Two-part Motets as being the music performed--not, of course, to the +Motets for five or six voices. Mace in his _Musick's Monument_ (1676) +mentions Deering's _Gloria Patri_ and other of his Latin settings. + +I must now turn to the personal history of this good musician. + +Richard Deering was descended from an ancient family--the Deerings of +the County of Kent. The branch from which Richard Deering traces his +descent was the one headed by William Deering of Petworth, in co. +Sussex, and his wife, Eleanor Dyke. The Deering of this sketch was the +son of Henry Deering of Liss, near Petworth, by the Lady Elizabeth +Grey. He died in 1630. + +It is stated by Anthony Wood that Deering was "bred up in Italy, where +he obtained the name of a most admirable musician. After his return he +practised his Faculty for some time in England, where his name being +highly cried up, became after many entreaties, Organist to the English +Nuns living at Brussels." It is not easy to discover anything about +Deering's Italian life or work. My friend, the Rev Dr Spooner +Lillingston, {55} made some Inquiries for me in Italy, and is kind +enough to write as follows: + +"The Earl of Kent's family (of which Deering's mother was a member) +remained Catholic for many years, and this family, half a century +before, seem to have intermarried with certain of the Italian nobility. +Lady Elizabeth Grey does not appear in any record of the Greys of Kent. +May not Deering's mother have been of Italian extraction? Hence his +Catholic religion and Italian training." + +As to his Italian sojourn Dr Spooner Lillingston continues: "There is +no record of his first Communion at St John Lateran, so probably he did +not go to Italy until about ten years of age, all such records of First +Communions made in Italy being registered at St John's Lateran." Dr +Lillingston also tells us there is a record of an 8-part Motet by +Deering having been performed in one of the Churches, the title being +_O quam Gloriosa_. + +That Deering studied hard and composed while in Italy seems pretty +certain. Judged from an observation in his "Dedication" of the 1617 +Motets it would appear that it was in Rome that he wrote them. In this +dedication he speaks of having composed them in the chief city of the +world. I cannot help thinking that "the chief {56} city of the world" +to Deering--a Catholic--was Rome. + +Almost the first fact of which we have very certain knowledge in +connection with his life in England is the "Supplication" which he made +for the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford, in April, 1610. In +answer to an inquiry, the Keeper of the Archives said that there is a +record of Deering's supplication, and it is stated that his plea is +granted "providing he shall have composed a work of eight parts for the +next 'Act.'" Dr Scott, the learned custodian of our Abbey Muniments +for many years, made some inquiries for me on this matter, and gives +the following note which he had apparently received from Oxford: + + + "Supplicateth in like manner Richard Deering, a scholar most highly + trained in music, of Christ Church, forasmuch as he hath spent ten + years in the study and practise of music, that this may suffice for + him to be admitted to the lectures of the music of Boethius." + + +The statement by Deering that he had spent "ten years in the study and +practise of music" absolutely disposes of the legend, so often +repeated, that Deering published a set of 5-part Motets in Antwerp, in +1597. I have always entirely doubted that this had any foundation in +{57} fact. I believe it is a misprint for 1617, and it was not likely +twenty years would elapse between the publication of two sets of Motets +by so prolific a composer. "Ten years" makes the date of Deering's +_studies_ to begin in 1600, so he could not have published in 1597. I +am glad to be able to correct this error on the authority of the Master +himself. + +It is very amusing, and rather annoying, to see how the musical +historians have copied from one another the most untrue statements +about Deering. Burney, Hawkins, and Mr Husk in the first edition of +Grove's _Dictionary_, _all_ give 1597 instead of 1617; and Burney and +Hawkins say he was forced to leave England when the troubles of Charles +I began. Hawkins says he was Organist to Henrietta Maria until _she_ +was compelled to leave England. The fact is Deering was dead before +all this! He returned to England as Organist to Henrietta Maria in +1625, and died in 1630. + +But space would fail me to point out more of the absurd statements +about this musician. Let me rather now turn to his greatest +contribution to our musical treasures. + +I leave for a time further comment upon his work in England, and +proceed to consider his magnificent Motets. It appears that on the +{58} invitation of the English nuns at Brussels he proceeded to that +city and became Organist to the Convent. It was whilst there that he +published in 1617 his fine series of _Cantiones Sacrae_ for five +voices; this was issued from the press of Peter Phalese in Antwerp. +There are 18 Motets, all to Latin words, for five voices, and "Basso +Continuo" for Organ. + +I have already spoken of the way I made acquaintance with these +masterpieces. It is very gratifying to find the increased favour with +which they are received and the frequent performance of them by great +choirs. The ignorant accounts of them which I have quoted shake one's +faith in the opinion of such writers on other musical works. + +The first set of Motets was dedicated to a remarkable personage, Sir +William Stanley,[1] and {59} the Preface is so interesting I feel +justified in giving it (with the title-page). The original Dedication +is in Latin, but I give it in a translation.[2] + +{60} + +In the second set, published in 1618, Deering claims to have written in +the Madrigalian style. It looks as if he had tried to imitate the +Madrigals he had heard, and to adapt some of the phrases to sacred +words. I do not think the second set is as good as the first. But +there are some very fine things in it, one of the best being "Silence +prevailed in Heaven," a dramatic account of St Michael's war with the +Dragon. I have had this printed, and it produces a splendid effect, +and hope in time to restore to life many more of these unknown and +really beautiful masterpieces. + +I have not space to chronicle all Deering's musical works. But I must +conclude this notice by some account of his secular music, and, more +particularly, his remarkable _Humorous Fancy, The Crycs of London_. +This is the third of these interesting Fancies which I have had the +opportunity of recovering from oblivion. I have {61} already in the +case of Weelkes and Gibbons explained the circumstances attending this +recovery. Deering's _Fancy_ is the most elaborate of the three, and, +besides a number of _Cryes_ which the other musicians omitted, he has +preserved to us some most interesting and charming Tradesmen's +Songs--those of the Swepe, the Blacking-seller, the Vendor of Garlick, +the Rat-catcher, and the Tooth-drawer. The whole _Fancy_ is full of +life, and shows Deering to be both dramatic and humourous. This work +(and a similar one on _Country Cryes_) were written before he left +England for Brussels, as the copy in the British Museum was made 1616. + +There are a few Anthems scattered about in various Libraries, but as a +Catholic his contributions to English Cathedral music would, no doubt, +be few. Some are to be found in Durham Cathedral Library. On the +marriage of Charles I, he was appointed Organist to the Queen Henrietta +Maria. On July 11th, 1628, his name appears in a list of musicians in +ordinary to the King, and he was evidently a member of the King's +Private Band. + +Most historians have stated that he lived to 1657, but this is just as +incorrect as their other statements concerning Deering and his music. +I have devoted much time to the elucidation of {62} the history and the +reproduction of his work, and feel in doing this I have helped to +restore to his rightful place one of the greatest English musicians of +the 17th, or indeed of any, century. + + + +[1] Sir William Stanley was a Roman Catholic and a very extraordinary +man. I think the following account from the _Dictionary of National +Biography_ will be of interest. + +Sir W. Stanley, Adventurer, one of the Cheshire Stanleys. He served in +the Netherlands under Alva. He quitted the Spanish service in 1570 and +served in Ireland under Elizabeth, and later on was appointed Sheriff +of Cork. He was very severe on the rebels and he reported he had +hanged 300 of them and so terrified the rest that "a man might now +travel the whole country and no one molest him." He thought he was not +properly rewarded, and later on was guilty of treachery. He was, of +course, Roman Catholic and greatly in the confidence of the Jesuits. +He actually went to Spain to advise the best method of conquering +England. He recommended that Ireland should be made the basis of +operations, and that troops should disembark at Milford Haven rather +than at Portsmouth. When Elizabeth died Stanley sent no less a person +than Guy Fawkes, his subaltern officer, with an emissary of Catesby to +Spain, to warn Philip against James. There is no evidence that he was +concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, but he was placed under arrest at +Brussels on suspicion of being concerned in it. + +He spent the latter part of his life in complete obscurity. In 1616 he +contributed largely to a Jesuit College of Liége, and was Governor of +Mechlin. He sought in vain for permission to return to England, and +died at Ghent in 1630, and was honoured with a magnificent public +funeral. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Egerton of Egerton, +who was buried in Mechlin Cathedral, in 1614. The male line of the +Stanleys of Horton became extinct by the death of the twelfth baronet +Sir John Stanley-Errington in 1883. + +[2] Cantiones Sacrae for 5 Voices + with Basso Continuo for Organ. + + by + + RICHARD DEERING, Englishman, + Organist to the venerable + English Nuns in the Monastery + of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Brussels. + Antwerp. + at the house of Peter Phalese + 1617. + +_Dedication_ + +To Sir William Stanley, Knight, renewed at home and in Military life, +Councillor at war to the most honourable and invincible Catholic King, +his most worshipful Lord. + +For long my Music has desired to come forward. She is not unpolished +(for she was born in the first City of the World) but she is modest. +For it is customary with new men, especially those that are bashful, +not to bring their offspring however excellent to the light, until they +find some distinguished man, whose approval if they win, they need fear +neither the abuse of rivals nor the criticism of the ignorant. + +But what patron should my music choose in preference to your lordship? +When permitted to relax your mind from military cares, you think no +delight, no pleasure greater than music. To music you give the chief +place after war, in which none surpass you. Therefore let my child go +forth with you for its patron. If you are the first to smile upon it +as it takes its first modest steps, you will give it wonderful courage, +for greater things. Live, flourish and conquer. + + In War we long for Peace; Peace endeth wars, + Music makes jocund Peace to know no jars. + + Your most obedient servant, + R. Deering. + + + + +{63} + +VII. JOHN MILTON + +1553--1646-7 + +To many the name of John Milton will hardly suggest a musical composer. +And yet I am able to include this name--the name of the father of the +poet--among the band of "Good Musicians" whose careers and works I am +considering. I have always felt greatly interested in him and desired +to find out all I could of his personal history, and particularly of +his musical education, for undoubtedly in the elder Milton we have a +really accomplished musician. We are told he educated his +distinguished son in music, and that he had an organ in his house. + +Dr Burney gives a very good and concise account of him, upon which I +cannot improve and from which I venture to quote. (Burney, Vol. III, +p. 134): + +"We come now to John Milton, the father of our great poet, who though a +scrivener by profession, was a voluminous composer, and equal in +science, if not genius, to the best musicians of his age: in +conjunction and on a level with whom, his name and works appeared in +numerous musical publications of the time, particularly in those of +{64} old Wilbye; in the _Triumphs of Oriana_ published by Morley; in +Ravenscroft's _Psalms_; in the _Lamentations_ published by Sir William +Leighton; and in MS. collections, still in the possession of the +curious. + +Mr Warton, in his Notes upon Milton's _Poems on Several Occasions_, +tells us, from the MS. _Life of the Poet_ by Aubrey, the antiquary, in +the Mus. Ashm. Oxon, that Milton's father, though a "scrivener," was +not apprenticed to that trade, having been bred a scholar and of Christ +Church, Oxford; and that he took to trade in consequence of being +disinherited. + +His son celebrates his musical abilities in an admirable Latin poem, +_Ad Patrem_, where, alluding to his father's musical science, he says +that Apollo had divided his favours in the sister arts between them; +giving Music to the father and Poetry to the son. + + Nor blame, Oh much-lov'd sire! the sacred Nine, + Who thee have honour'd with such gifts divine; + Who taught thee how to charm the list'ning throng, + With all the sweetness of a siren's song; + Blending such tones as every breast inflame + And made thee heir to great Orion's fame. + By blood united, and by kindred arts, + On each Apollo his refulgence darts: + To thee points out the magic power of sound, + To me the mazes of poetic ground; + And fostered thus by his parental care, + We equal seem Divinity to share." (_Translation_). + + +{65} + +The elder Milton was born in 1553, and is said to have been in the +choir of Christ Church, Oxford. His father was a Roman Catholic, and +it is said he disinherited his son for abjuring the Catholic faith. +The son went to London, and became a member of the Scriveners Company +(1599-1600). In 1632 he retired to Horton, in Buckinghamshire, having +made a considerable fortune. In London he lived in Bread Street, where +John Milton, the poet, was born. He contributed an admirable six-part +Madrigal to _The Triumphs of Oriana_ (1601), Motets to Leighton's +_Teares and Lamentations_ (1614), and Tunes to Ravenscroft's _Psalter_ +(1621). There are various Anthems and Fancies in five and six parts in +MS. in various libraries. + +Now here is a man who contributed to three or four important musical +publications, and was included in a list of the best known English +composers. Had he been a professional musician he could not have done +more. But we know he was a scrivener. What was he before he became a +scrivener? and whence did he get his musical knowledge? If we could +prove that the suggestion is true which makes him a Chorister at Christ +Church, Oxford, we should know where he probably got his musical +knowledge and his proficiency in Latin. But this information {66} +seems to be impossible of proof. For the purpose of these Lectures I +have devoted a good deal of time to this subject. Dr Strong, the Dean +of Christ Church, now Bishop of Ripon, has been kind enough to look +into the matter very carefully, and he writes me the following +interesting letter: + + + Christ Church, + Oxford. + June 25, 1919. + + My dear Bridge, + + I am sorry to say that I cannot discover anything about Mr. John + Milton, Senior. We have here a very important series of books + called Disbursement books. These contain a sort of summary + statement of the payments made under various heads. But what makes + them of interest is that all the members of the Foundation, from + the Dean down to the cook, received their payments through the + Treasurer and signed a receipt for them in the book. So there is a + whole list of signatures beginning about 1570 and going down (with + the exception of the Civil War period) to about 1830, when new + methods were adopted. It is always possible to discover by this + who held each office, and whether they were in residence on a + particular day. Unfortunately, they do not go back beyond 1570. I + searched through a volume in hopes that Mr. Milton or the organist + might be among the signatories. The singing-men and even the + choristers are there. But apparently at that time there was no + organist, and certainly there is no allusion to Milton or any names + such as you want, I think. It is a great pity we have not got the + books from the beginning: the first 23 years would have been very + {67} useful. Also, my matriculation book, which is in this house, + is very inaccurate and incomplete for the earlier years. I am + afraid, therefore, I cannot help you as regards Mr. Milton. You + will understand how very interesting these signatures are when I + say that in the volumes I looked at the other day I found a whole + series of signatures of Richard Hakluyt the geographer, who was a + student of the House. + + Yours very sincerely, + THOMAS B. STRONG. + + +It is very unfortunate that the records in Christ Church do not exist +before 1570. But it may be remarked, if Milton the elder was born in +1553, he would be seventeen in 1570, and would therefore certainly have +left the choir of Christ Church, if he ever belonged to it; and this, +of course, before the entries began. As to this matter, there are one +or two facts brought out in _Notes and Queries_ some years since which +bear upon it. + +Richard Milton, the grandfather of the poet, although a Roman Catholic, +appears to have been Churchwarden of the Parish (Stanton St John) in +1552. Mr Allnutt, of Oxford, who contributed this bit of historical +knowledge, writes: "Does this render it less probable that the Poet's +grandfather was Richard Milton of Stanton, or are other instances known +of Roman Catholics serving the office of Churchwarden under the {68} +Protestant regime of the period?" (_N. & Q._, Feby. 1880; W. H. +Allnutt, Oxford.) + +In the same paper, a little later, Mr Hyde Clarke writes on the subject +of Milton's father being a choir-boy at Christ Church: "My Oxford and +other correspondents, including Mr Mark Pattison, the eloquent critic +of the Poet, who has laboured in this investigation have looked +unfavourably on my proposition (_i.e._ that he was a Chorister of +Christ Church), because they consider the Roman Catholic _recusant_ can +never have sent his son to any heretical school. An answer is now +given in my favour by Mr. Allnutt, because if in 1552 Richard Milton +could serve as Churchwarden, the other matter of providing a +scholarship for his son was but a small one. It is further probable +that Richard Milton became a confirmed Roman Catholic only in his later +years."--Hyde Clarke. + +I think it is quite possible and even very probable that Milton's +father learnt his music at Christ Church. Then who taught him? +Whoever it was, he turned out a thoroughly good musician. Milton's own +compositions prove it, and, as we have seen, he is associated with all +the best English composers of the period in more than one work. Coming +to London, we are told he had an organ and other instruments in his +house and {69} to the practice of music he devoted his leisure. Masson +says: "His special faculty was music, and it is possible on his first +coming to London he had taught or practised music professionally." He +was evidently in the musical world of London, and his house was +probably the resort of many of the best musicians of the time. + +The short Motet for _Teares and Lamentations_ is in a good contrapuntal +style, with many devices which a man would use if he had been educated +in a Cathedral Choir. The style had "eaten into his marrow," as old +Sir John Goss once said to me, in reference to a Chorister's daily +musical work. + +Another interesting matter is Milton's contribution to Ravenscroft's +_Whole Book of Psalms_, published in 1621. Here are found two tunes +credited to John Milton, but I think there is no doubt they were merely +harmonized by him. The best one is a tune still often sung in our +Churches--entitled _York_: this seems to be an old Scottish tune; it +was published in Edinburgh in 1615. It appears three times in +Ravenscroft's book and with different harmonies, two of them being by +the elder Milton. The melody in this tune is, of course, given to the +tenor, as was the custom at this time. The tune has always been a +favourite, and an old author says that "it {70} was so well known that +half the nurses in England used to sing the tenor part as a lullaby." + +This sounds rather startling! One would not believe that any baby +could be put to sleep by hearing the tenor part of any hymn-tune. But +the tenor part here is the melody, and really it has a gentle, swaying +style about it, so that I, for one, believe the story of the Nurses and +the Babies! + +The melody is given in _English Country Songs_ edited by Miss Broadwood +and Mr Fuller Maitland, allied to some amusing words. + +Although we cannot claim the elder Milton as a musician who did much to +advance the art, I think I may be forgiven for having included his name +in my list. So little is said about him in musical histories, and I +have been able, I think, to get together some comparatively unknown +matter regarding him, that I hope I have done right in giving a place +among my Twelve Good Musicians to John Milton the elder. + + + + +{71} + +VIII. HENRY LAWES + +1595--1662 + +In Henry Lawes we have a subject of particular interest. No musician +of the 17th or probably of any century, has been so praised by the +poets, and few musicians of reputation have been so disdainfully +treated by the old musical historians. I think we shall find Henry +Lawes worthy of inclusion amongst the Twelve Good Musicians with whom I +am dealing. His life was a chequered one. He lived in troublous days, +and in an era of great changes in the political and musical worlds. +Born in 1595, at Dinton, in Wiltshire, he became a pupil of Giovanni +Coperario (or John Cooper, to give him his English name), and I think +this had a considerable influence on the direction which his +compositions took, and about which I shall say more later. We find him +a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1625, and later on a Gentleman of +the Private Music to King Charles the First. On the breaking out of +the Rebellion, he lost his {72} posts, and employed himself principally +in teaching singing. He lived a long life; long enough to see the +Restoration, and to compose the Coronation Anthem for King Charles the +Second, dying in 1662. + +Lawes' contributions to English music begin with the Masque. The +earliest date seems to be 1633-4, when he set the songs in a Masque +written by Thomas Carew, entitled _Coelum Britannicum_. This was +written at the particular invitation of the King, and performed for the +first time at Whitehall. + +The poem was published in 1634 and was wrongly attributed to Sir +William Davenant. Another Masque, by James Shirley, _The Triumph of +Peace_, was produced in the same year, Lawes and another well-known +musician, Simon Ives, writing the music, for which they received the +sum of £100. The following year saw the production of _Comus_, the +greatest of Masques. It will be seen that Lawes differed from most of +our English Composers in devoting himself, at the outset of his career, +almost exclusively to the stage. I cannot help thinking this is to be +explained by the fact that he was not educated in a Cathedral Choir, +but was a pupil of Giovanni Coperario. Now this musician had an +experience which few of his contemporaries enjoyed. He {73} studied in +Italy--going there as plain John Cooper and returning to his native +country as Giovanni Coperario. His sojourn in Italy was at a +remarkable time; the time when the first Opera and the first Oratorio +were given. It is very interesting to be told--and I have been told on +the authority of my friend Rev. Spooner Lillingston--that among the +names given in a certain record of the performance of the first Opera +was found that of the Englishman, Giovanni Coperario. This seems to me +to be an important fact. Lawes would come under the influence of +Coperario, who, with his love for Italian music and experience of the +beginning of Opera would, no doubt, help Lawes to take up the music of +the stage, instead of the music of the Church. + +Our composer was not, however, long before he embarked on some Church +music by setting _A Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David_ by George +Sandys, and also contributing another volume of tunes to _Church +Psalms_, in which he was joined by his clever brother William, who was, +later on, killed at the siege of Chester. + +Among the commendatory poems prefixed to this volume was the well-known +sonnet by Milton addressed to Lawes, beginning: + +{74} + + Harry, whose tuneful and well measured Song + First taught our English musick how to span + Words with just note and accent---- + + +He was a prolific writer of songs and Masque-music, but his great +opportunity was in writing the music and producing Milton's _Masque of +Comus_, at Ludlow, in 1634. Milton was a friend, and I think there is +no doubt a pupil in music of Lawes. Milton's father had much music in +his house in Bread Street, and no doubt, Lawes was among the eminent +musicians who gathered there. When Milton's father removed to Horton, +in Buckinghamshire, we are told that the young Milton came up to London +to receive instruction in music, as well as in other things. It was +Lawes who apparently got Milton to write the Masque, which he desired +to produce at Ludlow Castle in September 1634. The story of Comus and +its origin is so well known that I need not dwell upon it. The music +of the Masque was not published in the composer's life-time, but, +curiously enough, it was Lawes who edited Milton's Poem in 1637. This +was published without the name of the poet appearing[1], and was +dedicated to Viscount Brackly, one of those who took part in the +performance at Ludlow. In the dedication Lawes says: "Although not +openly {75} acknowledged by the Author, yet it is legitimate offspring, +so lovely, and so much to be desired, that the often copying of it hath +tired my pen to give my several friends satisfaction, and brought me to +the necessity of producing it to the public view." + +Unfortunately we have only five songs of the original music. There are +a great number of places in the Masque for which Milton desires +music--and many directions for instrumental movements particularly. +What these were we do not know. The merits of Lawes' music have been +decried, but having edited the _Comus_ music, after careful correction +from Lawes' original MS., which I was fortunate enough to be able to +see[2], I am confident that all who hear it will find the songs full of +beauty and expression, and well worthy of the words to which they were +so admirably fitted. + +I must not dwell longer upon _Comus_, for there is much to be said +about Lawes' other work. + +Playford was a great patron and admirer of Lawes. He published no +fewer than three books of _Ayres and Dialogues_, which contain some +charming settings of excellent poetry. The first book of _Ayres_ was +dedicated to his {76} pupils, Lady Alice Egerton and her sister, +daughters of Lord Bridgwater, and in it he says: "No sooner had I +thought of making these public than I resolved upon inscribing them to +your Ladyships; most of them being composed when I was employed by your +ever honoured Parents to attend your Ladyships' education in music." + +Lawes is often said to have "introduced the Italian style of music into +this kingdom," but this is hardly correct. That he admired and +understood the Italian style is quite certain. His studies with +Coperario would have influenced him in that direction, and he himself, +in one of his numerous Prefaces (and he was a great writer of +Prefaces), speaks of the Italians as being great masters of music, but +at the same time he contends "that our own nation has produced as many +able musicians as any in Europe." He laughs at the partiality of the +age for songs sung in a foreign language. In one of the prefaces to +his _Book of Ayres_ he says: "This present generation is so sated with +what's native, that nothing takes their ears but what's sung in a +Language which (commonly) they understand as little as they do the +music. And to make them a little sensible of this ridiculous humour I +took a Table or Index of old Italian Songs (for one, two, and three +voyces), and this Index (which {77} read together made a strange medley +of nonsense) I set to a varyed Ayre, and gave out that it came from +Italy, whereby it hath passed for a _rare Italian song_. This very +song I have since printed." + +This shows him a real humorist, and it is, I should suppose, the first +real Comic Song! It is set quite in the style of an Italian song, with +much declamation and with some charming melodious phrases. I have +often had it performed at my Lectures, and when sung in Italian it is +listened to very stolidly, but when the English translation is given it +creates much hilarity. I give the English translation, whereby it will +be seen it is indeed "a strange medley of nonsense." + +The title is given in Lawes' book as _Tavola_ (i.e. a Table or Index): + + + _Tavola._ + + In that frozen heart .... (for one voice) + Weep, my lady, weep, and if your eyes .... (for two voices) + 'Tis ever thus, ev'n when you seem to sive me, + Truly you scorn me. + Unhappy, unbelieving, + Alas! of splendour yet! + But why, oh why? from the pallid lips + And so my life .... (for three voices). + + +There is no doubt Lawes was a well-educated man, and it was certainly +one of the reasons {78} why he set words with "just note and accent," +and obtained the great praise of so many contemporary poets. It is +said he never set bad poetry[3]; and he set songs to Italian, to +Spanish, and even to Greek words. An interesting fact in connection +with his love for good poetry is given in J. P. Collier's _Catalogue of +Early English Literature in the Bridgwater House Library_, 1837. +Amongst the books catalogued is a volume of poems by Francis Beaumont, +which was presented to the Earl of Bridgwater by Henry Lawes. The +following inscription is found fastened to the cover: + + + For the Right Honble. John, Earl of Bridgwater, my most honoured + Lord, from his Lordship's most humble servant + + Henry Lawes. + + +The Earl of Bridgwater is the Nobleman for whom _Comus_ was produced. + +Lawes was a real champion of English music and English musicians, and +certainly understood {79} what he was writing about. Although somewhat +lengthy, I really cannot refrain from giving the Preface to one of his +_Books of Ayres_, which goes into this subject. It is both amusing and +improving, and deserves to be read by all. + + + To all Understanders or Lovers of Musick. + + In my former you saw what temptations I had to publish my + Compositions: and now I had not repeated that Error (if it prove to + be one) but upon the same grounds, back'd with a promise I made to + the World. + + Though the civill Reception my last Book found were sufficient + invitation, for which I gladly here offer my Thanks, especially to + those worthy and grateful Strangers, who are far more candid and + equall in their Censures than some new Judges of our own Country, + who (in spite of their starrs) will sit and pronounce upon things + they understand not. + + But this is the Fate of all mankind, to be render'd less at home + than abroad. For my part I can say (and there are will believe me) + that if any man have low thoughts of mee, hee is of my opinion. + Yet the way of Composition I chiefly possess (which is to shape + Notes to the Words and Sense) is not hit by too many: and I have + been often sad to observe some (otherwise able Musicians) guilty of + such Lapses and mistakes this way. And possibly this is it makes + many of us hear so ill abroad; which works a Beleefe amongst + ourselves, that English words will not run well in Musick: This I + have said, and must ever avow, is one of the Errors of this + Generation. + + I confess I could wish that some of our words could spare a + Consonant (which must not be slur'd, for fear of removing those + Landmarks in spelling {80} which tell their Originall); but those + are very few, and seldom occur; and when they do, are manageable + enough by giving each syllable its particular humour; provided the + breath of the sense be observed. And (I speak it freely once for + all) that if English words which are fitted for song do not run + smooth enough 'tis the fault either of the Composer or Singer. + + Our English is so stor'd with plenty of Monosyllables (which, like + small stones, fill up the chinks) that it hath great priviledge + over divers of its neighbours, and in some particulars (with + reverence be it spoken) above the very Latin, which Language we + find overcharg'd with the letter (S) especially in (bus) and such + hissing Terminations. But our new Criticks lodge not the fault in + our words only; 'tis the Artist they tax as a man unspirited for + forraign delights: which vanity so spreads, that those our + productions they please to like must be born beyond the Alpes, and + father'd upon Strangers. And this is so notorious, that not long + since some young Gentlemen, who were not untravell'd, hearing some + Songs I had set to Italian words (publickly sung by excellent + voyces) concluded those songs were begotten in Italy, and said (too + loud) "they would faine heare such songs to be made by an + Englishman." Had they layd their sceane a little nearer home, + there had been more colour; for, a short Ayre of mine (neare 20 + years old) was lately reviv'd in our neighbour Nation, and + publickly sung to words of their own as a new borne piece, without + alteration of any one Note: Tis the Ayre to those words, "Old Poets + Hippocrene admire etc." a sorry trifle (a man would think) to be + rais'd from the dead after 18 years burial. But (to meet with this + humour of lusting after Novelties) a friend of mine told some of + that company, that a rare new Book was come from Italy, which + taught the reason why an Eighth was the {81} sweetest of all notes + in Musick; because (said he) Jubal who was Founder of Musick was + the eighth man from Adam; and this went down as current as my songs + came from Italy. I beg your pardon for instancing such + particulars. But there are knowing persons, who have been long + bred in those worthily admired parts of Europe, who ascribe more to + us than we to ourselves; and able Musicians returning from Travaill + doe wonder to see us so thirsty after Forraigners. + + For they can tell us (if we knew it not) that Musick is the same in + England as in Italy; the Concords and Discords, the Passions, + Spirits, Majesty and Humours, are all the same they are in England; + their manner of composing is sufficiently known to us, their best + Compositions being brought over hither by those who are able enough + to choose. + + But we must not here expect to find Music at the highest, when all + Arts and Sciences are at so low an ebbe. As for myself, although I + have lost my Fortunes with my Master (of ever blessed Memory) I am + not so low to bow for a subsistence to the follies of this Age; and + to humour such as wil seem to understand our Art, better than we + that have spent our lives in it. + + If anything here bring you benefit or delight, I have my design. I + have printed the Greek in a Roman Character for the ease of + Musicians of both sexes. + + Farewell, + H. L. + + +This is in the Second Book of _Ayres and Dialogues. Dedicated to the +Hon. the Lady Dering, wife to Sir Edward Dering, Bart_. + +During the Civil War he appears to have lived in London, composing and +teaching. His {82} compositions for the Church in the way of Anthems +were but few. As we have seen in his early days, he preferred the +stage, and during the Commonwealth there was no inducement to write +Cathedral music. But the words of several of his Anthems are to be +found in Clifford's _Divine Services and Anthems_, published in 1666. + +In 1656 he joined Captain Cooke and others in writing music for +Davenant's _First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House_, e.g., +declamation and music. A little later he assisted in the production of +_The Siege of Rhodes_, which Roger North calls a semi-opera. + +This was produced during the Commonwealth, and is of particular +interest from the fact that Purcell's father, Henry Purcell the elder, +took part in the performance. This is the first notice we get of the +Purcell family, about whom I hope to say more in a later Lecture. It +is an interesting fact that the composer of the music to the last +important Masque (Milton's _Comus_) should have helped also in what was +apparently the first English Opera.[4] + +Lawes at the Restoration was re-appointed to his Chapel Royal post, and +composed the {83} Anthem _Zadok the Priest_ for the Coronation of +Charles II. He did not long survive the revival of his fortunes. He +lived in the little Almonry at Westminster, the block of ancient +buildings in which the Purcell family lived. He probably knew the +young Henry Purcell, then a child of tender years, and one wonders if +he detected the musical genius of the little boy. + +We get a glimpse of him in his last days from the _Diary_ of Samuel +Pepys, who, on December 30th, 1660, makes the following entry: + + +Mr. Child and I spent some time at the Lute, and so promising to prick +me some lessons to my theorbo he went away to see Henry Lawes who lies +very sick.... I to the Abbey, and walked there, seeing the great +companies of people that come there to hear the organs. + + +The Coronation was in April, 1661, so Lawes recovered from his illness, +though he died the following year. He was buried in the Cloisters of +Westminster Abbey though unfortunately there is nothing to mark the +spot of his interment. I think it is probably in the "Little Cloister" +as Dr Wilson, a brother musician, was interred there a few years later. + +In Henry and William Lawes we have "two noble brothers" who deserve to +be remembered with affectionate respect. The portraits of both are +preserved at Oxford. + + + +[1] The Author's name first appeared in the 1645 edition. + +[2] It is in the possession of the Rev. Dr Cooper Smith, and is +contained in a large volume of songs, all in the handwriting of Lawes. + +[3] One of his most beautiful songs, _The Lark_, contained a curious +misprint which I have been able to correct. The song was printed by +Playford, after Lawes' death, so he could not correct the proofs. The +second line stands + + "While nights _shall be_ shades abide." + +This always struck me as odd, and when I saw the original in Dr Cooper +Smith's book I looked for this line. It reads: + + "While night's _sable_ shades abide." + +It has been reprinted many times with the typographical error, but I +hope it is now put right. + +[4] It was in this performance that a woman (Mrs Coleman) first +appeared upon the dramatic stage in this country. + + + + +{84} + +IX. MATTHEW LOCKE + +1630 (?)--1677 + +A prominent personage in the seventeenth-century musical world was +Matthew Locke. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it was +approximately 1630. Matthew Locke laid the foundation of his art as a +chorister in an English Cathedral, and at Exeter there is evidence that +he occupied that position in 1638. The evidence cannot be disputed, as +it is graven in the very fabric of the old Cathedral. The embryo +musician took the trouble, upon two occasions, to inscribe his name +upon the walls of the Cathedral, together with the dates. Upon the +inner side of the old organ screen runs the legend "Matthew Lock, +1638," and in a more abbreviated form at a later date "M. L., 1641." As +a boy he seems to have been content with a name of four letters _Lock_; +in his later years he always attached a final "e" to his patronymic. +At Exeter he had the advantage of being trained by Edward Gibbons, +brother of the great Orlando, and, in addition to Gibbons' share in +{85} his training, he owed much to William Wake, Organist, for whom he +wrote one of his first published works. + +The period following Locke's later inscription--1641--was one not +calculated to encourage or foster the art of music; the country was in +a state of civil war, the soldiers of Cromwell wrought sad havoc in the +Cathedrals, and the musical portions of those establishments came in +for no small share of their destroying wrath. + +At Westminster Abbey we are told "the soldiers brake down the organs +for pots of ale," and the Cathedral at which Locke served his pupilage +fared very badly at the hands of the Roundheads. + +It is natural, then, that during the stormy times which marked that +period we have little intelligence concerning the doings of Locke. We +have the dates of some of his compositions, one as early as 1651. The +chief interest, however, which attaches to his work between 1650 and +1660 is that it is so much connected with the stage, and in that way +marks the progress towards the Opera, of the English form of which +Locke is sometimes credited with being the originator. As instances of +this kind of work we might, perhaps, draw attention to his association +with Christopher Gibbons in Shirley's {86} Masque _Cupid and Death_ +(1653), and the music he wrote in 1656 for Davenant's _Siege of +Rhodes_, in the production of which he himself shared--playing the part +of the Admiral. Henry Lawes wrote some of the music of this Opera, and +Purcell's father was one of the actors. + +The next item of importance that we have concerning him is in the +_Diary_ of Samuel Pepys; there, under date February 21st, 1659/60, we +read: + + + "After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here met with Mr. Lock + and Pursell, Master of Musique, and with them to the Coffee House, + into a room next the Water by ourselves. Here we had a variety of + brave Italian and Spanish Songs, and a Canon of eight voices which + Mr. Locke had lately made on these words 'Domine Salvum fac Regem,' + an admirable thing." + + +This is a very interesting entry. It shows Locke associated with +Purcell's father; it gives another instance of Mr Pepys never missing +the opportunity of cultivating the friendship of good musicians, and, +apart from the musical side, as an historical matter of interest the +words of the Canon _Domine Salvum fac Regem_ show the feeling of +loyalty towards the Crown which ended in the Restoration; words which +ten years before it would have been a heresy to utter. It may be +pointed out that the entry February, 1659, by the old way of reckoning, +{87} was really February, 1660, and therefore the year of the +Restoration. In the Ceremonies connected with that great event Locke +played an important part; it was to his music for _Sagbutts and +Cornets_ that the Royal Progress was made, from the Tower to Whitehall, +the day before the Coronation 1661. As a reward he was made "Composer +in ordinary to His Majesty," and "One of the Gentlemen of His Majesty's +Private Musick." + +For the next year or two he appears to have been engaged in +composition, both for Church and stage; amongst the former may be +mentioned some Anthems, whilst his music for Stapylton's _Stepmother_ +presents another instance of his association with dramatic music. This +dramatic side of his nature may have been the cause of Roger North's +complaint that "he sacrificed the 'old Style' for the modes of his +time" and of "his theatrical way." + +The year 1666, the year of the Fire of London, is rather an important +one in the consideration of Locke's life. It introduces us to him in +another character, and that of a literary type. As will be seen later, +he was a scathing and bitter critic of his detractors, and first gave +evidence of this quality in the year now under notice. The cause of +this outpouring of his wrath was {88} the treatment a Kyrie of his +composition had received at the hands of the Chapel Royal choir. It +would appear that he had set the Kyrie in an original way, giving +different music to each response; such an innovation did not meet with +the approval of the Choir, and they seem to have given it rather a +rough time. The result was that Locke published it, and supplied a +Preface entitled "Modern Church Music; Pre-Accused, Censured, and +obstructed in its performance before His Majesty, 1st of April, 1666. +Vindicated by its Author, Matthew Locke." Some of his observations are +very severe and abusive. I give a small portion of the somewhat long +and windy preface. + + + "He is a slender observer of human actions who finds not pride + generally accompanied with ignorance and malice, in what habit + soever it wears. In my case zeal was its vizor and innovation the + crime. The fact, changing the custom of the Church by varying that + which was ever sung in one tune, and occasioning confusion in the + Service by its ill performance. That such defects should take + their rise from the difficulty or novelty of the composition I + utterly deny, the whole being a kind of counterpoint, and no one + change from the beginning to the end but what naturally flows from, + and returns to the proper centre, the key". + + +With regard to the Vindication, however convincing it might be, I +believe the Kyrie was not performed again at the Royal Chapel. + +{89} + +Pepys refers to the incident in his _Diary_ of September 2nd, 1667, in +which he says: "Spent all the afternoon, Pelling, Howe and I and my +boy, singing of Locke's response to the ten commandments, which he hath +set very finely, and was a good while since sung before the King, and +spoiled in the performance which occasioned the printing them, and are +excellent good." Mr Pepys evidently sympathized with the lacerated +feelings of the injured author. + +I may say that some little time ago I edited these _Kyries_ and the +_Creed_, and they have been sung in the Abbey and in various +Cathedrals. The _Kyries_ are, many of them, very tuneful, and the +whole setting of _Kyrie_ and _Creed_ does Locke great credit. + +I have not space to dwell longer upon his Church music, of which we +have some excellent specimens in the way of Anthems. + +Somewhat later he was appointed Organist of the Chapel at Somerset +House; this Chapel was part of the establishment of Queen Catherine, +the Queen of Charles II, who throughout her life remained a Roman +Catholic. It would appear from Roger North that Locke was not +altogether a success in this position. He says: "Locke was organist of +Somerset House Chapel as long as he lived, but the Italian Masters that +{90} served there did not approve of his manner of play; but must be +attended by more polite hands, and one while, one Signor Baptista +Sabancino, and afterwards Signor Baptista Draghi used the Great Organ, +and Locke (who must not be turned out of his place, nor the execution) +had a small Chamber Organ by, on which he performed with them the same +Services." This seems a somewhat humbling position for such a man--and +one wonders what he said about it! + +Another sharp controversy he took part in was in answer to Mr Thomas +Salmon, M.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, who had written and published +_An Essay to the Advancement of Music by casting away the perplexity of +different cliffs and writing all sorts of music in one universal +character_. + +The desire to simplify musical signs seems to have been an old theme +and one that gave rise to a fierce controversy between Matthew Locke +and Mr Salmon. It is only fair to say that Mr Salmon was not over +judicious in his method of recommending his scheme. He seems to have +purposely hit out at music masters (of whom Locke was one of the most +eminent), and suggested that their opposition to his ideas sprang from +the sordid desire to make as much as they {91} could out of their +pupils, by keeping them as long as possible under tuition. + +Matthew Locke replied to this in a treatise entitled _The Present +Practice of Musick vindicated against the exceptions and new way of +attaining music lately published by Thomas Salmon, M.A_. The +controversy was very warm. You shall hear a short address "To the +Reader" which will give some idea of the style of discussion Locke +adopted. + + + Though I may without scruple aver that nothing has done Mr. Salmon + more kindness than that his books have had the honour to be + answered, yet I have been forced to afford him this favour rather + to chastise the Reproaches which he hath thrown upon the most + eminent Professors of Musick than for anything of learning that I + found in him. Those gentlemen he accused of ignorance for not + embracing his illiterate absurdities for which it was necessary to + bring him to the "Bar of Reason" to do him that justice which his + follies merited. Though for the fame he gets by this, I shall not + much envy him, with whom it will fare as with common criminals, who + are seldom talked of above two or three days after execution. + + +A little farther on he gets angry and says: + + + Had I been "purblind," "copper-nosed," "sparrow-mouthed," + "goggle-eyed," "hunch-backed" or the like (ornaments which the best + of my antagonists are adorned with) what work would there have been + with me? + + +Attention has already been directed to Locke's {92} association with +dramatic music, and so it would be well to glance briefly at the claim +he possesses to be considered the "Father of English Opera." The work +which entitles him to be ranked as the writer of the first English +Opera is Shadwell's _Psyche_; this, with the music to _The Tempest_, +was produced in 1673, with the title of _The English Opera_. It +contained a Preface, setting forth Locke's opinions on real Opera. +North calls his works in this branch of Art "semi-Operas," but from the +title just quoted it may be inferred that Locke, at any rate, +considered them full-grown specimens. It should be added that the Act +tunes in _Psyche_ were written by Draghi. The writer on Opera in +Grove's _Dictionary_ marks Purcell as the originator of English Opera. +"Henry Purcell (he says) transformed the Masque into the Opera, or +rather annihilated the one and introduced the other." Perhaps Roger +North's term "semi-Opera" is the best expression for Locke's essays in +this connection. + +With regard to Locke's other dramatic music, reference must be made to +the _Macbeth_ music, which has for so many years been associated with +his name. For long the matter has been the subject of conjecture as to +whether he was really the author of it or not. + +{93} + +The music of _Psyche_ is so good that there is no ground for saying he +could not have written the _Macbeth_ music. He was exceedingly +dramatic and also melodious. There is a beautiful Dialogue on the +death of Lord Sandwich, the great patron of Samuel Pepys, which is to +be found in the Pepys Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge. No +doubt this was written at the suggestion of Pepys. And there is a +remarkable setting of Hamlet's soliloquy, also in MS., in Pepys' book, +which I firmly believe is by Locke. + +As usual Locke wrote an aggressive Preface to _Psyche_. It begins: + + + That Poetry and Musick, the chief manifestives of Harmonical + Phancy, should provoke such discordant effects in many is more to + be pityed than wondered at: it having become a fashionable art to + peck and carp at other men's conceptions, how mean soever their own + are. Expecting, therefore, to fall under the lash of some + soft-headed or hard-hearted composers (for there are too many + better at finding of faults than mending them) I shall endeavour to + remove these few blocks which perhaps they may take occasion to + stumble at. + + +He goes on to say the title Opera is of the Italian, and claims that as +far as his ability could reach, he had written agreeably to the design +of the author, and that the variety of his setting was never in Court +or Theatre till now presented to {94} the nation, "though I must +confess there has been something done, and more by me than any other of +this kind." + +Locke evidently considered _Psyche_ as a real Opera and a novelty in +this country. The work was dedicated to James, Duke of Monmouth, who +(the composer says) "gave this life by your often hearing this +practised and encouraged and heartened the almost heartless undertakers +and performers." + +Amongst his other works was one called _Melothesia, or Certain general +Rules for playing upon a continued Bass_. This is said to be the first +book of its kind, and he contributed to many other works. Roger North +tells us "Locke set most of the Psalms to music in parts for the use of +some vertuoso ladyes in the City, and he composed a magnifick Consort +of four parts after the old style which is the last that hath been +made." + +His life was not long, but it was important, and perhaps the greatest +tribute to his memory was that Henry Purcell wrote an ode commemorative +of his decease "On the death of his worthy friend Mr Matthew Locke, +Music Composer in Ordinary to _His_ Majesty, and Organist of _Her_ +Majesty's Chappell, who dyed in August, 1677." + + + + +{95} + +X. PELHAM HUMFREY + +1647--1674 + +We have all heard of "Single-speech Hamilton," a Member of Parliament, +who, it is said, made a "single speech," and by it achieved lasting +fame. As a matter of history, Hamilton made other speeches, but it was +by the first that he earned his well-known cognomen. And we have a +somewhat similar example in connection with a celebrated musician, John +Jenkins. Born in 1592, he lived until 1678, and wrote, as North +expresses it, "horse-loads of music." He was most prolific and most +celebrated, and yet until a few years ago, when I revived many of his +compositions--_Dialogues, Fancies for Strings_, and _Latin Motets_--not +a note of his music was heard anywhere, save one little piece. But +this was sung in every school where vocal music was taught--it is the +charming little round _A boat, a boat, haste to the ferry_. + +The subject of our present consideration is another example of the same +fate. "Pelham Humfrey, Composer of the Grand Chant" is about all +people know of him. This so-called {96} Grand Chant is known and sung +in every Protestant Church in the world. Humfrey is, however, a worthy +member of the band of musicians whose work I am following, and we will +see what else he did besides writing the Grand Chant. + +Born in 1647, he is said to have been a nephew of Colonel John +Humphrey, Bradshaw's sword-bearer. + +From the arms which were on his tomb we can learn a little of his +family and forbears--these arms, I regret to say, have long since been +obliterated, in fact they had gone in Sir John Hawkins' time, together +with the epitaph; and at the present time the exact position of the +grave can be only a matter of conjecture.[1] But what was on it has +been preserved to us in a valuable old work, _Keepe's Monumenta +Westmonasteriensia_, 1682. In this work a description is given of the +armorial bearings, and by them we can trace him to an old +Northamptonshire stock. The family is mentioned as being settled in +the County in _The Visitation of Northampton_ of 1564, but had +disappeared from it before the next Visitation some years later. + +We know nothing of Pelham Humfrey's life {97} until 1660, the year of +the Restoration, when we find him, at the age of thirteen, entered as +one of the first set of children of the reconstructed Chapel Royal +Choir, under Henry Cooke, generally known as Captain Cooke, who having +fought in the Civil War, obtained his Captain's Commission as early in +the struggle as 1642; and retained his military title for the rest of +his life. + +While at the Chapel Royal, Humfrey displayed signs of that precocity +which so often shows itself in the musical genius. He began +composition while yet a boy, and in 1664 we find the words of no fewer +than five of his Anthems published in Clifford's _Divine Services and +Anthems_. + +A reference to one of these Anthems is in the _Diary_ of Samuel Pepys, +which contains, by the way, several interesting references to Humfrey's +career. Under date November 22nd, 1663, we find: + + + At Chapel: I had room in the Privy Seale pew with other gentlemen, + and there heard Dr. Lilligrew preach. The Anthem was good after + Sermon, being the 51st Psalm made for five voices by one of Captain + Cooke's boys, a pretty boy. And they say there are four or five of + them that can do as much. And here I first perceived that the King + is a little Musical and kept good time with his hand all along the + Anthem. + + +Now that Anthem was written by a Choir-boy {98} in the Royal Chapel, +but it is a remarkable fact, as Pepys says, that he was not the only +boy-composer in the same choir and at the same time. Captain Cooke +appears to have been rarely fortunate in having in his newly-formed +choral body a set of phenomenally gifted boys, and doubtless no small +credit is due to the loyal and gallant musician for the skill and care +he must have devoted to their training. + +Captain Cooke must have been a clever teacher and a still cleverer +selector of boys for his choir; and this brilliant little school he +gathered round him (including such names as Humfrey, Blow, and Purcell) +shines out like a beacon light in our musical world. A curious and +interesting fact bearing upon this came to my knowledge quite lately. +A Thesis for a Doctor's degree in the University of Paris (in 1912) was +on the subject of _Captain Cooke's Choir Boys_, and it was a clever yet +concise account of the work done by these three pupils of +Cooke--Humfrey, Blow, and Purcell. English music seems to be looking +up when we find a period of our musical history and three of our past +great musicians taken as the subject for a thesis in a foreign +University! + +The same year that witnessed the production of this Anthem was an +all-important one, not only for Humfrey but also for English art. On +{99} leaving the Royal Choir, Charles II sent him abroad to continue +his musical studies; the cost of the trip was paid out of the Secret +Service Fund, and was expended in the following way: + +1664. "To defray the charge of his journey into France and Italy +£200." In the two following years also he was granted £100 and £150 +respectively. + +Most of the time Humfrey spent abroad was passed in Paris with J. B. +Lully, an Italian by birth but a Frenchman by adoption, the most +celebrated dramatic musical composer of his day. He wrote many Operas +in the most varied styles, both grave and gay, was the composer of a +good deal of sacred music, and was also a reformer in Opera-writing; he +introduced the accompanied recitative in place of the Italian +_Recitative secco_, making many changes in the ballets. Of still more +importance was his development of the Overture, for which service he +cannot be too highly valued. + +It is very probable that the instruction given by Lully to Humfrey was +less by precept than by example. The pupil listened with eager ears to +his master's music and doubtless often took part in the performance of +it. Under this influence--the influence of the greatest master of +dramatic music of his time--it is not surprising that the already +precocious genius of the young {100} Englishman quickened, and that he +returned to his native country with a different conception of his art. +Another world had been opened up to him whose earliest instruction had, +necessarily, been chiefly confined to the ecclesiastical side of it. + +Before his return to England he had been appointed a Gentleman of the +Chapel Royal, in the place of one Thomas Hazard, January, 1667, and he +was duly sworn in the October following. A glance at Pepys' _Diary_ +under dates November 1st and 15th, 1667, gives us that shrewd +observer's opinion of our hero as he appears fresh from his Continental +trip. + + + November 1st, 1667. To Chapel, and heard a fine Anthem made by + Pelham, who is come over. + + +The entry, however, of a fortnight later is of more interest, as +apparently being Mr Pepys' first personal encounter with him since his +return. + + + November 15th, 1667. Home, and there I find, as I expected, Mr. + Caesar and little Pelham Humfrey lately returned from France, and + is an absolute Monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, + and disparages everything and everybody's skill but his own. But + to hear how he laughs at all the King's Musick here, as Blagrave + and others, that they cannot keep time nor tune nor understand + anything; and that Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's Master of the + Music, how he understands {101} nothing nor can play on any + instrument and so cannot compose; and that he will give him a lift + out of his place; and that he and the King are mighty great. I had + a good dinner for them, a venison pasty and some fowl, and after + dinner we did play, he on the Theorbo, Mr. Caesar on his French + lute, and I on the viol, but made but mean Musique, nor do I see + that this Frenchman do so much wonders on the Theorbo, but without + question, he is a good musician, but his vanity do offend me. + + +Grebus (or rather Grabu) was the King's Master of the Music. He +displaced Bannister, who was dismissed, according to the historians, +because he championed English violinists and said he preferred them to +Frenchmen. He may have said this, but the real cause of his dismissal +was that he kept back the money which he ought to have paid to the +Private Band! King Charles has often been blamed for dismissing +Bannister on account of his patriotic sentiments and defence of English +players, but this charge is not true. + +Returning to Mr Pepys for a record of his next day's doings, November +16, 1667, we find a very interesting reference to Humfrey and a +somewhat scathing criticism from the Diarist: + + + 1667, November 16th. To White Hall, where there is to be a + performance of Music of Pelham's before the King. The company not + come; but I did go into the Music Room where Captain Cooke and many + others, and here I did hear the best and the smallest Organ go that + ever I saw in my life {102} and such a one as by the grace of God I + will have the next year, if I continue in this Condition, whatever + it cost me. + + +Mr Pepys then records a short walk and talk with Mr Gregory, returning +to Whitehall: + + + And there got into the theatre room and there heard both the vocall + and instrumentall Music, where the little fellow (Pelham Humfrey) + stood keeping time, but for my part I see no great matter, but + quite the contrary, in both sorts of Music. The composition, I + believe, is very good, but no more of delightfulness to the eare or + understanding, but what is very ordinary. + + +In addition to being a composer, Humfrey was an accomplished lutenist, +and in the State Papers for the year 1668, under date January 20th, we +find a promotion of his in the Royal Service; the record runs as +follows: + + + January 20th, 1668. Warrant to pay Pelham Humfreys, Musician in + Ordinary on the Lute, in place of Nich. Sawyer deceased £40 yearly, + and £16 2s. 6d. for Livery. + + +On May 29th of this same year Mr Pepys again refers to him: + + + May 29th, 1668. Home, whither by agreement by and by comes Mercer + and Gayet and two gentlemen with them, Mr. Monteith and Pelham, the + {103} former a swaggering young handsome gentleman, the latter a + sober citizen merchant.[2] Both sing, and the latter with great + skill, the other no skill, but a good voice and a good basse, but + used only to tavern tunes; and so I spent all this evening till + eleven at night, singing with them till I was tired of them, + because of the swaggering fellow, tho' the girl Mercer did mightily + commend him before me. + + +Later in the year (July) another reference is made in the _Diary_: + + + July 11th, 1668. So home, it being almost night (Mr. Pepys had + been after an espinette at Deptford), and there find in the garden + Pelling, who hath brought Tempest, Wallington, and Pelham to sing, + and there had most excellent Musick late, in the dark with great + pleasure. + + +Humfrey's Sacred music is a clear evidence of his French experience. +He puts symphonies for strings and is dramatic at times and often +somewhat light. An Anthem _O Praise the Lord_ is a good example of the +latter tendency. There are two short Bass solos, one to the words +_Sing praises lustily_, which is almost like the song of a jovial +sailor! It is in triple time, and is the sort of thing King Charles +would certainly have beaten time to with his hand "all along the +Anthem," in Pepys' words. The Bass solo in the Anthem he {104} wrote +when a boy and before his French training is in a quite different +style, and might have been written by any of our good Cathedral +writers, such as Locke, or Blow, or even Purcell. + +In addition to his Sacred works Humfrey wrote three Odes and many +songs. These latter fall under the critical notice of Dr Burney, who +refers to them, I think, rather unfairly and harshly. Speaking of a +collection called _Choice Songs and Aires_, Burney says: "Among these +songs, to the number of near fifty, there is not one air that is either +ingenious, graceful, cheerful or solemn: an insipid languor or vulgar +pertness pervades the whole. From Pelham Humphry, whose Church Music +is so excellent, I own I expected to find originality, or merit of some +kind or other; but his songs are quite on a level with the rest." + +Burney's remarks are not only spiteful, but untrue. To mention only +one song, Humfrey's setting of _Where the Bee Sucks_, which he wrote +for Dryden and Davenant's altered version of _The Tempest_ (the oldest +setting but one which we possess), is charming, both as regards melody +and harmony. The first part is in the minor key, for which Humfrey +seems--like Purcell--to have a weakness. There is an effective change +to the Tonic Major at _Merrily, merrily shall I live now_, with a most +striking and delicious drop of a {105} 7th (I expect Burney regarded +this as a crudity), To me the song seems one of the best of the time. + +Humfrey went on adding rapidly to his honours. On January 24th, 1672, +he was elected one of the wardens of "the Corporation for regulating +the Art and Science of Musick," and in July of the same year his old +master, Captain Cooke, died; his death being accelerated--so Antony +Wood tells us--by chagrin at finding himself getting supplanted by his +old pupil. This I do not believe: Cooke would have had a soul above +such foibles, and had too many successful pupils to be jealous of poor +little Humfrey. + +However this may be, Humfrey succeeded him as Master of the Children of +the Chapel Royal, and later, jointly with Thomas Purcell, he was +appointed Composer in Ordinary for the Violins to His Majesty. + +It was in this year, 1672, that he wrote a charming little song called +_Wherever I am and Whatever I do_. It was written for Dryden's +_Conquest of Granada_, produced in that year. + +Nothing of any importance is chronicled of him for the last two years +of his all too short life. He died at Windsor on July 13th, 1674, and +was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near the south east +door. His last will and {106} testament, witnessed by his old +schoolfellow, Dr Blow, is interesting: + + + Aprill ye 23rd, 74. + + Bee itt knowne to all people whomsoever itt may Concerne that I + leave my deare wife my sole executrix and Mrs. of all I have in the + world after those few debts I owe are payd: + + I only desire that 3 Legacyes may bee given that is to say to my + cousin Betty Jelfe: to Mr. Blow ad to Besse Gill each of them + twenty shillings to buy them Rings. + + Pell. Humfrey. + + + 30 July, 1674. + + Which day appeared personally John Blow of Westminster and made + oath that he was present when Mr. Pelham Humfrey wrote the above + written writing containing his last will and testament and he the + sd Mr. Pelham Humfrey being of perfect mind and sound memory + published and declared the same for his last will and testament. + + John Blow. + + 30 July, 74. + + (Proved 30 July 1674 by Catherine Humfrey Relict and sole + executrix). + + +Humfrey's life, brief though it was, must be regarded as a turning +point in our art's history--not alone by his own compositions, but by +the infusion of his influence into the greater Purcell. He was not +only Purcell's master at the Chapel Royal, but actually composed an +Anthem jointly with Purcell, called _By the Waters of Babylon_. In +Boyce's opinion "he was the first of our ecclesiastical {107} composers +who had the least idea of musical pathos and expression of the words," +but this is an exaggeration. + +This great advance in our music was carried on by the immortal Purcell, +who, as a choir-boy under Humfrey, was, no doubt, an eager listener to +the "new effects" which his master introduced. The pupil is so great, +one is in danger of forgetting the master. At least here we have +endeavoured to do some justice to the short-lived genius Pelham Humfrey. + + + +[1] I have lately identified the spot. Keepe was for eighteen years a +member of the Abbey Choir, and probably sang at Humfrey's funeral. + +[2] I cannot help thinking Pepys meant Pelham as the swaggering young +handsome gentleman, and Monteith as the sober citizen merchant. + + + + +{108} + +XI. DR JOHN BLOW + +1648--1708 + +If there is one name among the Twelve Musicians with whom I am dealing +in this course of Lectures to which I desire specially to do justice, +it is that of Dr. John Blow. As a child I sang his Anthems in +Rochester Cathedral, and I well remember the delight with which I +listened to, and took part in, his beautiful and expressive _I beheld, +and lo a great multitude_, and _I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day_. +In those days the great masterpieces of the English Cathedral School +were constantly done, and very well done, at Rochester, and none of the +Anthems except I may say, perhaps, Purcell's great Anthem _O Sing unto +the Lord_, touched me and thrilled me as did that of Blow. And as long +as I played in Manchester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, so long did +I feel the power and religious impressions of these splendid specimens +of Blow's genius. Of course there are many Anthems and Services by +this master, but none, to me at least, ever spoke so eloquently as did +the two I have mentioned. This is one reason {109} why I approach the +subject of Blow's career with such a desire to do him justice. Another +is the strange neglect of most of his secular music, and lastly the +absurd and ignorant criticism of Dr Burney, as displayed in his +_History_, when he talks of "Blow's crudities." + +Without further delay let us proceed to trace his musical life. I +refrain, on account of time, from dwelling much on biographical details +in these Lectures. So I will merely state that it seems pretty certain +that Blow was born at North Collingham, in Nottinghamshire, and +baptised in the Parish Church of Newark in February 1648-9. Let us +begin with recording his admission as a Chorister to the Chapel +Royal--one of the "clever boys" whom Captain Cooke got together and +taught. Of his school-fellow, Pelham Humfrey, I have already spoken, +and, like Humfrey, Blow composed Anthems while in the choir. It is +possible--or rather, I think, probable--that an entry in Pepys' _Diary_ +refers to him. Under the head of August 21, 1667, we read: + + + This morning come two of Captain Cooke's boys, whose voices are + broke, and are gone from the Chappell, but have extraordinary + skill, and they and my boy, with his broken voice, did sing three + parts: their names were Blaew and Loggings, but notwithstanding + their skill, yet to hear them sing with their {110} broken voices, + which they could not command to keep in tune, would make a man mad, + so bad it was. + + +If this refers to Blow he would be about nineteen years old, and could +have had but a very broken voice. But it is not impossible, as many +boys retain their voices until a good age, and continue singing "alto" +in a moderate sort of style. It is hardly likely there would be a boy +named Blaew and one named Blow. And there was some arrangement whereby +boys who had left the Choir continued to reside with the Masters, +possibly to study.[1] + +At the early age of twenty-one, in 1669, he became Organist of +Westminster Abbey, and the appointment, apparently, was not enough for +his ambition (or, more probably, for his needs!), for in 1674 he +succeeded Humfrey as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, +becoming Organist also (while still holding Westminster Abbey) in 1676. +As regards his degree of Mus. Doc. I have (on the authority of the late +Dr Southgate) to make a little correction of former statements. It has +generally been said the degree was conferred upon Blow by Archbishop +Sancroft, but {111} Dr Southgate told me in a note, when I was about to +lecture on Blow, some years ago, that the degree was granted by +Bancroft's _representative_ the Dean of Canterbury--the Archbishop +being dead. It is marked in the Lambeth Register "_Sede vacante_": it +was thus bestowed when the "See was vacant." It is a curious fact that +Blow gave up his Abbey post in 1680, being succeeded by Purcell; and on +Purcell's death, in 1695, he was again appointed organist of the Abbey, +and held that post until his death. + +But I have to record yet another important Cathedral appointment which +our indefatigable musician held. He was Almoner and Master of the +Choristers in St Paul's Cathedral, holding those offices for six years, +from 1687 to 1693. Again he seems to have resigned in favour of a +pupil, Mr Jeremiah Clarke. It is a remarkable testimony to the esteem +in which he was held that he should have filled posts at the Chapel +Royal, St Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey, all at the same +time. Bishops, in the old days, often presided over a Diocese, filled +a Canonry or directed a College and occupied a "Living" or two, +simultaneously; but Blow seems to me to have been the greatest Organist +pluralist on record! + +But this is a testimony to his worth, and in {112} following up our +investigation of his contributions to music I will not dwell longer +upon his Church music, except to mention that he wrote an Anthem _I was +glad_, for the opening of St Paul's Cathedral in 1697, and to tell the +story of the composition of the Anthem which I mentioned in the early +part of my lecture, _I beheld and Lo_! When it was performed in the +Chapel Royal, the King (who had asked him to compose it) sent Father +Petre to say he was greatly pleased with it; "but (added Petre) I +myself think it too long!" "That (answered Blow) is the opinion of but +one fool--I heed it not." The Priest was greatly incensed at this +remark, and it is said that, had not James II lost his place by his +sudden flight to France, Dr Blow would have lost _his_! + +Among the Anthems of this composer may be mentioned two which he wrote +for the Coronation of James II, and he also took part in the funeral of +William III in the Abbey, receiving, according to an Abbey record, the +very large fee of 7s. 10d. for the latter. He does not seem to have +directed the music at the Coronation, but took part in the choir. On +the death of his pupil, Purcell, he wrote an ode, the words by Dryden, +beginning _Mark how the lark and linnet sing_. + +I must not omit to mention that he and Purcell were the Organists +selected by Father Smith to {113} display the organ of the Temple +Church at the memorable competition between Smith and Harris, the two +rival organ-builders. Smith won the day, and showed his wisdom in +getting the best men to preside at his instrument. It was the custom +for many years to have an _Ode for St Cecilia's Day_ composed for and +performed in Stationers Hall on the Saint's Day. Blow wrote the second +of these _Odes_ in 1684--the year of the Temple Church competition. He +published, in 1700, a great collection of his secular vocal music, +under the title of _Amphion Anglicus_, and in his dedication to the +Princess Anne of Denmark he announces that he is preparing "as fast as +I can a second musical Present, my Church Services and Divine +composition." He gives his sentiments with regard to Sacred +composition in the same dedication, which are worth repeating: + + + To those in truth I have ever more especially consecrated the + thoughts of my whole life. All the rest I consider but the + blossoms or rather the leaves those I only esteem as the Fruits of + all my labours in this kind. With them I began my first Raptures + in this Art, with them I hope calmly and comfortably to finish my + days. + + +The composer did not carry out his design, though he lived about eight +years after this. + +A very interesting work, which has only of late {114} years been made +known, is a Masque entitled _Venus and Adonis_. Some years ago I +noticed it among the music in the Chapter Library at Westminster. It +has since been edited by Mr Arkwright, and, quite lately, produced upon +the stage at Glastonbury. It is very interesting, as it shows that +Blow, like Purcell, had a leaning to dramatic music and this Masque is +specially noticeable as it consists of musical dialogue--not +spoken--thus coming very near to a little Opera. + +Blow also contributed to some _Choice Lessons for the Harpsichord_, a +collection published by Playford, to which also Henry Purcell +contributed. There are also interesting specimens of organ music, +among which is a curious arrangement of the _Hundredth Psalm Tune_ "as +they are played in Churches and Chapels." I have also a copy of a MS. +_Lesson on the Hundredth Psalm_. It would now be called a Choral +Prelude for the Organ. After a short introduction, the whole tune +appears at intervals in the Bass, with very florid upper counterpoint. +It is evidence of Blow's knowledge of organ effects and of his ability +as a player. + +A writer in 1711, three years after Blow's death, tells us "he was +reckoned the greatest Master in the world for playing most gravely and +{115} serenely in his Voluntaries", and we have Purcell's testimony to +him as "one of the greatest masters in the world". With this testimony +before him it seems incredible that Dr Burney should have made such a +fierce onslaught upon this really excellent man and versatile musician, +on account of what he calls his "crudities." He has actually given +four pages of music type in his History, full of quotations of Blow's +misdeeds. I have examined these carefully, and in many cases the +examples are really a remarkable testimony to Blow's advanced ideas, +and his feeling for pathetic and expressive harmony. In some specimens +there are obvious mis-prints, accidentals omitted, etc., which Burney, +had he not been prejudiced, would certainly have perceived. But it is +not worth while to follow up this matter, although I am sorry to say +Sir Frederick Ouseley took rather the same line when commenting on +Blow's music. He really pays Blow a compliment when he says that "he +always appears to have been trying experiments in harmony or +introducing new combinations and discords". This was what was said of +another great musician, Monteverde, to whom we owe so much, and such +criticisms only bring discredit upon the writers who failed to see the +value behind the novelty. Sir Hubert Parry, in speaking of these {116} +"crudities" says "they do Blow, for the most part, great credit, for +they show that he adventured beyond the range of the mere conventional, +and often with the success that betokens genuine musical insight." + +I have already commented upon his greatest Anthems _I beheld and lo!_ +and _I was in the Spirit_. They are full of examples of Blow's +melodious power, and this also comes out in some of his secular airs. +Perhaps one of the best is his beautiful song which is to be found in +_Amphion Anglicus_ entitled _The Self Banished_ beginning "It is not +that I love you less"; the words are by Waller, and the music is worthy +of them. + +Blow, as described by Sir John Hawkins, was "a very handsome man in his +person, and remarkable for a gravity and decency in his deportment, +suited to his station". + +This worthy musician died in 1708, aged 60, and is buried in +Westminster Abbey, near the old entrance to the organ-loft and in close +proximity to Purcell. A fine monument is erected near the spot, and a +specimen of his composition, in the form of a _Gloria_ from one of his +services is engraved thereupon. This _Gloria_ is said to have been +sung at St Peter's at Rome. I remember an interesting matter in +connection with this monument. In my early days at the Abbey (during +{117} Dean Stanley's time) the Emperor of Brazil paid a visit and was +shown round the Abbey by the Dean. The only thing he specially asked +to be shown was "Dr. Blow's monument"! The Dean told me His Majesty +inspected it very closely and seemed to be reading the music. He +probably knew more about Blow's music than Burney's _History_! + + + +[1] There is an account preserved in the Bodleian Library of Blow being +paid £40 a year for "keeping and teaching two boys" but this was in +1685. It shows that it was usual for boys whose voices were gone, to +be kept on for tuition. + + + + +{118} + +XII. HENRY PURCELL + +1658--1695 + +In Henry Purcell I reach the last and the greatest of my Twelve Good +Musicians. And to attempt to consider and discuss completely his life +and work in the short space of a University Lecture, would be an absurd +effort. But, as I have before pointed out, my object has been to +endeavour to interest the musical student--amateur and professional--in +certain prominent masters of music, and in the remarkable progress made +in our own country by their aid in the seventeenth century. I can do +little more than arouse interest, and I cannot pretend to write a +complete history, but I trust the Lectures will have helped to fill up +the "blank" which Sir Hubert Parry declared existed in many minds as +regards the music of this period. + +[Illustration: Henry Purcell] + +In the consideration of the various musicians of whom I have already +treated I have avoided biographical detail. As a rule information in +these matters may be gleaned from the well-known books of reference. +But in the case of {119} Purcell I am obliged to enlarge a little on +his life, in the hope that I may be able to contribute a few +interesting facts with regard to his family that are not generally +known. + +Let me begin, then, with Purcell's father. It is an extraordinary +thing that we know nothing whatever of him until we find his name among +distinguished musicians, such as Captain Cooke, Locke, and Lawes, as +one of the performers in the _Siege of Rhodes_, in 1656. In the +Preface to this publication it is claimed that "The Musick was composed +and both the Vocal and Instrumental is exercised by the most +transcendent of England in that Art." + +What did the elder Purcell do before he attained to such a position? +We know absolutely nothing as regards his origin, his training, or his +career up to this. I have made diligent search in the archives of +Westminster to see if there were anything to be learned there, and have +gleaned a few small facts. + +The name of Roger Pursell occurs in a bill for bringing timber to the +College--in August 1628. The items of the bill include Carriage by +land 1s. 6d., for watching 6d., for helping to land ye timber 6d. This +would seem to apply to a load of timber brought from a distance for the +use of the carpenters of the College. Roger Pursell {120} may have +come up with the timber or he may have been one of the carpenters. He +was paid 3s. for two days' work. The name appears again in 1659 when +we find in a page of accounts "Expended by George Blackborn and Joseph +Hobbes for the travelling charges about the Colledge affaires at +Offord, in the County of Huntingdon" the following note: "In the Bonds +taken from Mr Throgmorton and _Roger Pursell_ there is included £4 +towards travelling charges." Then Roger Pursell is spoken of as "the +'Bayliffe' of Mr Giles." It is rather curious that the name of Roger +Pursell should occur at such a wide interval, 1628 and again in 1659. +One wonders if Roger's connection with the Abbey and its property was +the beginning of the musical members of the family coming to +Westminster. + +There was a Shropshire Purcell family of some standing, and in the +_Herald's Visitation of Shropshire_ in 1623 it was given as of Onslow, +and Shrewsbury; and there were many distinguished Purcells in Ireland. + +We know and hear nothing more of the elder Purcell after the production +of the _Siege of Rhodes_ in 1656 until his name appears in a book in +the Library at Westminster. This book records the admission of one or +two Petty Canons {121} in 1660, and the payment by them of 5s. for the +entry. Mr Henry Purcell's name is also entered with the note "instead +of 5s. _this book_." + +Here, then, we have the great musician's father installed in the Abbey +as Master of the Choristers (not organist also) and Copyist. He was +also a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and a Singing Man of Westminster. +Later on we find him a member of the Royal Band (1663). All these +important appointments testify to his leading musical position. + +We have a glimpse of him in Pepys' _Diary_, under date February 21st, +1660. + + + "After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here I met with Mr. Lock + and Pursell, Master of Music, and with them to the Coffee House + into a room next the Water by ourselves. Here we had variety of + brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for eight voices which + Mr. Locke had lately made on these words '_Domine Salvum fac + Regem_.'" + + +Another small fact of interest in connection with the elder Purcell is +furnished me by my brother of Chester. He finds in the Chirk Castle +accounts, by the steward of Sir Thomas Myddelton, an allusion to Mr +Purcell, who is, no doubt, our elder Purcell. Dr. Bridge writes as +follows: + + + "In 1661 the family had gone up to London and we find the Steward + there and recording + + Dec. 24, Paid for a quart of + Purle with Mr. Purcell .... 2d. + + {122} + + As a rule only the names of important personages are put in the + accounts. As the Steward did not _live_ in London, it looks as if + Mr. Purcell was a former acquaintance from somewhere near Chirk. + This place is on the borders of three Counties of which Shropshire + is one, and as the Purcells probably came from Salop, their + birth-place or place of residence, may have been at the Chirk end + of the County. Possibly Mr. Purcell was an old friend of the + Steward's." + + +There is no doubt the elder Purcell lived in the place called the +Almonry, where the "Singing Men" had houses. These stood where the +well-known Westminster Palace Hotel now stands. And here his +distinguished son was born.[1] + +It is generally stated that he was born in 1658. It seems, however, +just as likely--or even more likely--the date should be 1659. +Unfortunately it has been impossible to find the record of his baptism. +The Register at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, for this period +(which was then very carefully kept) does not show Henry Purcell's +name. The approximate date is fixed fairly well for us by the fact +that in June, 1683, Purcell published some Sonatas to which his +portrait was prefixed. On this portrait he is {123} said to be +"_aetat: suae_ 24," i.e. in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Again +on his monument in the Abbey we find "_Anno Aetatis suae 37_," i.e., in +the thirty-seventh year of his age. Therefore, if he was in his +thirty-seventh year on November 21, 1695 (the date of his death), he +must have been born between November 21st, 1658, and November 20th, +1659. + +Not only is his baptism during these years not recorded at St +Margaret's, but the _Rate Books_ of St Margaret's for 1658 and 1659 _do +not contain the name of Purcell_, as they certainly would have had his +father had a house in the parish. + +A friend has made most careful enquiries for me on this point. I +expect the Almonry was in the precincts of Westminster Abbey, and so +would not be "in the parish," and it is quite reasonable to suppose the +child born in the Almonry was christened in the Abbey: but I have never +yet found any record of this. Purcell's own son, Edward, was +christened in the Abbey in 1689. + +It is interesting to know that Henry Lawes lived also in the Almonry, +and so must have known the little boy Purcell; but, as Lawes died in +1662, the child could not have given any great proof of his future +genius. The elder Purcell died in 1664, and the young boy was {124} +placed in the Chapel Royal Choir at the early age of six years. + +Thomas Purcell, brother of the elder Purcell, was a distinguished +musician also and a member of the Chapel Royal, besides holding other +important posts. He looked after his clever little nephew, and was a +real father to him. As in the case of Henry Purcell, Senior, we know +nothing of the previous history of Thomas Purcell until we find him in +his high position. Who trained him and his brother Henry we know not. + +Henry Purcell was thus one of the remarkable set of boys to which I +have often alluded in these Lectures, among his fellow choristers being +Pelham Humfrey and Blow. Like the other boys, he began to compose, and +the first reliable composition we have was the _Address of the Children +of the Chapel Royal to the King and their Master, Captain Cooke, on His +Majestie's Birthday A.D. 1670, composed by MASTER PURCELL, one of the +Children of the said Chapel_. + +Purcell, no doubt, owed much to Captain Cooke, but it is also certain +that the influence of Pelham Humfrey, with the experience he gained by +his studies with Lully, must have made a deep impression. As we know, +Humfrey died at the early age of twenty-seven, and Purcell continued +his studies with Blow, whose monument in the {125} Abbey records he was +"Master to the famous Henry Purcell." + +The first appointment Purcell held was that of copyist to Westminster +Abbey (1676), a post which his father had held before him. We know +little for certain as to his compositions for the Church in his early +days. As a matter of fact, he seems to have been drawn (like Henry +Lawes) more to the secular side, writing for the theatre. It has been +suggested that he was introduced to this kind of work by Locke, who we +know was a prominent composer for the stage. We must also remember +that Humfrey would, very likely, have helped to influence the mind of +the young Purcell in that direction. On Locke's death in 1677 Purcell +wrote an ode _On the death of his worthy friend, Matthew Locke_. + +In 1680 Dr Blow resigned his position as Organist of Westminster Abbey, +and Purcell succeeded him. There is no record of Blow resigning or the +cause of it in the Chapter Books; one simply finds in the Treasurer's +accounts that Purcell drew the salary as Organist instead of Blow. +Probably his appointment to Westminster turned his mind more towards +Church than stage. + +The composition of the Opera _Dido and Æneas_ is, I think, proved by Mr +Barclay Squire's {126} clever article on Purcell's dramatic music not +to be a composition of his early years. It is not possible for me to +go minutely into the subject of Purcell's many compositions, but I will +for a few moments call attention to what I consider almost his +master-piece. I allude to the splendid and original set of Sonatas +which he issued in 1683.[2] This was Purcell's first publication, and +it was issued from St Ann's Lane, beyond Westminster Abbey, where the +composer resided--having been married in 1681. (It should be added +that he was made Organist of the Chapel Royal in 1682, holding that +post at the same time as the Abbey.) + +These Sonatas are a very interesting study in Purcell's career. Like +many of the composers mentioned in these Lectures, Purcell wrote +Fancies; but the Sonatas are a very different thing. Written for Two +Violins 'Cello and Basso Continuo, and consisting of three or four +movements of differing character, they are a wonderful advance on +anything previously done in this direction, either in England or abroad. + +Corelli issued his Sonatas in the same year that Purcell's appeared. +But Corelli's--although beautiful--have not the depth or originality of +{127} Purcell's, which are admirably written for the strings and abound +in clever devices, but are in no way dull or suggestive of vocal +writing. The three strings are often complete without the Continuo, +but occasionally there is an extra part for this. My own experience of +them in performance is that the least possible accompaniment is best, +and it should be remembered that the Continuo is not written for a +modern pianoforte with its powerful tone, but for the Harpsichord or +Organ. + +Purcell in his Preface says: "for its Author he has faithfully +endeavoured a just imitation of the most favour'd Italian Masters". He +goes on to explain the meaning of certain Italian "terms of Art perhaps +unusual," such as _Adagio, Grave, Presto, Largo_, etc., and concludes +with a wish that his book may fall into no other hands but those who +carry musical souls about them; for he is willing to flatter himself +into a belief that with such his labours will seem neither unpleasant +nor unprofitable." + +The question of the models that Purcell had in writing these fine +Sonatas and what famous Italian Masters he imitated has been often +debated. For myself I cannot but believe that Purcell owed much to a +remarkable Neapolitan violinist, Nicola Matteis. + +{128} + +This Italian violinist and composer came to London about 1672, and +resided there till after Purcell's death. The date of Matteis's birth +is not known, but the accounts of his playing given from personal +observation by such authorities as John Evelyn in his contemporary +_Diary_, and Roger North in his _Memoirs of Musick_, show that he came +here as a mature artist. Purcell was then fifteen years old, and +during the eleven years which elapsed till the publication of the 1683 +Purcell Sonatas, Matteis was much the most prominent foreign musician, +and the only Italian musician of any rank resident in London. The +propagation of musical styles from one country to another was carried +out in those days very little by the dissemination of copies, whether +manuscript or printed, and much more by the activity of persons who +went here and there giving performances and concerts. And Roger North +says specifically: "But as yet wee have given no account of the +decadence of the French musick, and the Italian coming in its room. +This happened by degrees, and the overture was by accident, for the +coming over of Sig. Nicolai Matteis gave the first start. He was an +excellent musician, &c., &c., &c." Purcell, the Organist of +Westminster Abbey, must of course have known Matteis, as he directed +the concerts of Chief {129} Justice Francis North (Roger North's +brother) in Queen Street, and it is evident from the writings of Roger +that the Norths were supporters of Matteis. In the Bodleian Library I +have found Chief Justice North's name inscribed as the owner on one of +the volumes of Matteis's _Aires for the Violin_. Then as to the +explanation of Italian terms in Purcell's Preface, it is a little +singular that much the same sort of information is found prefixed to +Matteis's second volume of Violin Pieces. Again I have discovered in +MS. parts in the Bodleian Library, and had performed at a Lecture at +the Royal Institution, a Sonata in A by Matteis, in the exact Sonata +form used by Purcell in 1683; and, though the date of this MS. +composition cannot be traced, it is at least as likely to have been +composed before 1683 as after. However, I am not asserting that a +composer like Purcell copied Matteis's works. I am only saying that it +was Matteis who made the Italian chamber-music prevalent in London, and +that but for him Purcell would possibly never have thought or written +in that style. And I cannot better conclude than by quoting from one +of North's voluminous manuscripts, _Essay of Musical Ayre_ (Brit. +Museum, _Addit._ MSS., 32, 536, folio 78): + +{130} + + + The poor man (Matteis) as a grateful legacy to the English nation, + left with them a generall savour for the Itallian manner of + Harmony, and after him the French was wholly layd aside, and + nothing in towne had a relish without a spice of Itally, and the + masters here began to imitate them, _wittness Mr. H. Purcell, in + his noble set of Sonnatas_. + + +Purcell composed another set of Sonatas, which was published after his +death. One of them, generally called _The Golden Sonata_, is, perhaps, +the best known of any in either of the issues. But it is inferior to +others, particularly No. 4 of the first set, and altogether I do not +think the second is at all on a level with the first. I may add that I +have in my library the parts of the original publication of the first +set. The Continuo contains an immense number of additional figures, +and there are a few corrections in the other parts, which I have never +found in any other copy. It would appear almost as if Purcell had +himself made the corrections, and, indeed, Sir Hubert Parry was of +opinion this was so. I hope I may be able shortly to print these +Sonatas in separate parts so that they may be accessible to lovers of +Purcell. + +I cannot linger now over these interesting Sonatas, but must glance at +Purcell's further activities. He wrote an _Ode for St Cecilia's Day_ +in this year (1683) and many Anthems about this {131} time. In 1686 he +took part in the competition of Organ-Builders at the Temple Church, +already spoken of in my Lecture on Dr Blow. + +In 1685 he produced music for the Coronation of James II, himself +singing in the choir with Blow, Child, and others. Who directed the +music, i.e., played the organ, as was customary, we are not told. I +possess a very rare engraving of this great ceremony, and one of the +Choir seems certainly to hold a baton in his hand, but it was not usual +to have a Conductor. + +A second Coronation in which Purcell took part had a rather serious +turn. It was that of William and Mary, and Purcell admitted persons to +the organ-loft to see the Ceremony, for which they evidently paid +pretty well. Purcell thought it was a "perquisite" (I do not suppose +he was paid for his extra work on the occasion); but the Dean and +Chapter claimed the money and passed the following Chapter Order: + + + April 18, 1689. It is ordered that Mr. Purcell, organist to ye + Dean and Chapter of Westminster, do pay to the hand of Mr. John + Needham, Receiver of the College, all such moneys as was received + by him for places in the Organ Loft at ye Coronation of King + William and Queen Mary, by or before Saturday next, being ye 20th + day of this instant {132} Aprill. And in default thereof his place + is ordered to be null and void. And it is further ordered that his + stipend or salary due at our Lady Day past be detayned in the hands + of the Treasurer until further order. + + (_Entry in Chapter Book_) + + +Poor Purcell paid up, as an entry in the Treasurer's book states: + + + "Received of Mr. Purcell (his poundage and charges being deducted) + £78 4s. 6d." + + +The visitors to the organ-loft could not have been many, as it was but +small, so they paid pretty well for their seats, and Purcell seems to +have had some sort of commission in the way of "poundage and other +charges." + +The Opera of _Dido and Æneas_ has often been quoted as a marvellous +effort of Purcell's early days. Being a complete Opera without spoken +Dialogue, it is a most interesting example of Purcell's advanced views, +and, had he written it in 1675 (when only seventeen years of age), it +would indeed have been a marvel. But I feel sure Mr Barclay Squire is +right in putting it much later--in 1689. Although a splendid piece of +work it is that of a man of experience and not of a youth. + +One of the composer's best Operas is _Dioclesian_, an adaption from +Beaumont and Fletcher by {133} Betterton. It is scored for strings, +flutes, hautboys (3), bassoons and trumpets. It is very interesting +music, and there is a "Masque" included in it, containing some of the +host of Purcell's operatic work. Purcell corrected the copies of the +first issue by his own hand. + +I possess one of these scarce books. He tells us a little of his +troubles with the printer in an advertisement at the end of the book. +"In order to the speedier publication of the Book I employed two +several printers, but one of them falling into some trouble and the +volume swelling to a bulk beyond my expectations have been the occasion +of this delay." The music to _Dioclesian_ and to _Amphitryon_ (a play +by Dryden), added greatly to Purcell's fame; and Dryden who at one time +thought Grabu, the French master of the King's Music, to be far +superior to any English composer, now mentions Purcell as one "in whose +Person we have at length found an Englishman equal with the best +abroad. At least my opinion of him has been such since his happy and +judicious performances in the last Opera." (Dryden's.) + +Dryden wrote another Opera in 1691, _King Arthur_, which Purcell set to +music. This is, I think, the best (excepting _Dido and Æneas_) of +Purcell's dramatic works, containing as it does the {134} celebrated +Air _Come if you dare_ and the Frost Scene. + +I cannot dwell longer on Purcell's dramatic music, but will turn for a +moment to the music for _St Cecilia's Day_ in 1692. This was +performed, as usual, in Stationers Hall (the Hall still stands at the +bottom of Paternoster Row), and _The Gentleman's Magazine_ of the time +mentions the performance and tells us the interesting fact that the +second stanza was sung with incredible graces by Mr. Purcell himself. +So it seems that Purcell had an alto voice; and it is pleasant to go +into the very Hall, with the Musicians Company of the present day, and +think of the old building echoing, years ago, to the strains of +Purcell's voice. + +And now I must turn to one of the finest of Purcell's contributions to +the Services of the Church. In 1694 he wrote an elaborate _Te Deum_ +and _Jubilate_ with orchestral accompaniment: this is the first of its +kind by an English composer. It was written for the festival of _St +Cecilia's Day_, 1694, but was not published until after the composer's +death. The _Te Deum_ was performed in St Paul's at the Annual Festival +Service of the Sons of the Clergy until 1713, when Handel's _Te Deum_, +composed for the Peace of Utrecht, took its place. From that time for +some years the {135} two rival _Te Deums_ were performed alternately. +There are some points of resemblance. Handel must have heard Purcell's +setting, but the version of it which, until lately, was known--and +sometimes performed--was a sad corruption of the original. Boyce, with +the intention no doubt of helping Purcell's _Te Deum_ to compete with +Handel's, broke it up into various movements, made some alterations in +the harmony, and added many dull symphonies. The original Purcell +score consisted of 325 bars and Boyce added 149 more! The result was +disastrous and practically killed the Purcell setting. A performance +of it was given in 1829, again at the Festival of the Sons of the +Clergy. A very interesting letter from M. Fétis, the great French +writer, is preserved in a musical paper of June 1829, which I will +quote: + + + I must confess that my curiosity was considerable to hear the music + of Purcell, whom the English proudly cite as being worthy of being + placed in the same rank with the greatest composers of Germany and + Italy. I was in a perfectly admiring disposition of mind when the + Te Deum of this giant began; but what was my disappointment upon + hearing, instead of the masterpiece which they had promised me, a + long succession of insignificant phrases, ill-connected modulations + and incorrect, albeit pretending harmonies. At first I imagined + myself deceived, and that I ought to doubt my judgment on a style + of music to which I was unaccustomed {136} but M. Felix + Mendelssohn, a young and highly distinguished German composer, who + stood beside me, received precisely the same impressions. Such + indeed was the inconvenience felt by him that he would not prolong + it, but escaped, leaving me to encounter Purcell alone during the + performance of the Jubilate[3], which appeared to me no way + superior. + + + It was a great anxiety to me to know what to do about introducing + this _Te Deum_ in the music of the Abbey Purcell Celebration. I + consulted Sir Hubert Parry, who said it was "long-winded and dull"! + And so I had always found it, and the result was I gave up the + idea. But--most providentially--the MS. score of this work was + brought to me one day in the Cloisters of the Abbey; the + announcement of the coming celebration had called the owner's + attention to it. He sold it to me--and when I looked it over I + found out what was the real reason of its failure. It was Boyce's + edition and not Purcell's music. A new edition was prepared and + the _Te Deum_ again restored to life! + + In another direction Purcell showed his remarkable versatility. He + corrected and amended Playford's Introduction to the Skill of + Musick, a book of great interest. Purcell's observations on Canon + are particularly good and valuable. + + In 1695 the funeral of Queen Mary took place {137} in the Abbey, + Purcell contributing an Anthem and other music. The solemn March + for "flat mournful trumpets" has lately been recovered and + published; this is a beautiful specimen of Purcell's art, and, it + is said, was played at his own funeral. + + Purcell died on November 21st, 1695, and Dr Cummings, in his _Life + of Purcell_, draws a moving picture of the death of the composer + "in a house on the west side of Dean's Yard." But--Purcell never + lived in Dean's Yard. Rate Books are not romantic, but generally + trustworthy. The Rate Books of Westminster show that in 1682 + Purcell paid rates for a house in Great St Ann's Lane, in 1686 for + a house in Bowling Alley East, and in 1693, 1694, and 1695 (the + year of his death) for a house in Marsham Street. All these houses + are now demolished, but the one in Bowling Alley existed until + lately, and I possess cupboards made from the mantelpieces and + balusters of the staircase of Purcell's house. + + Further proof that he rented houses lies in the fact that he was + allowed £8 a year in lieu of a house, and this same payment + continued up to the time of my predecessor, who had no house for + the early years of his organistship. + + The death of this great man was a grievous loss to English music. + Although he had worthy {138} pupils in Dr Croft and others, yet he + had no real successor; and the arrival of Handel and the musical + domination which he exercised did much to cause Purcell's name to + sink somewhat into oblivion. But it was only for a time--and now + there is no English musician whose name and fame is more assured. + A Purcell Society is gradually publishing all his works and making + them more accessible. His Operas of _Dido and Æneas_ and _The + Fairy Queen_ have been performed with great success, and his Church + music is still constantly on the lists of our Cathedrals. + + It has not been possible for me to notice all his work as I would + wish to have done, but we must all feel that, not only was he the + last of my _Twelve Good Musicians_, but by far the greatest. + + A translation of the lines upon his gravestone in Westminster Abbey + may fitly close this chapter. + + + Applaud so great a guest, celestial powers, + Who now resides with you but once was ours, + Yet let invidious earth no more reclaim + Her short-lived fav'rite and her chiefest fame, + Complaining that so prematurely died + Good-natured pleasure and devotion's pride. + Died? no, he lives while yonder Organs sound + And sacred echoes to the Choir rebound. + + + {139} + + NOTE + + Since the preceding pages were written I have been in + correspondence with Dr W. H. Grattan-Flood, of Enniscorthy, with + reference to the Irish Purcells mentioned on p. 120. Dr + Grattan-Flood claims to have proved Henry Purcell to be descended + from a distinguished Irish family. Before quoting from his kind + communication, I may say it seems to me very probable the Purcells + were of good family. Both the elder Henry and his brother Thomas, + were musicians of note when we first hear of them, and at the + Restoration were members of the King's Band, Henry being also + "Master of the Choristers" of Westminster Abbey. Edward Purcell, + an elder brother of the composer, was a distinguished officer, who + took part in the Siege of Gibraltar, and ended his days in + honourable retirement at the seat of the Earl of Abingdon, at + Wytham, near Oxford, in the chancel of which Church he is interred. + Another small point is the fact that Purcell's first published + work, the Sonatas, was issued with a portrait of the composer and + with a coat-of-arms. All this looks as if "Roger Purcell, the + 'Bayliffe' of Mr. Giles," (see p. 120) is not so likely to have + been an ancestor of the musician as one of the Irish Purcells. + + I am not able to give all the matter kindly sent to me--which I + hope Dr Grattan-Flood will make public--but append his observations + on the most important points:-- + + + "Henry Purcell, the composer, was the younger son of Henry Purcell + the Elder; and was adopted at the age of six by his uncle Thomas. + The puzzle, then, is: Who was the father of Henry Purcell the Elder + and of Thomas Purcell? + + {140} + + "In order to answer this, I have made a systematic search in the + _Fiants_ of Elizabeth and James I, in the _Calendars of State + Papers, Ireland_, 1623-1670, in the _Inquisitions, Funeral Entries + in the Office of Arms_, etc., and have succeeded in tracing the + father and grandfather of Henry Purcell the Elder. I had unusual + opportunities of making this investigation inasmuch as I assisted + Capt R. P. Mahaffy, B.L., in the editing of the _Irish State Papers + of Charles I and Charles II_. + + "Henry Purcell the Elder was the son of Thomas Purcell of Gortanny + and Ballycross, Co. Tipperary, the son of Thomas Fitz Piers + Purcell, cousin of the Baron of Loughmoe, and cousin of the + Purcells of Croagh, Co. Limerick. Both Henry and Thomas Purcell + were brought when quite young to England by their aunt, and placed + in the Chapel Royal. Their aunt was a blood-relation of the + Marquis of Ormonde, who was on intimate terms with King Charles I. + Mrs James Purcell, their aunt, took for her second husband Colonel + John Fitzpatrick, who was also a personal friend of Charles I and + of Charles II. This lady was Elizabeth Butler, 4th daughter of + Thomas, Viscount Thurles; her marriage jointure is dated 11 + February, 1639. She returned from London in 1643. + + At the Restoration, through the influence of the Marquis of + Ormonde, who was created Duke of Ormonde on March 30, 1661, both + Henry Purcell the Elder and his brother Thomas were given posts as + Gentlemen in the Chapel Royal, and were in the immediate entourage + of the Court, and not unregarded by the observant Pepys. Henry + married _circa_ 1651, and his eldest son, Edward, called after an + uncle of the same name, was born in 1653." + + "W. H. GRATTAN-FLOOD." + + + It will be seen Dr Grattan-Flood gives interesting particulars of + the Irish family. On one point the {141} suggestion that the elder + Purcell and his brother Thomas were "placed in the Chapel Royal," I + wish he could give some real proof, for it would, I think, explain + all the ensuing musical success of Purcell's father, his Uncle + Thomas, and himself. But I can only hope that Dr Grattan-Flood's + further researches may end in completely clearing up the mystery of + the ancestry of Henry Purcell. + + J.F.B. + + + + [1] Mr Hooper, the Organist, and Mr John Parsons, the Master of the + Choristers, both had houses in the Little Almonry in 1616. Their + names appear on a document of that time, a lease from Dr Montaigne + and the Chapter. + + [2] The portrait which was issued with these sonatas has been + reproduced for this volume. + + [3] The _Jubilate_ was also "improved" by Boyce. + + + + +{143} + +INDEX + + + _Abbey Amen_, The, 42 + Allnutt (Mr), 67 + _Amphion Anglicus_, 113 + Anne of Denmark (Princess), 113 + + Bach Choir, 51 + Bannister, 101 + _Beaumont and Fletcher_, 132 + Bleaw, 110 + Blow (Dr John), 108-117 + Bodleian Library, 26 + Boethius, 56 + Boyce's _Cathedral Music_, 10 + Brackly (Viscount), 74 + Brazil (Emperor of), Visit to Westminster Abbey, 117 + Bridgewater (Lord), 76 + Bull (Dr John), 1-10 + _Burlesque Madrigal_, 36 + Byrd (Wm.), 11-20 + + Camden History Professorship, 42 + Campion, 31 + Canterbury Cathedral, 48 + _Cantiones_ (Byrd), 13 + Casaubon, 47 + Clarke (Hyde), 68 + Clarke (Jeremiah), 111 + Coleman (Mrs), 82 (note) + Collier (J. P.), _Catalogues of Early English Literature_, 78 + Comic Song, The First Real, 77 + _Comus_ (Milton), 72 + Coperario (Giovanni), 71, 72 + Corelli, 126 + Coszyn's (Ben), _Virginal Book_, 36 + Crews (Mr), 49 + Cromwell (Oliver), 53 + _Cryes of London_, 31, 36, 60 + + Davenant's _First Day's Entertainment_, 82 + Deering (Richard), 50-62 + Deering (Henry), 54 + Deering (William), 54 + _Dido and Æneas_, 125, 132 + _Dioclesian_, 132 + Drayton (Michael), 28 + Dyke (Eleanor), 54 + + Earle's _Microcosmographie_, 45-47 + Egerton (Lady Alice), 76 + _English Country Songs_, 70 + + _Fairy Queen_ (_The_), 138 + _Fancies_ (Byrd), 20 + Fawkes (Guy), 59 + Fellowes (Rev Dr), 33 + Ferabosco, 37 + Fétis (M), 135 + _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_, 9, 16, 25 + Forster's _Virginal Book_, 25 + + Gibbons (Christopher), 85 + Gibbons (Edward), 34-35 + Gibbons (Orlando), 34-49 + _Gloria Tibi Trinitas_, 37 + Grabu (Grebus), 101 + Gresham Lectures, 1 + Grey (Lady Elizabeth), 54 + + Hamilton ("Single-speech"), 95 + Hamlet's Soliloquy, 93 + "Hatten's" Galliard, 36 + Hatton (Sir Christopher), 36 + Hawkins (Sir John), 116 + Heyther (Dr), _Doctor's Exercise_, 42 + _Humorous Fancy_, 31, 33, 37, 60 + Humfrey (Pelham), 95-107 + Humfrey (Col. John), 96 + + _In Nomines_ (Byrd), 20, 37 + _It was a Lover and His Lass_ (Morley), 23 + + James II, Coronation of, 131 + Jenkins (John), 95 + Jerusalem Chamber, 44 + Jonson (Ben), 6 + + Keepe's _Monumenta Westmonasteriensia_, 96 + + _Lady Nevill's Booke_, 16 + Lambeth Register, 111 + Lawes (Henry), 71-83 + Lawes (William), 83 + _Life of Archbishop Williams_, 44 + Locke (Matthew), 84-94 + Locke's Response to the Ten Commandments, 89 + London University, 1 + Ludlow Castle, 74 + Lully (J. B.), 99 + + _Macbeth_, 92 + Mace's _Musick's Monument_, 54 + _Madrigals and Mottets_, 36 + Matteis (Nicola), 127-130 + _Medulla Musicke_, 16 + Merchant Taylors' Company, 5 + Milton (John), 63-70 + Morley (Thomas), 21-28 + _Musica Transalpina_, 14 + Musical Antiquarian Soc., 39 + Musicians, Worshipful Company of, 26 + Myriell (Thomas), 38 + + _Non nobis Domine_ (Byrd), 20 + North (Francis), 129 + North (Roger), 82, 89, 92, 129 + _Notes and Queries_, 67 + + _O Mistress Mine_ (Byrd), 19 + Ouseley (Sir Frederick), 53, 115 + Overture, Development of, 99 + Oxford University, 10, 48, 83 + + Paris University, 98 + Parry (Sir Hubert), 115, 136 + _Parthenia_, 10, 35 + Peacham's _Compleat Gentleman_, 19, 53 + Pepys (Samuel), _Diary_, 83 + Petre (Father), 112 + Playford, 75 + Purcell (Henry, the Elder), 82 + Purcell (Henry), 118-141 + Purcell (Roger), 119, 120 + Purcell (Thomas), 105, 124, 139, 140, 141 + Purcell Family, 120 + Purcell Society, 138 + + Ravenscroft, 31 + Ripon, Bishop of, 66 + Robinson (Dr Armitage), 51 + Rochester Cathedral, 108 + + _Sagbutts and Cornets_, 87 + St Paul's Choir, 6 + Salmon (Thomas), 90 + Sancroft (Archbishop), 110 + Sandwich (Lord), 93 + Sandys (George), 73 + Scott (Dr), 56 + Scrivener's Company, 65 + "Semi-operas," 92 + Shakespeare (W.), 25 (note) + _Siege of Rhodes_, 82, 119 + Smith (Dr Cooper), 75 + Somerset House Chapel, 89 + Southgate (Dr), in + Stanley (Dean), 117 + Stanley (Sir William), 58 + Stondon, 18 + Sweelinck, 9 + + Tallis (Thomas), 11 + _Tavola_ (Lawes), 77 + _Teares and Lamentations_ (Leighton), 10 + Tewkesbury, 3 + _Three Ladies of London_, 32 + _Triumphs of Oriana_, 11, 23 + _Twincledowne Tavye_, 32 + _Venus and Adonis_, 114 + + Waelrant, 9 + Weelkes (Thomas), 28-33 + Westminster Abbey, Gibbons' Festival (1907), 48 + Westminster Abbey, Chapter Library, 50 + _Where the Bee Sucks_, 104 + Wilbye, 33 + Wilson (Dr), 83 + Wither's _Hymns and Songs of the Church_, 43 + Wood (Anthony), 11, 54 + + _York_, 69 + + + + +PRINTED AT THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY, ENGLAND. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Twelve Good Musicians, by Frederick Bridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + +***** This file should be named 39935-8.txt or 39935-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/3/39935/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twelve Good Musicians + From John Bull to Henry Purcell + +Author: Frederick Bridge + +Release Date: June 7, 2012 [EBook #39935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="capcenter"> +<br /><br /><br /> +<a id="img-front"></a> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-front.jpg" alt="DR. JOHN BULL. From the painting in the Music School, University of Oxford." /> +<br /> +DR. JOHN BULL. +<br /> +<i>From the painting in the Music School, +<br /> +University of Oxford.</i> +</p> + +<h1> +<br /><br /><br /> +TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS +</h1> + +<h2> +From JOHN BULL to HENRY PURCELL +</h2> + +<p class="t4"> +<br /><br /> +BY +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +C.V.O., M.A., Mus.D. +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +King Edward Professor of Music in the University of London,<br /> +Gresham Professor, Emeritus-Organist of Westminster Abbey<br /> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +<br /><br /><br /> +LONDON: +<br /> +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. +<br /> +NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. +<br /> +1920 +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="Pv"></a>v}</span> +</p> + +<h3> +INTRODUCTORY +</h3> + +<p> +In the Preface of his admirable contribution +to the <i>Oxford History of Music</i> (Vol. III.) the late +Sir Hubert Parry writes: "The seventeenth +century is musically almost a blank, even to +those who take more than the average interest in +the Art; and barely a score of composers' names +during the whole time suggest anything more +than a mere reputation to modern ears." Of +course the distinguished author is speaking of the +musical world in general, not of our own country's +music only. I am inclined to think it is a little +severe on us. I have always found that great +interest is taken in the 17th century music and +musicians of England. +</p> + +<p> +Surely the century which began with the great +Madrigal school at its highest point, which saw +the Masque at its best in Milton's <i>Comus</i>, which +witnessed the supersession of the viol by the +violin, and which, at the close, had to its credit +the complete works of our greatest composer, +Henry Purcell, ought not to be in any sense +"almost a blank," to English students at least. +</p> + +<p> +But if our musical students will only read +Volume III of the <i>Oxford History</i>—so full of the +author's admirable criticisms and so amply +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="Pvi"></a>vi}</span> +illustrated by selections from the great +composers of the period—they will certainly form a +high opinion of what was accomplished then, +and, having finished the volume, their minds will +assuredly not be a "blank." +</p> + +<p> +To help to a useful view of what was done +in our own country in the 17th century I took +that period for my University Course in this +session 1919-1920, and for my subject Twelve +Good Musicians from John Bull to Henry +Purcell. The substance of these lectures is +given in the following chapters. +</p> + +<p> +For many biographical details and other +matter I have availed myself of the valuable +articles in Grove's <i>Dictionary</i> and in the +<i>Dictionary of National Biography</i>, which I beg to +acknowledge. +</p> + +<p> +To Mr Barclay Squire I am deeply indebted +for much information. His work in Musical +History is most valuable, and deserves the best +thanks of all students. +</p> + +<p> +To my brother, Professor J. C. Bridge, M.A., +Mus.D., of Chester, and to Mr Jeffrey Pulver +and Dr Borland I am also grateful for many +interesting facts contained in these pages. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +J. FREDERICK BRIDGE. +<br /><br /> +<i>The Cloisters, Westminster Abbey,</i> + <i>October</i>, 1920.<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="Pvii"></a>vii}</span> +</p> + +<h2> +CONTENTS +</h2> + +<p class="contents"> +CHAP. +<br /><br /> +I. <a href="#chap01">DR JOHN BULL, 1563 (?)—1628</a><br /> +II. <a href="#chap02">WILLIAM BYRD, 1542-3—1623</a><br /> +III. <a href="#chap03">THOMAS MORLEY, 1557—1603</a><br /> +IV. <a href="#chap04">THOMAS WEELKES, 1575 (?)—1623</a><br /> +V. <a href="#chap05">ORLANDO GIBBONS, 1583—1625</a><br /> +VI. <a href="#chap06">RICHARD DEERING, 1580 (?)—1630</a><br /> +VII. <a href="#chap07">JOHN MILTON, 1553—1646-7</a><br /> +VIII. <a href="#chap08">HENRY LAWES, 1595—1662</a><br /> +IX. <a href="#chap09">MATTHEW LOCKE, 1630 (?)—1677</a><br /> +X. <a href="#chap10">PELHAM HUMFREY, 1647—1674</a><br /> +XI. <a href="#chap11">DR JOHN BLOW, 1648—1708</a><br /> +XII. <a href="#chap12">HENRY PURCELL, 1658—1695</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P1"></a>1}</span></p> + +<p class="t2"> +Twelve Good Musicians +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + +<h3> +1. DR. JOHN BULL. +</h3> + +<h4> +1563 (?)—1628. +</h4> + +<p> +There is, I venture to think, a fitness in the +choice of the first musician of the Twelve to be +considered. John Bull is a name familiar to +Englishmen, though I do not know that the +musician bearing that name has anything to do +with the historical and political personage whose +jovial portrait is so well known to us. But +Dr. John Bull, was the first to hold anything +like a University Professorship in London—or +indeed in England. It is true Gresham College +has not developed into a University, but its +founder, Sir Thomas Gresham, certainly seems +to have had such an end in view, and John Bull +was the first Gresham Music Lecturer. As his +successor at Gresham College, and as I have the +honour to be the first Musical Professor in the +University of London, I think there is a +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P2"></a>2}</span> +justification for beginning this course in the University +with a consideration of the old Gresham Professor. +I must premise that in selecting twelve good +men I have by no means exhausted the number +of such men available, but I hope to have chosen +good representatives of the various Schools and +movements in the musical world of England in +the 17th century. And, although necessarily +concentrating my attention on the selected +twelve, yet, of course, undoubtedly I shall make +many references to their fellow-musicians both +in this country and abroad. But it is to our own +men and our own music in the 17th century that +I shall direct my chief attention. +</p> + +<p> +To begin then with the first of my twelve good +musicians—the first Gresham Professor of Music, +Dr. John Bull. Born about 1563 of a Somersetshire +family, he became one of the Children of the +Chapel Royal (as will be seen, always a great +nursery of young English Musicians), his master +being Blytheman who, we are told, "spared +neither time nor labour to advance his natural gifts." +</p> + +<p> +Organist of Hereford Cathedral for a time, we +find him in 1585 a member of the Chapel Royal +Choir—not then organist, a post to which he +attained a few years later, succeeding his old +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P3"></a>3}</span> +master, Blytheman. He was evidently determined +to get on in his profession, for, besides all these +posts and varied activities, he found time in +1586 to take the degree of Bachelor of Music +at Oxford (it being stated he had "practised the +faculty of music for 14 years"), following this up +with a Doctor's degree—this time at Cambridge. +</p> + +<p> +He appears to have met with a somewhat +serious adventure at Tewkesbury, in 1592, +"being robbed in those parts." A Mr. W. Chelps, +of Tewkesbury showed him "rare kindness" +and was rewarded, no doubt by Bull's influence, +with the post of a Gentleman Extraordinary in +the Chapel Royal. +</p> + +<p> +In 1592 our indefatigable musician took +another degree, that of Doctor of Music at +Oxford, the delay in taking it having been caused, +according to a contemporary writer, by his +having met with "rigid puritans there, that +could not endure Church Music." +</p> + +<p> +The next important step in his varied career +was his appointment as first Gresham Professor +of Music. His lectures should have been given +in Latin, but he was allowed to deliver them in +English. Unfortunately there is no copy of his +lectures to be found, but Mr. Barclay Squire in an +article on Bull in the Dictionary of National +Biography, gives the following title-page of +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P4"></a>4}</span> +the first lecture which is all that survives +of it: +</p> + +<p> +"<i>The oration of Master John Bull, Doctor of +Music and one of the Gentlemen of his Majestie's +Royal Chapel, as he pronounced the same before +divers worshipful persons the Aldermen and +Commoners of the Citie of London, with a great +multitude of other people the</i> 6<i>th day of October</i> +1597,<i> in the new erected College of Sir Thomas +Gresham, Knight, deceased: made in the +Commemoration of the said worthy Founder, and the +excellent Science of Musicke.</i> (Imprinted at +London by Thomas Este)." +</p> + +<p> +Although a great misfortune that the Lecture +itself is not to be found; it is interesting to +learn the subject of the oration from the title-page. +</p> + +<p> +It would, however, have been more interesting +to read the lecture itself, if only to see what +Bull said about Sir Thomas Gresham and to +know his views upon music in general. Of one +thing we may be certain: he must have given +his audience a real treat by his Clavier +performance; for doubtless he obeyed the directions +given in the Founder's will—directions which are +observed to this day. It was wise on the part +of Gresham to insist that the lectures should +be adequately illustrated: an audience gains +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P5"></a>5}</span> +much from <i>hearing the examples</i> which have been +commented upon by the lecturer. The directions are: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"The solemn music lectures twice every week, +in manner following, viz: the theoretique part for +one half hour or thereabouts, and the practique by +concert of voice or instruments for the rest of +the hour." +</p> + +<p> +Bull has been credited with the composition of +our National Anthem. The matter has been +investigated by many, but, so far, there seems +no proof of it. We know, however, that he was +honoured by King James I, as his name was +amongst those to whom were given "gold chains, +plates, or medals." +</p> + +<p> +He appears to have been admitted into the +freedom of the Merchant Taylors' Company in +1606, and in 1607 he played before the King and +Prince Henry when they dined at Merchant +Taylors' Hall. According to Stowe, "John Bull, +Doctor of Music, one of the Organists of His +Majestie's Chapel Royal and free of the Merchant +Taylors', being in a citizen's goune, cappe and +hood, played most excellent melodie upon a small +payre of Organs placed there for that purpose only." +</p> + +<p> +The Musical arrangements for this great City +Company's feast were on a very elaborate scale. +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P6"></a>6}</span> +Besides Bull's performance (which was apparently +for the King only, who dined alone in a separate +chamber "where Dr. Bull did play all dinner +time"), the Singing Men and Children of the +Royal Chapel sang melodious songs, and some +of the best singers of the day sang songs by +Coperario, from a ship which was suspended in the +great Hall. Besides all this the Choir of St +Paul's sang songs, the words of which were by +Ben Jonson. The King must have had a pretty +good programme of music to listen to, unless he +spent the evening in his own room where he +dined alone—with Dr Bull playing to pass the time. +</p> + +<p> +The numerous singers in the great Hall seem +to have been rather a trouble to the givers of the +feast. Bull and Gyles, the master of the +Children of the Chapel Royal, who performed in the +King's chamber, were rewarded the next day +by being admitted into the livery of the Company +as a recognition of their services at the +entertainment, which are stated to have been "gratis, +whereas the musicians in the greate Hall exacted +unreasonable somes of the Company for the same." +</p> + +<p> +During an absence abroad in 1601 his deputy +at Gresham College was Thomas Byrd, son of the +composer W. Byrd. Bull's fame had so spread +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P7"></a>7}</span> +that he had many tempting offers to attach +himself to the "French and Spanish Courts," but +he obeyed Queen Elizabeth's order to return to +England. +</p> + +<p> +In 1607, on account of a desire to marry, he +relinquished the Gresham post, celibacy being one +of the conditions of the appointment. The lady +of his choice was "Elizabeth Walter of the +Strand, maiden, aged about 24, daughter of +Walter, citizen of London." +</p> + +<p> +Nothing much is chronicled of him for the next +four years, but in 1611 his name heads the list +of the Prince of Wales' musicians at a salary of +£40 a year, and another mention is made of him +in connection with Princess Elizabeth's marriage, +on which occasion (Feb. 14th, 1613) a benediction, +<i>God the Father, God the Son</i>, was sung to an +anthem "made new for that purpose by Dr. Bull." +</p> + +<p> +We now come to the mysterious portion of +Bull's life which culminated in his flight from +England. The first hint is suggested by the +following letter from Bull to Sir M. Hicks, +secretary to the Earl of Salisbury: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"Sir, +</p> + +<p class="block"> +I have bin many times to have spoken with +you, to desire your favor to my Lord and +Mr. Chancellor, to graunte me theire favors to chaunge +my name, and put in my childes, leaving out my +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P8"></a>8}</span> +owne. It is but £40 by yeare for my service +heretofore, the matter is not great, yet it will be some +reliefe for my poor childe, having nothing ells to +leave it." +</p> + +<p> +The letter proceeds to mention some others +whose interest had been moved, and is written in +a tone of great humiliation. Was it an instance +of coming events casting their shadows before? +The following entry in the Chapel Royal +cheque-book rather supports the supposition: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"John Bull, Doctor of Music, went beyond the +seas without licence, and was admitted into the +Archduke's Service, and entered into paie there +about Michaelmas." +</p> + +<p> +Peter Hopkins filled his place, and his quarter's +salary, Michaelmas to Christmas, was divided +amongst members of the Royal Chapel. +</p> + +<p> +His departure created some sensation, as it is +said he "was so much admired for his dexterous +hand on the Organ, that many thought there +was more than man in him." Wood puts it down +to his "being possessed with crotchets, as many +musicians are." A letter, however, from the +British Minister at Brussels to King James I, +puts a rather different complexion on it. It +would appear that the Minister had been charged +by James I, to express his displeasure at the +Archduke's want of courtesy in engaging Bull, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P9"></a>9}</span> +and in the letter announcing the fulfilment of his +mission the Minister says: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"And I told him plainly, that it was notorious +to all the world, the said Bull did not leave your +Majesty's Service for any wrong done unto him or +for matter of Religion, under which fained pretext +he sought to wrong the reputation of your Majesty's +justice, but did in that dishonest manner steal out +of England through the guilt of a corrupt conscience +to escape punishment which notoriously he had +deserved and was designed to have been inflicted +on him by the hand of justice for his +..... grievous crimes." +</p> + +<p> +It will be noticed the writer scoffs at Bull's +religious sensitiveness, but there is no doubt he +was, like Byrd, a Papist at heart. +</p> + +<p> +In 1617 he succeeded Waelrant at Antwerp +Cathedral, dying in that city on the 12th or 13th +of March, 1628, and being buried in the Cathedral. +</p> + +<p> +Bull was evidently well thought of by his +Antwerp friends, and Sweelinck, the great Dutch +organist, included a Canon by Bull in his work +on Composition. Bull returned the compliment +by writing a Fantasia on a Fugue by Sweelinck. +</p> + +<p> +Bull is most favourably known as a composer +for the Virginals. Many fine examples are to be +found in the <i>Fitzwilliam Virginal Book</i>, and his +powers as performer must have been very great, +judging from his compositions. He joined Byrd +and Gibbons in contributing to the celebrated +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P10"></a>10}</span> +collection <i>Parthenia</i> ("the first music for the +Virginals ever published in England.") There +are examples of his Church Music in Boyce's +Cathedral Music (1760), but, like many other +specimens contained in that valuable and +well-known collection, these compositions of Bull +do not seem to me to be the best examples +of his powers. A really beautiful little motet +contained in Sir William Leighton's <i>Teares and +Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soule</i> (1614) entitled +<i>In the Departure of the Lord</i> gives me a very high +opinion of his Church Music. It is for four +voices and full of beautiful harmony and +expressive modulation. Indeed, I think it compares +favourably with much of the kind written by +contemporary musicians. +</p> + +<p> +I hope to be able to edit it, with other specimens +of Bull's sacred music, in the early future. +</p> + +<p> +A portrait exists in the University of Oxford, +and round it is written +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The Bull by force in field doth rayne<br /> +But Bull by skill good-will doth gaine."<br /> +</p> + +<p> +A copy of this portrait is prefixed to this book. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P11"></a>11}</span></p> + +<h3> +II. WILLIAM BYRD +</h3> + +<h4> +1542 or 3—1623 +</h4> + +<p> +A great contemporary of John Bull comes next +for consideration. William Byrd is certainly +one of the most distinguished of the remarkable +company of English composers living in the +early years of the 17th century. Curiously +enough, he was not included amongst the +contributors to <i>The Triumphs of Oriana</i>. There may +be a reason, of which more anon. Anthony +Wood tells us "he was bred up to musick under +Thomas Tallis," and the eminent Church musician +was god-father to Byrd's son Thomas. Byrd +was also Tallis' executor. In early life the +subject of my Lecture was Organist of Lincoln, +in which city he was married on the 14th +of September, 1568. His eldest son was born at +Lincoln in 1569, and a daughter in 1571-2. This +proves he did not at once come to London on his +appointment to the Chapel Royal. This was +in 1569, when he succeeded Robert Parsons as +Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, the said Robert +Parsons having been drowned at Newark in +January of that year. It seems probable that +Byrd kept up some kind of connection with +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P12"></a>12}</span> +Lincoln for some time after his appointment to +the Chapel Royal, for an entry in the Chapter +Records of Lincoln mentions the appointment +of Thomas Butler as Organist and Master of the +Choristers on the "nomination and commendation +of Mr William Byrd." In London he shared +with his old master, Tallis, the post of Organist +of the Royal Chapel and he also enjoyed with him +a privilege of a more profitable nature, which +was no less than a patent, granted by Queen +Elizabeth to print and sell music, English or +foreign, and to rule, print and sell music paper +for twenty-one years, and all other printers were +forbidden to infringe this license under penalty +of forty shillings. A petition from some printers, +having reference to this license, shows it was not +altogether a popular privilege. The complainants +say: "Byrd and Tallys, her Majesty's +Servants, have musicke bokes with note, <i>which +the Complainants confess they would not print</i>, +nor be furnished to print, tho' there were no +privilege." I think this may be regarded as a +little specimen of professional jealousy. +</p> + +<p> +Whether the privilege was a great financial +benefit to the two old Masters one cannot say, +but, anyhow, it was of great advantage in one +way, and that was the opportunity it gave of +printing and publishing their own works, and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P13"></a>13}</span> +Byrd was not slow in taking advantage of it. +In 1575 appeared his first published work, as +a set of "Cantiones" in 4, 5, and 6 parts. +Some of the compositions were by Tallis and +some by Byrd, and they are fine and dignified +specimens of both composers. One by Tallis in +particular is a beautiful example of his treatment +of a Chorale, the parts flowing in charming +melody and the whole work abounding in +interesting and clever "imitation." I have +been able to publish this fine example of early +Church music, and it has been well received +"in Quires and places where they sing." With +the exception of "If ye love me" I do not know +any anthem by Tallis which compares with it in +solemn and chaste expression. It shows Byrd's +old master—one of the founders of our Cathedral +music—at his very best. +</p> + +<p> +On the death of Tallis 1585, the patent was +enjoyed by Byrd alone, and he made very good +use of it. One of his first publications was +entitled <i>Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of sadness +and pietie, made into musicke of</i> 5 <i>parts; whereof +some of them going abroad among divers, in untrue +coppies, are heere truely corrected, and the other +being Songs very rare and newly composed, are +heere published, for the recreation of all such as +delight in Musicke</i> (1588). +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P14"></a>14}</span> +</p> + +<p> +At the back of the title-page of this work are the +following "Eight Reasons briefly set down by +the Author to perswade every one to learn to sing:" +</p> + +<p class="block"> +1. First it is a knowledge easily taught and +quickly learned where there is a good Master and +an apt Scholar. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +2. The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, +and good to preserve the health of Man. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +3. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast and +doth open the pipes. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +4. It is a singular good remedy for Stutting[<a id="chap02fn1text"></a><a href="#chap02fn1">1</a>] +and Stammering in the speech. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +5. It is the best means to procure a perfect +pronunciation, and to make a good Orator. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +6. It is the only way to know where Nature +hath bestowed the benefit of a good voice, which +gift is so rare, as there is not one among a thousand +that hath it, and in many that excellent gift is lost, +because they want Art to express Nature. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments +whatsoever comparable to that which is made of the +voices of Men, where the voices are good and the +same well sorted and ordered. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +8. The better the voice is the meeter it is to +honour and serve God therewith, and the voice of +man is Chiefly to be imployed to that End." +</p> + +<p> +To the above is added the following couplet: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Since Singing is so good a thing<br /> +I wish all men would learne to sing.<br /> +</p> + +<p> +In the same year appeared a work which was +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P15"></a>15}</span> +destined to wield tremendous influence upon +English Musical Art. This was a collection of +Madrigals called <i>Musica Transalpina</i>. <i>Madrigals +translated out of</i> 4, 5, <i>and</i> 6 <i>parts, chosen out +of divers excellent Authors, with the first and +second parts of La Virginella made by MAISTER +BYRD upon two stanzas of Ariosto and brought to +speak English with the rest</i>. The inclusion of his +name in this connection gives Byrd the claim to +be considered one of the first, if not the first, of +English Madrigal writers. And the fact that he +contributed to this work may have possibly +been the cause of the absence of his name from +the collection made by Morley—which, of course, +was an imitation of the publication which had +appeared some twelve years before. This is +merely a supposition, but there must be some +reason for the exclusion of such a distinguished +composer, and one already famous as a Madrigal +writer. It is the more remarkable from the fact +that Morley spoke of Byrd with the greatest +respect and even affection.[<a id="chap02fn2text"></a><a href="#chap02fn2">2</a>] +</p> + +<p> +Two years later he wrote two settings of <i>This +sweet and merry month of May</i> for Watson's +<i>First sett of Italian Madrigals Englished</i>. Among +his other vocal compositions are <i>Psalms, Songs +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P16"></a>16}</span> +and Sonets, some solemne, other joyfull framed to +the life of the words</i>. <i>Fit for voyces or viols</i>. He +also was a contributor to Leighton's <i>Teares +and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul</i>, the work in +which Bull's beautiful Motet appears. One of +his works he dedicated to the Earl of Northampton, +and the dedication infers that not only had +Byrd reason to be grateful to that nobleman, +but so also had the Gentlemen of the Chapel +Royal, as he seems to have been the means of +securing an increase in their salaries. Of course +many of Byrd's works were not published, and +this is particularly the case with his compositions +for the Virginals. Many are in the <i>Fitzwilliam +Virginal Book</i>[<a id="chap02fn3text"></a><a href="#chap02fn3">3</a>] and also in <i>Lady Nevill's Booke</i>, +which is a collection of Virginal Lessons, copied +by a singing Man of Windsor named John Baldwin. +Before leaving Byrd's professional life it +is interesting to note his connection with another +musical worthy contemporary, Alfonso Ferabosco; +a joint publication of theirs will show this. +It was entitled <i>Medulla Musicke, sucked out of the +sappe of Two of the most famous Musicians that +ever lived, Master William Byrd and Master Alfonso +Ferabosco, Either of whom having made 40 severall +ways (without contention) shewing most rare and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P17"></a>17}</span> +intricate skill in 2 parts in one upon the Plaine +Song Miserere</i>. This work was most probably the +outcome of a "friendly contention" which they +had "each one judging his rival's work, they +both set plaine song 40 different ways." +</p> + +<p> +In private life Byrd's religious feelings made +his career rather an anxious one; like many +others on the Chapel Royal Staff, though +outwardly Protestant, he was probably a Roman +Catholic. It was known that the Byrd family +were "Papisticall recusants"; as early as 1581 +he is mentioned as living at one of the places +frequented by recusants, and is also set down as +"a friend and abettor of those beyond the Sea, +and is said to be living with Mr. Lister over +against St Dunstans or at the Lord Padgettes +house at Draighton." It is a noticeable thing +that though his duties called him to the Chapel +Royal, he lived nearly the whole of his life out +of London. At one place, Stondon, Essex, he +had some sequestrated property granted to him +for three lives, but had a good deal of dispute with +the previous owners, which went so far as to +necessitate the King's intervention. In a +law-suit in connection with it "one Petiver submitted +the said Byrd did give him vile and bitter words," +that when told he had no right to the property +replied that "yf he could not hould it by right +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P18"></a>18}</span> +he would hould it by might." Byrd lived a long +life, and died on July 4, 1623. +</p> + +<p> +The exact entry recording this fact in the +Chapel Royal Cheque Book runs "1623, William +Byrd, a Father of Musick, died the 4th of July, +and John Croker, a Counter Tenor of Westminster, +was admitted for a year of probation of +his good behaviour and civill carriage." +</p> + +<p> +Mr Barclay Squire has discovered much of +interest concerning Byrd, notably his Will. In +this he expresses a hope that he "may live and +dye a true and perfect member of God's holy +Catholic Church, (without which I believe there +is no salvation for me). My body to be honourably +buried in that parish or place where it shall +please God to take me oute of this life, which I +humbly desyre (if it shall please God) may be in +the parish of Stondon where my dwellinge is, +and this to be buried neare unto the place where +my wife lyeth buryed." +</p> + +<p> +Of late years much attention has been devoted +to Byrd's sacred music, which includes some +remarkably fine Masses, some of which have been +reprinted and used in the Roman Catholic +Church. But Byrd has never been forgotten in +the Cathedrals of England, for his Anthem <i>Bow +Thine ear</i> has always found a place in the lists of +the daily musical services. There is, also, a fine +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P19"></a>19}</span> +specimen of his composition in the volume of +Cathedral music published by Dr. Hayes. It has +English words, and for a long time appeared in the +Abbey list as by Hayes, but it was identified as +one of Byrd's Latin motets, and now is ascribed +to the rightful owner. +</p> + +<p> +An interesting specimen of his Clavier +compositions is to be found in the Fitzwilliam volume +being an arrangement of the air <i>O Mistress Mine</i>. +This is one of the few pieces of Shakesperean +music which was published in the Poet's life-time. +It is charmingly treated by Byrd. The same +air appeared in a work by Morley, an arrangement +of various airs for a small Band consisting +of the Treble Viol, Flute, Cittern, Pandora, Lute, +and Bass Viol. It seems probable that this +air was a popular tune and that Shakespeare +wrote words to it, or possibly (as he did in +<i>Willo! Willo!</i>) took the old words which were set to the +melody and incorporated them in his play. +</p> + +<p> +A contemporary opinion of Byrd can be +gathered from Peacham's estimate of him in the +<i>Compleat Gentleman</i>. Writing in 1622, he says: +"In Motets and Musicks of piety and devotion, as +well for the honour of our nation as the merit of +the man, I preferre above all other our Phoenix, +Mr. Wm. Byrd, whom, in that kind, I know not +whether any may equall, I am sure none excell, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P20"></a>20}</span> +even by the judgment of France and Italy. His +<i>Cantiones Sacrae</i> and also his <i>Gradualia</i> are +meere Angelicall and Divine and being himself +naturally disposed to gravity and piety, his +veine is not so much for light Madrigals and +Canzonets, yet his Virginella and some others +in his first set cannot be mended by the best +Italian of them all." And Morley speaks of him +as "my loving master, never without reuerence +to be named of Musicians." +</p> + +<p> +His name has always been associated with the +Canon <i>Non nobis Domine</i>, but it would be very +difficult to establish his claim to the authorship. +</p> + +<p> +Altogether the old musician has a remarkable +list of varied compositions to his credit. Besides +those already mentioned he wrote some excellent +<i>Fancies</i> and <i>In Nomines</i> for strings, making a real +advance upon the somewhat stilted specimens of +Instrumental Music then in vogue, and helping to +free the Instrumental form of composition from +the vocal. <i>Fancies</i> and <i>In Nomines</i> I shall speak +of in detail in a later lecture. +</p> + +<p> +William Byrd had a long and honourable career +and contributed in a remarkable degree to the +development of the Art of Music in England in the +17th century. There is much truth in Peacham's +verdict that his music "cannot be mended by the +best Italian of them all." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap02fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap02fn1text">1</a>] <i>i.e.</i>, stuttering; originally <i>stot</i>, +from the German <i>stottern</i>. +To "stut" is still used in Cheshire dialect, (<i>v.</i> Wilbraham's +<i>Glossary of Cheshire Words</i>.) +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap02fn2"></a> +[<a href="#chap02fn2text">2</a>] It may have been because he was a Roman Catholic +and his name would not have been welcome to Elizabeth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap02fn3"></a> +[<a href="#chap02fn3text">3</a>] Now published. Edited by Mr. Fuller Maitland and +Mr. Barclay Squire. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P21"></a>21}</span></p> + +<h3> +III. THOMAS MORLEY. +</h3> + +<h4> +1557—1603 +</h4> + +<p> +The next of our twelve musicians in chronological +order of birth is Thomas Morley, born in 1557, +when Byrd was a young man, though his course +was run long before that veteran had finished +with the affairs of this world. He was a pupil +of Byrd, and was probably a chorister of St +Paul's Cathedral. In 1588 he graduated B.Mus. at +Oxford, and some three years later was +appointed Organist of St Paul's. This position +he did, however, not hold long, as in 1592, he +was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. +In 1598 he was granted the licence, which had +previously been held by Tallis and Byrd, for the +exclusive right of printing and selling Books of +Music and Ruled Paper, and many of the musical +works which were published at that time were +issued by Este, Peter Short, William Barley, +and others, as the assigns of Thomas Morley. +In 1602 he resigned his positions at the Chapel +Royal, probably from ill-health, as one gathers +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P22"></a>22}</span> +from the Introduction to his <i>Plaine and Easie +Introduction to Practical Music</i> that he was +rather a confirmed invalid. Some have taken +the year of his resignation as that of his death, +but there is nothing to support this, and though +Hawkins and Burney are at one in placing his +death in 1604, the correct date is 1603. +</p> + +<p> +Details of Morley's life are scanty, by his +works we must know him. His compositions +are both vocal and instrumental, sacred and +secular; and, in addition to his work in the +various branches of composition, much of his +fame rests upon his authorship of the first really +satisfactory treatise on music, <i>The Plaine and +Easie Introduction</i> already referred to. +</p> + +<p> +This work is full of interest, and has been a +book of reference and of valuable information to +musicians for the past three centuries. Written +in the form of a dialogue between Master and +Pupil, it contains many quaint discourses, and it +is in the early chapters of this work that the +story is told of the unfortunate gentleman who +could not read music at sight when asked to do +so by his hostess, with the humiliating result +that the company wondered "where he had +been brought up." +</p> + +<p> +Morley's book was translated into German by +I. C. Frost, Organist of St Martin's, Halberstadt. +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P23"></a>23}</span> +It is interesting to observe that more than one +of his works was translated into German +(e.g., the <i>Canzonets or Little Short Songs to Three +Voyces</i>, published here first in 1593, was +translated into German and issued at Cassel in 1612 +and at Rostock in 1624; and the <i>Ballets for +Five Voyces</i> of 1595 was issued at Nuremberg +in 1609). +</p> + +<p> +This is a striking testimony to his merits, but +the most celebrated of his publications was the +great edition of Madrigals called <i>The Triumphs +of Oriana</i>. This is said to have been compiled as +a tribute to Queen Elizabeth, whose title of +"Gloriana" is well known. In this portly +volume he includes no fewer than twenty-six +Madrigals, contributed by many of the most +famous living English composers. The work +helped to make the practice of Madrigal-singing +very popular in England, and to this day its +influence is great and few programmes of Madrigal-music +are ever issued without some specimen +taken from this splendid collection. +</p> + +<p> +And it is to Morley we owe a delightful +contemporary setting of words by Shakespeare—the +beautiful Lyric "It was a lover and his lass" +from <i>As You Like It</i>. This is one of the very +few things which we possess—with the words by +Shakespeare and the music by a contemporary +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P24"></a>24}</span> +musician. Unfortunately, the charming song +has been often sadly mutilated by editors, +sometimes by the introduction of unwarranted +"accidentals" and also by actual curtailment. I have, +however, had the opportunity of referring to one +of the few copies in existence of the original +publication (formerly in the Halliwell-Phillip's +collection), and have so been enabled to issue +it in its correct form. Various attempts have +been made to arrange it as a duet, on the ground +that it was sung in the play by "two pages." The +dialogue which precedes the song is very +amusing and rather suggests that Shakespeare +had some little experience of the peculiar +weaknesses of singers, both amateur and professional. +The following is the little episode in question: +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +<i>Enter Two Pages.</i> +</p> + +<pre> + 1st Page: Well met, honest gentleman. + + Touchstone: By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit and a song. + + 2nd Page: We are for you: sit i' the middle. + + 1st Page: Shall we clap into't roundly, without + hawking or spitting or saying we are + hoarse; which are the only prologues + to a bad voice? + + 2nd Page: I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, + like two gipsies on a horse. + <i>As You Like It</i>, Act V., scene 3. +</pre> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +The words "two gipsies on a horse" have been +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P25"></a>25}</span> +taken to suggest that as the two gipsies must +have ridden one behind the other, the two +pages should sing, not in unison, but one +after the other. Hence the effort to arrange the +music in Canon, as it is termed. But there is no +warrant for this; neither will the song admit +of it.[<a id="chap03fn1text"></a><a href="#chap03fn1">1</a>] +</p> + +<p> +With respect to his Instrumental writing, in +addition to many examples for the Virginals, +he wrote for combined instruments, as will be seen +later. Much of his Virginal-music is contained +in the <i>Fitzwilliam Collection</i>, and in Will Forster's +<i>Virginal Book</i> in Buckingham Palace. For +combined instruments may be mentioned the +seven Fantasias, and there is also a collection +called <i>First Book of Consort Lessons for Six +Instruments, Lute, Pandora, Cittern, Bass Viol, +Flute and Treble Viol</i>. Writing on this +collection Dr Burney does not take a very high +estimate of its musical value: "they seem to +have been intended for Civic Feasts" (he says), +"and Master Morley, supposing perhaps that +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P26"></a>26}</span> +the harmony which was to be heard through the +clattering of knives, forks, spoons, and plates, +with the jingling of glasses and clamorous +conversation of a City feast, need not be very +accurate or refined, was not very nice in setting +parts to these tunes, which are so far from correct +that almost any one of the City Waits would have +vamped as good an accompaniment on the spot." +</p> + +<p> +I question if Dr Burney is justified in this +scathing criticism. I do not suppose he ever +heard them performed, for the good reason that +there is no complete set of parts to be found, +and there is no record of any such being in +existence in his time. A few years ago I did my +best to get these little "Band tunes" performed, +but at first only the Viol and Flute parts could +be found. Later on I was fortunate enough to +discover a Cittern part in the Bodleian Library, +and, later still, a part for the Pandora has been +found in the Christ Church Library. We still +want the parts for Lute and Bass Viol, but with +these four we get a very good representation of +the original, and at the Exhibition initiated by +the Worshipful Company of Musicians we had +one of these little tunes played by the six +instruments, under the direction of the Rev. W. Galpin. +We had to supply parts for Lute and Bass Viol, +but as we had the original Harmony supplied +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P27"></a>27}</span> +by the Flute (i.e. a small Recorder), which was +an inner part, and by the Cittern and Pandora—both +of which played Chords—we could not go +far wrong. The effect was both interesting and +charming, and altogether discounted Burney's +unreliable criticism. It would be a great delight +to all lovers of this early music if the two missing +parts could be found, but I fear we shall hunt in vain. +</p> + +<p> +His Sacred works include two Services and an +Anthem, which was published in Barnard's +collection, and a setting of the Burial Service, +which appears in Boyce's collection. There are +also examples, in MS. amongst the Harleian +MSS., in the Christ Church Library at Oxford, +and the Fitzwilliam and Peterhouse Libraries +at Cambridge. A curious thing, rather, in +connection with his Sacred works is, that, unlike +his secular compositions, none was published +during his lifetime. +</p> + +<p> +His style was not so broad as that of Tallis or +so noble as that of Byrd, but he had a great +influence upon the art. His own compositions +include examples of his talent in many directions. +As a theoretical writer he is really distinguished +above his contemporaries, and contributed to +the stores of Sacred, Secular, and Instrumental +music, besides writing for the stage. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P28"></a>28}</span> +</p> + +<p> +Morley's early death was a real loss to English +music, and he was mourned by all his +contemporaries. One of the most touching testimonies +is a beautiful <i>Lament for Six Voices</i> by Thomas +Weelkes, himself a distinguished composer, whom +we shall consider later. The words are as follows: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +A remembrance of my friend Mr. Thomas Morley. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend,<br /> +My dearest friend is dead and laid in grave,<br /> +In grave he rests until the world shall end,<br /> +The world shall end, as end must all things have.<br /> +All things must have an end that nature wrought<br /> +That nature wrought must unto dust be brought.<br /> +</p> + +<p> +Another poetical testimony to Morley was +written in his life-time, and may be given here. +It is supposed to be by Michael Drayton: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Such was old Orpheus' cunning,<br /> + That senseless things drew near him;<br /> + And herds of beasts to hear him.<br /> +The stock, the stone, the ox, the ass came running.<br /> + Morley! but this enchanting<br /> + To thee, to be the music god, is wanting;<br /> + And yet thou needst not fear him.<br /> +Draw thou the shepherds still, and bonny lasses,<br /> +And envy him not stocks, stones, oxen, asses.<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap03fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap03fn1text">1</a>] Mr Arkwright gives us an interesting bit of information +in connection with Morley and Shakespeare. "Morley +lived in St Peter's, Bishopsgate, between 1596 and 1601, +and his name appears in two <i>Rolls of Assessments for +Subsidies</i>. In the earlier of these documents is the name of +William Shakespeare, his goods being valued at the same +amount as Morley's. He and Shakespeare both appealed +against the assessment, and it may be supposed some amount +of personal intercourse existed between them." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P29"></a>20}</span></p> + +<h3> +IV. THOMAS WEELKES +</h3> + +<h4> +1575?—1623 +</h4> + +<p> +In the previous Lecture I have mentioned +Thomas Weelkes, and now turn for a short space +to this distinguished composer. As I have said +before, I do not profess to include all the great +English musicians of the 17th century in this +short series of Lectures, and Weelkes is selected, +not only as being greatly superior to many +others, but because he has given us something +original in the shape of combined Instrumental +and Vocal work, in addition to his valuable +contributions to the Madrigal School. Of this I +must speak later. As a Madrigal-writer he is +notable as one of the "glorious company" of +contributors to <i>The Triumphs of Oriana</i>. +Although little of his Church music is published, +yet as Organist of Chichester Cathedral and, +as a member of the Choir of the Chapel Royal, +he was an experienced Church musician. He +left many Anthems, which are preserved in +MS. in various Libraries; and he contributed +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P30"></a>30}</span> +two pieces to Leighton's <i>Teares and Lamentations +of a Sorrowful Soul</i>. In his <i>Fancies for Strings</i> +he displays a very fertile imagination. I have +had some of his <i>Fancies</i> performed at my +various Lectures, and have found them remarkable +for melodic interest and very advanced as +regards Harmony. His instrumental writing +is surprising; and, when one compares his +Fancies with those by Orlando Gibbons, one is +astonished at the novelty of his ideas. As will +be seen later I shall have much to say in +connection with Gibbons, Deering, and Purcell in +regard to the Fancy. But I may as well at once +explain that this was the form which was supreme +in the early days of the 17th century as a vehicle +for Instrumental writing. An enormous number +of these compositions exist, and it was not until +Purcell's time that the Fancy disappeared—being +supplanted by the Sonatas for three strings and a +Basso Continuo. It was a form which helped +on the progress of writing for Instruments in a +wonderful way. "Apt for Voices and Viols" +was the usual title-page which composers loved. +But, when the Fancy developed, the writing was +far too elaborate to be "apt for voices," and so +we get the independent instrumental Fancy. It +was, as a rule, a work of some considerable +length, and, while full of variety, it was lacking in +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P31"></a>31}</span> +any real development. The composer indulged +his "Fancy," and wandered from point to point +at his own sweet will. +</p> + +<p> +It was with the Fancy that Weelkes made an +early experiment of adding a vocal part quite +independent of the strings. And he took for his +vocal part the popular series of "Cryes" which +were then common to the streets of London. +He did not, as has so often been wrongly stated, +"set the Cryes of London to music," but he took +the words and the music of these old and very +interesting things and added the vocal part to +what was a real Fancy for strings. It is said +Morley did the same thing, but I have, so far, +failed to find any example of it. Ravenscroft +took many of these same old Cryes and worked +them up as Rounds, and Campion introduced +<i>Cherry Ripe</i> into a charming song "There is a +Garden in her face" in 1617; but the <i>Humorous +Fancy</i> by Weelkes is, so far as I can see at present, +the earliest of this kind of work. Later, in +connection with Gibbons and Deering, I shall +have much to say on this subject, as these +composers also wrote <i>Humorous Fancies</i>, the vocal +parts being the same old Cryes of London but +treated in a more elaborate manner. +</p> + +<p> +Weelkes' example is very charming, and +although his string parts are somewhat stilted, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P32"></a>32}</span> +yet there is always life in them. He makes one +point which shows he was not altogether able +to forget his Madrigals and Ballets. Like the +latter, the <i>Fancy</i> at one point leaves its regular +course, and for a few bars a delightful Dance +tune is introduced, to the words—whatever they +mean—"Twincledowne Tavye." It is as if the +vendors of fish, fruit and vegetables met in the +street and had a bit of a frolic together. The +Fancy is resumed with the Cryes of the Chimney +Sweep, Bellows-Mender etc., and later on a +beautiful song for the seller of "Broome" is +introduced. The words of this song date back +before Weelkes, being found with slight variation +in an old play called <i>Three Ladies of London</i>, +1584. They are sung by a character named +"Conscience" who enters with brooms, and +sings the song. +</p> + +<p> +No doubt the tune given by Weelkes is the +original one. +</p> + +<p> +The conclusion of this Fancy is very charming +and rather like an Anthem: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Then let us sing<br /> +And so we will make an end<br /> +With Alleluia.<br /> +</p> + +<p> +There are two MSS. of this work in the British +Museum. I have followed the shorter version, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P33"></a>33}</span> +as the longer is not only rather dull and +prolonged but includes a little deviation into +vulgarity, and so is hardly suitable for modern +ears. The "Alleluia" occurs in the longer +MS. and I have included it in my version. +</p> + +<p> +It is fortunate that there are two sets of +parts, as neither of them is complete. But +having been so fortunate as to find these two +sets I have been able to restore the missing part. +</p> + +<p> +The discovery of this Fancy is the reason why +I select Weelkes instead of Wilbye, one of +his great contemporaries, and I think all +lovers of Shakespeare will be glad to make +acquaintance with the music of the <i>Cryes of +London</i> which saluted the Poet's ears in his +daily walks. +</p> + +<p> +Weelkes paid a loving tribute to "his dearest +friend" Morley, on the latter's death. The +date of Weelkes' death (1623) and other +particulars have been brought to light by the +investigations of the Rev. Dr. Fellowes, whose +devotion to the madrigal school is so well +known and appreciated. His paper on Weelkes +(Musical Association, May, 1916) is an eloquent +testimony to the worth of this composer, to whose +madrigal writing I have not space quite to do +justice. The <i>Humorous Fancy</i>, however, shows +him in a new and interesting light. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P34"></a>34}</span></p> + +<h3> +V. ORLANDO GIBBONS +</h3> + +<h4> +1583—1625 +</h4> + +<p> +Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most +outstanding name of the English musicians in the +early part of the 17th century. A good deal of +this is, no doubt, due to the fact that his +contributions to Sacred Music have been one of the +great possessions of our Cathedral School, and +their presence in service lists has been—and I +venture to hope will always be—a constant +tribute to their excellence. +</p> + +<p> +Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as +turned his mind naturally, though by no means +exclusively, to Church Music. +</p> + +<p> +He was the son of one of the City waifs of +Cambridge, William Gibbons, and was born in +1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, +he is mentioned amongst the Choristers during +the years 1596-97; at which time his elder +brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the +College. It might be noted in passing that this +Edward Gibbons was himself a B.Mus. of both +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P35"></a>35}</span> +Universities; and, after occupying an +appointment at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th +century, was, later, organist and Priest Vicar +at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a +charge of neglecting his duties; this, however, +he managed to do successfully. He died about 1653. +</p> + +<p> +To return to Orlando. There are some +interesting entries in the College Records of 1601, +1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. paid +to Gibbons—or Gibbins, as it is there spelt—for +music composed "<i>in festo Dominae Reginae</i>," +and also in the two latter years for music +for the Purification. No Christian name is given, +but there is little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. +He was placed in an important and honourable +appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he +became Organist of the Chapel Royal, and in +1606 took his bachelor's degree at Cambridge. +</p> + +<p> +In 1611 his name appears as an associate with +Byrd and Bull in a work called <i>Parthenia</i>, a +collection of pieces for the Virginals of which +I shall speak later on. +</p> + +<p> +We do not hear much more of him until 1612, +with the exception of a mention in the State +Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition +in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in +reversion of forty marks per annum of Duchy +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P36"></a>36}</span> +lands, without fine, as promised him by the +Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of +his <i>First sett of Madrigals and Mottets of</i> 5 <i>parts, +apt for viols or voyces</i>. <i>Newly composed by +ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, +Organist of H. M. Chapel in Ordinary</i>. The work +is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, and the +dedication runs thus: "They were most of them +composed in your owne house and doe therefore +properly belong to you. The language you +provided them, I only furnished them with tongues +to utter the same." It is thought from this +that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons +was on terms of close intimacy with him. +Another proof of this is shown by a piece in Ben +Coszyn's <i>Virginal Book</i>, where Gibbons is +represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The +collection, <i>Madrigals and Mottets</i>, is rather +misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet in +it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some +divided into 2, 3 and 4 sections, each as long as +an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is <i>The +Silver Swan</i>. +</p> + +<p> +It has been stated that besides the published +Madrigals, no secular or vocal compositions +exist in MS. except a kind of <i>Burlesque +Madrigal</i> called <i>The Cryes of London for</i> 6 <i>voices</i>. +</p> + +<p> +This statement is altogether incorrect. To +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P37"></a>37}</span> +mention one, a song, <i>A Soldier's Farewell to his +Mistress</i> ("My love, adieu") is in existence, +and I have often had it performed. And the +statement about the <i>Burlesque Madrigal</i> is truly +absurd. It is curious that the musical historians +have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to +notice the existence of the work on the Cryes +of London, or have, quite incorrectly, called it +a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting form +of composition. Like Weelkes' <i>Humourous +Fancy</i>, it has parts for Viols and a superimposed +vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices) consisting +of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in +one respect from Weelkes', for it is an "In +Nomine" for strings. This is an older form of +the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part +for the Viol—an inner part—being allotted a +well-known old ecclesiastical melody. This +Plainsong melody is to be found in the <i>Sarum +Missal</i> to the words "<i>Gloria Tibi Trinitas</i>," +and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is +used by many composers of "<i>In Nomines</i>," +Byrd and Ferabosco amongst others. But this +is the only example I have come across where a +sacred melody is introduced in connection with +secular, and, in the case of Cryes, somewhat +humourous words. Examples of the introduction +of secular tunes into the sacred works by +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P38"></a>38}</span> +composers of the Italian school of the 16th +century are, of course, very common. This is a +curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the +introduction of a sacred tune into a secular vocal +work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he +is able to write very effective and flowing Viol +parts and to introduce so many examples of the +old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong +persistently played by one of the Viols. The +copy from which this interesting work is taken +is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616, so +the Fancy was composed before that date. The +copyist who preserved this work for us was the +Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church +adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 +and 1622 must have been published the best +known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection +is dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the +Grooms of the Bedchamber, and Wray was +dismissed in 1622. <i>Fantasies of Three parts +composed by Orlando Gibbons, Batchelor of Musick, +and late organist to His M. Chapel Royal in +Ordinary</i>. Cut in Copper, the like not here-to-fore +Extant. The word "late" is rather +surprising, when he is not recorded to have +resigned his position at the Chapel Royal. He +was appointed Organist of Westminster Abbey +in 1623. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P39"></a>39}</span> +</p> + +<p> +These Fantasies were published by The +Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843; and in +some respects this publication has been the +cause of a good deal of ignorance as to the +real progress which Instrumental music made in +the early years of the 17th century. They are +undoubtedly somewhat dull when placed by the +side of Fancies by Byrd and others. No doubt +the veneration for Gibbons and the rightful +appreciation of his fine Cathedral music made +the members of the old and valuable Musical +Antiquarian Society more ready to edit his +Fancies than to select from less eminent +Church writers. But one cannot have much +respect for Burney's judgment when he +pronounces Orlando Gibbons to have been "utterly +contemptible in his productions for +instruments." He must be judged alongside of other +16th century composers; for, although he +indeed lived through the first quarter of the +<i>seventeenth</i> century, his instrumental music is +characteristic of the <i>sixteenth</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In common with other composers of his day, +Gibbons shows in his Clavier works an earlier +and more successful attempt at a true +Instrumental style than he does in his music for +Strings. The Viols were later in forsaking the +vocal polyphonic style than the keyed +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P40"></a>40}</span> +instruments, simply because the vocal style suited +the bowed instruments so much better than the +Clavier. So we find composers for the Clavier +borrowing the rhythmic features of folk-songs +and dance-tunes much earlier than they found +it desirable or necessary to do in Viol music. +</p> + +<p> +Out of six pieces by Gibbons in <i>Parthenia</i>, +three are dances (a Pavane and two Galliards); +one (<i>The Queenes Commande</i>) is an air with +variations; and the other two are the +<i>Preludium</i> (a piece of very simple harmonic design, +with florid figuration like the early organ +preludes) and a quite remarkable <i>Fantasia in four +parts</i>—remarkable because rather exceptional +as a Clavier piece, and also because of its +protracted and serious working in the Canzona style. +In the <i>Fitzwilliam Collection</i> the only pieces by +Gibbons are an air with variations, <i>The Woods +so Wilde</i>, and a Pavane—the latter, however, +being identical with <i>The Lord of Salisbury his +Pavin</i>, which is found also in <i>Parthenia</i>. +</p> + +<p> +With regard to the Fancies written for "Base +Viall," "Mean Viall," and "Trebble Viall," after +the manner of the period, these were published +absolutely devoid of any indications of pace, of +phrasing, or of expression. To this fact is +probably due some of their loss of popularity. +They require artists to interpret them, and in +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P41"></a>41}</span> +good hands are capable of considerable effect +in the old quaint style. The robust tones of the +modern 'Cello, Viola and Violin can hardly give +us a correct impression of these pieces, but by +muting them a very good suggestion of "Viall" +tone is obtainable. +</p> + +<p> +One may mention another "Fancy" written +this time for two "trebble Vialls" and a "Base." +Whether it is the difference of the instruments, +or the fact that it is a later number in the +collection and may therefore be a later +composition, I cannot say; but there is a distinctly +more modern spirit about this "Fancy." It is +more rhythmic, the sections are more marked, +and at the end there is a complete repetition of an +eight-bar phrase, the only difference in the repeat +being that the first viall here takes the second +part, and <i>vice versa</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In the domain of Sacred Music Orlando +Gibbons certainly holds the foremost place amongst +the English composers of the contrapuntal +school. No name is better known in our +Cathedrals. In great gatherings of Cathedral Choirs +in my young days (alas! we do not now have +such gatherings to any great extent) Gibbons' +splendid Service in F was always an item to +which we looked forward. And he has left us +almost as great a collection of anthems as +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P42"></a>42}</span> +Purcell did in later years. Many of them were +composed for special occasions. One was a +wedding Anthem "for my Lord Somerset"; +another "made for the King's being in +Scotland" (this was, of course, James I, and it was +from this Anthem I extracted the splendid +concluding "Amen" which was sung at the +Coronations of King Edward VII and King George V, +and which is now the recognized "Abbey Amen"). +</p> + +<p> +The Anthem "This is the record of John" +has a string accompaniment for Viols; this +was "made for Laud, President of St John's, +Oxford, for St John Baptist's Day." Another +"Behold thou hast made my days" was +composed at the entreaty of Dr Maxey, Dean of +Windsor, "the same day se'night before his death." +</p> + +<p> +Mention must also be made of "O clap your +hands," which has always had a suspicion +attached to it of having played the part of Dr +Heyther's Doctor's Exercise. This suspicion is +deepened by the fact that Dr Cummings +possessed a MS. of it with the following inscription +upon it: "Dr Heyther's Commencement Song +Composed by Dr Orlando Gibbons". They both +took their degrees at Oxford on the same +occasion viz: the foundation of the Camden History +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P43"></a>43}</span> +Professorship. Heyther was a Lay Vicar of +Westminster, and it was he who founded the +Oxford Music Lecture, now represented by the +Professorship. It was originally worth £3 a +year. The degrees were conferred on the two +friends of Camden at his special request. +</p> + +<p> +Gibbons was also a contributor to Wither's +<i>Hymns and Songs of the Church</i>. Withers +himself pays him the following tribute: "He hath +chosen to make his music agreeable to the matter, +and what the common apprehension can best +admit, rather than to the curious fancies of the +time; which path both of us could more easily +have trodden." +</p> + +<p> +Gibbons appears to have had a sense of humour, +judging from a letter which we found in the +Westminster Abbey Muniment Room some years +ago. I believe this is the only letter of Gibbons' +that is known. It is addressed to the Treasurer +of the Abbey, asking that the organ-tuner, one +Burrard, might be paid; it runs as follows: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Mr. Ireland: I know this bill to be very resonable +for I have alredy cut him off ten shillings therfore +I pray despathe him, for he hath delt honestly wth +ye church soe shall I rest yr servant, +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Orlando Gibbons. +</p> + +<p> +The whole bill was very small, and by "cutting +him off ten shillings" I think old Orlando was +rather hard! +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P44"></a>44}</span> +</p> + +<p> +We get a glimpse of Orlando Gibbons' +organ-playing in the Abbey from the <i>Life of +Archbishop Williams</i>, sometime Lord Keeper of the +Great Seal. The French Ambassadors who +came over to arrange the marriage of the Prince +of Wales (afterwards Charles I) with Henrietta +Maria were entertained at supper in the Jerusalem +Chamber. But before the Supper we are told +"The Embassadors, with the Nobles and +Gentlemen in their Company, were brought in at the +North Gate of the Abbey, which was stuck with +Flambeaux everywhere that strangers might +cast their eyes upon the stateliness of the Church. +At the Door of the Quire the Lord Keeper +besought their Lordships to go in and take their +seats there for a while. At their entrance the +organ was touched by the best Finger of that +age, Mr Orlando Gibbons. The Lord Embassadors +and their Great Train took up all the stalls +where they continued about half-an-hour, while +the Quiremen, vested in their Rich Copes, sang +three several Anthems with most exquisite +voices before them." +</p> + +<p> +This Dean Williams was a very great man, +Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, +Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop +of York; he was Dean of Westminster in 1620. +We are told in his <i>Life</i>, written by John Halket, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P45"></a>45}</span> +Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry: "He +procured the sweetest music both for the organ and +for voices of all parts, that ever was heard in +English music. In those days the Abbey and +the Jerusalem Chamber, where he gave +entertainment to his friends, were the votaries of the +Choicest Songs that the Land has heard. The +greatest masters of that delightful faculty +frequented here above all others." I think it must +be to this patron of music that we owe the fine +collection of Madrigals and Motets (including the +very rare and valuable books of Deering) which +are now preserved in the Abbey Library. +</p> + +<p> +This account of the perfection of the music +at the Abbey in these remote days, under the +fostering care of a Dean distinguished both as a +statesman and a musician, may perhaps be +followed by a contemporary description of the +members of a choir—not, of course, of the Abbey +Choir in particular by another Dean. This +was Dean Earle, the first Dean after the +Restoration. But the work from which I quote was first +printed in 1628, so that it is only a year or two +after the time of Gibbons. Earle was not Dean +of Westminster until more than 30 years later. +The book is entitled <i>Microcosmographie: a piece +of the World discovered in Essays and +Characters</i>, and was first published anonymously. +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P46"></a>46}</span> +I hope this description of what the writer calls +"A Merry Crew, the Common Singing-men in +Cathedrall Churches," is not a true description +of the great body of such choirs at the time, but +it is worth quoting. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +<i>The Common Singing-men in Cathedral Churches</i> +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Are a bad Society, and yet a Company of good +Fellowes, that roare deep in the Quire, deeper in +the Taverne. They are the eight parts of speech, +which goe to the Syntaxis of Service, and are +distinguish't by their noyses much like Bells, for they +make not a Consort but a Peale. Their pastime or +recreation is prayers, their exercise drinking, yet +herein so religiously addicted that they serve God +oftest when they are drunke. Their humanity is a +legge [=consists in a bow] to the Residencer, their +learning a Chapter, for they learne it commonly +before they read it, yet the old Hebrew names are +little beholden to them, for they mis-call them +worse then one another. Though they never +expound the Scripture, they handle it much, and +pollute the Gospell with two things, their +Conversation and their thumbes. Upon worky-dayes they +behave themselves at Prayers as at their pots, for +they swallow them downe in an instant. Their +Gownes are lac'd [=streaked] commonly with +steamings of ale, the superfluities of a cup or +throat above measure. Their skill in melody +makes them the better companions abroad, and +their Anthemes abler to sing Catches. Long liv'd +for the most part they are not, especially the base, +they overflow their banke so oft to drowne the +Organs. Briefly, if they escape arresting, they dye +constantly in God's Service; and to take their +death with more patience, they have Wine and +Cakes at their Funerall: and now they keepe the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P47"></a>47}</span> +Church a great deale better, and helpe to fill it with +their bones as before with their noyse. +</p> + +<p> +This quotation must not be taken too seriously. +Earle's book was written when he was a young +man, probably under the inspiration of +Casaubon's translation of the fourth-century +Theophrastus' <i>Characters</i> published in 1592. It +consists of 77 "Characters," some of them serious +studies, and others, such as the above, humorous +or satirical sketches, not intended to be true +representations, yet containing a basis of truth. +Richard Baxter, writing to Earle, says: "In +charity, and gentleness, and peaceableness of +mind, you are very eminent." +</p> + +<p> +A very unusual adventure is chronicled as +having taken place on St Peter's Day, 1620: +"Eveseed, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, did +violently and sodenly without cause runne upon +Mr Gibbons, took him up and threw him down +upon a Standard whereby he received such hurt +that he is not yet recovered of the same, and +withal he tare the band from his neck to his +prejudice and disgrace." +</p> + +<p> +In 1625 Gibbons had to compose and direct the +music for the reception at Canterbury of Henrietta +Maria, on the occasion of her marriage with +Charles I. It was to be his last commission, for +he died on Whitsunday, June 5th. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P48"></a>48}</span> +</p> + +<p> +With regard to his death, we have always been +led to believe that he died of small-pox—all the +histories, including the admirable Grove's +<i>Dictionary</i>, have taught us so. Mr W. Barclay +Squire, of the British Museum, has, however, +shown this to be incorrect. In a letter, which he +found among the State Papers, from Sir Albertus +Morton to Lord Edward Conway, and endorsed +"Mr Secretary Morton, touching the Musician +that dyed at Canterburie and supposed to have +died of the plague," a medical certificate is +enclosed signed by Drs Poe and Domingo, stating +that his sickness was at first "lethargicall" +followed by convulsions: "he grew apoplecticall +and so died"—thus refuting the small-pox +theory in favour of apoplexy. +</p> + +<p> +His portrait is in the collection at Oxford, +and a fine monument with an excellent bust was +erected in Canterbury Cathedral by the +composer's widow. +</p> + +<p> +It was my privilege to suggest and organize a +Musical Festival of Gibbons' works in +Westminster Abbey in 1907. Some of his finest +Church music was given by a very large choir, +and a beautiful replica in black marble of the bust +of the composer, which is in Canterbury Cathedral, +was unveiled. It has always seemed to me a +reflection upon the Abbey that no memorial to +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P49"></a>49}</span> +the greatest of its organists—save Purcell—should +be found there. This Festival created very +great interest, and brought a munificent offer +from Mr Crews, a well-known amateur and +Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, +to defray the expense of a bust of the celebrated +organist. It is well placed in close proximity +to the memorials of his worthy successors, +Blow, Purcell, and Croft. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P50"></a>50}</span></p> + +<h3> +VI. RICHARD DEERING +</h3> + +<h4> +1580 (?)—1630 +</h4> + +<p> +In considering the careers and works of the first +five musicians on my list of twelve, I have, it +is true, been treating of men whose names are +to be found in all musical histories. But of the +next name on my list I am able to say I am on +comparatively new ground. There is nothing so +surprising to me as the universal neglect—nay, I +may even use the word disdain—with which +musical historians of many periods have treated +the name of Richard Deering. In common with +most people of my own age I knew very little +about this composer, and certainly in common +with, I venture to say, all my contemporaries, +I never heard a note of his music until a few +years ago. +</p> + +<p> +The story of my awakening to the real merits +of this admirable composer is simple. Looking +over the music in the Chapter Library at +Westminster, I found among many fine collections of +Madrigals—original copies, mostly published in +the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries—two +sets of Latin Motets in 5 and 6 parts by +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P51"></a>51}</span> +Richard Deering. They were bound up in +covers made out of an illuminated MS. On +looking at the bindings, our late Dean, Dr +Armitage Robinson (always interested in the +Library, and also, I may add, in my musical +researches) found that they were part of the +Wedding Service of the fourteenth century. +The binding was promptly taken off, the Deering +books rebound, and handed on to me. I +proceeded to score some of the first book—published +in 1617—and had not done many bars before it +was plain I was indeed about to unearth a +treasure. Full of beautiful Harmony and Contrapuntal +devices with examples of melodic progressions, new +and original, these works were speedily brought +to a hearing at my Gresham Lectures, and, with +as little delay as possible, edited (with English +translations), published, and introduced into +the Abbey Services. Since then many Cathedrals +and great Churches have used them. The Bach +Choir has performed some of them, and Deering's +fame has, I hope, been re-established! +</p> + +<p> +I may say, before proceeding to give details of +Deering's career, that nearly a hundred years ago +an effort was made by a musical amateur to get +these Motets scored. By a curious chance I have +come into the possession of letters which passed +between the owner of copies of these fine things +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P52"></a>52}</span> +and Mr Sale of Westminster Abbey. The owner +was the Rev Thomas Streatfeild, Vicar of Chart +Edge, a well-known Kentish antiquary, and he +came into possession—probably at a sale of some +of the old Deering books—of a set of parts of these +Motets. He applied to Mr Sale (a very prominent +member of the musical profession, a Lay-Vicar +of Westminster Abbey and a principal singer at +the "Ancient Concerts") to get these Motets +scored for him. A letter from Sale's daughter +apologizes for delay, and says "her father does +not think it will be worth while to go to any great +expense, as he has tried some parts of it (<i>i.e.</i> the +music of the Motets) with some who are used to +and admire that ancient style of music and they +do not form a very high opinion of it!" Curiously +enough, a few bars in score of one of the +most beautiful Motets was enclosed with a note +from a copyist saying that it would take much +time and be very expensive. So Deering's Motets +were laid to rest again for nearly 100 years. I +may add Mr Sale was the music instructor to +Queen Victoria when she was a child. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Streatfeild's copies of the 1617 Motets +(<i>uncut!</i>) were sold (at his death) by auction, and +fetched £4 16s. 0d. +</p> + +<p> +The neglect of Deering is certainly extraordinary. +He was, as usual, absurdly criticized +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P53"></a>53}</span> +by Dr Burney, who spoke of his music as "very +sober, innocent, psalmodic, dry, and +uninteresting," and further he "was never able to +discern in any of his works a single stroke of +genius, either in his melody or modulation." And +Sir Frederick Ouseley actually writes of his +style as "severe and correct, but very dry"! +These verdicts amaze me! They are absolutely +untrue, at least as regards Deering's great works, +his Motets. I question if Burney or Ouseley ever +heard one of them. They may have founded their +opinion upon some of his less important works, +published by Playford some 30 or 40 years after +Deering's death, which Playford himself does not +vouch for as being certainly by Deering. And, as +regards Deering's Fancies, I can hardly believe +either Burney or Ouseley had any real +knowledge of them, for one which I produced at a +University Lecture in 1912 was of a high order +of merit. +</p> + +<p> +That Deering was appreciated at his proper +value by his contemporaries is apparent from +the way in which Peacham, in his <i>Compleat +Gentleman</i> (1622) couples his name with others +"for depth of skill and quickness of concept." Almost +the only bit of information which historians +tell us is that "Cromwell was very fond +of his music," and that John Kingston, the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P54"></a>54}</span> +organist, with two of his boys, often sang +Deering's music to the Protector. The mention of +"two boys" points to the Two-part Motets as +being the music performed—not, of course, to +the Motets for five or six voices. Mace in +his <i>Musick's Monument</i> (1676) mentions Deering's +<i>Gloria Patri</i> and other of his Latin settings. +</p> + +<p> +I must now turn to the personal history of this +good musician. +</p> + +<p> +Richard Deering was descended from an +ancient family—the Deerings of the County of +Kent. The branch from which Richard Deering +traces his descent was the one headed by +William Deering of Petworth, in co. Sussex, and +his wife, Eleanor Dyke. The Deering of this +sketch was the son of Henry Deering of Liss, +near Petworth, by the Lady Elizabeth Grey. +He died in 1630. +</p> + +<p> +It is stated by Anthony Wood that Deering was +"bred up in Italy, where he obtained the name +of a most admirable musician. After his return +he practised his Faculty for some time in England, +where his name being highly cried up, became +after many entreaties, Organist to the English +Nuns living at Brussels." It is not easy to +discover anything about Deering's Italian life or +work. My friend, the Rev Dr Spooner Lillingston, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P55"></a>55}</span> +made some Inquiries for me in Italy, and is +kind enough to write as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"The Earl of Kent's family (of which Deering's +mother was a member) remained Catholic for +many years, and this family, half a century +before, seem to have intermarried with certain of +the Italian nobility. Lady Elizabeth Grey does +not appear in any record of the Greys of Kent. +May not Deering's mother have been of Italian +extraction? Hence his Catholic religion and +Italian training." +</p> + +<p> +As to his Italian sojourn Dr Spooner Lillingston +continues: "There is no record of his first +Communion at St John Lateran, so probably he +did not go to Italy until about ten years of age, +all such records of First Communions made in +Italy being registered at St John's Lateran." Dr +Lillingston also tells us there is a record of an +8-part Motet by Deering having been performed +in one of the Churches, the title being <i>O quam +Gloriosa</i>. +</p> + +<p> +That Deering studied hard and composed while +in Italy seems pretty certain. Judged from an +observation in his "Dedication" of the 1617 +Motets it would appear that it was in Rome that +he wrote them. In this dedication he speaks of +having composed them in the chief city of the +world. I cannot help thinking that "the chief +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P56"></a>56}</span> +city of the world" to Deering—a Catholic—was Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Almost the first fact of which we have very +certain knowledge in connection with his life in +England is the "Supplication" which he made +for the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford, in +April, 1610. In answer to an inquiry, the Keeper +of the Archives said that there is a record of +Deering's supplication, and it is stated that his +plea is granted "providing he shall have +composed a work of eight parts for the next +'Act.'" Dr Scott, the learned custodian of our Abbey +Muniments for many years, made some inquiries +for me on this matter, and gives the following +note which he had apparently received from +Oxford: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"Supplicateth in like manner Richard Deering, +a scholar most highly trained in music, of Christ +Church, forasmuch as he hath spent ten years in +the study and practise of music, that this may +suffice for him to be admitted to the lectures of the +music of Boethius." +</p> + +<p> +The statement by Deering that he had spent +"ten years in the study and practise of +music" absolutely disposes of the legend, so often +repeated, that Deering published a set of 5-part +Motets in Antwerp, in 1597. I have always +entirely doubted that this had any foundation in +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P57"></a>57}</span> +fact. I believe it is a misprint for 1617, and it +was not likely twenty years would elapse between +the publication of two sets of Motets by so prolific +a composer. "Ten years" makes the date of +Deering's <i>studies</i> to begin in 1600, so he could not +have published in 1597. I am glad to be able to +correct this error on the authority of the Master +himself. +</p> + +<p> +It is very amusing, and rather annoying, to see +how the musical historians have copied from one +another the most untrue statements about +Deering. Burney, Hawkins, and Mr Husk in the first +edition of Grove's <i>Dictionary</i>, <i>all</i> give 1597 +instead of 1617; and Burney and Hawkins say +he was forced to leave England when the troubles +of Charles I began. Hawkins says he was Organist +to Henrietta Maria until <i>she</i> was compelled to +leave England. The fact is Deering was dead +before all this! He returned to England as +Organist to Henrietta Maria in 1625, and died +in 1630. +</p> + +<p> +But space would fail me to point out more of +the absurd statements about this musician. Let +me rather now turn to his greatest contribution to +our musical treasures. +</p> + +<p> +I leave for a time further comment upon his +work in England, and proceed to consider his +magnificent Motets. It appears that on the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P58"></a>58}</span> +invitation of the English nuns at Brussels he +proceeded to that city and became Organist to +the Convent. It was whilst there that he +published in 1617 his fine series of <i>Cantiones Sacrae</i> +for five voices; this was issued from the press of +Peter Phalese in Antwerp. There are 18 Motets, +all to Latin words, for five voices, and "Basso +Continuo" for Organ. +</p> + +<p> +I have already spoken of the way I made +acquaintance with these masterpieces. It is very +gratifying to find the increased favour with +which they are received and the frequent +performance of them by great choirs. The ignorant +accounts of them which I have quoted shake +one's faith in the opinion of such writers on other +musical works. +</p> + +<p> +The first set of Motets was dedicated to a +remarkable personage, Sir William Stanley,[<a id="chap06fn1text"></a><a href="#chap06fn1">1</a>] and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P59"></a>59}</span> +the Preface is so interesting I feel justified in +giving it (with the title-page). The original +Dedication is in Latin, but I give it in a translation.[<a id="chap06fn2text"></a><a href="#chap06fn2">2</a>] +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P60"></a>60}</span> +</p> + +<p> +In the second set, published in 1618, Deering +claims to have written in the Madrigalian style. +It looks as if he had tried to imitate the Madrigals +he had heard, and to adapt some of the phrases +to sacred words. I do not think the second set +is as good as the first. But there are some very +fine things in it, one of the best being "Silence +prevailed in Heaven," a dramatic account of St +Michael's war with the Dragon. I have had this +printed, and it produces a splendid effect, and +hope in time to restore to life many more of +these unknown and really beautiful masterpieces. +</p> + +<p> +I have not space to chronicle all Deering's +musical works. But I must conclude this notice +by some account of his secular music, and, more +particularly, his remarkable <i>Humorous Fancy, +The Crycs of London</i>. This is the third of these +interesting Fancies which I have had the +opportunity of recovering from oblivion. I have +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P61"></a>61}</span> +already in the case of Weelkes and Gibbons +explained the circumstances attending this recovery. +Deering's <i>Fancy</i> is the most elaborate of the +three, and, besides a number of <i>Cryes</i> which the +other musicians omitted, he has preserved to us +some most interesting and charming Tradesmen's +Songs—those of the Swepe, the Blacking-seller, +the Vendor of Garlick, the Rat-catcher, and the +Tooth-drawer. The whole <i>Fancy</i> is full of life, +and shows Deering to be both dramatic and +humourous. This work (and a similar one on +<i>Country Cryes</i>) were written before he left +England for Brussels, as the copy in the British +Museum was made 1616. +</p> + +<p> +There are a few Anthems scattered about in +various Libraries, but as a Catholic his contributions +to English Cathedral music would, no doubt, +be few. Some are to be found in Durham +Cathedral Library. On the marriage of Charles I, he +was appointed Organist to the Queen Henrietta +Maria. On July 11th, 1628, his name appears +in a list of musicians in ordinary to the King, +and he was evidently a member of the King's +Private Band. +</p> + +<p> +Most historians have stated that he lived to +1657, but this is just as incorrect as their other +statements concerning Deering and his music. +I have devoted much time to the elucidation of +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P62"></a>62}</span> +the history and the reproduction of his work, and +feel in doing this I have helped to restore to +his rightful place one of the greatest English +musicians of the 17th, or indeed of any, century. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap06fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap06fn1text">1</a>] Sir William Stanley was a Roman Catholic and a very +extraordinary man. I think the following account from the +<i>Dictionary of National Biography</i> will be of interest. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +Sir W. Stanley, Adventurer, one of the Cheshire Stanleys. +He served in the Netherlands under Alva. He quitted the +Spanish service in 1570 and served in Ireland under +Elizabeth, and later on was appointed Sheriff of Cork. He was +very severe on the rebels and he reported he had hanged +300 of them and so terrified the rest that "a man might +now travel the whole country and no one molest him." He +thought he was not properly rewarded, and later on was +guilty of treachery. He was, of course, Roman Catholic +and greatly in the confidence of the Jesuits. He actually +went to Spain to advise the best method of conquering +England. He recommended that Ireland should be made the +basis of operations, and that troops should disembark at +Milford Haven rather than at Portsmouth. When Elizabeth +died Stanley sent no less a person than Guy Fawkes, his +subaltern officer, with an emissary of Catesby to Spain, to +warn Philip against James. There is no evidence that he +was concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, but he was placed +under arrest at Brussels on suspicion of being concerned in it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +He spent the latter part of his life in complete obscurity. +In 1616 he contributed largely to a Jesuit College of Liége, +and was Governor of Mechlin. He sought in vain for +permission to return to England, and died at Ghent in 1630, +and was honoured with a magnificent public funeral. He +married Elizabeth, daughter of John Egerton of Egerton, +who was buried in Mechlin Cathedral, in 1614. The male line +of the Stanleys of Horton became extinct by the death of the +twelfth baronet Sir John Stanley-Errington in 1883. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap06fn2"></a> +[<a href="#chap06fn2text">2</a>] Cantiones Sacrae for 5 Voices<br /> + with Basso Continuo for Organ.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +by<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +RICHARD DEERING, Englishman,<br /> +Organist to the venerable<br /> +English Nuns in the Monastery<br /> +of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Brussels.<br /> +Antwerp.<br /> +at the house of Peter Phalese<br /> +1617.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<i>Dedication</i> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +To Sir William Stanley, Knight, renewed at home and in +Military life, Councillor at war to the most honourable and +invincible Catholic King, his most worshipful Lord. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +For long my Music has desired to come forward. She is +not unpolished (for she was born in the first City of the World) +but she is modest. For it is customary with new men, +especially those that are bashful, not to bring their offspring +however excellent to the light, until they find some +distinguished man, whose approval if they win, they need fear +neither the abuse of rivals nor the criticism of the ignorant. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +But what patron should my music choose in preference +to your lordship? When permitted to relax your mind from +military cares, you think no delight, no pleasure greater +than music. To music you give the chief place after war, +in which none surpass you. Therefore let my child go forth +with you for its patron. If you are the first to smile upon +it as it takes its first modest steps, you will give it wonderful +courage, for greater things. Live, flourish and conquer. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +In War we long for Peace; Peace endeth wars,<br /> +Music makes jocund Peace to know no jars.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +Your most obedient servant,<br /> + R. Deering.<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P63"></a>63}</span></p> + +<h3> +VII. JOHN MILTON +</h3> + +<h4> +1553—1646-7 +</h4> + +<p> +To many the name of John Milton will hardly +suggest a musical composer. And yet I am able +to include this name—the name of the father of +the poet—among the band of "Good Musicians" +whose careers and works I am considering. I +have always felt greatly interested in him and +desired to find out all I could of his personal +history, and particularly of his musical +education, for undoubtedly in the elder Milton we have +a really accomplished musician. We are told he +educated his distinguished son in music, and that +he had an organ in his house. +</p> + +<p> +Dr Burney gives a very good and concise +account of him, upon which I cannot improve +and from which I venture to quote. (Burney, +Vol. III, p. 134): +</p> + +<p> +"We come now to John Milton, the father of +our great poet, who though a scrivener by +profession, was a voluminous composer, and equal in +science, if not genius, to the best musicians of his +age: in conjunction and on a level with whom, +his name and works appeared in numerous musical +publications of the time, particularly in those of +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P64"></a>64}</span> +old Wilbye; in the <i>Triumphs of Oriana</i> published +by Morley; in Ravenscroft's <i>Psalms</i>; in the +<i>Lamentations</i> published by Sir William Leighton; +and in MS. collections, still in the possession of +the curious. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Warton, in his Notes upon Milton's <i>Poems +on Several Occasions</i>, tells us, from the MS. <i>Life +of the Poet</i> by Aubrey, the antiquary, in the +Mus. Ashm. Oxon, that Milton's father, though +a "scrivener," was not apprenticed to that +trade, having been bred a scholar and of Christ +Church, Oxford; and that he took to trade in +consequence of being disinherited. +</p> + +<p> +His son celebrates his musical abilities in an +admirable Latin poem, <i>Ad Patrem</i>, where, alluding +to his father's musical science, he says that +Apollo had divided his favours in the sister arts +between them; giving Music to the father and +Poetry to the son. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Nor blame, Oh much-lov'd sire! the sacred Nine,<br /> +Who thee have honour'd with such gifts divine;<br /> +Who taught thee how to charm the list'ning throng,<br /> +With all the sweetness of a siren's song;<br /> +Blending such tones as every breast inflame<br /> +And made thee heir to great Orion's fame.<br /> +By blood united, and by kindred arts,<br /> +On each Apollo his refulgence darts:<br /> +To thee points out the magic power of sound,<br /> +To me the mazes of poetic ground;<br /> +And fostered thus by his parental care,<br /> +We equal seem Divinity to share." (<i>Translation</i>).<br /> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P65"></a>65}</span> +</p> + +<p> +The elder Milton was born in 1553, and is said +to have been in the choir of Christ Church, +Oxford. His father was a Roman Catholic, and +it is said he disinherited his son for abjuring the +Catholic faith. The son went to London, and +became a member of the Scriveners Company +(1599-1600). In 1632 he retired to Horton, in +Buckinghamshire, having made a considerable +fortune. In London he lived in Bread Street, +where John Milton, the poet, was born. He +contributed an admirable six-part Madrigal to +<i>The Triumphs of Oriana</i> (1601), Motets to +Leighton's <i>Teares and Lamentations</i> (1614), and Tunes +to Ravenscroft's <i>Psalter</i> (1621). There are +various Anthems and Fancies in five and six parts in +MS. in various libraries. +</p> + +<p> +Now here is a man who contributed to three +or four important musical publications, and was +included in a list of the best known +English composers. Had he been a professional +musician he could not have done more. But we +know he was a scrivener. What was he before +he became a scrivener? and whence did he get his +musical knowledge? If we could prove that the +suggestion is true which makes him a Chorister at +Christ Church, Oxford, we should know where +he probably got his musical knowledge and +his proficiency in Latin. But this information +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P66"></a>66}</span> +seems to be impossible of proof. For the purpose +of these Lectures I have devoted a good deal of +time to this subject. Dr Strong, the Dean of +Christ Church, now Bishop of Ripon, has been +kind enough to look into the matter very +carefully, and he writes me the following interesting +letter: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Christ Church,<br /> + Oxford.<br /> + June 25, 1919.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="block"> +My dear Bridge, +</p> + +<p class="block"> +I am sorry to say that I cannot discover +anything about Mr. John Milton, Senior. We have +here a very important series of books called +Disbursement books. These contain a sort of +summary statement of the payments made under +various heads. But what makes them of interest +is that all the members of the Foundation, from +the Dean down to the cook, received their payments +through the Treasurer and signed a receipt for them +in the book. So there is a whole list of signatures +beginning about 1570 and going down (with the +exception of the Civil War period) to about 1830, +when new methods were adopted. It is always +possible to discover by this who held each office, +and whether they were in residence on a particular +day. Unfortunately, they do not go back beyond +1570. I searched through a volume in hopes that +Mr. Milton or the organist might be among the +signatories. The singing-men and even the +choristers are there. But apparently at that time there +was no organist, and certainly there is no allusion +to Milton or any names such as you want, I think. +It is a great pity we have not got the books from the +beginning: the first 23 years would have been very +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P67"></a>67}</span> +useful. Also, my matriculation book, which is in +this house, is very inaccurate and incomplete for +the earlier years. I am afraid, therefore, I cannot +help you as regards Mr. Milton. You will +understand how very interesting these signatures are +when I say that in the volumes I looked at the +other day I found a whole series of signatures of +Richard Hakluyt the geographer, who was a student +of the House. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Yours very sincerely,<br /> + THOMAS B. STRONG.<br /> +</p> + +<p> +It is very unfortunate that the records in +Christ Church do not exist before 1570. But it +may be remarked, if Milton the elder was born in +1553, he would be seventeen in 1570, and would +therefore certainly have left the choir of Christ +Church, if he ever belonged to it; and this, of +course, before the entries began. As to this +matter, there are one or two facts brought out in +<i>Notes and Queries</i> some years since which bear +upon it. +</p> + +<p> +Richard Milton, the grandfather of the poet, +although a Roman Catholic, appears to have been +Churchwarden of the Parish (Stanton St John) +in 1552. Mr Allnutt, of Oxford, who contributed +this bit of historical knowledge, writes: "Does +this render it less probable that the Poet's +grandfather was Richard Milton of Stanton, or are +other instances known of Roman Catholics +serving the office of Churchwarden under the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P68"></a>68}</span> +Protestant regime of the period?" (<i>N. & Q.</i>, +Feby. 1880; W. H. Allnutt, Oxford.) +</p> + +<p> +In the same paper, a little later, Mr Hyde +Clarke writes on the subject of Milton's father +being a choir-boy at Christ Church: "My Oxford +and other correspondents, including Mr Mark +Pattison, the eloquent critic of the Poet, who has +laboured in this investigation have looked +unfavourably on my proposition (<i>i.e.</i> that he was a +Chorister of Christ Church), because they +consider the Roman Catholic <i>recusant</i> can never have +sent his son to any heretical school. An answer +is now given in my favour by Mr. Allnutt, because +if in 1552 Richard Milton could serve as +Churchwarden, the other matter of providing a +scholarship for his son was but a small one. It is +further probable that Richard Milton became a +confirmed Roman Catholic only in his later +years."—Hyde Clarke. +</p> + +<p> +I think it is quite possible and even very +probable that Milton's father learnt his music at +Christ Church. Then who taught him? +Whoever it was, he turned out a thoroughly good +musician. Milton's own compositions prove it, +and, as we have seen, he is associated with all the +best English composers of the period in more than +one work. Coming to London, we are told he had +an organ and other instruments in his house and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P69"></a>69}</span> +to the practice of music he devoted his leisure. +Masson says: "His special faculty was music, +and it is possible on his first coming to London +he had taught or practised music professionally." He +was evidently in the musical world of London, +and his house was probably the resort of many of +the best musicians of the time. +</p> + +<p> +The short Motet for <i>Teares and Lamentations</i> is +in a good contrapuntal style, with many devices +which a man would use if he had been educated +in a Cathedral Choir. The style had "eaten into +his marrow," as old Sir John Goss once said to +me, in reference to a Chorister's daily musical work. +</p> + +<p> +Another interesting matter is Milton's +contribution to Ravenscroft's <i>Whole Book of Psalms</i>, +published in 1621. Here are found two tunes +credited to John Milton, but I think there is no +doubt they were merely harmonized by him. +The best one is a tune still often sung in our +Churches—entitled <i>York</i>: this seems to be an +old Scottish tune; it was published in +Edinburgh in 1615. It appears three times in +Ravenscroft's book and with different harmonies, two of +them being by the elder Milton. The melody in +this tune is, of course, given to the tenor, as was +the custom at this time. The tune has always +been a favourite, and an old author says that "it +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P70"></a>70}</span> +was so well known that half the nurses in England +used to sing the tenor part as a lullaby." +</p> + +<p> +This sounds rather startling! One would not +believe that any baby could be put to sleep by +hearing the tenor part of any hymn-tune. But +the tenor part here is the melody, and really it has +a gentle, swaying style about it, so that I, for one, +believe the story of the Nurses and the Babies! +</p> + +<p> +The melody is given in <i>English Country Songs</i> +edited by Miss Broadwood and Mr Fuller +Maitland, allied to some amusing words. +</p> + +<p> +Although we cannot claim the elder Milton as +a musician who did much to advance the art, I +think I may be forgiven for having included his +name in my list. So little is said about him in +musical histories, and I have been able, I think, +to get together some comparatively unknown +matter regarding him, that I hope I have done +right in giving a place among my Twelve Good +Musicians to John Milton the elder. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P71"></a>71}</span></p> + +<h3> +VIII. HENRY LAWES +</h3> + +<h4> +1595—1662 +</h4> + +<p> +In Henry Lawes we have a subject of particular +interest. No musician of the 17th or probably +of any century, has been so praised by the +poets, and few musicians of reputation have +been so disdainfully treated by the old musical +historians. I think we shall find Henry Lawes +worthy of inclusion amongst the Twelve Good +Musicians with whom I am dealing. His life +was a chequered one. He lived in troublous +days, and in an era of great changes in the +political and musical worlds. Born in 1595, +at Dinton, in Wiltshire, he became a pupil +of Giovanni Coperario (or John Cooper, to give +him his English name), and I think this had a +considerable influence on the direction which his +compositions took, and about which I shall say +more later. We find him a Gentleman of the +Chapel Royal in 1625, and later on a Gentleman +of the Private Music to King Charles the First. +On the breaking out of the Rebellion, he lost his +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P72"></a>72}</span> +posts, and employed himself principally in +teaching singing. He lived a long life; long enough +to see the Restoration, and to compose the +Coronation Anthem for King Charles the Second, dying +in 1662. +</p> + +<p> +Lawes' contributions to English music begin +with the Masque. The earliest date seems to be +1633-4, when he set the songs in a Masque written +by Thomas Carew, entitled <i>Coelum Britannicum</i>. +This was written at the particular invitation of +the King, and performed for the first time at +Whitehall. +</p> + +<p> +The poem was published in 1634 and was +wrongly attributed to Sir William Davenant. +Another Masque, by James Shirley, <i>The Triumph +of Peace</i>, was produced in the same year, Lawes +and another well-known musician, Simon Ives, +writing the music, for which they received the +sum of £100. The following year saw the +production of <i>Comus</i>, the greatest of Masques. It +will be seen that Lawes differed from most of our +English Composers in devoting himself, at the +outset of his career, almost exclusively to the +stage. I cannot help thinking this is to be +explained by the fact that he was not educated +in a Cathedral Choir, but was a pupil of Giovanni +Coperario. Now this musician had an experience +which few of his contemporaries enjoyed. He +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P73"></a>73}</span> +studied in Italy—going there as plain John +Cooper and returning to his native country as +Giovanni Coperario. His sojourn in Italy was +at a remarkable time; the time when the first +Opera and the first Oratorio were given. It is +very interesting to be told—and I have been told +on the authority of my friend Rev. Spooner +Lillingston—that among the names given in a +certain record of the performance of the first +Opera was found that of the Englishman, +Giovanni Coperario. This seems to me to be an +important fact. Lawes would come under the +influence of Coperario, who, with his love for +Italian music and experience of the beginning +of Opera would, no doubt, help Lawes to take +up the music of the stage, instead of the music +of the Church. +</p> + +<p> +Our composer was not, however, long before +he embarked on some Church music by setting +<i>A Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David</i> by +George Sandys, and also contributing another +volume of tunes to <i>Church Psalms</i>, in which +he was joined by his clever brother William, +who was, later on, killed at the siege of Chester. +</p> + +<p> +Among the commendatory poems prefixed to +this volume was the well-known sonnet by +Milton addressed to Lawes, beginning: +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P74"></a>74}</span> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Harry, whose tuneful and well measured Song<br /> +First taught our English musick how to span<br /> +Words with just note and accent——<br /> +</p> + +<p> +He was a prolific writer of songs and Masque-music, +but his great opportunity was in writing +the music and producing Milton's <i>Masque of +Comus</i>, at Ludlow, in 1634. Milton was a +friend, and I think there is no doubt a pupil in +music of Lawes. Milton's father had much +music in his house in Bread Street, and no doubt, +Lawes was among the eminent musicians who +gathered there. When Milton's father removed +to Horton, in Buckinghamshire, we are told that +the young Milton came up to London to receive +instruction in music, as well as in other things. +It was Lawes who apparently got Milton to +write the Masque, which he desired to produce at +Ludlow Castle in September 1634. The story of +Comus and its origin is so well known that I need +not dwell upon it. The music of the Masque +was not published in the composer's life-time, +but, curiously enough, it was Lawes who edited +Milton's Poem in 1637. This was published +without the name of the poet appearing[<a id="chap08fn1text"></a><a href="#chap08fn1">1</a>], and was +dedicated to Viscount Brackly, one of those who +took part in the performance at Ludlow. In the +dedication Lawes says: "Although not openly +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P75"></a>75}</span> +acknowledged by the Author, yet it is legitimate +offspring, so lovely, and so much to be desired, +that the often copying of it hath tired my pen +to give my several friends satisfaction, and +brought me to the necessity of producing it to +the public view." +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately we have only five songs of the +original music. There are a great number of +places in the Masque for which Milton desires +music—and many directions for instrumental +movements particularly. What these were we +do not know. The merits of Lawes' music have +been decried, but having edited the <i>Comus</i> +music, after careful correction from Lawes' +original MS., which I was fortunate enough to be +able to see[<a id="chap08fn2text"></a><a href="#chap08fn2">2</a>], I am confident that all who hear +it will find the songs full of beauty and +expression, and well worthy of the words to which +they were so admirably fitted. +</p> + +<p> +I must not dwell longer upon <i>Comus</i>, for there +is much to be said about Lawes' other work. +</p> + +<p> +Playford was a great patron and admirer of +Lawes. He published no fewer than three +books of <i>Ayres and Dialogues</i>, which contain +some charming settings of excellent poetry. +The first book of <i>Ayres</i> was dedicated to his +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P76"></a>76}</span> +pupils, Lady Alice Egerton and her sister, +daughters of Lord Bridgwater, and in it he says: +"No sooner had I thought of making these +public than I resolved upon inscribing them to your +Ladyships; most of them being composed when +I was employed by your ever honoured Parents +to attend your Ladyships' education in music." +</p> + +<p> +Lawes is often said to have "introduced the +Italian style of music into this kingdom," but +this is hardly correct. That he admired and +understood the Italian style is quite certain. +His studies with Coperario would have influenced +him in that direction, and he himself, in one of +his numerous Prefaces (and he was a great writer +of Prefaces), speaks of the Italians as being +great masters of music, but at the same time he +contends "that our own nation has produced +as many able musicians as any in Europe." He +laughs at the partiality of the age for songs +sung in a foreign language. In one of the +prefaces to his <i>Book of Ayres</i> he says: "This present +generation is so sated with what's native, that +nothing takes their ears but what's sung in a +Language which (commonly) they understand +as little as they do the music. And to make them +a little sensible of this ridiculous humour I took +a Table or Index of old Italian Songs (for one, +two, and three voyces), and this Index (which +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P77"></a>77}</span> +read together made a strange medley of +nonsense) I set to a varyed Ayre, and gave out that it +came from Italy, whereby it hath passed for a +<i>rare Italian song</i>. This very song I have since +printed." +</p> + +<p> +This shows him a real humorist, and it is, +I should suppose, the first real Comic Song! +It is set quite in the style of an Italian song, with +much declamation and with some charming +melodious phrases. I have often had it performed +at my Lectures, and when sung in Italian it is +listened to very stolidly, but when the English +translation is given it creates much hilarity. I +give the English translation, whereby it will be +seen it is indeed "a strange medley of nonsense." +</p> + +<p> +The title is given in Lawes' book as <i>Tavola</i> +(i.e. a Table or Index): +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<i>Tavola.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +In that frozen heart .... (for one voice)<br /> +Weep, my lady, weep, and if your eyes .... (for two voices)<br /> +'Tis ever thus, ev'n when you seem to sive me,<br /> +Truly you scorn me.<br /> +Unhappy, unbelieving,<br /> +Alas! of splendour yet!<br /> +But why, oh why? from the pallid lips<br /> +And so my life .... (for three voices).<br /> +</p> + +<p> +There is no doubt Lawes was a well-educated +man, and it was certainly one of the reasons +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P78"></a>78}</span> +why he set words with "just note and accent," +and obtained the great praise of so many +contemporary poets. It is said he never set bad +poetry[<a id="chap08fn3text"></a><a href="#chap08fn3">3</a>]; and he set songs to Italian, to Spanish, +and even to Greek words. An interesting fact +in connection with his love for good poetry is +given in J. P. Collier's <i>Catalogue of Early +English Literature in the Bridgwater House Library</i>, +1837. Amongst the books catalogued is a +volume of poems by Francis Beaumont, which +was presented to the Earl of Bridgwater by +Henry Lawes. The following inscription is +found fastened to the cover: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +For the Right Honble. John, Earl of Bridgwater, +my most honoured Lord, from his Lordship's most +humble servant +</p> + +<p class="block"> + Henry Lawes.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The Earl of Bridgwater is the Nobleman for +whom <i>Comus</i> was produced. +</p> + +<p> +Lawes was a real champion of English music +and English musicians, and certainly understood +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P79"></a>79}</span> +what he was writing about. Although somewhat +lengthy, I really cannot refrain from giving +the Preface to one of his <i>Books of Ayres</i>, which +goes into this subject. It is both amusing and +improving, and deserves to be read by all. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +To all Understanders or Lovers of Musick. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +In my former you saw what temptations I had to +publish my Compositions: and now I had not +repeated that Error (if it prove to be one) but upon +the same grounds, back'd with a promise I made +to the World. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Though the civill Reception my last Book found +were sufficient invitation, for which I gladly here +offer my Thanks, especially to those worthy and +grateful Strangers, who are far more candid and +equall in their Censures than some new Judges of +our own Country, who (in spite of their starrs) will +sit and pronounce upon things they understand not. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +But this is the Fate of all mankind, to be +render'd less at home than abroad. For my part I +can say (and there are will believe me) that if any +man have low thoughts of mee, hee is of my opinion. +Yet the way of Composition I chiefly possess (which +is to shape Notes to the Words and Sense) is not +hit by too many: and I have been often sad to +observe some (otherwise able Musicians) guilty of +such Lapses and mistakes this way. And possibly +this is it makes many of us hear so ill abroad; which +works a Beleefe amongst ourselves, that English +words will not run well in Musick: This I have said, +and must ever avow, is one of the Errors of this +Generation. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +I confess I could wish that some of our words +could spare a Consonant (which must not be slur'd, +for fear of removing those Landmarks in spelling +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P80"></a>80}</span> +which tell their Originall); but those are very few, +and seldom occur; and when they do, are +manageable enough by giving each syllable its particular +humour; provided the breath of the sense be +observed. And (I speak it freely once for all) that +if English words which are fitted for song do not +run smooth enough 'tis the fault either of the +Composer or Singer. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Our English is so stor'd with plenty of Monosyllables +(which, like small stones, fill up the chinks) +that it hath great priviledge over divers of its +neighbours, and in some particulars (with reverence +be it spoken) above the very Latin, which Language +we find overcharg'd with the letter (S) especially in +(bus) and such hissing Terminations. But our new +Criticks lodge not the fault in our words only; +'tis the Artist they tax as a man unspirited for +forraign delights: which vanity so spreads, that +those our productions they please to like must +be born beyond the Alpes, and father'd upon +Strangers. And this is so notorious, that not long +since some young Gentlemen, who were not +untravell'd, hearing some Songs I had set to Italian +words (publickly sung by excellent voyces) +concluded those songs were begotten in Italy, and said +(too loud) "they would faine heare such songs to +be made by an Englishman." Had they layd their +sceane a little nearer home, there had been more +colour; for, a short Ayre of mine (neare 20 years +old) was lately reviv'd in our neighbour Nation, and +publickly sung to words of their own as a new +borne piece, without alteration of any one Note: +Tis the Ayre to those words, "Old Poets Hippocrene +admire etc." a sorry trifle (a man would think) +to be rais'd from the dead after 18 years burial. +But (to meet with this humour of lusting after +Novelties) a friend of mine told some of that +company, that a rare new Book was come from Italy, +which taught the reason why an Eighth was the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P81"></a>81}</span> +sweetest of all notes in Musick; because (said he) +Jubal who was Founder of Musick was the eighth +man from Adam; and this went down as current +as my songs came from Italy. I beg your pardon +for instancing such particulars. But there are +knowing persons, who have been long bred in those +worthily admired parts of Europe, who ascribe more +to us than we to ourselves; and able Musicians +returning from Travaill doe wonder to see us so +thirsty after Forraigners. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +For they can tell us (if we knew it not) that +Musick is the same in England as in Italy; the +Concords and Discords, the Passions, Spirits, +Majesty and Humours, are all the same they are in +England; their manner of composing is sufficiently +known to us, their best Compositions being brought +over hither by those who are able enough to choose. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +But we must not here expect to find Music at +the highest, when all Arts and Sciences are at so +low an ebbe. As for myself, although I have lost +my Fortunes with my Master (of ever blessed +Memory) I am not so low to bow for a subsistence +to the follies of this Age; and to humour such as +wil seem to understand our Art, better than we +that have spent our lives in it. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +If anything here bring you benefit or delight, I +have my design. I have printed the Greek in a +Roman Character for the ease of Musicians of +both sexes. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Farewell,<br /> + H. L.<br /> +</p> + +<p> +This is in the Second Book of <i>Ayres and Dialogues. +Dedicated to the Hon. the Lady Dering, wife +to Sir Edward Dering, Bart</i>. +</p> + +<p> +During the Civil War he appears to have lived +in London, composing and teaching. His +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P82"></a>82}</span> +compositions for the Church in the way of Anthems +were but few. As we have seen in his early +days, he preferred the stage, and during the +Commonwealth there was no inducement to +write Cathedral music. But the words of +several of his Anthems are to be found in +Clifford's <i>Divine Services and Anthems</i>, published +in 1666. +</p> + +<p> +In 1656 he joined Captain Cooke and others +in writing music for Davenant's <i>First Day's +Entertainment at Rutland House</i>, e.g., declamation +and music. A little later he assisted in the +production of <i>The Siege of Rhodes</i>, which Roger +North calls a semi-opera. +</p> + +<p> +This was produced during the Commonwealth, +and is of particular interest from the fact that +Purcell's father, Henry Purcell the elder, took +part in the performance. This is the first notice +we get of the Purcell family, about whom I hope +to say more in a later Lecture. It is an +interesting fact that the composer of the music to the +last important Masque (Milton's <i>Comus</i>) should +have helped also in what was apparently the +first English Opera.[<a id="chap08fn4text"></a><a href="#chap08fn4">4</a>] +</p> + +<p> +Lawes at the Restoration was re-appointed +to his Chapel Royal post, and composed the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P83"></a>83}</span> +Anthem <i>Zadok the Priest</i> for the Coronation of +Charles II. He did not long survive the revival +of his fortunes. He lived in the little Almonry +at Westminster, the block of ancient buildings +in which the Purcell family lived. He probably +knew the young Henry Purcell, then a child of +tender years, and one wonders if he detected +the musical genius of the little boy. +</p> + +<p> +We get a glimpse of him in his last days from +the <i>Diary</i> of Samuel Pepys, who, on December +30th, 1660, makes the following entry: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Mr. Child and I spent some time at the Lute, and +so promising to prick me some lessons to my theorbo +he went away to see Henry Lawes who lies very +sick.... I to the Abbey, and walked there, +seeing the great companies of people that come +there to hear the organs. +</p> + +<p> +The Coronation was in April, 1661, so Lawes +recovered from his illness, though he died the +following year. He was buried in the Cloisters +of Westminster Abbey though unfortunately +there is nothing to mark the spot of his +interment. I think it is probably in the "Little +Cloister" as Dr Wilson, a brother musician, +was interred there a few years later. +</p> + +<p> +In Henry and William Lawes we have "two +noble brothers" who deserve to be remembered +with affectionate respect. The portraits of both +are preserved at Oxford. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap08fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap08fn1text">1</a>] The Author's name first appeared in the 1645 edition. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap08fn2"></a> +[<a href="#chap08fn2text">2</a>] It is in the possession of the Rev. Dr Cooper Smith, and +is contained in a large volume of songs, all in the +handwriting of Lawes. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap08fn3"></a> +[<a href="#chap08fn3text">3</a>] One of his most beautiful songs, <i>The Lark</i>, contained a +curious misprint which I have been able to correct. The +song was printed by Playford, after Lawes' death, so he +could not correct the proofs. The second line stands +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +"While nights <i>shall be</i> shades abide."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +This always struck me as odd, and when I saw the original +in Dr Cooper Smith's book I looked for this line. It reads: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +"While night's <i>sable</i> shades abide."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +It has been reprinted many times with the typographical +error, but I hope it is now put right. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap08fn4"></a> +[<a href="#chap08fn4text">4</a>] It was in this performance that a woman (Mrs Coleman) +first appeared upon the dramatic stage in this country. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap09"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P84"></a>84}</span></p> + +<h3> +IX. MATTHEW LOCKE +</h3> + +<h4> +1630 (?)—1677 +</h4> + +<p> +A prominent personage in the seventeenth-century +musical world was Matthew Locke. +The exact date of his birth is not known, but it +was approximately 1630. Matthew Locke laid +the foundation of his art as a chorister in an +English Cathedral, and at Exeter there is +evidence that he occupied that position in 1638. +The evidence cannot be disputed, as it is graven +in the very fabric of the old Cathedral. The +embryo musician took the trouble, upon two +occasions, to inscribe his name upon the walls of +the Cathedral, together with the dates. Upon +the inner side of the old organ screen runs the +legend "Matthew Lock, 1638," and in a more +abbreviated form at a later date "M. L., 1641." +As a boy he seems to have been content with a +name of four letters <i>Lock</i>; in his later years he +always attached a final "e" to his patronymic. +At Exeter he had the advantage of being +trained by Edward Gibbons, brother of the great +Orlando, and, in addition to Gibbons' share in +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P85"></a>85}</span> +his training, he owed much to William Wake, +Organist, for whom he wrote one of his first +published works. +</p> + +<p> +The period following Locke's later +inscription—1641—was one not calculated to encourage +or foster the art of music; the country was in a +state of civil war, the soldiers of Cromwell +wrought sad havoc in the Cathedrals, and the +musical portions of those establishments came +in for no small share of their destroying wrath. +</p> + +<p> +At Westminster Abbey we are told "the +soldiers brake down the organs for pots of ale," +and the Cathedral at which Locke served his +pupilage fared very badly at the hands of the +Roundheads. +</p> + +<p> +It is natural, then, that during the stormy +times which marked that period we have little +intelligence concerning the doings of Locke. +We have the dates of some of his compositions, +one as early as 1651. The chief interest, +however, which attaches to his work between +1650 and 1660 is that it is so much connected +with the stage, and in that way marks the +progress towards the Opera, of the English form of +which Locke is sometimes credited with being +the originator. As instances of this kind of work +we might, perhaps, draw attention to his +association with Christopher Gibbons in Shirley's +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P86"></a>86}</span> +Masque <i>Cupid and Death</i> (1653), and the music +he wrote in 1656 for Davenant's <i>Siege of Rhodes</i>, +in the production of which he himself +shared—playing the part of the Admiral. Henry Lawes +wrote some of the music of this Opera, and +Purcell's father was one of the actors. +</p> + +<p> +The next item of importance that we have +concerning him is in the <i>Diary</i> of Samuel Pepys; +there, under date February 21st, 1659/60, we read: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here +met with Mr. Lock and Pursell, Master of Musique, +and with them to the Coffee House, into a room +next the Water by ourselves. Here we had a +variety of brave Italian and Spanish Songs, and a +Canon of eight voices which Mr. Locke had lately +made on these words 'Domine Salvum fac Regem,' +an admirable thing." +</p> + +<p> +This is a very interesting entry. It shows +Locke associated with Purcell's father; it gives +another instance of Mr Pepys never missing the +opportunity of cultivating the friendship of +good musicians, and, apart from the musical +side, as an historical matter of interest the words +of the Canon <i>Domine Salvum fac Regem</i> show +the feeling of loyalty towards the Crown which +ended in the Restoration; words which ten +years before it would have been a heresy to +utter. It may be pointed out that the entry +February, 1659, by the old way of reckoning, +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P87"></a>87}</span> +was really February, 1660, and therefore the +year of the Restoration. In the Ceremonies +connected with that great event Locke played +an important part; it was to his music for +<i>Sagbutts and Cornets</i> that the Royal Progress +was made, from the Tower to Whitehall, the day +before the Coronation 1661. As a reward he +was made "Composer in ordinary to His +Majesty," and "One of the Gentlemen of His +Majesty's Private Musick." +</p> + +<p> +For the next year or two he appears to have +been engaged in composition, both for Church +and stage; amongst the former may be +mentioned some Anthems, whilst his music for +Stapylton's <i>Stepmother</i> presents another instance +of his association with dramatic music. This +dramatic side of his nature may have been the +cause of Roger North's complaint that "he +sacrificed the 'old Style' for the modes of his +time" and of "his theatrical way." +</p> + +<p> +The year 1666, the year of the Fire of London, +is rather an important one in the consideration +of Locke's life. It introduces us to him in +another character, and that of a literary type. +As will be seen later, he was a scathing and +bitter critic of his detractors, and first gave +evidence of this quality in the year now under notice. +The cause of this outpouring of his wrath was +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P88"></a>88}</span> +the treatment a Kyrie of his composition had +received at the hands of the Chapel Royal choir. +It would appear that he had set the Kyrie in an +original way, giving different music to each +response; such an innovation did not meet with +the approval of the Choir, and they seem to have +given it rather a rough time. The result was +that Locke published it, and supplied a Preface +entitled "Modern Church Music; Pre-Accused, +Censured, and obstructed in its performance +before His Majesty, 1st of April, 1666. +Vindicated by its Author, Matthew Locke." Some +of his observations are very severe and abusive. +I give a small portion of the somewhat long and +windy preface. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"He is a slender observer of human actions who +finds not pride generally accompanied with +ignorance and malice, in what habit soever it wears. +In my case zeal was its vizor and innovation the +crime. The fact, changing the custom of the +Church by varying that which was ever sung in +one tune, and occasioning confusion in the Service +by its ill performance. That such defects should +take their rise from the difficulty or novelty of the +composition I utterly deny, the whole being a kind +of counterpoint, and no one change from the +beginning to the end but what naturally flows from, and +returns to the proper centre, the key". +</p> + +<p> +With regard to the Vindication, however +convincing it might be, I believe the Kyrie was not +performed again at the Royal Chapel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P89"></a>89}</span> +</p> + +<p> +Pepys refers to the incident in his <i>Diary</i> of +September 2nd, 1667, in which he says: "Spent +all the afternoon, Pelling, Howe and I and my +boy, singing of Locke's response to the ten +commandments, which he hath set very finely, and +was a good while since sung before the King, and +spoiled in the performance which occasioned +the printing them, and are excellent good." Mr +Pepys evidently sympathized with the lacerated +feelings of the injured author. +</p> + +<p> +I may say that some little time ago I edited +these <i>Kyries</i> and the <i>Creed</i>, and they have been +sung in the Abbey and in various Cathedrals. +The <i>Kyries</i> are, many of them, very tuneful, and +the whole setting of <i>Kyrie</i> and <i>Creed</i> does +Locke great credit. +</p> + +<p> +I have not space to dwell longer upon his +Church music, of which we have some excellent +specimens in the way of Anthems. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhat later he was appointed Organist +of the Chapel at Somerset House; this Chapel +was part of the establishment of Queen Catherine, +the Queen of Charles II, who throughout her +life remained a Roman Catholic. It would +appear from Roger North that Locke was not +altogether a success in this position. He says: +"Locke was organist of Somerset House Chapel +as long as he lived, but the Italian Masters that +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P90"></a>90}</span> +served there did not approve of his manner of +play; but must be attended by more polite +hands, and one while, one Signor Baptista +Sabancino, and afterwards Signor Baptista +Draghi used the Great Organ, and Locke (who +must not be turned out of his place, nor the +execution) had a small Chamber Organ by, on +which he performed with them the same +Services." This seems a somewhat humbling +position for such a man—and one wonders what he +said about it! +</p> + +<p> +Another sharp controversy he took part in +was in answer to Mr Thomas Salmon, M.A., of +Trinity College, Oxford, who had written and +published <i>An Essay to the Advancement of Music +by casting away the perplexity of different cliffs +and writing all sorts of music in one universal +character</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The desire to simplify musical signs seems to +have been an old theme and one that gave rise +to a fierce controversy between Matthew Locke +and Mr Salmon. It is only fair to say that Mr +Salmon was not over judicious in his method of +recommending his scheme. He seems to have +purposely hit out at music masters (of whom +Locke was one of the most eminent), and +suggested that their opposition to his ideas sprang +from the sordid desire to make as much as they +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P91"></a>91}</span> +could out of their pupils, by keeping them as +long as possible under tuition. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew Locke replied to this in a treatise +entitled <i>The Present Practice of Musick +vindicated against the exceptions and new way of +attaining music lately published by Thomas Salmon, +M.A</i>. The controversy was very warm. You +shall hear a short address "To the Reader" +which will give some idea of the style of +discussion Locke adopted. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Though I may without scruple aver that nothing +has done Mr. Salmon more kindness than that his +books have had the honour to be answered, yet I +have been forced to afford him this favour rather to +chastise the Reproaches which he hath thrown upon +the most eminent Professors of Musick than for +anything of learning that I found in him. Those +gentlemen he accused of ignorance for not +embracing his illiterate absurdities for which it was +necessary to bring him to the "Bar of Reason" to do +him that justice which his follies merited. Though +for the fame he gets by this, I shall not much envy +him, with whom it will fare as with common +criminals, who are seldom talked of above two or +three days after execution. +</p> + +<p> +A little farther on he gets angry and says: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Had I been "purblind," "copper-nosed," +"sparrow-mouthed," "goggle-eyed," "hunch-backed" +or the like (ornaments which the best of my +antagonists are adorned with) what work would there +have been with me? +</p> + +<p> +Attention has already been directed to Locke's +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P92"></a>92}</span> +association with dramatic music, and so it would +be well to glance briefly at the claim he +possesses to be considered the "Father of English +Opera." The work which entitles him to be +ranked as the writer of the first English Opera +is Shadwell's <i>Psyche</i>; this, with the music to +<i>The Tempest</i>, was produced in 1673, with the +title of <i>The English Opera</i>. It contained a +Preface, setting forth Locke's opinions on real +Opera. North calls his works in this branch of +Art "semi-Operas," but from the title just +quoted it may be inferred that Locke, at any +rate, considered them full-grown specimens. +It should be added that the Act tunes in <i>Psyche</i> +were written by Draghi. The writer on Opera +in Grove's <i>Dictionary</i> marks Purcell as the +originator of English Opera. "Henry Purcell (he +says) transformed the Masque into the Opera, +or rather annihilated the one and introduced +the other." Perhaps Roger North's term +"semi-Opera" is the best expression for Locke's +essays in this connection. +</p> + +<p> +With regard to Locke's other dramatic music, +reference must be made to the <i>Macbeth</i> music, +which has for so many years been associated +with his name. For long the matter has been +the subject of conjecture as to whether he was +really the author of it or not. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P93"></a>93}</span> +</p> + +<p> +The music of <i>Psyche</i> is so good that there +is no ground for saying he could not have written +the <i>Macbeth</i> music. He was exceedingly +dramatic and also melodious. There is a beautiful +Dialogue on the death of Lord Sandwich, the +great patron of Samuel Pepys, which is to be +found in the Pepys Library of Magdalene +College, Cambridge. No doubt this was written at +the suggestion of Pepys. And there is a +remarkable setting of Hamlet's soliloquy, also in MS., +in Pepys' book, which I firmly believe is by Locke. +</p> + +<p> +As usual Locke wrote an aggressive Preface +to <i>Psyche</i>. It begins: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +That Poetry and Musick, the chief manifestives +of Harmonical Phancy, should provoke such +discordant effects in many is more to be pityed than +wondered at: it having become a fashionable art +to peck and carp at other men's conceptions, how +mean soever their own are. Expecting, therefore, +to fall under the lash of some soft-headed or +hard-hearted composers (for there are too many better +at finding of faults than mending them) I shall +endeavour to remove these few blocks which perhaps +they may take occasion to stumble at. +</p> + +<p> +He goes on to say the title Opera is of the Italian, +and claims that as far as his ability could reach, +he had written agreeably to the design of the +author, and that the variety of his setting was +never in Court or Theatre till now presented to +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P94"></a>94}</span> +the nation, "though I must confess there has +been something done, and more by me than any +other of this kind." +</p> + +<p> +Locke evidently considered <i>Psyche</i> as a real +Opera and a novelty in this country. The work +was dedicated to James, Duke of Monmouth, +who (the composer says) "gave this life by +your often hearing this practised and encouraged +and heartened the almost heartless undertakers +and performers." +</p> + +<p> +Amongst his other works was one called +<i>Melothesia, or Certain general Rules for playing +upon a continued Bass</i>. This is said to be the +first book of its kind, and he contributed to many +other works. Roger North tells us "Locke set +most of the Psalms to music in parts for the use of +some vertuoso ladyes in the City, and he +composed a magnifick Consort of four parts after +the old style which is the last that hath been made." +</p> + +<p> +His life was not long, but it was important, +and perhaps the greatest tribute to his memory +was that Henry Purcell wrote an ode +commemorative of his decease "On the death of his +worthy friend Mr Matthew Locke, Music +Composer in Ordinary to <i>His</i> Majesty, and Organist +of <i>Her</i> Majesty's Chappell, who dyed in August, +1677." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P95"></a>95}</span></p> + +<h3> +X. PELHAM HUMFREY +</h3> + +<h4> +1647—1674 +</h4> + +<p> +We have all heard of "Single-speech Hamilton," +a Member of Parliament, who, it is said, made a +"single speech," and by it achieved lasting fame. +As a matter of history, Hamilton made other +speeches, but it was by the first that he earned +his well-known cognomen. And we have a +somewhat similar example in connection with a +celebrated musician, John Jenkins. Born in 1592, +he lived until 1678, and wrote, as North +expresses it, "horse-loads of music." He was most +prolific and most celebrated, and yet until a few +years ago, when I revived many of his +compositions—<i>Dialogues, Fancies for Strings</i>, and +<i>Latin Motets</i>—not a note of his music was heard +anywhere, save one little piece. But this was +sung in every school where vocal music was +taught—it is the charming little round <i>A boat, +a boat, haste to the ferry</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The subject of our present consideration is +another example of the same fate. "Pelham +Humfrey, Composer of the Grand Chant" is +about all people know of him. This so-called +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P96"></a>96}</span> +Grand Chant is known and sung in every +Protestant Church in the world. Humfrey is, +however, a worthy member of the band of musicians +whose work I am following, and we will see what +else he did besides writing the Grand Chant. +</p> + +<p> +Born in 1647, he is said to have been a nephew +of Colonel John Humphrey, Bradshaw's sword-bearer. +</p> + +<p> +From the arms which were on his tomb we can +learn a little of his family and forbears—these +arms, I regret to say, have long since been +obliterated, in fact they had gone in Sir John +Hawkins' time, together with the epitaph; and +at the present time the exact position of the +grave can be only a matter of conjecture.[<a id="chap10fn1text"></a><a href="#chap10fn1">1</a>] But +what was on it has been preserved to us in a +valuable old work, <i>Keepe's Monumenta +Westmonasteriensia</i>, 1682. In this work a description +is given of the armorial bearings, and by them we +can trace him to an old Northamptonshire stock. +The family is mentioned as being settled in the +County in <i>The Visitation of Northampton</i> of +1564, but had disappeared from it before the next +Visitation some years later. +</p> + +<p> +We know nothing of Pelham Humfrey's life +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P97"></a>97}</span> +until 1660, the year of the Restoration, when we +find him, at the age of thirteen, entered as one +of the first set of children of the reconstructed +Chapel Royal Choir, under Henry Cooke, +generally known as Captain Cooke, who having fought +in the Civil War, obtained his Captain's +Commission as early in the struggle as 1642; and +retained his military title for the rest of his life. +</p> + +<p> +While at the Chapel Royal, Humfrey +displayed signs of that precocity which so often +shows itself in the musical genius. He began +composition while yet a boy, and in 1664 we find +the words of no fewer than five of his Anthems +published in Clifford's <i>Divine Services and +Anthems</i>. +</p> + +<p> +A reference to one of these Anthems is in the +<i>Diary</i> of Samuel Pepys, which contains, by the +way, several interesting references to Humfrey's +career. Under date November 22nd, 1663, we find: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +At Chapel: I had room in the Privy Seale pew +with other gentlemen, and there heard Dr. Lilligrew +preach. The Anthem was good after Sermon, +being the 51st Psalm made for five voices by one of +Captain Cooke's boys, a pretty boy. And they say +there are four or five of them that can do as much. +And here I first perceived that the King is a little +Musical and kept good time with his hand all along +the Anthem. +</p> + +<p> +Now that Anthem was written by a Choir-boy +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P98"></a>98}</span> +in the Royal Chapel, but it is a remarkable fact, +as Pepys says, that he was not the only +boy-composer in the same choir and at the same time. +Captain Cooke appears to have been rarely +fortunate in having in his newly-formed choral +body a set of phenomenally gifted boys, and +doubtless no small credit is due to the loyal and +gallant musician for the skill and care he must +have devoted to their training. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Cooke must have been a clever teacher +and a still cleverer selector of boys for his choir; +and this brilliant little school he gathered round +him (including such names as Humfrey, Blow, +and Purcell) shines out like a beacon light in our +musical world. A curious and interesting fact +bearing upon this came to my knowledge quite +lately. A Thesis for a Doctor's degree in the +University of Paris (in 1912) was on the subject of +<i>Captain Cooke's Choir Boys</i>, and it was a clever +yet concise account of the work done by these +three pupils of Cooke—Humfrey, Blow, and +Purcell. English music seems to be looking up +when we find a period of our musical history and +three of our past great musicians taken as the +subject for a thesis in a foreign University! +</p> + +<p> +The same year that witnessed the production +of this Anthem was an all-important one, not +only for Humfrey but also for English art. On +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P99"></a>99}</span> +leaving the Royal Choir, Charles II sent him +abroad to continue his musical studies; the cost +of the trip was paid out of the Secret Service +Fund, and was expended in the following way: +</p> + +<p> +1664. "To defray the charge of his journey +into France and Italy £200." In the two +following years also he was granted £100 and £150 +respectively. +</p> + +<p> +Most of the time Humfrey spent abroad was +passed in Paris with J. B. Lully, an Italian +by birth but a Frenchman by adoption, the most +celebrated dramatic musical composer of his +day. He wrote many Operas in the most varied +styles, both grave and gay, was the composer of a +good deal of sacred music, and was also a reformer +in Opera-writing; he introduced the accompanied +recitative in place of the Italian <i>Recitative secco</i>, +making many changes in the ballets. Of still more +importance was his development of the Overture, +for which service he cannot be too highly valued. +</p> + +<p> +It is very probable that the instruction given by +Lully to Humfrey was less by precept than by +example. The pupil listened with eager ears +to his master's music and doubtless often took +part in the performance of it. Under this +influence—the influence of the greatest master of +dramatic music of his time—it is not surprising +that the already precocious genius of the young +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P100"></a>100}</span> +Englishman quickened, and that he returned to +his native country with a different conception of +his art. Another world had been opened up to +him whose earliest instruction had, necessarily, +been chiefly confined to the ecclesiastical side +of it. +</p> + +<p> +Before his return to England he had been +appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, in the +place of one Thomas Hazard, January, 1667, and +he was duly sworn in the October following. A +glance at Pepys' <i>Diary</i> under dates November 1st +and 15th, 1667, gives us that shrewd observer's +opinion of our hero as he appears fresh from his +Continental trip. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +November 1st, 1667. To Chapel, and heard a +fine Anthem made by Pelham, who is come over. +</p> + +<p> +The entry, however, of a fortnight later is of +more interest, as apparently being Mr Pepys' +first personal encounter with him since his return. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +November 15th, 1667. Home, and there I find, +as I expected, Mr. Caesar and little Pelham +Humfrey lately returned from France, and is an absolute +Monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, +and disparages everything and everybody's skill +but his own. But to hear how he laughs at all the +King's Musick here, as Blagrave and others, that +they cannot keep time nor tune nor understand +anything; and that Grebus, the Frenchman, the +King's Master of the Music, how he understands +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P101"></a>101}</span> +nothing nor can play on any instrument and so +cannot compose; and that he will give him a lift +out of his place; and that he and the King are +mighty great. I had a good dinner for them, a +venison pasty and some fowl, and after dinner we +did play, he on the Theorbo, Mr. Caesar on his +French lute, and I on the viol, but made but mean +Musique, nor do I see that this Frenchman do so +much wonders on the Theorbo, but without question, +he is a good musician, but his vanity do offend me. +</p> + +<p> +Grebus (or rather Grabu) was the King's +Master of the Music. He displaced Bannister, +who was dismissed, according to the historians, +because he championed English violinists and +said he preferred them to Frenchmen. He may +have said this, but the real cause of his dismissal +was that he kept back the money which he ought +to have paid to the Private Band! King Charles +has often been blamed for dismissing Bannister +on account of his patriotic sentiments and defence +of English players, but this charge is not true. +</p> + +<p> +Returning to Mr Pepys for a record of his next +day's doings, November 16, 1667, we find a very +interesting reference to Humfrey and a somewhat +scathing criticism from the Diarist: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +1667, November 16th. To White Hall, where +there is to be a performance of Music of Pelham's +before the King. The company not come; but I +did go into the Music Room where Captain Cooke +and many others, and here I did hear the best and +the smallest Organ go that ever I saw in my life +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P102"></a>102}</span> +and such a one as by the grace of God I will have the +next year, if I continue in this Condition, whatever +it cost me. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Pepys then records a short walk and talk +with Mr Gregory, returning to Whitehall: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +And there got into the theatre room and there +heard both the vocall and instrumentall Music, +where the little fellow (Pelham Humfrey) stood +keeping time, but for my part I see no great matter, +but quite the contrary, in both sorts of Music. +The composition, I believe, is very good, but no +more of delightfulness to the eare or understanding, +but what is very ordinary. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to being a composer, Humfrey was +an accomplished lutenist, and in the State Papers +for the year 1668, under date January 20th, we +find a promotion of his in the Royal Service; +the record runs as follows: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +January 20th, 1668. Warrant to pay Pelham +Humfreys, Musician in Ordinary on the Lute, in +place of Nich. Sawyer deceased £40 yearly, and +£16 2s. 6d. for Livery. +</p> + +<p> +On May 29th of this same year Mr Pepys again +refers to him: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +May 29th, 1668. Home, whither by agreement +by and by comes Mercer and Gayet and two +gentlemen with them, Mr. Monteith and Pelham, the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P103"></a>103}</span> +former a swaggering young handsome gentleman, +the latter a sober citizen merchant.[<a id="chap10fn2text"></a><a href="#chap10fn2">2</a>] Both sing, +and the latter with great skill, the other no skill, +but a good voice and a good basse, but used only +to tavern tunes; and so I spent all this evening +till eleven at night, singing with them till I was +tired of them, because of the swaggering fellow, +tho' the girl Mercer did mightily commend him +before me. +</p> + +<p> +Later in the year (July) another reference is +made in the <i>Diary</i>: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +July 11th, 1668. So home, it being almost night +(Mr. Pepys had been after an espinette at Deptford), +and there find in the garden Pelling, who hath +brought Tempest, Wallington, and Pelham to sing, +and there had most excellent Musick late, in the +dark with great pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +Humfrey's Sacred music is a clear evidence of +his French experience. He puts symphonies for +strings and is dramatic at times and often +somewhat light. An Anthem <i>O Praise the Lord</i> is a +good example of the latter tendency. There are +two short Bass solos, one to the words <i>Sing +praises lustily</i>, which is almost like the song of a +jovial sailor! It is in triple time, and is the sort +of thing King Charles would certainly have beaten +time to with his hand "all along the Anthem," in +Pepys' words. The Bass solo in the Anthem he +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P104"></a>104}</span> +wrote when a boy and before his French training +is in a quite different style, and might have +been written by any of our good Cathedral writers, +such as Locke, or Blow, or even Purcell. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to his Sacred works Humfrey wrote +three Odes and many songs. These latter fall +under the critical notice of Dr Burney, who refers +to them, I think, rather unfairly and harshly. +Speaking of a collection called <i>Choice Songs and +Aires</i>, Burney says: "Among these songs, to the +number of near fifty, there is not one air that is +either ingenious, graceful, cheerful or solemn: +an insipid languor or vulgar pertness pervades +the whole. From Pelham Humphry, whose +Church Music is so excellent, I own I expected to +find originality, or merit of some kind or other; +but his songs are quite on a level with the rest." +</p> + +<p> +Burney's remarks are not only spiteful, but +untrue. To mention only one song, Humfrey's +setting of <i>Where the Bee Sucks</i>, which he wrote +for Dryden and Davenant's altered version of +<i>The Tempest</i> (the oldest setting but one which we +possess), is charming, both as regards melody +and harmony. The first part is in the minor +key, for which Humfrey seems—like Purcell—to +have a weakness. There is an effective change to +the Tonic Major at <i>Merrily, merrily shall I live +now</i>, with a most striking and delicious drop of a +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P105"></a>105}</span> +7th (I expect Burney regarded this as a crudity), +To me the song seems one of the best of the time. +</p> + +<p> +Humfrey went on adding rapidly to his +honours. On January 24th, 1672, he was elected +one of the wardens of "the Corporation for +regulating the Art and Science of Musick," and in +July of the same year his old master, Captain +Cooke, died; his death being accelerated—so +Antony Wood tells us—by chagrin at finding +himself getting supplanted by his old pupil. +This I do not believe: Cooke would have had a +soul above such foibles, and had too many +successful pupils to be jealous of poor little +Humfrey. +</p> + +<p> +However this may be, Humfrey succeeded him +as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and +later, jointly with Thomas Purcell, he was +appointed Composer in Ordinary for the Violins +to His Majesty. +</p> + +<p> +It was in this year, 1672, that he wrote a +charming little song called <i>Wherever I am and +Whatever I do</i>. It was written for Dryden's +<i>Conquest of Granada</i>, produced in that year. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing of any importance is chronicled of him +for the last two years of his all too short life. +He died at Windsor on July 13th, 1674, and was +buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, +near the south east door. His last will and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P106"></a>106}</span> +testament, witnessed by his old schoolfellow, Dr +Blow, is interesting: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Aprill ye 23rd, 74. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Bee itt knowne to all people whomsoever itt may +Concerne that I leave my deare wife my sole +executrix and Mrs. of all I have in the world after those +few debts I owe are payd: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +I only desire that 3 Legacyes may bee given that +is to say to my cousin Betty Jelfe: to Mr. Blow ad +to Besse Gill each of them twenty shillings to buy +them Rings. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Pell. Humfrey. +</p> + +<p><br /> +</p> + +<p class="block"> +30 July, 1674. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Which day appeared personally John Blow of +Westminster and made oath that he was present +when Mr. Pelham Humfrey wrote the above written +writing containing his last will and testament and +he the sd Mr. Pelham Humfrey being of perfect +mind and sound memory published and declared +the same for his last will and testament. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +John Blow. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +30 July, 74. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +(Proved 30 July 1674 by Catherine Humfrey Relict +and sole executrix). +</p> + +<p> +Humfrey's life, brief though it was, must be +regarded as a turning point in our art's +history—not alone by his own compositions, but by the +infusion of his influence into the greater Purcell. +He was not only Purcell's master at the Chapel +Royal, but actually composed an Anthem jointly +with Purcell, called <i>By the Waters of Babylon</i>. +In Boyce's opinion "he was the first of our ecclesiastical +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P107"></a>107}</span> +composers who had the least idea of +musical pathos and expression of the words," but +this is an exaggeration. +</p> + +<p> +This great advance in our music was carried on +by the immortal Purcell, who, as a choir-boy +under Humfrey, was, no doubt, an eager listener +to the "new effects" which his master introduced. +The pupil is so great, one is in danger of +forgetting the master. At least here we have +endeavoured to do some justice to the +short-lived genius Pelham Humfrey. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap10fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap10fn1text">1</a>] I have lately identified the spot. Keepe was for eighteen +years a member of the Abbey Choir, and probably sang +at Humfrey's funeral. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap10fn2"></a> +[<a href="#chap10fn2text">2</a>] I cannot help thinking Pepys meant Pelham as the +swaggering young handsome gentleman, and Monteith as the +sober citizen merchant. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap11"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P108"></a>108}</span></p> + +<h3> +XI. DR JOHN BLOW +</h3> + +<h4> +1648—1708 +</h4> + +<p> +If there is one name among the Twelve Musicians +with whom I am dealing in this course of Lectures +to which I desire specially to do justice, it is that +of Dr. John Blow. As a child I sang his Anthems +in Rochester Cathedral, and I well remember the +delight with which I listened to, and took part in, +his beautiful and expressive <i>I beheld, and lo a +great multitude</i>, and <i>I was in the Spirit on the +Lord's day</i>. In those days the great masterpieces +of the English Cathedral School were constantly +done, and very well done, at Rochester, and none +of the Anthems except I may say, perhaps, +Purcell's great Anthem <i>O Sing unto the Lord</i>, +touched me and thrilled me as did that of Blow. +And as long as I played in Manchester Cathedral +and Westminster Abbey, so long did I feel the +power and religious impressions of these splendid +specimens of Blow's genius. Of course there are +many Anthems and Services by this master, but +none, to me at least, ever spoke so eloquently as +did the two I have mentioned. This is one reason +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P109"></a>109}</span> +why I approach the subject of Blow's career with +such a desire to do him justice. Another is the +strange neglect of most of his secular music, and +lastly the absurd and ignorant criticism of Dr +Burney, as displayed in his <i>History</i>, when he talks +of "Blow's crudities." +</p> + +<p> +Without further delay let us proceed to trace +his musical life. I refrain, on account of time, +from dwelling much on biographical details in +these Lectures. So I will merely state that it +seems pretty certain that Blow was born at +North Collingham, in Nottinghamshire, and +baptised in the Parish Church of Newark in +February 1648-9. Let us begin with recording +his admission as a Chorister to the Chapel +Royal—one of the "clever boys" whom Captain +Cooke got together and taught. Of his +school-fellow, Pelham Humfrey, I have already spoken, +and, like Humfrey, Blow composed Anthems +while in the choir. It is possible—or rather, I +think, probable—that an entry in Pepys' <i>Diary</i> +refers to him. Under the head of August 21, +1667, we read: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +This morning come two of Captain Cooke's boys, +whose voices are broke, and are gone from the +Chappell, but have extraordinary skill, and they and my +boy, with his broken voice, did sing three parts: +their names were Blaew and Loggings, but notwithstanding +their skill, yet to hear them sing with their +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P110"></a>110}</span> +broken voices, which they could not command to +keep in tune, would make a man mad, so bad it was. +</p> + +<p> +If this refers to Blow he would be about +nineteen years old, and could have had but a very +broken voice. But it is not impossible, as many +boys retain their voices until a good age, and +continue singing "alto" in a moderate sort of +style. It is hardly likely there would be a boy +named Blaew and one named Blow. And there +was some arrangement whereby boys who had +left the Choir continued to reside with the Masters, +possibly to study.[<a id="chap11fn1text"></a><a href="#chap11fn1">1</a>] +</p> + +<p> +At the early age of twenty-one, in 1669, he +became Organist of Westminster Abbey, and the +appointment, apparently, was not enough for his +ambition (or, more probably, for his needs!), +for in 1674 he succeeded Humfrey as Master of the +Children of the Chapel Royal, becoming Organist +also (while still holding Westminster Abbey) in +1676. As regards his degree of Mus. Doc. I have +(on the authority of the late Dr Southgate) to +make a little correction of former statements. +It has generally been said the degree was +conferred upon Blow by Archbishop Sancroft, but +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P111"></a>111}</span> +Dr Southgate told me in a note, when I was about +to lecture on Blow, some years ago, that the +degree was granted by Bancroft's <i>representative</i> +the Dean of Canterbury—the Archbishop being +dead. It is marked in the Lambeth Register +"<i>Sede vacante</i>": it was thus bestowed when the +"See was vacant." It is a curious fact that Blow +gave up his Abbey post in 1680, being succeeded +by Purcell; and on Purcell's death, in 1695, he +was again appointed organist of the Abbey, and +held that post until his death. +</p> + +<p> +But I have to record yet another important +Cathedral appointment which our indefatigable +musician held. He was Almoner and Master of +the Choristers in St Paul's Cathedral, holding +those offices for six years, from 1687 to 1693. +Again he seems to have resigned in favour of a +pupil, Mr Jeremiah Clarke. It is a remarkable +testimony to the esteem in which he was held +that he should have filled posts at the Chapel +Royal, St Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster +Abbey, all at the same time. Bishops, in the old +days, often presided over a Diocese, filled a +Canonry or directed a College and occupied a +"Living" or two, simultaneously; but Blow +seems to me to have been the greatest Organist +pluralist on record! +</p> + +<p> +But this is a testimony to his worth, and in +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P112"></a>112}</span> +following up our investigation of his contributions +to music I will not dwell longer upon his +Church music, except to mention that he wrote +an Anthem <i>I was glad</i>, for the opening of St Paul's +Cathedral in 1697, and to tell the story of the +composition of the Anthem which I mentioned +in the early part of my lecture, <i>I beheld and Lo</i>! +When it was performed in the Chapel Royal, the +King (who had asked him to compose it) sent +Father Petre to say he was greatly pleased with +it; "but (added Petre) I myself think it too +long!" "That (answered Blow) is the opinion +of but one fool—I heed it not." The Priest was +greatly incensed at this remark, and it is said that, +had not James II lost his place by his sudden +flight to France, Dr Blow would have lost <i>his</i>! +</p> + +<p> +Among the Anthems of this composer may be +mentioned two which he wrote for the Coronation +of James II, and he also took part in the funeral +of William III in the Abbey, receiving, according +to an Abbey record, the very large fee of 7s. 10d. for +the latter. He does not seem to have directed +the music at the Coronation, but took part in the +choir. On the death of his pupil, Purcell, he +wrote an ode, the words by Dryden, beginning +<i>Mark how the lark and linnet sing</i>. +</p> + +<p> +I must not omit to mention that he and Purcell +were the Organists selected by Father Smith to +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P113"></a>113}</span> +display the organ of the Temple Church at the +memorable competition between Smith and +Harris, the two rival organ-builders. Smith won +the day, and showed his wisdom in getting the +best men to preside at his instrument. It was +the custom for many years to have an <i>Ode for +St Cecilia's Day</i> composed for and performed in +Stationers Hall on the Saint's Day. Blow wrote +the second of these <i>Odes</i> in 1684—the year of the +Temple Church competition. He published, in +1700, a great collection of his secular vocal music, +under the title of <i>Amphion Anglicus</i>, and in his +dedication to the Princess Anne of Denmark he +announces that he is preparing "as fast as I can a +second musical Present, my Church Services and +Divine composition." He gives his sentiments +with regard to Sacred composition in the same +dedication, which are worth repeating: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +To those in truth I have ever more especially +consecrated the thoughts of my whole life. All the +rest I consider but the blossoms or rather the leaves +those I only esteem as the Fruits of all my labours +in this kind. With them I began my first Raptures +in this Art, with them I hope calmly and +comfortably to finish my days. +</p> + +<p> +The composer did not carry out his design, +though he lived about eight years after this. +</p> + +<p> +A very interesting work, which has only of late +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P114"></a>114}</span> +years been made known, is a Masque entitled +<i>Venus and Adonis</i>. Some years ago I noticed it +among the music in the Chapter Library at +Westminster. It has since been edited by Mr +Arkwright, and, quite lately, produced upon the stage +at Glastonbury. It is very interesting, as it +shows that Blow, like Purcell, had a leaning to +dramatic music and this Masque is specially +noticeable as it consists of musical dialogue—not +spoken—thus coming very near to a +little Opera. +</p> + +<p> +Blow also contributed to some <i>Choice Lessons for +the Harpsichord</i>, a collection published by +Playford, to which also Henry Purcell contributed. +There are also interesting specimens of organ +music, among which is a curious arrangement of +the <i>Hundredth Psalm Tune</i> "as they are played +in Churches and Chapels." I have also a copy +of a MS. <i>Lesson on the Hundredth Psalm</i>. It +would now be called a Choral Prelude for the +Organ. After a short introduction, the whole +tune appears at intervals in the Bass, with very +florid upper counterpoint. It is evidence of Blow's +knowledge of organ effects and of his ability as a +player. +</p> + +<p> +A writer in 1711, three years after Blow's +death, tells us "he was reckoned the greatest +Master in the world for playing most gravely and +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P115"></a>115}</span> +serenely in his Voluntaries", and we have +Purcell's testimony to him as "one of the greatest +masters in the world". With this testimony +before him it seems incredible that Dr Burney +should have made such a fierce onslaught upon +this really excellent man and versatile musician, +on account of what he calls his "crudities." He +has actually given four pages of music type in his +History, full of quotations of Blow's misdeeds. I +have examined these carefully, and in many cases +the examples are really a remarkable testimony +to Blow's advanced ideas, and his feeling for +pathetic and expressive harmony. In some +specimens there are obvious mis-prints, accidentals +omitted, etc., which Burney, had he not been +prejudiced, would certainly have perceived. +But it is not worth while to follow up this matter, +although I am sorry to say Sir Frederick Ouseley +took rather the same line when commenting on +Blow's music. He really pays Blow a +compliment when he says that "he always appears to +have been trying experiments in harmony or +introducing new combinations and discords". +This was what was said of another great musician, +Monteverde, to whom we owe so much, and such +criticisms only bring discredit upon the writers +who failed to see the value behind the novelty. +Sir Hubert Parry, in speaking of these +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P116"></a>116}</span> +"crudities" says "they do Blow, for the most part, +great credit, for they show that he adventured +beyond the range of the mere conventional, and +often with the success that betokens genuine +musical insight." +</p> + +<p> +I have already commented upon his greatest +Anthems <i>I beheld and lo!</i> and <i>I was in the Spirit</i>. +They are full of examples of Blow's melodious +power, and this also comes out in some of his +secular airs. Perhaps one of the best is his +beautiful song which is to be found in <i>Amphion +Anglicus</i> entitled <i>The Self Banished</i> beginning +"It is not that I love you less"; the words are +by Waller, and the music is worthy of them. +</p> + +<p> +Blow, as described by Sir John Hawkins, was +"a very handsome man in his person, and +remarkable for a gravity and decency in his +deportment, suited to his station". +</p> + +<p> +This worthy musician died in 1708, aged 60, +and is buried in Westminster Abbey, near the +old entrance to the organ-loft and in close +proximity to Purcell. A fine monument is erected +near the spot, and a specimen of his composition, +in the form of a <i>Gloria</i> from one of his services is +engraved thereupon. This <i>Gloria</i> is said to have +been sung at St Peter's at Rome. I remember an +interesting matter in connection with this +monument. In my early days at the Abbey (during +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P117"></a>117}</span> +Dean Stanley's time) the Emperor of Brazil paid +a visit and was shown round the Abbey by the +Dean. The only thing he specially asked to be +shown was "Dr. Blow's monument"! The +Dean told me His Majesty inspected it very +closely and seemed to be reading the music. +He probably knew more about Blow's music than +Burney's <i>History</i>! +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap11fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap11fn1text">1</a>] There is an account preserved in the Bodleian Library +of Blow being paid £40 a year for "keeping and teaching +two boys" but this was in 1685. It shows that it was +usual for boys whose voices were gone, to be kept on for +tuition. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap12"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P118"></a>118}</span></p> + +<h3> +XII. HENRY PURCELL +</h3> + +<h4> +1658—1695 +</h4> + +<p> +In Henry Purcell I reach the last and the +greatest of my Twelve Good Musicians. And to +attempt to consider and discuss completely his life +and work in the short space of a University +Lecture, would be an absurd effort. But, as I +have before pointed out, my object has been to +endeavour to interest the musical student—amateur +and professional—in certain prominent +masters of music, and in the remarkable progress +made in our own country by their aid in the +seventeenth century. I can do little more than +arouse interest, and I cannot pretend to write +a complete history, but I trust the Lectures will +have helped to fill up the "blank" which Sir +Hubert Parry declared existed in many minds +as regards the music of this period. +</p> + +<p class="capcenter"> +<a id="img-118"></a> +<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-118.jpg" alt="Henry Purcell" /> +<br /> +Henry Purcell +</p> + +<p> +In the consideration of the various musicians +of whom I have already treated I have avoided +biographical detail. As a rule information in +these matters may be gleaned from the +well-known books of reference. But in the case of +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P119"></a>119}</span> +Purcell I am obliged to enlarge a little on his life, +in the hope that I may be able to contribute a +few interesting facts with regard to his family +that are not generally known. +</p> + +<p> +Let me begin, then, with Purcell's father. It +is an extraordinary thing that we know nothing +whatever of him until we find his name among +distinguished musicians, such as Captain Cooke, +Locke, and Lawes, as one of the performers in +the <i>Siege of Rhodes</i>, in 1656. In the Preface to +this publication it is claimed that "The Musick +was composed and both the Vocal and Instrumental +is exercised by the most transcendent of +England in that Art." +</p> + +<p> +What did the elder Purcell do before he +attained to such a position? We know absolutely +nothing as regards his origin, his training, or his +career up to this. I have made diligent search +in the archives of Westminster to see if there +were anything to be learned there, and have +gleaned a few small facts. +</p> + +<p> +The name of Roger Pursell occurs in a bill for +bringing timber to the College—in August 1628. +The items of the bill include Carriage by land +1s. 6d., for watching 6d., for helping to land ye +timber 6d. This would seem to apply to a load +of timber brought from a distance for the use of +the carpenters of the College. Roger Pursell +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P120"></a>120}</span> +may have come up with the timber or he may +have been one of the carpenters. He was paid +3s. for two days' work. The name appears again +in 1659 when we find in a page of accounts +"Expended by George Blackborn and Joseph +Hobbes for the travelling charges about the +Colledge affaires at Offord, in the County of +Huntingdon" the following note: "In the +Bonds taken from Mr Throgmorton and <i>Roger +Pursell</i> there is included £4 towards travelling +charges." Then Roger Pursell is spoken of as +"the 'Bayliffe' of Mr Giles." It is rather +curious that the name of Roger Pursell should +occur at such a wide interval, 1628 and again in +1659. One wonders if Roger's connection with +the Abbey and its property was the beginning of +the musical members of the family coming to +Westminster. +</p> + +<p> +There was a Shropshire Purcell family of some +standing, and in the <i>Herald's Visitation of +Shropshire</i> in 1623 it was given as of Onslow, +and Shrewsbury; and there were many +distinguished Purcells in Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +We know and hear nothing more of the elder +Purcell after the production of the <i>Siege of +Rhodes</i> in 1656 until his name appears in a book +in the Library at Westminster. This book +records the admission of one or two Petty Canons +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P121"></a>121}</span> +in 1660, and the payment by them of 5s. for the +entry. Mr Henry Purcell's name is also entered +with the note "instead of 5s. <i>this book</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Here, then, we have the great musician's +father installed in the Abbey as Master of the +Choristers (not organist also) and Copyist. He +was also a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and +a Singing Man of Westminster. Later on we +find him a member of the Royal Band (1663). +All these important appointments testify to his +leading musical position. +</p> + +<p> +We have a glimpse of him in Pepys' <i>Diary</i>, +under date February 21st, 1660. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here +I met with Mr. Lock and Pursell, Master of Music, +and with them to the Coffee House into a room +next the Water by ourselves. Here we had variety +of brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for +eight voices which Mr. Locke had lately made on +these words '<i>Domine Salvum fac Regem</i>.'" +</p> + +<p> +Another small fact of interest in connection +with the elder Purcell is furnished me by my +brother of Chester. He finds in the Chirk Castle +accounts, by the steward of Sir Thomas Myddelton, +an allusion to Mr Purcell, who is, no doubt, +our elder Purcell. Dr. Bridge writes as follows: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"In 1661 the family had gone up to London and we +find the Steward there and recording +</p> + +<p class="block"> +Dec. 24, Paid for a quart of<br /> + Purle with Mr. Purcell .... 2d.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P122"></a>122}</span></p> + +<p class="block"> +As a rule only the names of important personages +are put in the accounts. As the Steward did not +<i>live</i> in London, it looks as if Mr. Purcell was a former +acquaintance from somewhere near Chirk. This +place is on the borders of three Counties of which +Shropshire is one, and as the Purcells probably +came from Salop, their birth-place or place of +residence, may have been at the Chirk end of the +County. Possibly Mr. Purcell was an old friend of +the Steward's." +</p> + +<p> +There is no doubt the elder Purcell lived +in the place called the Almonry, where the +"Singing Men" had houses. These stood where +the well-known Westminster Palace Hotel now +stands. And here his distinguished son was born.[<a id="chap12fn1text"></a><a href="#chap12fn1">1</a>] +</p> + +<p> +It is generally stated that he was born in 1658. +It seems, however, just as likely—or even more +likely—the date should be 1659. Unfortunately +it has been impossible to find the record of his +baptism. The Register at St Margaret's Church, +Westminster, for this period (which was then +very carefully kept) does not show Henry +Purcell's name. The approximate date is fixed +fairly well for us by the fact that in June, 1683, +Purcell published some Sonatas to which his +portrait was prefixed. On this portrait he is +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P123"></a>123}</span> +said to be "<i>aetat: suae</i> 24," i.e. in the +twenty-fourth year of his age. Again on his monument +in the Abbey we find "<i>Anno Aetatis suae 37</i>," +i.e., in the thirty-seventh year of his age. +Therefore, if he was in his thirty-seventh year on +November 21, 1695 (the date of his death), he +must have been born between November 21st, +1658, and November 20th, 1659. +</p> + +<p> +Not only is his baptism during these years not +recorded at St Margaret's, but the <i>Rate Books</i> of +St Margaret's for 1658 and 1659 <i>do not contain +the name of Purcell</i>, as they certainly would have +had his father had a house in the parish. +</p> + +<p> +A friend has made most careful enquiries for +me on this point. I expect the Almonry was in +the precincts of Westminster Abbey, and so +would not be "in the parish," and it is quite +reasonable to suppose the child born in the +Almonry was christened in the Abbey: but I have +never yet found any record of this. Purcell's +own son, Edward, was christened in the Abbey +in 1689. +</p> + +<p> +It is interesting to know that Henry Lawes +lived also in the Almonry, and so must have +known the little boy Purcell; but, as Lawes +died in 1662, the child could not have given any +great proof of his future genius. The elder +Purcell died in 1664, and the young boy was +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P124"></a>124}</span> +placed in the Chapel Royal Choir at the early age +of six years. +</p> + +<p> +Thomas Purcell, brother of the elder Purcell, +was a distinguished musician also and a member +of the Chapel Royal, besides holding other +important posts. He looked after his clever little +nephew, and was a real father to him. As in the +case of Henry Purcell, Senior, we know nothing +of the previous history of Thomas Purcell until +we find him in his high position. Who trained +him and his brother Henry we know not. +</p> + +<p> +Henry Purcell was thus one of the remarkable +set of boys to which I have often alluded in these +Lectures, among his fellow choristers being +Pelham Humfrey and Blow. Like the other boys, +he began to compose, and the first reliable +composition we have was the <i>Address of the Children +of the Chapel Royal to the King and their Master, +Captain Cooke, on His Majestie's Birthday +A.D. 1670, composed by MASTER PURCELL, one +of the Children of the said Chapel</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Purcell, no doubt, owed much to Captain +Cooke, but it is also certain that the influence of +Pelham Humfrey, with the experience he gained +by his studies with Lully, must have made a deep +impression. As we know, Humfrey died at the +early age of twenty-seven, and Purcell continued +his studies with Blow, whose monument in the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P125"></a>125}</span> +Abbey records he was "Master to the famous +Henry Purcell." +</p> + +<p> +The first appointment Purcell held was that +of copyist to Westminster Abbey (1676), a post +which his father had held before him. We know +little for certain as to his compositions for the +Church in his early days. As a matter of fact, +he seems to have been drawn (like Henry Lawes) +more to the secular side, writing for the theatre. +It has been suggested that he was introduced to +this kind of work by Locke, who we know was +a prominent composer for the stage. We must +also remember that Humfrey would, very likely, +have helped to influence the mind of the young +Purcell in that direction. On Locke's death in +1677 Purcell wrote an ode <i>On the death of his +worthy friend, Matthew Locke</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In 1680 Dr Blow resigned his position as +Organist of Westminster Abbey, and Purcell +succeeded him. There is no record of Blow +resigning or the cause of it in the Chapter Books; +one simply finds in the Treasurer's accounts that +Purcell drew the salary as Organist instead of +Blow. Probably his appointment to +Westminster turned his mind more towards Church +than stage. +</p> + +<p> +The composition of the Opera <i>Dido and +Æneas</i> is, I think, proved by Mr Barclay Squire's +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P126"></a>126}</span> +clever article on Purcell's dramatic music not to +be a composition of his early years. It is not +possible for me to go minutely into the subject +of Purcell's many compositions, but I will for a +few moments call attention to what I consider +almost his master-piece. I allude to the +splendid and original set of Sonatas which he issued +in 1683.[<a id="chap12fn2text"></a><a href="#chap12fn2">2</a>] This was Purcell's first publication, +and it was issued from St Ann's Lane, beyond +Westminster Abbey, where the composer +resided—having been married in 1681. (It should be +added that he was made Organist of the Chapel +Royal in 1682, holding that post at the same +time as the Abbey.) +</p> + +<p> +These Sonatas are a very interesting study in +Purcell's career. Like many of the composers +mentioned in these Lectures, Purcell wrote +Fancies; but the Sonatas are a very different +thing. Written for Two Violins 'Cello and Basso +Continuo, and consisting of three or four +movements of differing character, they are a +wonderful advance on anything previously done +in this direction, either in England or abroad. +</p> + +<p> +Corelli issued his Sonatas in the same year that +Purcell's appeared. But Corelli's—although +beautiful—have not the depth or originality of +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P127"></a>127}</span> +Purcell's, which are admirably written for the +strings and abound in clever devices, but are in +no way dull or suggestive of vocal writing. The +three strings are often complete without the +Continuo, but occasionally there is an extra part +for this. My own experience of them in +performance is that the least possible accompaniment +is best, and it should be remembered that +the Continuo is not written for a modern +pianoforte with its powerful tone, but for the +Harpsichord or Organ. +</p> + +<p> +Purcell in his Preface says: "for its Author +he has faithfully endeavoured a just imitation of +the most favour'd Italian Masters". He goes +on to explain the meaning of certain Italian +"terms of Art perhaps unusual," such as <i>Adagio, +Grave, Presto, Largo</i>, etc., and concludes with a +wish that his book may fall into no other hands +but those who carry musical souls about them; +for he is willing to flatter himself into a belief +that with such his labours will seem neither +unpleasant nor unprofitable." +</p> + +<p> +The question of the models that Purcell had in +writing these fine Sonatas and what famous +Italian Masters he imitated has been often +debated. For myself I cannot but believe that +Purcell owed much to a remarkable Neapolitan +violinist, Nicola Matteis. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P128"></a>128}</span> +</p> + +<p> +This Italian violinist and composer came to +London about 1672, and resided there till after +Purcell's death. The date of Matteis's birth is +not known, but the accounts of his playing given +from personal observation by such authorities +as John Evelyn in his contemporary <i>Diary</i>, and +Roger North in his <i>Memoirs of Musick</i>, show that +he came here as a mature artist. Purcell was +then fifteen years old, and during the eleven +years which elapsed till the publication of the +1683 Purcell Sonatas, Matteis was much the most +prominent foreign musician, and the only Italian +musician of any rank resident in London. The +propagation of musical styles from one country +to another was carried out in those days very little +by the dissemination of copies, whether +manuscript or printed, and much more by the activity +of persons who went here and there giving +performances and concerts. And Roger North says +specifically: "But as yet wee have given no +account of the decadence of the French musick, +and the Italian coming in its room. This +happened by degrees, and the overture was by +accident, for the coming over of Sig. Nicolai Matteis +gave the first start. He was an excellent +musician, &c., &c., &c." Purcell, the Organist of +Westminster Abbey, must of course have known +Matteis, as he directed the concerts of Chief +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P129"></a>129}</span> +Justice Francis North (Roger North's brother) +in Queen Street, and it is evident from the +writings of Roger that the Norths were supporters +of Matteis. In the Bodleian Library I have +found Chief Justice North's name inscribed as +the owner on one of the volumes of Matteis's +<i>Aires for the Violin</i>. Then as to the explanation +of Italian terms in Purcell's Preface, it is a little +singular that much the same sort of information +is found prefixed to Matteis's second volume of +Violin Pieces. Again I have discovered in MS. parts +in the Bodleian Library, and had +performed at a Lecture at the Royal Institution, +a Sonata in A by Matteis, in the exact Sonata +form used by Purcell in 1683; and, though +the date of this MS. composition cannot be +traced, it is at least as likely to have been +composed before 1683 as after. However, I am not +asserting that a composer like Purcell copied +Matteis's works. I am only saying that it was +Matteis who made the Italian chamber-music +prevalent in London, and that but for him +Purcell would possibly never have thought +or written in that style. And I cannot better +conclude than by quoting from one of +North's voluminous manuscripts, <i>Essay of +Musical Ayre</i> (Brit. Museum, <i>Addit.</i> MSS., 32, +536, folio 78): +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P130"></a>130}</span> +</p> + +<p class="block"> +The poor man (Matteis) as a grateful legacy to the +English nation, left with them a generall savour for +the Itallian manner of Harmony, and after him the +French was wholly layd aside, and nothing in towne +had a relish without a spice of Itally, and the masters +here began to imitate them, <i>wittness Mr. H. Purcell, +in his noble set of Sonnatas</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Purcell composed another set of Sonatas, +which was published after his death. One of +them, generally called <i>The Golden Sonata</i>, is, +perhaps, the best known of any in either of the +issues. But it is inferior to others, particularly +No. 4 of the first set, and altogether I do not +think the second is at all on a level with the +first. I may add that I have in my library the +parts of the original publication of the first set. +The Continuo contains an immense number of +additional figures, and there are a few corrections +in the other parts, which I have never found in +any other copy. It would appear almost as if +Purcell had himself made the corrections, and, +indeed, Sir Hubert Parry was of opinion this +was so. I hope I may be able shortly to print +these Sonatas in separate parts so that they may +be accessible to lovers of Purcell. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot linger now over these interesting +Sonatas, but must glance at Purcell's further +activities. He wrote an <i>Ode for St Cecilia's Day</i> +in this year (1683) and many Anthems about this +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P131"></a>131}</span> +time. In 1686 he took part in the competition +of Organ-Builders at the Temple Church, +already spoken of in my Lecture on Dr Blow. +</p> + +<p> +In 1685 he produced music for the Coronation +of James II, himself singing in the choir with +Blow, Child, and others. Who directed the +music, i.e., played the organ, as was customary, +we are not told. I possess a very rare +engraving of this great ceremony, and one of +the Choir seems certainly to hold a baton in +his hand, but it was not usual to have a Conductor. +</p> + +<p> +A second Coronation in which Purcell took +part had a rather serious turn. It was that of +William and Mary, and Purcell admitted persons +to the organ-loft to see the Ceremony, for which +they evidently paid pretty well. Purcell thought +it was a "perquisite" (I do not suppose he was +paid for his extra work on the occasion); but +the Dean and Chapter claimed the money and +passed the following Chapter Order: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +April 18, 1689. It is ordered that Mr. Purcell, +organist to ye Dean and Chapter of Westminster, +do pay to the hand of Mr. John Needham, Receiver +of the College, all such moneys as was received by +him for places in the Organ Loft at ye Coronation +of King William and Queen Mary, by or before +Saturday next, being ye 20th day of this instant +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P132"></a>132}</span> +Aprill. And in default thereof his place is ordered +to be null and void. And it is further ordered that +his stipend or salary due at our Lady Day past be +detayned in the hands of the Treasurer until further +order. +</p> + +<p class="block"> +(<i>Entry in Chapter Book</i>) +</p> + +<p> +Poor Purcell paid up, as an entry in the +Treasurer's book states: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +"Received of Mr. Purcell (his poundage and +charges being deducted) £78 4s. 6d." +</p> + +<p> +The visitors to the organ-loft could not have +been many, as it was but small, so they paid +pretty well for their seats, and Purcell seems to +have had some sort of commission in the way of +"poundage and other charges." +</p> + +<p> +The Opera of <i>Dido and Æneas</i> has often been +quoted as a marvellous effort of Purcell's early +days. Being a complete Opera without spoken +Dialogue, it is a most interesting example of +Purcell's advanced views, and, had he written it +in 1675 (when only seventeen years of age), it +would indeed have been a marvel. But I feel +sure Mr Barclay Squire is right in putting it much +later—in 1689. Although a splendid piece of +work it is that of a man of experience and not of a +youth. +</p> + +<p> +One of the composer's best Operas is <i>Dioclesian</i>, +an adaption from Beaumont and Fletcher by +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P133"></a>133}</span> +Betterton. It is scored for strings, flutes, +hautboys (3), bassoons and trumpets. It is very +interesting music, and there is a "Masque" +included in it, containing some of the host of +Purcell's operatic work. Purcell corrected the +copies of the first issue by his own hand. +</p> + +<p> +I possess one of these scarce books. He +tells us a little of his troubles with the printer in +an advertisement at the end of the book. "In +order to the speedier publication of the Book I +employed two several printers, but one of them +falling into some trouble and the volume swelling +to a bulk beyond my expectations have been the +occasion of this delay." The music to +<i>Dioclesian</i> and to <i>Amphitryon</i> (a play by Dryden), +added greatly to Purcell's fame; and Dryden +who at one time thought Grabu, the French +master of the King's Music, to be far superior to +any English composer, now mentions Purcell as +one "in whose Person we have at length found +an Englishman equal with the best abroad. At +least my opinion of him has been such since his +happy and judicious performances in the last +Opera." (Dryden's.) +</p> + +<p> +Dryden wrote another Opera in 1691, <i>King +Arthur</i>, which Purcell set to music. This is, I +think, the best (excepting <i>Dido and Æneas</i>) of +Purcell's dramatic works, containing as it does the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P134"></a>134}</span> +celebrated Air <i>Come if you dare</i> and the Frost +Scene. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot dwell longer on Purcell's dramatic +music, but will turn for a moment to the music +for <i>St Cecilia's Day</i> in 1692. This was performed, +as usual, in Stationers Hall (the Hall still stands +at the bottom of Paternoster Row), and <i>The +Gentleman's Magazine</i> of the time mentions the +performance and tells us the interesting fact that +the second stanza was sung with incredible graces +by Mr. Purcell himself. So it seems that Purcell +had an alto voice; and it is pleasant to go into +the very Hall, with the Musicians Company of +the present day, and think of the old building +echoing, years ago, to the strains of Purcell's +voice. +</p> + +<p> +And now I must turn to one of the finest of +Purcell's contributions to the Services of the +Church. In 1694 he wrote an elaborate <i>Te Deum</i> +and <i>Jubilate</i> with orchestral accompaniment: this +is the first of its kind by an English composer. It +was written for the festival of <i>St Cecilia's Day</i>, +1694, but was not published until after the +composer's death. The <i>Te Deum</i> was performed in +St Paul's at the Annual Festival Service of the +Sons of the Clergy until 1713, when Handel's <i>Te +Deum</i>, composed for the Peace of Utrecht, took +its place. From that time for some years the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P135"></a>135}</span> +two rival <i>Te Deums</i> were performed alternately. +There are some points of resemblance. Handel +must have heard Purcell's setting, but the version +of it which, until lately, was known—and +sometimes performed—was a sad corruption of the +original. Boyce, with the intention no doubt of +helping Purcell's <i>Te Deum</i> to compete with +Handel's, broke it up into various movements, +made some alterations in the harmony, and +added many dull symphonies. The original +Purcell score consisted of 325 bars and Boyce +added 149 more! The result was disastrous and +practically killed the Purcell setting. A +performance of it was given in 1829, again at the +Festival of the Sons of the Clergy. A very +interesting letter from M. Fétis, the great French +writer, is preserved in a musical paper of June +1829, which I will quote: +</p> + +<p class="block"> +I must confess that my curiosity was considerable +to hear the music of Purcell, whom the English +proudly cite as being worthy of being placed in the +same rank with the greatest composers of Germany +and Italy. I was in a perfectly admiring disposition +of mind when the Te Deum of this giant began; +but what was my disappointment upon hearing, +instead of the masterpiece which they had promised +me, a long succession of insignificant phrases, +ill-connected modulations and incorrect, albeit +pretending harmonies. At first I imagined myself +deceived, and that I ought to doubt my judgment +on a style of music to which I was unaccustomed +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P136"></a>136}</span> +but M. Felix Mendelssohn, a young and highly +distinguished German composer, who stood beside +me, received precisely the same impressions. Such +indeed was the inconvenience felt by him that he +would not prolong it, but escaped, leaving me to +encounter Purcell alone during the performance +of the Jubilate[<a id="chap12fn3text"></a><a href="#chap12fn3">3</a>], which appeared to me no way +superior. +</p> + +<p> +It was a great anxiety to me to know what to +do about introducing this <i>Te Deum</i> in the music +of the Abbey Purcell Celebration. I consulted +Sir Hubert Parry, who said it was "long-winded +and dull"! And so I had always found it, and +the result was I gave up the idea. But—most +providentially—the MS. score of this work was +brought to me one day in the Cloisters of the +Abbey; the announcement of the coming +celebration had called the owner's attention to it. +He sold it to me—and when I looked it over I +found out what was the real reason of its failure. +It was Boyce's edition and not Purcell's music. +A new edition was prepared and the <i>Te Deum</i> +again restored to life! +</p> + +<p> +In another direction Purcell showed his +remarkable versatility. He corrected and amended +Playford's Introduction to the Skill of Musick, a +book of great interest. Purcell's observations on +Canon are particularly good and valuable. +</p> + +<p> +In 1695 the funeral of Queen Mary took place +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P137"></a>137}</span> +in the Abbey, Purcell contributing an Anthem +and other music. The solemn March for "flat +mournful trumpets" has lately been recovered +and published; this is a beautiful specimen of +Purcell's art, and, it is said, was played at his own +funeral. +</p> + +<p> +Purcell died on November 21st, 1695, and Dr +Cummings, in his <i>Life of Purcell</i>, draws a moving +picture of the death of the composer "in a house +on the west side of Dean's Yard." But—Purcell +never lived in Dean's Yard. Rate Books are not +romantic, but generally trustworthy. The Rate +Books of Westminster show that in 1682 Purcell +paid rates for a house in Great St Ann's Lane, in +1686 for a house in Bowling Alley East, and in +1693, 1694, and 1695 (the year of his death) for a +house in Marsham Street. All these houses are +now demolished, but the one in Bowling Alley +existed until lately, and I possess cupboards +made from the mantelpieces and balusters of +the staircase of Purcell's house. +</p> + +<p> +Further proof that he rented houses lies in the +fact that he was allowed £8 a year in lieu of a +house, and this same payment continued up to +the time of my predecessor, who had no house +for the early years of his organistship. +</p> + +<p> +The death of this great man was a grievous loss +to English music. Although he had worthy +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P138"></a>138}</span> +pupils in Dr Croft and others, yet he had no real +successor; and the arrival of Handel and the +musical domination which he exercised did much +to cause Purcell's name to sink somewhat into +oblivion. But it was only for a time—and now +there is no English musician whose name and +fame is more assured. A Purcell Society is +gradually publishing all his works and making +them more accessible. His Operas of <i>Dido and +Æneas</i> and <i>The Fairy Queen</i> have been +performed with great success, and his Church music +is still constantly on the lists of our Cathedrals. +</p> + +<p> +It has not been possible for me to notice all +his work as I would wish to have done, but we +must all feel that, not only was he the last of my +<i>Twelve Good Musicians</i>, but by far the greatest. +</p> + +<p> +A translation of the lines upon his gravestone +in Westminster Abbey may fitly close this +chapter. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Applaud so great a guest, celestial powers,<br /> +Who now resides with you but once was ours,<br /> +Yet let invidious earth no more reclaim<br /> +Her short-lived fav'rite and her chiefest fame,<br /> +Complaining that so prematurely died<br /> +Good-natured pleasure and devotion's pride.<br /> +Died? no, he lives while yonder Organs sound<br /> +And sacred echoes to the Choir rebound.<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P139"></a>139}</span> +</p> + +<p class="t3b"> +NOTE +</p> + +<p> +Since the preceding pages were written I have been in +correspondence with Dr W. H. Grattan-Flood, of +Enniscorthy, with reference to the Irish Purcells +mentioned on p. 120. Dr Grattan-Flood claims to +have proved Henry Purcell to be descended from a +distinguished Irish family. Before quoting from his +kind communication, I may say it seems to me very +probable the Purcells were of good family. Both the +elder Henry and his brother Thomas, were musicians +of note when we first hear of them, and at the +Restoration were members of the King's Band, Henry being +also "Master of the Choristers" of Westminster +Abbey. Edward Purcell, an elder brother of the +composer, was a distinguished officer, who took part +in the Siege of Gibraltar, and ended his days in +honourable retirement at the seat of the Earl of Abingdon, +at Wytham, near Oxford, in the chancel of which +Church he is interred. Another small point is the +fact that Purcell's first published work, the Sonatas, +was issued with a portrait of the composer and with +a coat-of-arms. All this looks as if "Roger Purcell, +the 'Bayliffe' of Mr. Giles," (see p. 120) is not so +likely to have been an ancestor of the musician as +one of the Irish Purcells. +</p> + +<p> +I am not able to give all the matter kindly sent to +me—which I hope Dr Grattan-Flood will make public—but +append his observations on the most important +points:— +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +"Henry Purcell, the composer, was the younger son +of Henry Purcell the Elder; and was adopted at the +age of six by his uncle Thomas. The puzzle, then, +is: Who was the father of Henry Purcell the Elder +and of Thomas Purcell? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P140"></a>140}</span> +</p> + +<p> +"In order to answer this, I have made a systematic +search in the <i>Fiants</i> of Elizabeth and James I, in the +<i>Calendars of State Papers, Ireland</i>, 1623-1670, in the +<i>Inquisitions, Funeral Entries in the Office of Arms</i>, +etc., and have succeeded in tracing the father and +grandfather of Henry Purcell the Elder. I had +unusual opportunities of making this investigation +inasmuch as I assisted Capt R. P. Mahaffy, B.L., in +the editing of the <i>Irish State Papers of Charles I and +Charles II</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"Henry Purcell the Elder was the son of Thomas +Purcell of Gortanny and Ballycross, Co. Tipperary, +the son of Thomas Fitz Piers Purcell, cousin of the +Baron of Loughmoe, and cousin of the Purcells of +Croagh, Co. Limerick. Both Henry and Thomas +Purcell were brought when quite young to England +by their aunt, and placed in the Chapel Royal. Their +aunt was a blood-relation of the Marquis of Ormonde, +who was on intimate terms with King Charles I. Mrs +James Purcell, their aunt, took for her second +husband Colonel John Fitzpatrick, who was also a +personal friend of Charles I and of Charles II. This lady +was Elizabeth Butler, 4th daughter of Thomas, +Viscount Thurles; her marriage jointure is dated +11 February, 1639. She returned from London in 1643. +</p> + +<p> +At the Restoration, through the influence of the +Marquis of Ormonde, who was created Duke of +Ormonde on March 30, 1661, both Henry Purcell the +Elder and his brother Thomas were given posts as +Gentlemen in the Chapel Royal, and were in the +immediate entourage of the Court, and not unregarded +by the observant Pepys. Henry married <i>circa</i> 1651, +and his eldest son, Edward, called after an uncle of +the same name, was born in 1653." +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +"W. H. GRATTAN-FLOOD." +</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<p> +It will be seen Dr Grattan-Flood gives interesting +particulars of the Irish family. On one point the +<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P141"></a>141}</span> +suggestion that the elder Purcell and his brother +Thomas were "placed in the Chapel Royal," I wish he +could give some real proof, for it would, I think, +explain all the ensuing musical success of Purcell's +father, his Uncle Thomas, and himself. But I can +only hope that Dr Grattan-Flood's further researches +may end in completely clearing up the mystery of the +ancestry of Henry Purcell. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +J.F.B. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap12fn1"></a> +[<a href="#chap12fn1text">1</a>] Mr Hooper, the Organist, and Mr John Parsons, the +Master of the Choristers, both had houses in the Little +Almonry in 1616. Their names appear on a document of +that time, a lease from Dr Montaigne and the Chapter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap12fn2"></a> +[<a href="#chap12fn2text">2</a>] The portrait which was issued with these sonatas has been +reproduced for this volume. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a id="chap12fn3"></a> +[<a href="#chap12fn3text">3</a>] The <i>Jubilate</i> was also "improved" by Boyce. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p><a id="chap13"></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P143"></a>143}</span></p> + +<h3> +INDEX +</h3> + +<pre class="index"> + <i>Abbey Amen</i>, The, <a href="#P42">42</a> + Allnutt (Mr), <a href="#P67">67</a> + <i>Amphion Anglicus</i>, <a href="#P113">113</a> + Anne of Denmark (Princess), <a href="#P113">113</a> + + Bach Choir, <a href="#P51">51</a> + Bannister, <a href="#P101">101</a> + <i>Beaumont and Fletcher</i>, <a href="#P132">132</a> + Bleaw, <a href="#P110">110</a> + Blow (Dr John), <a href="#P108">108-117</a> + Bodleian Library, <a href="#P26">26</a> + Boethius, <a href="#P56">56</a> + Boyce's <i>Cathedral Music</i>, <a href="#P10">10</a> + Brackly (Viscount), <a href="#P74">74</a> + Brazil (Emperor of), Visit to Westminster Abbey, <a href="#P117">117</a> + Bridgewater (Lord), <a href="#P76">76</a> + Bull (Dr John), <a href="#P1">1-10</a> + <i>Burlesque Madrigal</i>, <a href="#P36">36</a> + Byrd (Wm.), <a href="#P11">11-20</a> + + Camden History Professorship, <a href="#P42">42</a> + Campion, <a href="#P31">31</a> + Canterbury Cathedral, <a href="#P48">48</a> + <i>Cantiones</i> (Byrd), <a href="#P13">13</a> + Casaubon, <a href="#P47">47</a> + Clarke (Hyde), <a href="#P68">68</a> + Clarke (Jeremiah), <a href="#P111">111</a> + Coleman (Mrs), <a href="#P82">82</a> (note) + Collier (J. P.), <i>Catalogues of Early English Literature</i>, <a href="#P78">78</a> + Comic Song, The First Real, <a href="#P77">77</a> + <i>Comus</i> (Milton), <a href="#P72">72</a> + Coperario (Giovanni), <a href="#P71">71</a>, <a href="#P72">72</a> + Corelli, <a href="#P126">126</a> + Coszyn's (Ben), <i>Virginal Book</i>, <a href="#P36">36</a> + Crews (Mr), <a href="#P49">49</a> + Cromwell (Oliver), <a href="#P53">53</a> + <i>Cryes of London</i>, <a href="#P31">31</a>, <a href="#P36">36</a>, <a href="#P60">60</a> + + Davenant's <i>First Day's Entertainment</i>, <a href="#P82">82</a> + Deering (Richard), <a href="#P50">50-62</a> + Deering (Henry), <a href="#P54">54</a> + Deering (William), <a href="#P54">54</a> + <i>Dido and Æneas</i>, <a href="#P125">125</a>, <a href="#P132">132</a> + <i>Dioclesian</i>, <a href="#P132">132</a> + Drayton (Michael), <a href="#P28">28</a> + Dyke (Eleanor), <a href="#P54">54</a> + + Earle's <i>Microcosmographie</i>, <a href="#P45">45-47</a> + Egerton (Lady Alice), <a href="#P76">76</a> + <i>English Country Songs</i>, <a href="#P70">70</a> + + <i>Fairy Queen</i> (<i>The</i>), <a href="#P138">138</a> + <i>Fancies</i> (Byrd), <a href="#P20">20</a> + Fawkes (Guy), <a href="#P59">59</a> + Fellowes (Rev Dr), <a href="#P33">33</a> + Ferabosco, <a href="#P37">37</a> + Fétis (M), <a href="#P135">135</a> + <i>Fitzwilliam Virginal Book</i>, <a href="#P9">9</a>, <a href="#P16">16</a>, <a href="#P25">25</a> + Forster's <i>Virginal Book</i>, <a href="#P25">25</a> + + Gibbons (Christopher), <a href="#P85">85</a> + Gibbons (Edward), <a href="#P34">34-35</a> + Gibbons (Orlando), <a href="#P34">34-49</a> + <i>Gloria Tibi Trinitas</i>, <a href="#P37">37</a> + Grabu (Grebus), <a href="#P101">101</a> + Gresham Lectures, <a href="#P1">1</a> + Grey (Lady Elizabeth), <a href="#P54">54</a> + + Hamilton ("Single-speech"), <a href="#P95">95</a> + Hamlet's Soliloquy, <a href="#P93">93</a> + "Hatten's" Galliard, <a href="#P36">36</a> + Hatton (Sir Christopher), <a href="#P36">36</a> + Hawkins (Sir John), <a href="#P116">116</a> + Heyther (Dr), <i>Doctor's Exercise</i>, <a href="#P42">42</a> + <i>Humorous Fancy</i>, <a href="#P31">31</a>, <a href="#P33">33</a>, <a href="#P37">37</a>, <a href="#P60">60</a> + Humfrey (Pelham), <a href="#P95">95-107</a> + Humfrey (Col. John), <a href="#P96">96</a> + + <i>In Nomines</i> (Byrd), <a href="#P20">20</a>, <a href="#P37">37</a> + <i>It was a Lover and His Lass</i> (Morley), <a href="#P23">23</a> + + James II, Coronation of, <a href="#P131">131</a> + Jenkins (John), <a href="#P95">95</a> + Jerusalem Chamber, <a href="#P44">44</a> + Jonson (Ben), <a href="#P6">6</a> + + Keepe's <i>Monumenta Westmonasteriensia</i>, <a href="#P96">96</a> + + <i>Lady Nevill's Booke</i>, <a href="#P16">16</a> + Lambeth Register, <a href="#P111">111</a> + Lawes (Henry), <a href="#P71">71-83</a> + Lawes (William), <a href="#P83">83</a> + <i>Life of Archbishop Williams</i>, <a href="#P44">44</a> + Locke (Matthew), <a href="#P84">84-94</a> + Locke's Response to the Ten Commandments, <a href="#P89">89</a> + London University, <a href="#P1">1</a> + Ludlow Castle, <a href="#P74">74</a> + Lully (J. B.), <a href="#P99">99</a> + + <i>Macbeth</i>, <a href="#P92">92</a> + Mace's <i>Musick's Monument</i>, <a href="#P54">54</a> + <i>Madrigals and Mottets</i>, <a href="#P36">36</a> + Matteis (Nicola), <a href="#P127">127-130</a> + <i>Medulla Musicke</i>, <a href="#P16">16</a> + Merchant Taylors' Company, <a href="#P5">5</a> + Milton (John), <a href="#P63">63-70</a> + Morley (Thomas), <a href="#P21">21-28</a> + <i>Musica Transalpina</i>, <a href="#P14">14</a> + Musical Antiquarian Soc., <a href="#P39">39</a> + Musicians, Worshipful Company of, <a href="#P26">26</a> + Myriell (Thomas), <a href="#P38">38</a> + + <i>Non nobis Domine</i> (Byrd), <a href="#P20">20</a> + North (Francis), <a href="#P129">129</a> + North (Roger), <a href="#P82">82</a>, <a href="#P89">89</a>, <a href="#P92">92</a>, <a href="#P129">129</a> + <i>Notes and Queries</i>, <a href="#P67">67</a> + + <i>O Mistress Mine</i> (Byrd), <a href="#P19">19</a> + Ouseley (Sir Frederick), <a href="#P53">53</a>, <a href="#P115">115</a> + Overture, Development of, <a href="#P99">99</a> + Oxford University, <a href="#P10">10</a>, <a href="#P48">48</a>, <a href="#P83">83</a> + + Paris University, <a href="#P98">98</a> + Parry (Sir Hubert), <a href="#P115">115</a>, <a href="#P136">136</a> + <i>Parthenia</i>, <a href="#P10">10</a>, <a href="#P35">35</a> + Peacham's <i>Compleat Gentleman</i>, <a href="#P19">19</a>, <a href="#P53">53</a> + Pepys (Samuel), <i>Diary</i>, <a href="#P83">83</a> + Petre (Father), <a href="#P112">112</a> + Playford, <a href="#P75">75</a> + Purcell (Henry, the Elder), <a href="#P82">82</a> + Purcell (Henry), <a href="#P118">118-141</a> + Purcell (Roger), <a href="#P119">119</a>, <a href="#P120">120</a> + Purcell (Thomas), <a href="#P105">105</a>, <a href="#P124">124</a>, <a href="#P139">139</a>, <a href="#P140">140</a>, <a href="#P141">141</a> + Purcell Family, <a href="#P120">120</a> + Purcell Society, <a href="#P138">138</a> + + Ravenscroft, <a href="#P31">31</a> + Ripon, Bishop of, <a href="#P66">66</a> + Robinson (Dr Armitage), <a href="#P51">51</a> + Rochester Cathedral, <a href="#P108">108</a> + + <i>Sagbutts and Cornets</i>, <a href="#P87">87</a> + St Paul's Choir, <a href="#P6">6</a> + Salmon (Thomas), <a href="#P90">90</a> + Sancroft (Archbishop), <a href="#P110">110</a> + Sandwich (Lord), <a href="#P93">93</a> + Sandys (George), <a href="#P73">73</a> + Scott (Dr), <a href="#P56">56</a> + Scrivener's Company, <a href="#P65">65</a> + "Semi-operas," <a href="#P92">92</a> + Shakespeare (W.), <a href="#P25">25</a> (note) + <i>Siege of Rhodes</i>, <a href="#P82">82</a>, <a href="#P119">119</a> + Smith (Dr Cooper), <a href="#P75">75</a> + Somerset House Chapel, <a href="#P89">89</a> + Southgate (Dr), in + Stanley (Dean), <a href="#P117">117</a> + Stanley (Sir William), <a href="#P58">58</a> + Stondon, <a href="#P18">18</a> + Sweelinck, <a href="#P9">9</a> + + Tallis (Thomas), <a href="#P11">11</a> + <i>Tavola</i> (Lawes), <a href="#P77">77</a> + <i>Teares and Lamentations</i> (Leighton), <a href="#P10">10</a> + Tewkesbury, <a href="#P3">3</a> + <i>Three Ladies of London</i>, <a href="#P32">32</a> + <i>Triumphs of Oriana</i>, <a href="#P11">11</a>, <a href="#P23">23</a> + <i>Twincledowne Tavye</i>, <a href="#P32">32</a> + <i>Venus and Adonis</i>, <a href="#P114">114</a> + + Waelrant, <a href="#P9">9</a> + Weelkes (Thomas), <a href="#P28">28-33</a> + Westminster Abbey, Gibbons' Festival (1907), <a href="#P48">48</a> + Westminster Abbey, Chapter Library, <a href="#P50">50</a> + <i>Where the Bee Sucks</i>, <a href="#P104">104</a> + Wilbye, <a href="#P33">33</a> + Wilson (Dr), <a href="#P83">83</a> + Wither's <i>Hymns and Songs of the Church</i>, <a href="#P43">43</a> + Wood (Anthony), <a href="#P11">11</a>, <a href="#P54">54</a> + + <i>York</i>, <a href="#P69">69</a> +</pre> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t4"> +PRINTED AT THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY, ENGLAND. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Twelve Good Musicians, by Frederick Bridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + +***** This file should be named 39935-h.htm or 39935-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/3/39935/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twelve Good Musicians + From John Bull to Henry Purcell + +Author: Frederick Bridge + +Release Date: June 7, 2012 [EBook #39935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: DR. JOHN BULL. _From the painting in the Music School, +University of Oxford._] + + + + + +TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS + +From JOHN BULL to HENRY PURCELL + + + +BY + +SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE + +C.V.O., M.A., Mus.D. + + King Edward Professor of Music in the University of London, + Gresham Professor, Emeritus-Organist of Westminster Abbey + + + + +LONDON: + +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. + +NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. + +1920 + + + + +{v} + +INTRODUCTORY + +In the Preface of his admirable contribution to the _Oxford History of +Music_ (Vol. III.) the late Sir Hubert Parry writes: "The seventeenth +century is musically almost a blank, even to those who take more than +the average interest in the Art; and barely a score of composers' names +during the whole time suggest anything more than a mere reputation to +modern ears." Of course the distinguished author is speaking of the +musical world in general, not of our own country's music only. I am +inclined to think it is a little severe on us. I have always found +that great interest is taken in the 17th century music and musicians of +England. + +Surely the century which began with the great Madrigal school at its +highest point, which saw the Masque at its best in Milton's _Comus_, +which witnessed the supersession of the viol by the violin, and which, +at the close, had to its credit the complete works of our greatest +composer, Henry Purcell, ought not to be in any sense "almost a blank," +to English students at least. + +But if our musical students will only read Volume III of the _Oxford +History_--so full of the author's admirable criticisms and so amply +{vi} illustrated by selections from the great composers of the +period--they will certainly form a high opinion of what was +accomplished then, and, having finished the volume, their minds will +assuredly not be a "blank." + +To help to a useful view of what was done in our own country in the +17th century I took that period for my University Course in this +session 1919-1920, and for my subject Twelve Good Musicians from John +Bull to Henry Purcell. The substance of these lectures is given in the +following chapters. + +For many biographical details and other matter I have availed myself of +the valuable articles in Grove's _Dictionary_ and in the _Dictionary of +National Biography_, which I beg to acknowledge. + +To Mr Barclay Squire I am deeply indebted for much information. His +work in Musical History is most valuable, and deserves the best thanks +of all students. + +To my brother, Professor J. C. Bridge, M.A., Mus.D., of Chester, and to +Mr Jeffrey Pulver and Dr Borland I am also grateful for many +interesting facts contained in these pages. + +J. FREDERICK BRIDGE. + +_The Cloisters, Westminster Abbey,_ + _October_, 1920. + + + + +{vii} + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + I. DR JOHN BULL, 1563 (?)--1628 + II. WILLIAM BYRD, 1542-3--1623 + III. THOMAS MORLEY, 1557--1603 + IV. THOMAS WEELKES, 1575 (?)--1623 + V. ORLANDO GIBBONS, 1583--1625 + VI. RICHARD DEERING, 1580 (?)--1630 + VII. JOHN MILTON, 1553--1646-7 + VIII. HENRY LAWES, 1595--1662 + IX. MATTHEW LOCKE, 1630 (?)--1677 + X. PELHAM HUMFREY, 1647--1674 + XI. DR JOHN BLOW, 1648--1708 + XII. HENRY PURCELL, 1658--1695 + + + + +{1} + +Twelve Good Musicians + + + + +1. DR. JOHN BULL. + +1563 (?)--1628. + +There is, I venture to think, a fitness in the choice of the first +musician of the Twelve to be considered. John Bull is a name familiar +to Englishmen, though I do not know that the musician bearing that name +has anything to do with the historical and political personage whose +jovial portrait is so well known to us. But Dr. John Bull, was the +first to hold anything like a University Professorship in London--or +indeed in England. It is true Gresham College has not developed into a +University, but its founder, Sir Thomas Gresham, certainly seems to +have had such an end in view, and John Bull was the first Gresham Music +Lecturer. As his successor at Gresham College, and as I have the +honour to be the first Musical Professor in the University of London, I +think there is a {2} justification for beginning this course in the +University with a consideration of the old Gresham Professor. I must +premise that in selecting twelve good men I have by no means exhausted +the number of such men available, but I hope to have chosen good +representatives of the various Schools and movements in the musical +world of England in the 17th century. And, although necessarily +concentrating my attention on the selected twelve, yet, of course, +undoubtedly I shall make many references to their fellow-musicians both +in this country and abroad. But it is to our own men and our own music +in the 17th century that I shall direct my chief attention. + +To begin then with the first of my twelve good musicians--the first +Gresham Professor of Music, Dr. John Bull. Born about 1563 of a +Somersetshire family, he became one of the Children of the Chapel Royal +(as will be seen, always a great nursery of young English Musicians), +his master being Blytheman who, we are told, "spared neither time nor +labour to advance his natural gifts." + +Organist of Hereford Cathedral for a time, we find him in 1585 a member +of the Chapel Royal Choir--not then organist, a post to which he +attained a few years later, succeeding his old {3} master, Blytheman. +He was evidently determined to get on in his profession, for, besides +all these posts and varied activities, he found time in 1586 to take +the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford (it being stated he had +"practised the faculty of music for 14 years"), following this up with +a Doctor's degree--this time at Cambridge. + +He appears to have met with a somewhat serious adventure at Tewkesbury, +in 1592, "being robbed in those parts." A Mr. W. Chelps, of Tewkesbury +showed him "rare kindness" and was rewarded, no doubt by Bull's +influence, with the post of a Gentleman Extraordinary in the Chapel +Royal. + +In 1592 our indefatigable musician took another degree, that of Doctor +of Music at Oxford, the delay in taking it having been caused, +according to a contemporary writer, by his having met with "rigid +puritans there, that could not endure Church Music." + +The next important step in his varied career was his appointment as +first Gresham Professor of Music. His lectures should have been given +in Latin, but he was allowed to deliver them in English. Unfortunately +there is no copy of his lectures to be found, but Mr. Barclay Squire in +an article on Bull in the Dictionary of National Biography, gives the +following title-page of {4} the first lecture which is all that +survives of it: + +"_The oration of Master John Bull, Doctor of Music and one of the +Gentlemen of his Majestie's Royal Chapel, as he pronounced the same +before divers worshipful persons the Aldermen and Commoners of the +Citie of London, with a great multitude of other people the_ 6_th day +of October_ 1597,_ in the new erected College of Sir Thomas Gresham, +Knight, deceased: made in the Commemoration of the said worthy Founder, +and the excellent Science of Musicke._ (Imprinted at London by Thomas +Este)." + +Although a great misfortune that the Lecture itself is not to be found; +it is interesting to learn the subject of the oration from the +title-page. + +It would, however, have been more interesting to read the lecture +itself, if only to see what Bull said about Sir Thomas Gresham and to +know his views upon music in general. Of one thing we may be certain: +he must have given his audience a real treat by his Clavier +performance; for doubtless he obeyed the directions given in the +Founder's will--directions which are observed to this day. It was wise +on the part of Gresham to insist that the lectures should be adequately +illustrated: an audience gains {5} much from _hearing the examples_ +which have been commented upon by the lecturer. The directions are: + + + "The solemn music lectures twice every week, in manner following, + viz: the theoretique part for one half hour or thereabouts, and the + practique by concert of voice or instruments for the rest of the + hour." + + +Bull has been credited with the composition of our National Anthem. +The matter has been investigated by many, but, so far, there seems no +proof of it. We know, however, that he was honoured by King James I, +as his name was amongst those to whom were given "gold chains, plates, +or medals." + +He appears to have been admitted into the freedom of the Merchant +Taylors' Company in 1606, and in 1607 he played before the King and +Prince Henry when they dined at Merchant Taylors' Hall. According to +Stowe, "John Bull, Doctor of Music, one of the Organists of His +Majestie's Chapel Royal and free of the Merchant Taylors', being in a +citizen's goune, cappe and hood, played most excellent melodie upon a +small payre of Organs placed there for that purpose only." + +The Musical arrangements for this great City Company's feast were on a +very elaborate scale. {6} Besides Bull's performance (which was +apparently for the King only, who dined alone in a separate chamber +"where Dr. Bull did play all dinner time"), the Singing Men and +Children of the Royal Chapel sang melodious songs, and some of the best +singers of the day sang songs by Coperario, from a ship which was +suspended in the great Hall. Besides all this the Choir of St Paul's +sang songs, the words of which were by Ben Jonson. The King must have +had a pretty good programme of music to listen to, unless he spent the +evening in his own room where he dined alone--with Dr Bull playing to +pass the time. + +The numerous singers in the great Hall seem to have been rather a +trouble to the givers of the feast. Bull and Gyles, the master of the +Children of the Chapel Royal, who performed in the King's chamber, were +rewarded the next day by being admitted into the livery of the Company +as a recognition of their services at the entertainment, which are +stated to have been "gratis, whereas the musicians in the greate Hall +exacted unreasonable somes of the Company for the same." + +During an absence abroad in 1601 his deputy at Gresham College was +Thomas Byrd, son of the composer W. Byrd. Bull's fame had so spread +{7} that he had many tempting offers to attach himself to the "French +and Spanish Courts," but he obeyed Queen Elizabeth's order to return to +England. + +In 1607, on account of a desire to marry, he relinquished the Gresham +post, celibacy being one of the conditions of the appointment. The +lady of his choice was "Elizabeth Walter of the Strand, maiden, aged +about 24, daughter of Walter, citizen of London." + +Nothing much is chronicled of him for the next four years, but in 1611 +his name heads the list of the Prince of Wales' musicians at a salary +of L40 a year, and another mention is made of him in connection with +Princess Elizabeth's marriage, on which occasion (Feb. 14th, 1613) a +benediction, _God the Father, God the Son_, was sung to an anthem "made +new for that purpose by Dr. Bull." + +We now come to the mysterious portion of Bull's life which culminated +in his flight from England. The first hint is suggested by the +following letter from Bull to Sir M. Hicks, secretary to the Earl of +Salisbury: + + + "Sir, + + I have bin many times to have spoken with you, to desire your favor + to my Lord and Mr. Chancellor, to graunte me theire favors to + chaunge my name, and put in my childes, leaving out my {8} owne. + It is but L40 by yeare for my service heretofore, the matter is not + great, yet it will be some reliefe for my poor childe, having + nothing ells to leave it." + + +The letter proceeds to mention some others whose interest had been +moved, and is written in a tone of great humiliation. Was it an +instance of coming events casting their shadows before? The following +entry in the Chapel Royal cheque-book rather supports the supposition: + + + "John Bull, Doctor of Music, went beyond the seas without licence, + and was admitted into the Archduke's Service, and entered into paie + there about Michaelmas." + + +Peter Hopkins filled his place, and his quarter's salary, Michaelmas to +Christmas, was divided amongst members of the Royal Chapel. + +His departure created some sensation, as it is said he "was so much +admired for his dexterous hand on the Organ, that many thought there +was more than man in him." Wood puts it down to his "being possessed +with crotchets, as many musicians are." A letter, however, from the +British Minister at Brussels to King James I, puts a rather different +complexion on it. It would appear that the Minister had been charged +by James I, to express his displeasure at the Archduke's want of +courtesy in engaging Bull, {9} and in the letter announcing the +fulfilment of his mission the Minister says: + + + "And I told him plainly, that it was notorious to all the world, + the said Bull did not leave your Majesty's Service for any wrong + done unto him or for matter of Religion, under which fained pretext + he sought to wrong the reputation of your Majesty's justice, but + did in that dishonest manner steal out of England through the guilt + of a corrupt conscience to escape punishment which notoriously he + had deserved and was designed to have been inflicted on him by the + hand of justice for his ..... grievous crimes." + + +It will be noticed the writer scoffs at Bull's religious sensitiveness, +but there is no doubt he was, like Byrd, a Papist at heart. + +In 1617 he succeeded Waelrant at Antwerp Cathedral, dying in that city +on the 12th or 13th of March, 1628, and being buried in the Cathedral. + +Bull was evidently well thought of by his Antwerp friends, and +Sweelinck, the great Dutch organist, included a Canon by Bull in his +work on Composition. Bull returned the compliment by writing a +Fantasia on a Fugue by Sweelinck. + +Bull is most favourably known as a composer for the Virginals. Many +fine examples are to be found in the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_, and +his powers as performer must have been very great, judging from his +compositions. He joined Byrd and Gibbons in contributing to the +celebrated {10} collection _Parthenia_ ("the first music for the +Virginals ever published in England.") There are examples of his +Church Music in Boyce's Cathedral Music (1760), but, like many other +specimens contained in that valuable and well-known collection, these +compositions of Bull do not seem to me to be the best examples of his +powers. A really beautiful little motet contained in Sir William +Leighton's _Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soule_ (1614) +entitled _In the Departure of the Lord_ gives me a very high opinion of +his Church Music. It is for four voices and full of beautiful harmony +and expressive modulation. Indeed, I think it compares favourably with +much of the kind written by contemporary musicians. + +I hope to be able to edit it, with other specimens of Bull's sacred +music, in the early future. + +A portrait exists in the University of Oxford, and round it is written + + "The Bull by force in field doth rayne + But Bull by skill good-will doth gaine." + + +A copy of this portrait is prefixed to this book. + + + + +{11} + +II. WILLIAM BYRD + +1542 or 3--1623 + +A great contemporary of John Bull comes next for consideration. +William Byrd is certainly one of the most distinguished of the +remarkable company of English composers living in the early years of +the 17th century. Curiously enough, he was not included amongst the +contributors to _The Triumphs of Oriana_. There may be a reason, of +which more anon. Anthony Wood tells us "he was bred up to musick under +Thomas Tallis," and the eminent Church musician was god-father to +Byrd's son Thomas. Byrd was also Tallis' executor. In early life the +subject of my Lecture was Organist of Lincoln, in which city he was +married on the 14th of September, 1568. His eldest son was born at +Lincoln in 1569, and a daughter in 1571-2. This proves he did not at +once come to London on his appointment to the Chapel Royal. This was +in 1569, when he succeeded Robert Parsons as Gentleman of the Chapel +Royal, the said Robert Parsons having been drowned at Newark in January +of that year. It seems probable that Byrd kept up some kind of +connection with {12} Lincoln for some time after his appointment to the +Chapel Royal, for an entry in the Chapter Records of Lincoln mentions +the appointment of Thomas Butler as Organist and Master of the +Choristers on the "nomination and commendation of Mr William Byrd." In +London he shared with his old master, Tallis, the post of Organist of +the Royal Chapel and he also enjoyed with him a privilege of a more +profitable nature, which was no less than a patent, granted by Queen +Elizabeth to print and sell music, English or foreign, and to rule, +print and sell music paper for twenty-one years, and all other printers +were forbidden to infringe this license under penalty of forty +shillings. A petition from some printers, having reference to this +license, shows it was not altogether a popular privilege. The +complainants say: "Byrd and Tallys, her Majesty's Servants, have +musicke bokes with note, _which the Complainants confess they would not +print_, nor be furnished to print, tho' there were no privilege." I +think this may be regarded as a little specimen of professional +jealousy. + +Whether the privilege was a great financial benefit to the two old +Masters one cannot say, but, anyhow, it was of great advantage in one +way, and that was the opportunity it gave of printing and publishing +their own works, and {13} Byrd was not slow in taking advantage of it. +In 1575 appeared his first published work, as a set of "Cantiones" in +4, 5, and 6 parts. Some of the compositions were by Tallis and some by +Byrd, and they are fine and dignified specimens of both composers. One +by Tallis in particular is a beautiful example of his treatment of a +Chorale, the parts flowing in charming melody and the whole work +abounding in interesting and clever "imitation." I have been able to +publish this fine example of early Church music, and it has been well +received "in Quires and places where they sing." With the exception of +"If ye love me" I do not know any anthem by Tallis which compares with +it in solemn and chaste expression. It shows Byrd's old master--one of +the founders of our Cathedral music--at his very best. + +On the death of Tallis 1585, the patent was enjoyed by Byrd alone, and +he made very good use of it. One of his first publications was +entitled _Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of sadness and pietie, made into +musicke of_ 5 _parts; whereof some of them going abroad among divers, +in untrue coppies, are heere truely corrected, and the other being +Songs very rare and newly composed, are heere published, for the +recreation of all such as delight in Musicke_ (1588). + +{14} + +At the back of the title-page of this work are the following "Eight +Reasons briefly set down by the Author to perswade every one to learn +to sing:" + + + 1. First it is a knowledge easily taught and quickly learned where + there is a good Master and an apt Scholar. + + 2. The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, and good to + preserve the health of Man. + + 3. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast and doth open the + pipes. + + 4. It is a singular good remedy for Stutting[1] and Stammering in + the speech. + + 5. It is the best means to procure a perfect pronunciation, and to + make a good Orator. + + 6. It is the only way to know where Nature hath bestowed the + benefit of a good voice, which gift is so rare, as there is not one + among a thousand that hath it, and in many that excellent gift is + lost, because they want Art to express Nature. + + 7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to + that which is made of the voices of Men, where the voices are good + and the same well sorted and ordered. + + 8. The better the voice is the meeter it is to honour and serve God + therewith, and the voice of man is Chiefly to be imployed to that + End." + + +To the above is added the following couplet: + + Since Singing is so good a thing + I wish all men would learne to sing. + + +In the same year appeared a work which was {15} destined to wield +tremendous influence upon English Musical Art. This was a collection +of Madrigals called _Musica Transalpina_. _Madrigals translated out +of_ 4, 5, _and_ 6 _parts, chosen out of divers excellent Authors, with +the first and second parts of La Virginella made by MAISTER BYRD upon +two stanzas of Ariosto and brought to speak English with the rest_. +The inclusion of his name in this connection gives Byrd the claim to be +considered one of the first, if not the first, of English Madrigal +writers. And the fact that he contributed to this work may have +possibly been the cause of the absence of his name from the collection +made by Morley--which, of course, was an imitation of the publication +which had appeared some twelve years before. This is merely a +supposition, but there must be some reason for the exclusion of such a +distinguished composer, and one already famous as a Madrigal writer. +It is the more remarkable from the fact that Morley spoke of Byrd with +the greatest respect and even affection.[2] + +Two years later he wrote two settings of _This sweet and merry month of +May_ for Watson's _First sett of Italian Madrigals Englished_. Among +his other vocal compositions are _Psalms, Songs {16} and Sonets, some +solemne, other joyfull framed to the life of the words_. _Fit for +voyces or viols_. He also was a contributor to Leighton's _Teares and +Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul_, the work in which Bull's beautiful +Motet appears. One of his works he dedicated to the Earl of +Northampton, and the dedication infers that not only had Byrd reason to +be grateful to that nobleman, but so also had the Gentlemen of the +Chapel Royal, as he seems to have been the means of securing an +increase in their salaries. Of course many of Byrd's works were not +published, and this is particularly the case with his compositions for +the Virginals. Many are in the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_[3] and also +in _Lady Nevill's Booke_, which is a collection of Virginal Lessons, +copied by a singing Man of Windsor named John Baldwin. Before leaving +Byrd's professional life it is interesting to note his connection with +another musical worthy contemporary, Alfonso Ferabosco; a joint +publication of theirs will show this. It was entitled _Medulla +Musicke, sucked out of the sappe of Two of the most famous Musicians +that ever lived, Master William Byrd and Master Alfonso Ferabosco, +Either of whom having made 40 severall ways (without contention) +shewing most rare and {17} intricate skill in 2 parts in one upon the +Plaine Song Miserere_. This work was most probably the outcome of a +"friendly contention" which they had "each one judging his rival's +work, they both set plaine song 40 different ways." + +In private life Byrd's religious feelings made his career rather an +anxious one; like many others on the Chapel Royal Staff, though +outwardly Protestant, he was probably a Roman Catholic. It was known +that the Byrd family were "Papisticall recusants"; as early as 1581 he +is mentioned as living at one of the places frequented by recusants, +and is also set down as "a friend and abettor of those beyond the Sea, +and is said to be living with Mr. Lister over against St Dunstans or at +the Lord Padgettes house at Draighton." It is a noticeable thing that +though his duties called him to the Chapel Royal, he lived nearly the +whole of his life out of London. At one place, Stondon, Essex, he had +some sequestrated property granted to him for three lives, but had a +good deal of dispute with the previous owners, which went so far as to +necessitate the King's intervention. In a law-suit in connection with +it "one Petiver submitted the said Byrd did give him vile and bitter +words," that when told he had no right to the property replied that "yf +he could not hould it by right {18} he would hould it by might." Byrd +lived a long life, and died on July 4, 1623. + +The exact entry recording this fact in the Chapel Royal Cheque Book +runs "1623, William Byrd, a Father of Musick, died the 4th of July, and +John Croker, a Counter Tenor of Westminster, was admitted for a year of +probation of his good behaviour and civill carriage." + +Mr Barclay Squire has discovered much of interest concerning Byrd, +notably his Will. In this he expresses a hope that he "may live and +dye a true and perfect member of God's holy Catholic Church, (without +which I believe there is no salvation for me). My body to be +honourably buried in that parish or place where it shall please God to +take me oute of this life, which I humbly desyre (if it shall please +God) may be in the parish of Stondon where my dwellinge is, and this to +be buried neare unto the place where my wife lyeth buryed." + +Of late years much attention has been devoted to Byrd's sacred music, +which includes some remarkably fine Masses, some of which have been +reprinted and used in the Roman Catholic Church. But Byrd has never +been forgotten in the Cathedrals of England, for his Anthem _Bow Thine +ear_ has always found a place in the lists of the daily musical +services. There is, also, a fine {19} specimen of his composition in +the volume of Cathedral music published by Dr. Hayes. It has English +words, and for a long time appeared in the Abbey list as by Hayes, but +it was identified as one of Byrd's Latin motets, and now is ascribed to +the rightful owner. + +An interesting specimen of his Clavier compositions is to be found in +the Fitzwilliam volume being an arrangement of the air _O Mistress +Mine_. This is one of the few pieces of Shakesperean music which was +published in the Poet's life-time. It is charmingly treated by Byrd. +The same air appeared in a work by Morley, an arrangement of various +airs for a small Band consisting of the Treble Viol, Flute, Cittern, +Pandora, Lute, and Bass Viol. It seems probable that this air was a +popular tune and that Shakespeare wrote words to it, or possibly (as he +did in _Willo! Willo!_) took the old words which were set to the melody +and incorporated them in his play. + +A contemporary opinion of Byrd can be gathered from Peacham's estimate +of him in the _Compleat Gentleman_. Writing in 1622, he says: "In +Motets and Musicks of piety and devotion, as well for the honour of our +nation as the merit of the man, I preferre above all other our Phoenix, +Mr. Wm. Byrd, whom, in that kind, I know not whether any may equall, I +am sure none excell, {20} even by the judgment of France and Italy. +His _Cantiones Sacrae_ and also his _Gradualia_ are meere Angelicall +and Divine and being himself naturally disposed to gravity and piety, +his veine is not so much for light Madrigals and Canzonets, yet his +Virginella and some others in his first set cannot be mended by the +best Italian of them all." And Morley speaks of him as "my loving +master, never without reuerence to be named of Musicians." + +His name has always been associated with the Canon _Non nobis Domine_, +but it would be very difficult to establish his claim to the authorship. + +Altogether the old musician has a remarkable list of varied +compositions to his credit. Besides those already mentioned he wrote +some excellent _Fancies_ and _In Nomines_ for strings, making a real +advance upon the somewhat stilted specimens of Instrumental Music then +in vogue, and helping to free the Instrumental form of composition from +the vocal. _Fancies_ and _In Nomines_ I shall speak of in detail in a +later lecture. + +William Byrd had a long and honourable career and contributed in a +remarkable degree to the development of the Art of Music in England in +the 17th century. There is much truth in Peacham's verdict that his +music "cannot be mended by the best Italian of them all." + + + +[1] _i.e._, stuttering; originally _stot_, from the German _stottern_. +To "stut" is still used in Cheshire dialect, (_v._ Wilbraham's +_Glossary of Cheshire Words_.) + +[2] It may have been because he was a Roman Catholic and his name would +not have been welcome to Elizabeth. + +[3] Now published. Edited by Mr. Fuller Maitland and Mr. Barclay +Squire. + + + + +{21} + +III. THOMAS MORLEY. + +1557--1603 + +The next of our twelve musicians in chronological order of birth is +Thomas Morley, born in 1557, when Byrd was a young man, though his +course was run long before that veteran had finished with the affairs +of this world. He was a pupil of Byrd, and was probably a chorister of +St Paul's Cathedral. In 1588 he graduated B.Mus. at Oxford, and some +three years later was appointed Organist of St Paul's. This position +he did, however, not hold long, as in 1592, he was appointed a +Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1598 he was granted the licence, +which had previously been held by Tallis and Byrd, for the exclusive +right of printing and selling Books of Music and Ruled Paper, and many +of the musical works which were published at that time were issued by +Este, Peter Short, William Barley, and others, as the assigns of Thomas +Morley. In 1602 he resigned his positions at the Chapel Royal, +probably from ill-health, as one gathers {22} from the Introduction to +his _Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Music_ that he was +rather a confirmed invalid. Some have taken the year of his +resignation as that of his death, but there is nothing to support this, +and though Hawkins and Burney are at one in placing his death in 1604, +the correct date is 1603. + +Details of Morley's life are scanty, by his works we must know him. +His compositions are both vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular; +and, in addition to his work in the various branches of composition, +much of his fame rests upon his authorship of the first really +satisfactory treatise on music, _The Plaine and Easie Introduction_ +already referred to. + +This work is full of interest, and has been a book of reference and of +valuable information to musicians for the past three centuries. +Written in the form of a dialogue between Master and Pupil, it contains +many quaint discourses, and it is in the early chapters of this work +that the story is told of the unfortunate gentleman who could not read +music at sight when asked to do so by his hostess, with the humiliating +result that the company wondered "where he had been brought up." + +Morley's book was translated into German by I. C. Frost, Organist of St +Martin's, Halberstadt. {23} It is interesting to observe that more +than one of his works was translated into German (e.g., the _Canzonets +or Little Short Songs to Three Voyces_, published here first in 1593, +was translated into German and issued at Cassel in 1612 and at Rostock +in 1624; and the _Ballets for Five Voyces_ of 1595 was issued at +Nuremberg in 1609). + +This is a striking testimony to his merits, but the most celebrated of +his publications was the great edition of Madrigals called _The +Triumphs of Oriana_. This is said to have been compiled as a tribute +to Queen Elizabeth, whose title of "Gloriana" is well known. In this +portly volume he includes no fewer than twenty-six Madrigals, +contributed by many of the most famous living English composers. The +work helped to make the practice of Madrigal-singing very popular in +England, and to this day its influence is great and few programmes of +Madrigal-music are ever issued without some specimen taken from this +splendid collection. + +And it is to Morley we owe a delightful contemporary setting of words +by Shakespeare--the beautiful Lyric "It was a lover and his lass" from +_As You Like It_. This is one of the very few things which we +possess--with the words by Shakespeare and the music by a contemporary +{24} musician. Unfortunately, the charming song has been often sadly +mutilated by editors, sometimes by the introduction of unwarranted +"accidentals" and also by actual curtailment. I have, however, had the +opportunity of referring to one of the few copies in existence of the +original publication (formerly in the Halliwell-Phillip's collection), +and have so been enabled to issue it in its correct form. Various +attempts have been made to arrange it as a duet, on the ground that it +was sung in the play by "two pages." The dialogue which precedes the +song is very amusing and rather suggests that Shakespeare had some +little experience of the peculiar weaknesses of singers, both amateur +and professional. The following is the little episode in question: + + +_Enter Two Pages._ + + 1st Page: Well met, honest gentleman. + + Touchstone: By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit and a song. + + 2nd Page: We are for you: sit i' the middle. + + 1st Page: Shall we clap into't roundly, without + hawking or spitting or saying we are + hoarse; which are the only prologues + to a bad voice? + + 2nd Page: I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, + like two gipsies on a horse. + _As You Like It_, Act V., scene 3. + + +The words "two gipsies on a horse" have been {25} taken to suggest that +as the two gipsies must have ridden one behind the other, the two pages +should sing, not in unison, but one after the other. Hence the effort +to arrange the music in Canon, as it is termed. But there is no +warrant for this; neither will the song admit of it.[1] + +With respect to his Instrumental writing, in addition to many examples +for the Virginals, he wrote for combined instruments, as will be seen +later. Much of his Virginal-music is contained in the _Fitzwilliam +Collection_, and in Will Forster's _Virginal Book_ in Buckingham +Palace. For combined instruments may be mentioned the seven Fantasias, +and there is also a collection called _First Book of Consort Lessons +for Six Instruments, Lute, Pandora, Cittern, Bass Viol, Flute and +Treble Viol_. Writing on this collection Dr Burney does not take a +very high estimate of its musical value: "they seem to have been +intended for Civic Feasts" (he says), "and Master Morley, supposing +perhaps that {26} the harmony which was to be heard through the +clattering of knives, forks, spoons, and plates, with the jingling of +glasses and clamorous conversation of a City feast, need not be very +accurate or refined, was not very nice in setting parts to these tunes, +which are so far from correct that almost any one of the City Waits +would have vamped as good an accompaniment on the spot." + +I question if Dr Burney is justified in this scathing criticism. I do +not suppose he ever heard them performed, for the good reason that +there is no complete set of parts to be found, and there is no record +of any such being in existence in his time. A few years ago I did my +best to get these little "Band tunes" performed, but at first only the +Viol and Flute parts could be found. Later on I was fortunate enough +to discover a Cittern part in the Bodleian Library, and, later still, a +part for the Pandora has been found in the Christ Church Library. We +still want the parts for Lute and Bass Viol, but with these four we get +a very good representation of the original, and at the Exhibition +initiated by the Worshipful Company of Musicians we had one of these +little tunes played by the six instruments, under the direction of the +Rev. W. Galpin. We had to supply parts for Lute and Bass Viol, but as +we had the original Harmony supplied {27} by the Flute (i.e. a small +Recorder), which was an inner part, and by the Cittern and +Pandora--both of which played Chords--we could not go far wrong. The +effect was both interesting and charming, and altogether discounted +Burney's unreliable criticism. It would be a great delight to all +lovers of this early music if the two missing parts could be found, but +I fear we shall hunt in vain. + +His Sacred works include two Services and an Anthem, which was +published in Barnard's collection, and a setting of the Burial Service, +which appears in Boyce's collection. There are also examples, in MS. +amongst the Harleian MSS., in the Christ Church Library at Oxford, and +the Fitzwilliam and Peterhouse Libraries at Cambridge. A curious +thing, rather, in connection with his Sacred works is, that, unlike his +secular compositions, none was published during his lifetime. + +His style was not so broad as that of Tallis or so noble as that of +Byrd, but he had a great influence upon the art. His own compositions +include examples of his talent in many directions. As a theoretical +writer he is really distinguished above his contemporaries, and +contributed to the stores of Sacred, Secular, and Instrumental music, +besides writing for the stage. + +{28} + +Morley's early death was a real loss to English music, and he was +mourned by all his contemporaries. One of the most touching +testimonies is a beautiful _Lament for Six Voices_ by Thomas Weelkes, +himself a distinguished composer, whom we shall consider later. The +words are as follows: + + + A remembrance of my friend Mr. Thomas Morley. + + + Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend, + My dearest friend is dead and laid in grave, + In grave he rests until the world shall end, + The world shall end, as end must all things have. + All things must have an end that nature wrought + That nature wrought must unto dust be brought. + + +Another poetical testimony to Morley was written in his life-time, and +may be given here. It is supposed to be by Michael Drayton: + + + Such was old Orpheus' cunning, + That senseless things drew near him; + And herds of beasts to hear him. + The stock, the stone, the ox, the ass came running. + Morley! but this enchanting + To thee, to be the music god, is wanting; + And yet thou needst not fear him. + Draw thou the shepherds still, and bonny lasses, + And envy him not stocks, stones, oxen, asses. + + + +[1] Mr Arkwright gives us an interesting bit of information in +connection with Morley and Shakespeare. "Morley lived in St Peter's, +Bishopsgate, between 1596 and 1601, and his name appears in two _Rolls +of Assessments for Subsidies_. In the earlier of these documents is +the name of William Shakespeare, his goods being valued at the same +amount as Morley's. He and Shakespeare both appealed against the +assessment, and it may be supposed some amount of personal intercourse +existed between them." + + + + +{29} + +IV. THOMAS WEELKES + +1575?--1623 + +In the previous Lecture I have mentioned Thomas Weelkes, and now turn +for a short space to this distinguished composer. As I have said +before, I do not profess to include all the great English musicians of +the 17th century in this short series of Lectures, and Weelkes is +selected, not only as being greatly superior to many others, but +because he has given us something original in the shape of combined +Instrumental and Vocal work, in addition to his valuable contributions +to the Madrigal School. Of this I must speak later. As a +Madrigal-writer he is notable as one of the "glorious company" of +contributors to _The Triumphs of Oriana_. Although little of his +Church music is published, yet as Organist of Chichester Cathedral and, +as a member of the Choir of the Chapel Royal, he was an experienced +Church musician. He left many Anthems, which are preserved in MS. in +various Libraries; and he contributed {30} two pieces to Leighton's +_Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soul_. In his _Fancies for +Strings_ he displays a very fertile imagination. I have had some of +his _Fancies_ performed at my various Lectures, and have found them +remarkable for melodic interest and very advanced as regards Harmony. +His instrumental writing is surprising; and, when one compares his +Fancies with those by Orlando Gibbons, one is astonished at the novelty +of his ideas. As will be seen later I shall have much to say in +connection with Gibbons, Deering, and Purcell in regard to the Fancy. +But I may as well at once explain that this was the form which was +supreme in the early days of the 17th century as a vehicle for +Instrumental writing. An enormous number of these compositions exist, +and it was not until Purcell's time that the Fancy disappeared--being +supplanted by the Sonatas for three strings and a Basso Continuo. It +was a form which helped on the progress of writing for Instruments in a +wonderful way. "Apt for Voices and Viols" was the usual title-page +which composers loved. But, when the Fancy developed, the writing was +far too elaborate to be "apt for voices," and so we get the independent +instrumental Fancy. It was, as a rule, a work of some considerable +length, and, while full of variety, it was lacking in {31} any real +development. The composer indulged his "Fancy," and wandered from +point to point at his own sweet will. + +It was with the Fancy that Weelkes made an early experiment of adding a +vocal part quite independent of the strings. And he took for his vocal +part the popular series of "Cryes" which were then common to the +streets of London. He did not, as has so often been wrongly stated, +"set the Cryes of London to music," but he took the words and the music +of these old and very interesting things and added the vocal part to +what was a real Fancy for strings. It is said Morley did the same +thing, but I have, so far, failed to find any example of it. +Ravenscroft took many of these same old Cryes and worked them up as +Rounds, and Campion introduced _Cherry Ripe_ into a charming song +"There is a Garden in her face" in 1617; but the _Humorous Fancy_ by +Weelkes is, so far as I can see at present, the earliest of this kind +of work. Later, in connection with Gibbons and Deering, I shall have +much to say on this subject, as these composers also wrote _Humorous +Fancies_, the vocal parts being the same old Cryes of London but +treated in a more elaborate manner. + +Weelkes' example is very charming, and although his string parts are +somewhat stilted, {32} yet there is always life in them. He makes one +point which shows he was not altogether able to forget his Madrigals +and Ballets. Like the latter, the _Fancy_ at one point leaves its +regular course, and for a few bars a delightful Dance tune is +introduced, to the words--whatever they mean--"Twincledowne Tavye." It +is as if the vendors of fish, fruit and vegetables met in the street +and had a bit of a frolic together. The Fancy is resumed with the +Cryes of the Chimney Sweep, Bellows-Mender etc., and later on a +beautiful song for the seller of "Broome" is introduced. The words of +this song date back before Weelkes, being found with slight variation +in an old play called _Three Ladies of London_, 1584. They are sung by +a character named "Conscience" who enters with brooms, and sings the +song. + +No doubt the tune given by Weelkes is the original one. + +The conclusion of this Fancy is very charming and rather like an Anthem: + + Then let us sing + And so we will make an end + With Alleluia. + + +There are two MSS. of this work in the British Museum. I have followed +the shorter version, {33} as the longer is not only rather dull and +prolonged but includes a little deviation into vulgarity, and so is +hardly suitable for modern ears. The "Alleluia" occurs in the longer +MS. and I have included it in my version. + +It is fortunate that there are two sets of parts, as neither of them is +complete. But having been so fortunate as to find these two sets I +have been able to restore the missing part. + +The discovery of this Fancy is the reason why I select Weelkes instead +of Wilbye, one of his great contemporaries, and I think all lovers of +Shakespeare will be glad to make acquaintance with the music of the +_Cryes of London_ which saluted the Poet's ears in his daily walks. + +Weelkes paid a loving tribute to "his dearest friend" Morley, on the +latter's death. The date of Weelkes' death (1623) and other +particulars have been brought to light by the investigations of the +Rev. Dr. Fellowes, whose devotion to the madrigal school is so well +known and appreciated. His paper on Weelkes (Musical Association, May, +1916) is an eloquent testimony to the worth of this composer, to whose +madrigal writing I have not space quite to do justice. The _Humorous +Fancy_, however, shows him in a new and interesting light. + + + + +{34} + +V. ORLANDO GIBBONS + +1583--1625 + +Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most outstanding name of the English +musicians in the early part of the 17th century. A good deal of this +is, no doubt, due to the fact that his contributions to Sacred Music +have been one of the great possessions of our Cathedral School, and +their presence in service lists has been--and I venture to hope will +always be--a constant tribute to their excellence. + +Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as turned his mind naturally, +though by no means exclusively, to Church Music. + +He was the son of one of the City waifs of Cambridge, William Gibbons, +and was born in 1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, he is +mentioned amongst the Choristers during the years 1596-97; at which +time his elder brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the College. +It might be noted in passing that this Edward Gibbons was himself a +B.Mus. of both {35} Universities; and, after occupying an appointment +at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th century, was, later, organist +and Priest Vicar at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a charge +of neglecting his duties; this, however, he managed to do successfully. +He died about 1653. + +To return to Orlando. There are some interesting entries in the +College Records of 1601, 1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. +paid to Gibbons--or Gibbins, as it is there spelt--for music composed +"_in festo Dominae Reginae_," and also in the two latter years for +music for the Purification. No Christian name is given, but there is +little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. He was placed in an important and +honourable appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he became Organist +of the Chapel Royal, and in 1606 took his bachelor's degree at +Cambridge. + +In 1611 his name appears as an associate with Byrd and Bull in a work +called _Parthenia_, a collection of pieces for the Virginals of which I +shall speak later on. + +We do not hear much more of him until 1612, with the exception of a +mention in the State Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition +in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in reversion of forty +marks per annum of Duchy {36} lands, without fine, as promised him by +the Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of his _First sett of +Madrigals and Mottets of_ 5 _parts, apt for viols or voyces_. _Newly +composed by ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, Organist of H. M. +Chapel in Ordinary_. The work is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, +and the dedication runs thus: "They were most of them composed in your +owne house and doe therefore properly belong to you. The language you +provided them, I only furnished them with tongues to utter the same." +It is thought from this that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons +was on terms of close intimacy with him. Another proof of this is +shown by a piece in Ben Coszyn's _Virginal Book_, where Gibbons is +represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The collection, _Madrigals and +Mottets_, is rather misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet +in it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some divided into 2, 3 and +4 sections, each as long as an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is +_The Silver Swan_. + +It has been stated that besides the published Madrigals, no secular or +vocal compositions exist in MS. except a kind of _Burlesque Madrigal_ +called _The Cryes of London for_ 6 _voices_. + +This statement is altogether incorrect. To {37} mention one, a song, +_A Soldier's Farewell to his Mistress_ ("My love, adieu") is in +existence, and I have often had it performed. And the statement about +the _Burlesque Madrigal_ is truly absurd. It is curious that the +musical historians have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to +notice the existence of the work on the Cryes of London, or have, quite +incorrectly, called it a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting +form of composition. Like Weelkes' _Humourous Fancy_, it has parts for +Viols and a superimposed vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices) +consisting of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in one respect +from Weelkes', for it is an "In Nomine" for strings. This is an older +form of the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part for the Viol--an +inner part--being allotted a well-known old ecclesiastical melody. +This Plainsong melody is to be found in the _Sarum Missal_ to the words +"_Gloria Tibi Trinitas_," and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is +used by many composers of "_In Nomines_," Byrd and Ferabosco amongst +others. But this is the only example I have come across where a sacred +melody is introduced in connection with secular, and, in the case of +Cryes, somewhat humourous words. Examples of the introduction of +secular tunes into the sacred works by {38} composers of the Italian +school of the 16th century are, of course, very common. This is a +curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the introduction of a sacred tune +into a secular vocal work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he is +able to write very effective and flowing Viol parts and to introduce so +many examples of the old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong +persistently played by one of the Viols. The copy from which this +interesting work is taken is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616, +so the Fancy was composed before that date. The copyist who preserved +this work for us was the Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church +adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 and 1622 must have been +published the best known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection is +dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, and +Wray was dismissed in 1622. _Fantasies of Three parts composed by +Orlando Gibbons, Batchelor of Musick, and late organist to His M. +Chapel Royal in Ordinary_. Cut in Copper, the like not here-to-fore +Extant. The word "late" is rather surprising, when he is not recorded +to have resigned his position at the Chapel Royal. He was appointed +Organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623. + +{39} + +These Fantasies were published by The Musical Antiquarian Society in +1843; and in some respects this publication has been the cause of a +good deal of ignorance as to the real progress which Instrumental music +made in the early years of the 17th century. They are undoubtedly +somewhat dull when placed by the side of Fancies by Byrd and others. +No doubt the veneration for Gibbons and the rightful appreciation of +his fine Cathedral music made the members of the old and valuable +Musical Antiquarian Society more ready to edit his Fancies than to +select from less eminent Church writers. But one cannot have much +respect for Burney's judgment when he pronounces Orlando Gibbons to +have been "utterly contemptible in his productions for instruments." +He must be judged alongside of other 16th century composers; for, +although he indeed lived through the first quarter of the _seventeenth_ +century, his instrumental music is characteristic of the _sixteenth_. + +In common with other composers of his day, Gibbons shows in his Clavier +works an earlier and more successful attempt at a true Instrumental +style than he does in his music for Strings. The Viols were later in +forsaking the vocal polyphonic style than the keyed {40} instruments, +simply because the vocal style suited the bowed instruments so much +better than the Clavier. So we find composers for the Clavier +borrowing the rhythmic features of folk-songs and dance-tunes much +earlier than they found it desirable or necessary to do in Viol music. + +Out of six pieces by Gibbons in _Parthenia_, three are dances (a Pavane +and two Galliards); one (_The Queenes Commande_) is an air with +variations; and the other two are the _Preludium_ (a piece of very +simple harmonic design, with florid figuration like the early organ +preludes) and a quite remarkable _Fantasia in four parts_--remarkable +because rather exceptional as a Clavier piece, and also because of its +protracted and serious working in the Canzona style. In the +_Fitzwilliam Collection_ the only pieces by Gibbons are an air with +variations, _The Woods so Wilde_, and a Pavane--the latter, however, +being identical with _The Lord of Salisbury his Pavin_, which is found +also in _Parthenia_. + +With regard to the Fancies written for "Base Viall," "Mean Viall," and +"Trebble Viall," after the manner of the period, these were published +absolutely devoid of any indications of pace, of phrasing, or of +expression. To this fact is probably due some of their loss of +popularity. They require artists to interpret them, and in {41} good +hands are capable of considerable effect in the old quaint style. The +robust tones of the modern 'Cello, Viola and Violin can hardly give us +a correct impression of these pieces, but by muting them a very good +suggestion of "Viall" tone is obtainable. + +One may mention another "Fancy" written this time for two "trebble +Vialls" and a "Base." Whether it is the difference of the instruments, +or the fact that it is a later number in the collection and may +therefore be a later composition, I cannot say; but there is a +distinctly more modern spirit about this "Fancy." It is more rhythmic, +the sections are more marked, and at the end there is a complete +repetition of an eight-bar phrase, the only difference in the repeat +being that the first viall here takes the second part, and _vice versa_. + +In the domain of Sacred Music Orlando Gibbons certainly holds the +foremost place amongst the English composers of the contrapuntal +school. No name is better known in our Cathedrals. In great +gatherings of Cathedral Choirs in my young days (alas! we do not now +have such gatherings to any great extent) Gibbons' splendid Service in +F was always an item to which we looked forward. And he has left us +almost as great a collection of anthems as {42} Purcell did in later +years. Many of them were composed for special occasions. One was a +wedding Anthem "for my Lord Somerset"; another "made for the King's +being in Scotland" (this was, of course, James I, and it was from this +Anthem I extracted the splendid concluding "Amen" which was sung at the +Coronations of King Edward VII and King George V, and which is now the +recognized "Abbey Amen"). + +The Anthem "This is the record of John" has a string accompaniment for +Viols; this was "made for Laud, President of St John's, Oxford, for St +John Baptist's Day." Another "Behold thou hast made my days" was +composed at the entreaty of Dr Maxey, Dean of Windsor, "the same day +se'night before his death." + +Mention must also be made of "O clap your hands," which has always had +a suspicion attached to it of having played the part of Dr Heyther's +Doctor's Exercise. This suspicion is deepened by the fact that Dr +Cummings possessed a MS. of it with the following inscription upon it: +"Dr Heyther's Commencement Song Composed by Dr Orlando Gibbons". They +both took their degrees at Oxford on the same occasion viz: the +foundation of the Camden History {43} Professorship. Heyther was a Lay +Vicar of Westminster, and it was he who founded the Oxford Music +Lecture, now represented by the Professorship. It was originally worth +L3 a year. The degrees were conferred on the two friends of Camden at +his special request. + +Gibbons was also a contributor to Wither's _Hymns and Songs of the +Church_. Withers himself pays him the following tribute: "He hath +chosen to make his music agreeable to the matter, and what the common +apprehension can best admit, rather than to the curious fancies of the +time; which path both of us could more easily have trodden." + +Gibbons appears to have had a sense of humour, judging from a letter +which we found in the Westminster Abbey Muniment Room some years ago. +I believe this is the only letter of Gibbons' that is known. It is +addressed to the Treasurer of the Abbey, asking that the organ-tuner, +one Burrard, might be paid; it runs as follows: + + + Mr. Ireland: I know this bill to be very resonable for I have + alredy cut him off ten shillings therfore I pray despathe him, for + he hath delt honestly wth ye church soe shall I rest yr servant, + + Orlando Gibbons. + + +The whole bill was very small, and by "cutting him off ten shillings" I +think old Orlando was rather hard! + +{44} + +We get a glimpse of Orlando Gibbons' organ-playing in the Abbey from +the _Life of Archbishop Williams_, sometime Lord Keeper of the Great +Seal. The French Ambassadors who came over to arrange the marriage of +the Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I) with Henrietta Maria were +entertained at supper in the Jerusalem Chamber. But before the Supper +we are told "The Embassadors, with the Nobles and Gentlemen in their +Company, were brought in at the North Gate of the Abbey, which was +stuck with Flambeaux everywhere that strangers might cast their eyes +upon the stateliness of the Church. At the Door of the Quire the Lord +Keeper besought their Lordships to go in and take their seats there for +a while. At their entrance the organ was touched by the best Finger of +that age, Mr Orlando Gibbons. The Lord Embassadors and their Great +Train took up all the stalls where they continued about half-an-hour, +while the Quiremen, vested in their Rich Copes, sang three several +Anthems with most exquisite voices before them." + +This Dean Williams was a very great man, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal +of England, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop of York; he +was Dean of Westminster in 1620. We are told in his _Life_, written by +John Halket, {45} Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry: "He procured the +sweetest music both for the organ and for voices of all parts, that +ever was heard in English music. In those days the Abbey and the +Jerusalem Chamber, where he gave entertainment to his friends, were the +votaries of the Choicest Songs that the Land has heard. The greatest +masters of that delightful faculty frequented here above all others." +I think it must be to this patron of music that we owe the fine +collection of Madrigals and Motets (including the very rare and +valuable books of Deering) which are now preserved in the Abbey Library. + +This account of the perfection of the music at the Abbey in these +remote days, under the fostering care of a Dean distinguished both as a +statesman and a musician, may perhaps be followed by a contemporary +description of the members of a choir--not, of course, of the Abbey +Choir in particular by another Dean. This was Dean Earle, the first +Dean after the Restoration. But the work from which I quote was first +printed in 1628, so that it is only a year or two after the time of +Gibbons. Earle was not Dean of Westminster until more than 30 years +later. The book is entitled _Microcosmographie: a piece of the World +discovered in Essays and Characters_, and was first published +anonymously. {46} I hope this description of what the writer calls "A +Merry Crew, the Common Singing-men in Cathedrall Churches," is not a +true description of the great body of such choirs at the time, but it +is worth quoting. + + + _The Common Singing-men in Cathedral Churches_ + + Are a bad Society, and yet a Company of good Fellowes, that roare + deep in the Quire, deeper in the Taverne. They are the eight parts + of speech, which goe to the Syntaxis of Service, and are + distinguish't by their noyses much like Bells, for they make not a + Consort but a Peale. Their pastime or recreation is prayers, their + exercise drinking, yet herein so religiously addicted that they + serve God oftest when they are drunke. Their humanity is a legge + [=consists in a bow] to the Residencer, their learning a Chapter, + for they learne it commonly before they read it, yet the old Hebrew + names are little beholden to them, for they mis-call them worse + then one another. Though they never expound the Scripture, they + handle it much, and pollute the Gospell with two things, their + Conversation and their thumbes. Upon worky-dayes they behave + themselves at Prayers as at their pots, for they swallow them downe + in an instant. Their Gownes are lac'd [=streaked] commonly with + steamings of ale, the superfluities of a cup or throat above + measure. Their skill in melody makes them the better companions + abroad, and their Anthemes abler to sing Catches. Long liv'd for + the most part they are not, especially the base, they overflow + their banke so oft to drowne the Organs. Briefly, if they escape + arresting, they dye constantly in God's Service; and to take their + death with more patience, they have Wine and Cakes at their + Funerall: and now they keepe the {47} Church a great deale better, + and helpe to fill it with their bones as before with their noyse. + + +This quotation must not be taken too seriously. Earle's book was +written when he was a young man, probably under the inspiration of +Casaubon's translation of the fourth-century Theophrastus' _Characters_ +published in 1592. It consists of 77 "Characters," some of them +serious studies, and others, such as the above, humorous or satirical +sketches, not intended to be true representations, yet containing a +basis of truth. Richard Baxter, writing to Earle, says: "In charity, +and gentleness, and peaceableness of mind, you are very eminent." + +A very unusual adventure is chronicled as having taken place on St +Peter's Day, 1620: "Eveseed, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, did +violently and sodenly without cause runne upon Mr Gibbons, took him up +and threw him down upon a Standard whereby he received such hurt that +he is not yet recovered of the same, and withal he tare the band from +his neck to his prejudice and disgrace." + +In 1625 Gibbons had to compose and direct the music for the reception +at Canterbury of Henrietta Maria, on the occasion of her marriage with +Charles I. It was to be his last commission, for he died on +Whitsunday, June 5th. + +{48} + +With regard to his death, we have always been led to believe that he +died of small-pox--all the histories, including the admirable Grove's +_Dictionary_, have taught us so. Mr W. Barclay Squire, of the British +Museum, has, however, shown this to be incorrect. In a letter, which +he found among the State Papers, from Sir Albertus Morton to Lord +Edward Conway, and endorsed "Mr Secretary Morton, touching the Musician +that dyed at Canterburie and supposed to have died of the plague," a +medical certificate is enclosed signed by Drs Poe and Domingo, stating +that his sickness was at first "lethargicall" followed by convulsions: +"he grew apoplecticall and so died"--thus refuting the small-pox theory +in favour of apoplexy. + +His portrait is in the collection at Oxford, and a fine monument with +an excellent bust was erected in Canterbury Cathedral by the composer's +widow. + +It was my privilege to suggest and organize a Musical Festival of +Gibbons' works in Westminster Abbey in 1907. Some of his finest Church +music was given by a very large choir, and a beautiful replica in black +marble of the bust of the composer, which is in Canterbury Cathedral, +was unveiled. It has always seemed to me a reflection upon the Abbey +that no memorial to {49} the greatest of its organists--save +Purcell--should be found there. This Festival created very great +interest, and brought a munificent offer from Mr Crews, a well-known +amateur and Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, to defray +the expense of a bust of the celebrated organist. It is well placed in +close proximity to the memorials of his worthy successors, Blow, +Purcell, and Croft. + + + + +{50} + +VI. RICHARD DEERING + +1580 (?)--1630 + +In considering the careers and works of the first five musicians on my +list of twelve, I have, it is true, been treating of men whose names +are to be found in all musical histories. But of the next name on my +list I am able to say I am on comparatively new ground. There is +nothing so surprising to me as the universal neglect--nay, I may even +use the word disdain--with which musical historians of many periods +have treated the name of Richard Deering. In common with most people +of my own age I knew very little about this composer, and certainly in +common with, I venture to say, all my contemporaries, I never heard a +note of his music until a few years ago. + +The story of my awakening to the real merits of this admirable composer +is simple. Looking over the music in the Chapter Library at +Westminster, I found among many fine collections of Madrigals--original +copies, mostly published in the 16th and early part of the 17th +centuries--two sets of Latin Motets in 5 and 6 parts by {51} Richard +Deering. They were bound up in covers made out of an illuminated MS. +On looking at the bindings, our late Dean, Dr Armitage Robinson (always +interested in the Library, and also, I may add, in my musical +researches) found that they were part of the Wedding Service of the +fourteenth century. The binding was promptly taken off, the Deering +books rebound, and handed on to me. I proceeded to score some of the +first book--published in 1617--and had not done many bars before it was +plain I was indeed about to unearth a treasure. Full of beautiful +Harmony and Contrapuntal devices with examples of melodic progressions, +new and original, these works were speedily brought to a hearing at my +Gresham Lectures, and, with as little delay as possible, edited (with +English translations), published, and introduced into the Abbey +Services. Since then many Cathedrals and great Churches have used +them. The Bach Choir has performed some of them, and Deering's fame +has, I hope, been re-established! + +I may say, before proceeding to give details of Deering's career, that +nearly a hundred years ago an effort was made by a musical amateur to +get these Motets scored. By a curious chance I have come into the +possession of letters which passed between the owner of copies of these +fine things {52} and Mr Sale of Westminster Abbey. The owner was the +Rev Thomas Streatfeild, Vicar of Chart Edge, a well-known Kentish +antiquary, and he came into possession--probably at a sale of some of +the old Deering books--of a set of parts of these Motets. He applied +to Mr Sale (a very prominent member of the musical profession, a +Lay-Vicar of Westminster Abbey and a principal singer at the "Ancient +Concerts") to get these Motets scored for him. A letter from Sale's +daughter apologizes for delay, and says "her father does not think it +will be worth while to go to any great expense, as he has tried some +parts of it (_i.e._ the music of the Motets) with some who are used to +and admire that ancient style of music and they do not form a very high +opinion of it!" Curiously enough, a few bars in score of one of the +most beautiful Motets was enclosed with a note from a copyist saying +that it would take much time and be very expensive. So Deering's +Motets were laid to rest again for nearly 100 years. I may add Mr Sale +was the music instructor to Queen Victoria when she was a child. + +Mr Streatfeild's copies of the 1617 Motets (_uncut!_) were sold (at his +death) by auction, and fetched L4 16s. 0d. + +The neglect of Deering is certainly extraordinary. He was, as usual, +absurdly criticized {53} by Dr Burney, who spoke of his music as "very +sober, innocent, psalmodic, dry, and uninteresting," and further he +"was never able to discern in any of his works a single stroke of +genius, either in his melody or modulation." And Sir Frederick Ouseley +actually writes of his style as "severe and correct, but very dry"! +These verdicts amaze me! They are absolutely untrue, at least as +regards Deering's great works, his Motets. I question if Burney or +Ouseley ever heard one of them. They may have founded their opinion +upon some of his less important works, published by Playford some 30 or +40 years after Deering's death, which Playford himself does not vouch +for as being certainly by Deering. And, as regards Deering's Fancies, +I can hardly believe either Burney or Ouseley had any real knowledge of +them, for one which I produced at a University Lecture in 1912 was of a +high order of merit. + +That Deering was appreciated at his proper value by his contemporaries +is apparent from the way in which Peacham, in his _Compleat Gentleman_ +(1622) couples his name with others "for depth of skill and quickness +of concept." Almost the only bit of information which historians tell +us is that "Cromwell was very fond of his music," and that John +Kingston, the {54} organist, with two of his boys, often sang Deering's +music to the Protector. The mention of "two boys" points to the +Two-part Motets as being the music performed--not, of course, to the +Motets for five or six voices. Mace in his _Musick's Monument_ (1676) +mentions Deering's _Gloria Patri_ and other of his Latin settings. + +I must now turn to the personal history of this good musician. + +Richard Deering was descended from an ancient family--the Deerings of +the County of Kent. The branch from which Richard Deering traces his +descent was the one headed by William Deering of Petworth, in co. +Sussex, and his wife, Eleanor Dyke. The Deering of this sketch was the +son of Henry Deering of Liss, near Petworth, by the Lady Elizabeth +Grey. He died in 1630. + +It is stated by Anthony Wood that Deering was "bred up in Italy, where +he obtained the name of a most admirable musician. After his return he +practised his Faculty for some time in England, where his name being +highly cried up, became after many entreaties, Organist to the English +Nuns living at Brussels." It is not easy to discover anything about +Deering's Italian life or work. My friend, the Rev Dr Spooner +Lillingston, {55} made some Inquiries for me in Italy, and is kind +enough to write as follows: + +"The Earl of Kent's family (of which Deering's mother was a member) +remained Catholic for many years, and this family, half a century +before, seem to have intermarried with certain of the Italian nobility. +Lady Elizabeth Grey does not appear in any record of the Greys of Kent. +May not Deering's mother have been of Italian extraction? Hence his +Catholic religion and Italian training." + +As to his Italian sojourn Dr Spooner Lillingston continues: "There is +no record of his first Communion at St John Lateran, so probably he did +not go to Italy until about ten years of age, all such records of First +Communions made in Italy being registered at St John's Lateran." Dr +Lillingston also tells us there is a record of an 8-part Motet by +Deering having been performed in one of the Churches, the title being +_O quam Gloriosa_. + +That Deering studied hard and composed while in Italy seems pretty +certain. Judged from an observation in his "Dedication" of the 1617 +Motets it would appear that it was in Rome that he wrote them. In this +dedication he speaks of having composed them in the chief city of the +world. I cannot help thinking that "the chief {56} city of the world" +to Deering--a Catholic--was Rome. + +Almost the first fact of which we have very certain knowledge in +connection with his life in England is the "Supplication" which he made +for the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford, in April, 1610. In +answer to an inquiry, the Keeper of the Archives said that there is a +record of Deering's supplication, and it is stated that his plea is +granted "providing he shall have composed a work of eight parts for the +next 'Act.'" Dr Scott, the learned custodian of our Abbey Muniments +for many years, made some inquiries for me on this matter, and gives +the following note which he had apparently received from Oxford: + + + "Supplicateth in like manner Richard Deering, a scholar most highly + trained in music, of Christ Church, forasmuch as he hath spent ten + years in the study and practise of music, that this may suffice for + him to be admitted to the lectures of the music of Boethius." + + +The statement by Deering that he had spent "ten years in the study and +practise of music" absolutely disposes of the legend, so often +repeated, that Deering published a set of 5-part Motets in Antwerp, in +1597. I have always entirely doubted that this had any foundation in +{57} fact. I believe it is a misprint for 1617, and it was not likely +twenty years would elapse between the publication of two sets of Motets +by so prolific a composer. "Ten years" makes the date of Deering's +_studies_ to begin in 1600, so he could not have published in 1597. I +am glad to be able to correct this error on the authority of the Master +himself. + +It is very amusing, and rather annoying, to see how the musical +historians have copied from one another the most untrue statements +about Deering. Burney, Hawkins, and Mr Husk in the first edition of +Grove's _Dictionary_, _all_ give 1597 instead of 1617; and Burney and +Hawkins say he was forced to leave England when the troubles of Charles +I began. Hawkins says he was Organist to Henrietta Maria until _she_ +was compelled to leave England. The fact is Deering was dead before +all this! He returned to England as Organist to Henrietta Maria in +1625, and died in 1630. + +But space would fail me to point out more of the absurd statements +about this musician. Let me rather now turn to his greatest +contribution to our musical treasures. + +I leave for a time further comment upon his work in England, and +proceed to consider his magnificent Motets. It appears that on the +{58} invitation of the English nuns at Brussels he proceeded to that +city and became Organist to the Convent. It was whilst there that he +published in 1617 his fine series of _Cantiones Sacrae_ for five +voices; this was issued from the press of Peter Phalese in Antwerp. +There are 18 Motets, all to Latin words, for five voices, and "Basso +Continuo" for Organ. + +I have already spoken of the way I made acquaintance with these +masterpieces. It is very gratifying to find the increased favour with +which they are received and the frequent performance of them by great +choirs. The ignorant accounts of them which I have quoted shake one's +faith in the opinion of such writers on other musical works. + +The first set of Motets was dedicated to a remarkable personage, Sir +William Stanley,[1] and {59} the Preface is so interesting I feel +justified in giving it (with the title-page). The original Dedication +is in Latin, but I give it in a translation.[2] + +{60} + +In the second set, published in 1618, Deering claims to have written in +the Madrigalian style. It looks as if he had tried to imitate the +Madrigals he had heard, and to adapt some of the phrases to sacred +words. I do not think the second set is as good as the first. But +there are some very fine things in it, one of the best being "Silence +prevailed in Heaven," a dramatic account of St Michael's war with the +Dragon. I have had this printed, and it produces a splendid effect, +and hope in time to restore to life many more of these unknown and +really beautiful masterpieces. + +I have not space to chronicle all Deering's musical works. But I must +conclude this notice by some account of his secular music, and, more +particularly, his remarkable _Humorous Fancy, The Crycs of London_. +This is the third of these interesting Fancies which I have had the +opportunity of recovering from oblivion. I have {61} already in the +case of Weelkes and Gibbons explained the circumstances attending this +recovery. Deering's _Fancy_ is the most elaborate of the three, and, +besides a number of _Cryes_ which the other musicians omitted, he has +preserved to us some most interesting and charming Tradesmen's +Songs--those of the Swepe, the Blacking-seller, the Vendor of Garlick, +the Rat-catcher, and the Tooth-drawer. The whole _Fancy_ is full of +life, and shows Deering to be both dramatic and humourous. This work +(and a similar one on _Country Cryes_) were written before he left +England for Brussels, as the copy in the British Museum was made 1616. + +There are a few Anthems scattered about in various Libraries, but as a +Catholic his contributions to English Cathedral music would, no doubt, +be few. Some are to be found in Durham Cathedral Library. On the +marriage of Charles I, he was appointed Organist to the Queen Henrietta +Maria. On July 11th, 1628, his name appears in a list of musicians in +ordinary to the King, and he was evidently a member of the King's +Private Band. + +Most historians have stated that he lived to 1657, but this is just as +incorrect as their other statements concerning Deering and his music. +I have devoted much time to the elucidation of {62} the history and the +reproduction of his work, and feel in doing this I have helped to +restore to his rightful place one of the greatest English musicians of +the 17th, or indeed of any, century. + + + +[1] Sir William Stanley was a Roman Catholic and a very extraordinary +man. I think the following account from the _Dictionary of National +Biography_ will be of interest. + +Sir W. Stanley, Adventurer, one of the Cheshire Stanleys. He served in +the Netherlands under Alva. He quitted the Spanish service in 1570 and +served in Ireland under Elizabeth, and later on was appointed Sheriff +of Cork. He was very severe on the rebels and he reported he had +hanged 300 of them and so terrified the rest that "a man might now +travel the whole country and no one molest him." He thought he was not +properly rewarded, and later on was guilty of treachery. He was, of +course, Roman Catholic and greatly in the confidence of the Jesuits. +He actually went to Spain to advise the best method of conquering +England. He recommended that Ireland should be made the basis of +operations, and that troops should disembark at Milford Haven rather +than at Portsmouth. When Elizabeth died Stanley sent no less a person +than Guy Fawkes, his subaltern officer, with an emissary of Catesby to +Spain, to warn Philip against James. There is no evidence that he was +concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, but he was placed under arrest at +Brussels on suspicion of being concerned in it. + +He spent the latter part of his life in complete obscurity. In 1616 he +contributed largely to a Jesuit College of Liege, and was Governor of +Mechlin. He sought in vain for permission to return to England, and +died at Ghent in 1630, and was honoured with a magnificent public +funeral. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Egerton of Egerton, +who was buried in Mechlin Cathedral, in 1614. The male line of the +Stanleys of Horton became extinct by the death of the twelfth baronet +Sir John Stanley-Errington in 1883. + +[2] Cantiones Sacrae for 5 Voices + with Basso Continuo for Organ. + + by + + RICHARD DEERING, Englishman, + Organist to the venerable + English Nuns in the Monastery + of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Brussels. + Antwerp. + at the house of Peter Phalese + 1617. + +_Dedication_ + +To Sir William Stanley, Knight, renewed at home and in Military life, +Councillor at war to the most honourable and invincible Catholic King, +his most worshipful Lord. + +For long my Music has desired to come forward. She is not unpolished +(for she was born in the first City of the World) but she is modest. +For it is customary with new men, especially those that are bashful, +not to bring their offspring however excellent to the light, until they +find some distinguished man, whose approval if they win, they need fear +neither the abuse of rivals nor the criticism of the ignorant. + +But what patron should my music choose in preference to your lordship? +When permitted to relax your mind from military cares, you think no +delight, no pleasure greater than music. To music you give the chief +place after war, in which none surpass you. Therefore let my child go +forth with you for its patron. If you are the first to smile upon it +as it takes its first modest steps, you will give it wonderful courage, +for greater things. Live, flourish and conquer. + + In War we long for Peace; Peace endeth wars, + Music makes jocund Peace to know no jars. + + Your most obedient servant, + R. Deering. + + + + +{63} + +VII. JOHN MILTON + +1553--1646-7 + +To many the name of John Milton will hardly suggest a musical composer. +And yet I am able to include this name--the name of the father of the +poet--among the band of "Good Musicians" whose careers and works I am +considering. I have always felt greatly interested in him and desired +to find out all I could of his personal history, and particularly of +his musical education, for undoubtedly in the elder Milton we have a +really accomplished musician. We are told he educated his +distinguished son in music, and that he had an organ in his house. + +Dr Burney gives a very good and concise account of him, upon which I +cannot improve and from which I venture to quote. (Burney, Vol. III, +p. 134): + +"We come now to John Milton, the father of our great poet, who though a +scrivener by profession, was a voluminous composer, and equal in +science, if not genius, to the best musicians of his age: in +conjunction and on a level with whom, his name and works appeared in +numerous musical publications of the time, particularly in those of +{64} old Wilbye; in the _Triumphs of Oriana_ published by Morley; in +Ravenscroft's _Psalms_; in the _Lamentations_ published by Sir William +Leighton; and in MS. collections, still in the possession of the +curious. + +Mr Warton, in his Notes upon Milton's _Poems on Several Occasions_, +tells us, from the MS. _Life of the Poet_ by Aubrey, the antiquary, in +the Mus. Ashm. Oxon, that Milton's father, though a "scrivener," was +not apprenticed to that trade, having been bred a scholar and of Christ +Church, Oxford; and that he took to trade in consequence of being +disinherited. + +His son celebrates his musical abilities in an admirable Latin poem, +_Ad Patrem_, where, alluding to his father's musical science, he says +that Apollo had divided his favours in the sister arts between them; +giving Music to the father and Poetry to the son. + + Nor blame, Oh much-lov'd sire! the sacred Nine, + Who thee have honour'd with such gifts divine; + Who taught thee how to charm the list'ning throng, + With all the sweetness of a siren's song; + Blending such tones as every breast inflame + And made thee heir to great Orion's fame. + By blood united, and by kindred arts, + On each Apollo his refulgence darts: + To thee points out the magic power of sound, + To me the mazes of poetic ground; + And fostered thus by his parental care, + We equal seem Divinity to share." (_Translation_). + + +{65} + +The elder Milton was born in 1553, and is said to have been in the +choir of Christ Church, Oxford. His father was a Roman Catholic, and +it is said he disinherited his son for abjuring the Catholic faith. +The son went to London, and became a member of the Scriveners Company +(1599-1600). In 1632 he retired to Horton, in Buckinghamshire, having +made a considerable fortune. In London he lived in Bread Street, where +John Milton, the poet, was born. He contributed an admirable six-part +Madrigal to _The Triumphs of Oriana_ (1601), Motets to Leighton's +_Teares and Lamentations_ (1614), and Tunes to Ravenscroft's _Psalter_ +(1621). There are various Anthems and Fancies in five and six parts in +MS. in various libraries. + +Now here is a man who contributed to three or four important musical +publications, and was included in a list of the best known English +composers. Had he been a professional musician he could not have done +more. But we know he was a scrivener. What was he before he became a +scrivener? and whence did he get his musical knowledge? If we could +prove that the suggestion is true which makes him a Chorister at Christ +Church, Oxford, we should know where he probably got his musical +knowledge and his proficiency in Latin. But this information {66} +seems to be impossible of proof. For the purpose of these Lectures I +have devoted a good deal of time to this subject. Dr Strong, the Dean +of Christ Church, now Bishop of Ripon, has been kind enough to look +into the matter very carefully, and he writes me the following +interesting letter: + + + Christ Church, + Oxford. + June 25, 1919. + + My dear Bridge, + + I am sorry to say that I cannot discover anything about Mr. John + Milton, Senior. We have here a very important series of books + called Disbursement books. These contain a sort of summary + statement of the payments made under various heads. But what makes + them of interest is that all the members of the Foundation, from + the Dean down to the cook, received their payments through the + Treasurer and signed a receipt for them in the book. So there is a + whole list of signatures beginning about 1570 and going down (with + the exception of the Civil War period) to about 1830, when new + methods were adopted. It is always possible to discover by this + who held each office, and whether they were in residence on a + particular day. Unfortunately, they do not go back beyond 1570. I + searched through a volume in hopes that Mr. Milton or the organist + might be among the signatories. The singing-men and even the + choristers are there. But apparently at that time there was no + organist, and certainly there is no allusion to Milton or any names + such as you want, I think. It is a great pity we have not got the + books from the beginning: the first 23 years would have been very + {67} useful. Also, my matriculation book, which is in this house, + is very inaccurate and incomplete for the earlier years. I am + afraid, therefore, I cannot help you as regards Mr. Milton. You + will understand how very interesting these signatures are when I + say that in the volumes I looked at the other day I found a whole + series of signatures of Richard Hakluyt the geographer, who was a + student of the House. + + Yours very sincerely, + THOMAS B. STRONG. + + +It is very unfortunate that the records in Christ Church do not exist +before 1570. But it may be remarked, if Milton the elder was born in +1553, he would be seventeen in 1570, and would therefore certainly have +left the choir of Christ Church, if he ever belonged to it; and this, +of course, before the entries began. As to this matter, there are one +or two facts brought out in _Notes and Queries_ some years since which +bear upon it. + +Richard Milton, the grandfather of the poet, although a Roman Catholic, +appears to have been Churchwarden of the Parish (Stanton St John) in +1552. Mr Allnutt, of Oxford, who contributed this bit of historical +knowledge, writes: "Does this render it less probable that the Poet's +grandfather was Richard Milton of Stanton, or are other instances known +of Roman Catholics serving the office of Churchwarden under the {68} +Protestant regime of the period?" (_N. & Q._, Feby. 1880; W. H. +Allnutt, Oxford.) + +In the same paper, a little later, Mr Hyde Clarke writes on the subject +of Milton's father being a choir-boy at Christ Church: "My Oxford and +other correspondents, including Mr Mark Pattison, the eloquent critic +of the Poet, who has laboured in this investigation have looked +unfavourably on my proposition (_i.e._ that he was a Chorister of +Christ Church), because they consider the Roman Catholic _recusant_ can +never have sent his son to any heretical school. An answer is now +given in my favour by Mr. Allnutt, because if in 1552 Richard Milton +could serve as Churchwarden, the other matter of providing a +scholarship for his son was but a small one. It is further probable +that Richard Milton became a confirmed Roman Catholic only in his later +years."--Hyde Clarke. + +I think it is quite possible and even very probable that Milton's +father learnt his music at Christ Church. Then who taught him? +Whoever it was, he turned out a thoroughly good musician. Milton's own +compositions prove it, and, as we have seen, he is associated with all +the best English composers of the period in more than one work. Coming +to London, we are told he had an organ and other instruments in his +house and {69} to the practice of music he devoted his leisure. Masson +says: "His special faculty was music, and it is possible on his first +coming to London he had taught or practised music professionally." He +was evidently in the musical world of London, and his house was +probably the resort of many of the best musicians of the time. + +The short Motet for _Teares and Lamentations_ is in a good contrapuntal +style, with many devices which a man would use if he had been educated +in a Cathedral Choir. The style had "eaten into his marrow," as old +Sir John Goss once said to me, in reference to a Chorister's daily +musical work. + +Another interesting matter is Milton's contribution to Ravenscroft's +_Whole Book of Psalms_, published in 1621. Here are found two tunes +credited to John Milton, but I think there is no doubt they were merely +harmonized by him. The best one is a tune still often sung in our +Churches--entitled _York_: this seems to be an old Scottish tune; it +was published in Edinburgh in 1615. It appears three times in +Ravenscroft's book and with different harmonies, two of them being by +the elder Milton. The melody in this tune is, of course, given to the +tenor, as was the custom at this time. The tune has always been a +favourite, and an old author says that "it {70} was so well known that +half the nurses in England used to sing the tenor part as a lullaby." + +This sounds rather startling! One would not believe that any baby +could be put to sleep by hearing the tenor part of any hymn-tune. But +the tenor part here is the melody, and really it has a gentle, swaying +style about it, so that I, for one, believe the story of the Nurses and +the Babies! + +The melody is given in _English Country Songs_ edited by Miss Broadwood +and Mr Fuller Maitland, allied to some amusing words. + +Although we cannot claim the elder Milton as a musician who did much to +advance the art, I think I may be forgiven for having included his name +in my list. So little is said about him in musical histories, and I +have been able, I think, to get together some comparatively unknown +matter regarding him, that I hope I have done right in giving a place +among my Twelve Good Musicians to John Milton the elder. + + + + +{71} + +VIII. HENRY LAWES + +1595--1662 + +In Henry Lawes we have a subject of particular interest. No musician +of the 17th or probably of any century, has been so praised by the +poets, and few musicians of reputation have been so disdainfully +treated by the old musical historians. I think we shall find Henry +Lawes worthy of inclusion amongst the Twelve Good Musicians with whom I +am dealing. His life was a chequered one. He lived in troublous days, +and in an era of great changes in the political and musical worlds. +Born in 1595, at Dinton, in Wiltshire, he became a pupil of Giovanni +Coperario (or John Cooper, to give him his English name), and I think +this had a considerable influence on the direction which his +compositions took, and about which I shall say more later. We find him +a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1625, and later on a Gentleman of +the Private Music to King Charles the First. On the breaking out of +the Rebellion, he lost his {72} posts, and employed himself principally +in teaching singing. He lived a long life; long enough to see the +Restoration, and to compose the Coronation Anthem for King Charles the +Second, dying in 1662. + +Lawes' contributions to English music begin with the Masque. The +earliest date seems to be 1633-4, when he set the songs in a Masque +written by Thomas Carew, entitled _Coelum Britannicum_. This was +written at the particular invitation of the King, and performed for the +first time at Whitehall. + +The poem was published in 1634 and was wrongly attributed to Sir +William Davenant. Another Masque, by James Shirley, _The Triumph of +Peace_, was produced in the same year, Lawes and another well-known +musician, Simon Ives, writing the music, for which they received the +sum of L100. The following year saw the production of _Comus_, the +greatest of Masques. It will be seen that Lawes differed from most of +our English Composers in devoting himself, at the outset of his career, +almost exclusively to the stage. I cannot help thinking this is to be +explained by the fact that he was not educated in a Cathedral Choir, +but was a pupil of Giovanni Coperario. Now this musician had an +experience which few of his contemporaries enjoyed. He {73} studied in +Italy--going there as plain John Cooper and returning to his native +country as Giovanni Coperario. His sojourn in Italy was at a +remarkable time; the time when the first Opera and the first Oratorio +were given. It is very interesting to be told--and I have been told on +the authority of my friend Rev. Spooner Lillingston--that among the +names given in a certain record of the performance of the first Opera +was found that of the Englishman, Giovanni Coperario. This seems to me +to be an important fact. Lawes would come under the influence of +Coperario, who, with his love for Italian music and experience of the +beginning of Opera would, no doubt, help Lawes to take up the music of +the stage, instead of the music of the Church. + +Our composer was not, however, long before he embarked on some Church +music by setting _A Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David_ by George +Sandys, and also contributing another volume of tunes to _Church +Psalms_, in which he was joined by his clever brother William, who was, +later on, killed at the siege of Chester. + +Among the commendatory poems prefixed to this volume was the well-known +sonnet by Milton addressed to Lawes, beginning: + +{74} + + Harry, whose tuneful and well measured Song + First taught our English musick how to span + Words with just note and accent---- + + +He was a prolific writer of songs and Masque-music, but his great +opportunity was in writing the music and producing Milton's _Masque of +Comus_, at Ludlow, in 1634. Milton was a friend, and I think there is +no doubt a pupil in music of Lawes. Milton's father had much music in +his house in Bread Street, and no doubt, Lawes was among the eminent +musicians who gathered there. When Milton's father removed to Horton, +in Buckinghamshire, we are told that the young Milton came up to London +to receive instruction in music, as well as in other things. It was +Lawes who apparently got Milton to write the Masque, which he desired +to produce at Ludlow Castle in September 1634. The story of Comus and +its origin is so well known that I need not dwell upon it. The music +of the Masque was not published in the composer's life-time, but, +curiously enough, it was Lawes who edited Milton's Poem in 1637. This +was published without the name of the poet appearing[1], and was +dedicated to Viscount Brackly, one of those who took part in the +performance at Ludlow. In the dedication Lawes says: "Although not +openly {75} acknowledged by the Author, yet it is legitimate offspring, +so lovely, and so much to be desired, that the often copying of it hath +tired my pen to give my several friends satisfaction, and brought me to +the necessity of producing it to the public view." + +Unfortunately we have only five songs of the original music. There are +a great number of places in the Masque for which Milton desires +music--and many directions for instrumental movements particularly. +What these were we do not know. The merits of Lawes' music have been +decried, but having edited the _Comus_ music, after careful correction +from Lawes' original MS., which I was fortunate enough to be able to +see[2], I am confident that all who hear it will find the songs full of +beauty and expression, and well worthy of the words to which they were +so admirably fitted. + +I must not dwell longer upon _Comus_, for there is much to be said +about Lawes' other work. + +Playford was a great patron and admirer of Lawes. He published no +fewer than three books of _Ayres and Dialogues_, which contain some +charming settings of excellent poetry. The first book of _Ayres_ was +dedicated to his {76} pupils, Lady Alice Egerton and her sister, +daughters of Lord Bridgwater, and in it he says: "No sooner had I +thought of making these public than I resolved upon inscribing them to +your Ladyships; most of them being composed when I was employed by your +ever honoured Parents to attend your Ladyships' education in music." + +Lawes is often said to have "introduced the Italian style of music into +this kingdom," but this is hardly correct. That he admired and +understood the Italian style is quite certain. His studies with +Coperario would have influenced him in that direction, and he himself, +in one of his numerous Prefaces (and he was a great writer of +Prefaces), speaks of the Italians as being great masters of music, but +at the same time he contends "that our own nation has produced as many +able musicians as any in Europe." He laughs at the partiality of the +age for songs sung in a foreign language. In one of the prefaces to +his _Book of Ayres_ he says: "This present generation is so sated with +what's native, that nothing takes their ears but what's sung in a +Language which (commonly) they understand as little as they do the +music. And to make them a little sensible of this ridiculous humour I +took a Table or Index of old Italian Songs (for one, two, and three +voyces), and this Index (which {77} read together made a strange medley +of nonsense) I set to a varyed Ayre, and gave out that it came from +Italy, whereby it hath passed for a _rare Italian song_. This very +song I have since printed." + +This shows him a real humorist, and it is, I should suppose, the first +real Comic Song! It is set quite in the style of an Italian song, with +much declamation and with some charming melodious phrases. I have +often had it performed at my Lectures, and when sung in Italian it is +listened to very stolidly, but when the English translation is given it +creates much hilarity. I give the English translation, whereby it will +be seen it is indeed "a strange medley of nonsense." + +The title is given in Lawes' book as _Tavola_ (i.e. a Table or Index): + + + _Tavola._ + + In that frozen heart .... (for one voice) + Weep, my lady, weep, and if your eyes .... (for two voices) + 'Tis ever thus, ev'n when you seem to sive me, + Truly you scorn me. + Unhappy, unbelieving, + Alas! of splendour yet! + But why, oh why? from the pallid lips + And so my life .... (for three voices). + + +There is no doubt Lawes was a well-educated man, and it was certainly +one of the reasons {78} why he set words with "just note and accent," +and obtained the great praise of so many contemporary poets. It is +said he never set bad poetry[3]; and he set songs to Italian, to +Spanish, and even to Greek words. An interesting fact in connection +with his love for good poetry is given in J. P. Collier's _Catalogue of +Early English Literature in the Bridgwater House Library_, 1837. +Amongst the books catalogued is a volume of poems by Francis Beaumont, +which was presented to the Earl of Bridgwater by Henry Lawes. The +following inscription is found fastened to the cover: + + + For the Right Honble. John, Earl of Bridgwater, my most honoured + Lord, from his Lordship's most humble servant + + Henry Lawes. + + +The Earl of Bridgwater is the Nobleman for whom _Comus_ was produced. + +Lawes was a real champion of English music and English musicians, and +certainly understood {79} what he was writing about. Although somewhat +lengthy, I really cannot refrain from giving the Preface to one of his +_Books of Ayres_, which goes into this subject. It is both amusing and +improving, and deserves to be read by all. + + + To all Understanders or Lovers of Musick. + + In my former you saw what temptations I had to publish my + Compositions: and now I had not repeated that Error (if it prove to + be one) but upon the same grounds, back'd with a promise I made to + the World. + + Though the civill Reception my last Book found were sufficient + invitation, for which I gladly here offer my Thanks, especially to + those worthy and grateful Strangers, who are far more candid and + equall in their Censures than some new Judges of our own Country, + who (in spite of their starrs) will sit and pronounce upon things + they understand not. + + But this is the Fate of all mankind, to be render'd less at home + than abroad. For my part I can say (and there are will believe me) + that if any man have low thoughts of mee, hee is of my opinion. + Yet the way of Composition I chiefly possess (which is to shape + Notes to the Words and Sense) is not hit by too many: and I have + been often sad to observe some (otherwise able Musicians) guilty of + such Lapses and mistakes this way. And possibly this is it makes + many of us hear so ill abroad; which works a Beleefe amongst + ourselves, that English words will not run well in Musick: This I + have said, and must ever avow, is one of the Errors of this + Generation. + + I confess I could wish that some of our words could spare a + Consonant (which must not be slur'd, for fear of removing those + Landmarks in spelling {80} which tell their Originall); but those + are very few, and seldom occur; and when they do, are manageable + enough by giving each syllable its particular humour; provided the + breath of the sense be observed. And (I speak it freely once for + all) that if English words which are fitted for song do not run + smooth enough 'tis the fault either of the Composer or Singer. + + Our English is so stor'd with plenty of Monosyllables (which, like + small stones, fill up the chinks) that it hath great priviledge + over divers of its neighbours, and in some particulars (with + reverence be it spoken) above the very Latin, which Language we + find overcharg'd with the letter (S) especially in (bus) and such + hissing Terminations. But our new Criticks lodge not the fault in + our words only; 'tis the Artist they tax as a man unspirited for + forraign delights: which vanity so spreads, that those our + productions they please to like must be born beyond the Alpes, and + father'd upon Strangers. And this is so notorious, that not long + since some young Gentlemen, who were not untravell'd, hearing some + Songs I had set to Italian words (publickly sung by excellent + voyces) concluded those songs were begotten in Italy, and said (too + loud) "they would faine heare such songs to be made by an + Englishman." Had they layd their sceane a little nearer home, + there had been more colour; for, a short Ayre of mine (neare 20 + years old) was lately reviv'd in our neighbour Nation, and + publickly sung to words of their own as a new borne piece, without + alteration of any one Note: Tis the Ayre to those words, "Old Poets + Hippocrene admire etc." a sorry trifle (a man would think) to be + rais'd from the dead after 18 years burial. But (to meet with this + humour of lusting after Novelties) a friend of mine told some of + that company, that a rare new Book was come from Italy, which + taught the reason why an Eighth was the {81} sweetest of all notes + in Musick; because (said he) Jubal who was Founder of Musick was + the eighth man from Adam; and this went down as current as my songs + came from Italy. I beg your pardon for instancing such + particulars. But there are knowing persons, who have been long + bred in those worthily admired parts of Europe, who ascribe more to + us than we to ourselves; and able Musicians returning from Travaill + doe wonder to see us so thirsty after Forraigners. + + For they can tell us (if we knew it not) that Musick is the same in + England as in Italy; the Concords and Discords, the Passions, + Spirits, Majesty and Humours, are all the same they are in England; + their manner of composing is sufficiently known to us, their best + Compositions being brought over hither by those who are able enough + to choose. + + But we must not here expect to find Music at the highest, when all + Arts and Sciences are at so low an ebbe. As for myself, although I + have lost my Fortunes with my Master (of ever blessed Memory) I am + not so low to bow for a subsistence to the follies of this Age; and + to humour such as wil seem to understand our Art, better than we + that have spent our lives in it. + + If anything here bring you benefit or delight, I have my design. I + have printed the Greek in a Roman Character for the ease of + Musicians of both sexes. + + Farewell, + H. L. + + +This is in the Second Book of _Ayres and Dialogues. Dedicated to the +Hon. the Lady Dering, wife to Sir Edward Dering, Bart_. + +During the Civil War he appears to have lived in London, composing and +teaching. His {82} compositions for the Church in the way of Anthems +were but few. As we have seen in his early days, he preferred the +stage, and during the Commonwealth there was no inducement to write +Cathedral music. But the words of several of his Anthems are to be +found in Clifford's _Divine Services and Anthems_, published in 1666. + +In 1656 he joined Captain Cooke and others in writing music for +Davenant's _First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House_, e.g., +declamation and music. A little later he assisted in the production of +_The Siege of Rhodes_, which Roger North calls a semi-opera. + +This was produced during the Commonwealth, and is of particular +interest from the fact that Purcell's father, Henry Purcell the elder, +took part in the performance. This is the first notice we get of the +Purcell family, about whom I hope to say more in a later Lecture. It +is an interesting fact that the composer of the music to the last +important Masque (Milton's _Comus_) should have helped also in what was +apparently the first English Opera.[4] + +Lawes at the Restoration was re-appointed to his Chapel Royal post, and +composed the {83} Anthem _Zadok the Priest_ for the Coronation of +Charles II. He did not long survive the revival of his fortunes. He +lived in the little Almonry at Westminster, the block of ancient +buildings in which the Purcell family lived. He probably knew the +young Henry Purcell, then a child of tender years, and one wonders if +he detected the musical genius of the little boy. + +We get a glimpse of him in his last days from the _Diary_ of Samuel +Pepys, who, on December 30th, 1660, makes the following entry: + + +Mr. Child and I spent some time at the Lute, and so promising to prick +me some lessons to my theorbo he went away to see Henry Lawes who lies +very sick.... I to the Abbey, and walked there, seeing the great +companies of people that come there to hear the organs. + + +The Coronation was in April, 1661, so Lawes recovered from his illness, +though he died the following year. He was buried in the Cloisters of +Westminster Abbey though unfortunately there is nothing to mark the +spot of his interment. I think it is probably in the "Little Cloister" +as Dr Wilson, a brother musician, was interred there a few years later. + +In Henry and William Lawes we have "two noble brothers" who deserve to +be remembered with affectionate respect. The portraits of both are +preserved at Oxford. + + + +[1] The Author's name first appeared in the 1645 edition. + +[2] It is in the possession of the Rev. Dr Cooper Smith, and is +contained in a large volume of songs, all in the handwriting of Lawes. + +[3] One of his most beautiful songs, _The Lark_, contained a curious +misprint which I have been able to correct. The song was printed by +Playford, after Lawes' death, so he could not correct the proofs. The +second line stands + + "While nights _shall be_ shades abide." + +This always struck me as odd, and when I saw the original in Dr Cooper +Smith's book I looked for this line. It reads: + + "While night's _sable_ shades abide." + +It has been reprinted many times with the typographical error, but I +hope it is now put right. + +[4] It was in this performance that a woman (Mrs Coleman) first +appeared upon the dramatic stage in this country. + + + + +{84} + +IX. MATTHEW LOCKE + +1630 (?)--1677 + +A prominent personage in the seventeenth-century musical world was +Matthew Locke. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it was +approximately 1630. Matthew Locke laid the foundation of his art as a +chorister in an English Cathedral, and at Exeter there is evidence that +he occupied that position in 1638. The evidence cannot be disputed, as +it is graven in the very fabric of the old Cathedral. The embryo +musician took the trouble, upon two occasions, to inscribe his name +upon the walls of the Cathedral, together with the dates. Upon the +inner side of the old organ screen runs the legend "Matthew Lock, +1638," and in a more abbreviated form at a later date "M. L., 1641." As +a boy he seems to have been content with a name of four letters _Lock_; +in his later years he always attached a final "e" to his patronymic. +At Exeter he had the advantage of being trained by Edward Gibbons, +brother of the great Orlando, and, in addition to Gibbons' share in +{85} his training, he owed much to William Wake, Organist, for whom he +wrote one of his first published works. + +The period following Locke's later inscription--1641--was one not +calculated to encourage or foster the art of music; the country was in +a state of civil war, the soldiers of Cromwell wrought sad havoc in the +Cathedrals, and the musical portions of those establishments came in +for no small share of their destroying wrath. + +At Westminster Abbey we are told "the soldiers brake down the organs +for pots of ale," and the Cathedral at which Locke served his pupilage +fared very badly at the hands of the Roundheads. + +It is natural, then, that during the stormy times which marked that +period we have little intelligence concerning the doings of Locke. We +have the dates of some of his compositions, one as early as 1651. The +chief interest, however, which attaches to his work between 1650 and +1660 is that it is so much connected with the stage, and in that way +marks the progress towards the Opera, of the English form of which +Locke is sometimes credited with being the originator. As instances of +this kind of work we might, perhaps, draw attention to his association +with Christopher Gibbons in Shirley's {86} Masque _Cupid and Death_ +(1653), and the music he wrote in 1656 for Davenant's _Siege of +Rhodes_, in the production of which he himself shared--playing the part +of the Admiral. Henry Lawes wrote some of the music of this Opera, and +Purcell's father was one of the actors. + +The next item of importance that we have concerning him is in the +_Diary_ of Samuel Pepys; there, under date February 21st, 1659/60, we +read: + + + "After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here met with Mr. Lock + and Pursell, Master of Musique, and with them to the Coffee House, + into a room next the Water by ourselves. Here we had a variety of + brave Italian and Spanish Songs, and a Canon of eight voices which + Mr. Locke had lately made on these words 'Domine Salvum fac Regem,' + an admirable thing." + + +This is a very interesting entry. It shows Locke associated with +Purcell's father; it gives another instance of Mr Pepys never missing +the opportunity of cultivating the friendship of good musicians, and, +apart from the musical side, as an historical matter of interest the +words of the Canon _Domine Salvum fac Regem_ show the feeling of +loyalty towards the Crown which ended in the Restoration; words which +ten years before it would have been a heresy to utter. It may be +pointed out that the entry February, 1659, by the old way of reckoning, +{87} was really February, 1660, and therefore the year of the +Restoration. In the Ceremonies connected with that great event Locke +played an important part; it was to his music for _Sagbutts and +Cornets_ that the Royal Progress was made, from the Tower to Whitehall, +the day before the Coronation 1661. As a reward he was made "Composer +in ordinary to His Majesty," and "One of the Gentlemen of His Majesty's +Private Musick." + +For the next year or two he appears to have been engaged in +composition, both for Church and stage; amongst the former may be +mentioned some Anthems, whilst his music for Stapylton's _Stepmother_ +presents another instance of his association with dramatic music. This +dramatic side of his nature may have been the cause of Roger North's +complaint that "he sacrificed the 'old Style' for the modes of his +time" and of "his theatrical way." + +The year 1666, the year of the Fire of London, is rather an important +one in the consideration of Locke's life. It introduces us to him in +another character, and that of a literary type. As will be seen later, +he was a scathing and bitter critic of his detractors, and first gave +evidence of this quality in the year now under notice. The cause of +this outpouring of his wrath was {88} the treatment a Kyrie of his +composition had received at the hands of the Chapel Royal choir. It +would appear that he had set the Kyrie in an original way, giving +different music to each response; such an innovation did not meet with +the approval of the Choir, and they seem to have given it rather a +rough time. The result was that Locke published it, and supplied a +Preface entitled "Modern Church Music; Pre-Accused, Censured, and +obstructed in its performance before His Majesty, 1st of April, 1666. +Vindicated by its Author, Matthew Locke." Some of his observations are +very severe and abusive. I give a small portion of the somewhat long +and windy preface. + + + "He is a slender observer of human actions who finds not pride + generally accompanied with ignorance and malice, in what habit + soever it wears. In my case zeal was its vizor and innovation the + crime. The fact, changing the custom of the Church by varying that + which was ever sung in one tune, and occasioning confusion in the + Service by its ill performance. That such defects should take + their rise from the difficulty or novelty of the composition I + utterly deny, the whole being a kind of counterpoint, and no one + change from the beginning to the end but what naturally flows from, + and returns to the proper centre, the key". + + +With regard to the Vindication, however convincing it might be, I +believe the Kyrie was not performed again at the Royal Chapel. + +{89} + +Pepys refers to the incident in his _Diary_ of September 2nd, 1667, in +which he says: "Spent all the afternoon, Pelling, Howe and I and my +boy, singing of Locke's response to the ten commandments, which he hath +set very finely, and was a good while since sung before the King, and +spoiled in the performance which occasioned the printing them, and are +excellent good." Mr Pepys evidently sympathized with the lacerated +feelings of the injured author. + +I may say that some little time ago I edited these _Kyries_ and the +_Creed_, and they have been sung in the Abbey and in various +Cathedrals. The _Kyries_ are, many of them, very tuneful, and the +whole setting of _Kyrie_ and _Creed_ does Locke great credit. + +I have not space to dwell longer upon his Church music, of which we +have some excellent specimens in the way of Anthems. + +Somewhat later he was appointed Organist of the Chapel at Somerset +House; this Chapel was part of the establishment of Queen Catherine, +the Queen of Charles II, who throughout her life remained a Roman +Catholic. It would appear from Roger North that Locke was not +altogether a success in this position. He says: "Locke was organist of +Somerset House Chapel as long as he lived, but the Italian Masters that +{90} served there did not approve of his manner of play; but must be +attended by more polite hands, and one while, one Signor Baptista +Sabancino, and afterwards Signor Baptista Draghi used the Great Organ, +and Locke (who must not be turned out of his place, nor the execution) +had a small Chamber Organ by, on which he performed with them the same +Services." This seems a somewhat humbling position for such a man--and +one wonders what he said about it! + +Another sharp controversy he took part in was in answer to Mr Thomas +Salmon, M.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, who had written and published +_An Essay to the Advancement of Music by casting away the perplexity of +different cliffs and writing all sorts of music in one universal +character_. + +The desire to simplify musical signs seems to have been an old theme +and one that gave rise to a fierce controversy between Matthew Locke +and Mr Salmon. It is only fair to say that Mr Salmon was not over +judicious in his method of recommending his scheme. He seems to have +purposely hit out at music masters (of whom Locke was one of the most +eminent), and suggested that their opposition to his ideas sprang from +the sordid desire to make as much as they {91} could out of their +pupils, by keeping them as long as possible under tuition. + +Matthew Locke replied to this in a treatise entitled _The Present +Practice of Musick vindicated against the exceptions and new way of +attaining music lately published by Thomas Salmon, M.A_. The +controversy was very warm. You shall hear a short address "To the +Reader" which will give some idea of the style of discussion Locke +adopted. + + + Though I may without scruple aver that nothing has done Mr. Salmon + more kindness than that his books have had the honour to be + answered, yet I have been forced to afford him this favour rather + to chastise the Reproaches which he hath thrown upon the most + eminent Professors of Musick than for anything of learning that I + found in him. Those gentlemen he accused of ignorance for not + embracing his illiterate absurdities for which it was necessary to + bring him to the "Bar of Reason" to do him that justice which his + follies merited. Though for the fame he gets by this, I shall not + much envy him, with whom it will fare as with common criminals, who + are seldom talked of above two or three days after execution. + + +A little farther on he gets angry and says: + + + Had I been "purblind," "copper-nosed," "sparrow-mouthed," + "goggle-eyed," "hunch-backed" or the like (ornaments which the best + of my antagonists are adorned with) what work would there have been + with me? + + +Attention has already been directed to Locke's {92} association with +dramatic music, and so it would be well to glance briefly at the claim +he possesses to be considered the "Father of English Opera." The work +which entitles him to be ranked as the writer of the first English +Opera is Shadwell's _Psyche_; this, with the music to _The Tempest_, +was produced in 1673, with the title of _The English Opera_. It +contained a Preface, setting forth Locke's opinions on real Opera. +North calls his works in this branch of Art "semi-Operas," but from the +title just quoted it may be inferred that Locke, at any rate, +considered them full-grown specimens. It should be added that the Act +tunes in _Psyche_ were written by Draghi. The writer on Opera in +Grove's _Dictionary_ marks Purcell as the originator of English Opera. +"Henry Purcell (he says) transformed the Masque into the Opera, or +rather annihilated the one and introduced the other." Perhaps Roger +North's term "semi-Opera" is the best expression for Locke's essays in +this connection. + +With regard to Locke's other dramatic music, reference must be made to +the _Macbeth_ music, which has for so many years been associated with +his name. For long the matter has been the subject of conjecture as to +whether he was really the author of it or not. + +{93} + +The music of _Psyche_ is so good that there is no ground for saying he +could not have written the _Macbeth_ music. He was exceedingly +dramatic and also melodious. There is a beautiful Dialogue on the +death of Lord Sandwich, the great patron of Samuel Pepys, which is to +be found in the Pepys Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge. No +doubt this was written at the suggestion of Pepys. And there is a +remarkable setting of Hamlet's soliloquy, also in MS., in Pepys' book, +which I firmly believe is by Locke. + +As usual Locke wrote an aggressive Preface to _Psyche_. It begins: + + + That Poetry and Musick, the chief manifestives of Harmonical + Phancy, should provoke such discordant effects in many is more to + be pityed than wondered at: it having become a fashionable art to + peck and carp at other men's conceptions, how mean soever their own + are. Expecting, therefore, to fall under the lash of some + soft-headed or hard-hearted composers (for there are too many + better at finding of faults than mending them) I shall endeavour to + remove these few blocks which perhaps they may take occasion to + stumble at. + + +He goes on to say the title Opera is of the Italian, and claims that as +far as his ability could reach, he had written agreeably to the design +of the author, and that the variety of his setting was never in Court +or Theatre till now presented to {94} the nation, "though I must +confess there has been something done, and more by me than any other of +this kind." + +Locke evidently considered _Psyche_ as a real Opera and a novelty in +this country. The work was dedicated to James, Duke of Monmouth, who +(the composer says) "gave this life by your often hearing this +practised and encouraged and heartened the almost heartless undertakers +and performers." + +Amongst his other works was one called _Melothesia, or Certain general +Rules for playing upon a continued Bass_. This is said to be the first +book of its kind, and he contributed to many other works. Roger North +tells us "Locke set most of the Psalms to music in parts for the use of +some vertuoso ladyes in the City, and he composed a magnifick Consort +of four parts after the old style which is the last that hath been +made." + +His life was not long, but it was important, and perhaps the greatest +tribute to his memory was that Henry Purcell wrote an ode commemorative +of his decease "On the death of his worthy friend Mr Matthew Locke, +Music Composer in Ordinary to _His_ Majesty, and Organist of _Her_ +Majesty's Chappell, who dyed in August, 1677." + + + + +{95} + +X. PELHAM HUMFREY + +1647--1674 + +We have all heard of "Single-speech Hamilton," a Member of Parliament, +who, it is said, made a "single speech," and by it achieved lasting +fame. As a matter of history, Hamilton made other speeches, but it was +by the first that he earned his well-known cognomen. And we have a +somewhat similar example in connection with a celebrated musician, John +Jenkins. Born in 1592, he lived until 1678, and wrote, as North +expresses it, "horse-loads of music." He was most prolific and most +celebrated, and yet until a few years ago, when I revived many of his +compositions--_Dialogues, Fancies for Strings_, and _Latin Motets_--not +a note of his music was heard anywhere, save one little piece. But +this was sung in every school where vocal music was taught--it is the +charming little round _A boat, a boat, haste to the ferry_. + +The subject of our present consideration is another example of the same +fate. "Pelham Humfrey, Composer of the Grand Chant" is about all +people know of him. This so-called {96} Grand Chant is known and sung +in every Protestant Church in the world. Humfrey is, however, a worthy +member of the band of musicians whose work I am following, and we will +see what else he did besides writing the Grand Chant. + +Born in 1647, he is said to have been a nephew of Colonel John +Humphrey, Bradshaw's sword-bearer. + +From the arms which were on his tomb we can learn a little of his +family and forbears--these arms, I regret to say, have long since been +obliterated, in fact they had gone in Sir John Hawkins' time, together +with the epitaph; and at the present time the exact position of the +grave can be only a matter of conjecture.[1] But what was on it has +been preserved to us in a valuable old work, _Keepe's Monumenta +Westmonasteriensia_, 1682. In this work a description is given of the +armorial bearings, and by them we can trace him to an old +Northamptonshire stock. The family is mentioned as being settled in +the County in _The Visitation of Northampton_ of 1564, but had +disappeared from it before the next Visitation some years later. + +We know nothing of Pelham Humfrey's life {97} until 1660, the year of +the Restoration, when we find him, at the age of thirteen, entered as +one of the first set of children of the reconstructed Chapel Royal +Choir, under Henry Cooke, generally known as Captain Cooke, who having +fought in the Civil War, obtained his Captain's Commission as early in +the struggle as 1642; and retained his military title for the rest of +his life. + +While at the Chapel Royal, Humfrey displayed signs of that precocity +which so often shows itself in the musical genius. He began +composition while yet a boy, and in 1664 we find the words of no fewer +than five of his Anthems published in Clifford's _Divine Services and +Anthems_. + +A reference to one of these Anthems is in the _Diary_ of Samuel Pepys, +which contains, by the way, several interesting references to Humfrey's +career. Under date November 22nd, 1663, we find: + + + At Chapel: I had room in the Privy Seale pew with other gentlemen, + and there heard Dr. Lilligrew preach. The Anthem was good after + Sermon, being the 51st Psalm made for five voices by one of Captain + Cooke's boys, a pretty boy. And they say there are four or five of + them that can do as much. And here I first perceived that the King + is a little Musical and kept good time with his hand all along the + Anthem. + + +Now that Anthem was written by a Choir-boy {98} in the Royal Chapel, +but it is a remarkable fact, as Pepys says, that he was not the only +boy-composer in the same choir and at the same time. Captain Cooke +appears to have been rarely fortunate in having in his newly-formed +choral body a set of phenomenally gifted boys, and doubtless no small +credit is due to the loyal and gallant musician for the skill and care +he must have devoted to their training. + +Captain Cooke must have been a clever teacher and a still cleverer +selector of boys for his choir; and this brilliant little school he +gathered round him (including such names as Humfrey, Blow, and Purcell) +shines out like a beacon light in our musical world. A curious and +interesting fact bearing upon this came to my knowledge quite lately. +A Thesis for a Doctor's degree in the University of Paris (in 1912) was +on the subject of _Captain Cooke's Choir Boys_, and it was a clever yet +concise account of the work done by these three pupils of +Cooke--Humfrey, Blow, and Purcell. English music seems to be looking +up when we find a period of our musical history and three of our past +great musicians taken as the subject for a thesis in a foreign +University! + +The same year that witnessed the production of this Anthem was an +all-important one, not only for Humfrey but also for English art. On +{99} leaving the Royal Choir, Charles II sent him abroad to continue +his musical studies; the cost of the trip was paid out of the Secret +Service Fund, and was expended in the following way: + +1664. "To defray the charge of his journey into France and Italy +L200." In the two following years also he was granted L100 and L150 +respectively. + +Most of the time Humfrey spent abroad was passed in Paris with J. B. +Lully, an Italian by birth but a Frenchman by adoption, the most +celebrated dramatic musical composer of his day. He wrote many Operas +in the most varied styles, both grave and gay, was the composer of a +good deal of sacred music, and was also a reformer in Opera-writing; he +introduced the accompanied recitative in place of the Italian +_Recitative secco_, making many changes in the ballets. Of still more +importance was his development of the Overture, for which service he +cannot be too highly valued. + +It is very probable that the instruction given by Lully to Humfrey was +less by precept than by example. The pupil listened with eager ears to +his master's music and doubtless often took part in the performance of +it. Under this influence--the influence of the greatest master of +dramatic music of his time--it is not surprising that the already +precocious genius of the young {100} Englishman quickened, and that he +returned to his native country with a different conception of his art. +Another world had been opened up to him whose earliest instruction had, +necessarily, been chiefly confined to the ecclesiastical side of it. + +Before his return to England he had been appointed a Gentleman of the +Chapel Royal, in the place of one Thomas Hazard, January, 1667, and he +was duly sworn in the October following. A glance at Pepys' _Diary_ +under dates November 1st and 15th, 1667, gives us that shrewd +observer's opinion of our hero as he appears fresh from his Continental +trip. + + + November 1st, 1667. To Chapel, and heard a fine Anthem made by + Pelham, who is come over. + + +The entry, however, of a fortnight later is of more interest, as +apparently being Mr Pepys' first personal encounter with him since his +return. + + + November 15th, 1667. Home, and there I find, as I expected, Mr. + Caesar and little Pelham Humfrey lately returned from France, and + is an absolute Monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, + and disparages everything and everybody's skill but his own. But + to hear how he laughs at all the King's Musick here, as Blagrave + and others, that they cannot keep time nor tune nor understand + anything; and that Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's Master of the + Music, how he understands {101} nothing nor can play on any + instrument and so cannot compose; and that he will give him a lift + out of his place; and that he and the King are mighty great. I had + a good dinner for them, a venison pasty and some fowl, and after + dinner we did play, he on the Theorbo, Mr. Caesar on his French + lute, and I on the viol, but made but mean Musique, nor do I see + that this Frenchman do so much wonders on the Theorbo, but without + question, he is a good musician, but his vanity do offend me. + + +Grebus (or rather Grabu) was the King's Master of the Music. He +displaced Bannister, who was dismissed, according to the historians, +because he championed English violinists and said he preferred them to +Frenchmen. He may have said this, but the real cause of his dismissal +was that he kept back the money which he ought to have paid to the +Private Band! King Charles has often been blamed for dismissing +Bannister on account of his patriotic sentiments and defence of English +players, but this charge is not true. + +Returning to Mr Pepys for a record of his next day's doings, November +16, 1667, we find a very interesting reference to Humfrey and a +somewhat scathing criticism from the Diarist: + + + 1667, November 16th. To White Hall, where there is to be a + performance of Music of Pelham's before the King. The company not + come; but I did go into the Music Room where Captain Cooke and many + others, and here I did hear the best and the smallest Organ go that + ever I saw in my life {102} and such a one as by the grace of God I + will have the next year, if I continue in this Condition, whatever + it cost me. + + +Mr Pepys then records a short walk and talk with Mr Gregory, returning +to Whitehall: + + + And there got into the theatre room and there heard both the vocall + and instrumentall Music, where the little fellow (Pelham Humfrey) + stood keeping time, but for my part I see no great matter, but + quite the contrary, in both sorts of Music. The composition, I + believe, is very good, but no more of delightfulness to the eare or + understanding, but what is very ordinary. + + +In addition to being a composer, Humfrey was an accomplished lutenist, +and in the State Papers for the year 1668, under date January 20th, we +find a promotion of his in the Royal Service; the record runs as +follows: + + + January 20th, 1668. Warrant to pay Pelham Humfreys, Musician in + Ordinary on the Lute, in place of Nich. Sawyer deceased L40 yearly, + and L16 2s. 6d. for Livery. + + +On May 29th of this same year Mr Pepys again refers to him: + + + May 29th, 1668. Home, whither by agreement by and by comes Mercer + and Gayet and two gentlemen with them, Mr. Monteith and Pelham, the + {103} former a swaggering young handsome gentleman, the latter a + sober citizen merchant.[2] Both sing, and the latter with great + skill, the other no skill, but a good voice and a good basse, but + used only to tavern tunes; and so I spent all this evening till + eleven at night, singing with them till I was tired of them, + because of the swaggering fellow, tho' the girl Mercer did mightily + commend him before me. + + +Later in the year (July) another reference is made in the _Diary_: + + + July 11th, 1668. So home, it being almost night (Mr. Pepys had + been after an espinette at Deptford), and there find in the garden + Pelling, who hath brought Tempest, Wallington, and Pelham to sing, + and there had most excellent Musick late, in the dark with great + pleasure. + + +Humfrey's Sacred music is a clear evidence of his French experience. +He puts symphonies for strings and is dramatic at times and often +somewhat light. An Anthem _O Praise the Lord_ is a good example of the +latter tendency. There are two short Bass solos, one to the words +_Sing praises lustily_, which is almost like the song of a jovial +sailor! It is in triple time, and is the sort of thing King Charles +would certainly have beaten time to with his hand "all along the +Anthem," in Pepys' words. The Bass solo in the Anthem he {104} wrote +when a boy and before his French training is in a quite different +style, and might have been written by any of our good Cathedral +writers, such as Locke, or Blow, or even Purcell. + +In addition to his Sacred works Humfrey wrote three Odes and many +songs. These latter fall under the critical notice of Dr Burney, who +refers to them, I think, rather unfairly and harshly. Speaking of a +collection called _Choice Songs and Aires_, Burney says: "Among these +songs, to the number of near fifty, there is not one air that is either +ingenious, graceful, cheerful or solemn: an insipid languor or vulgar +pertness pervades the whole. From Pelham Humphry, whose Church Music +is so excellent, I own I expected to find originality, or merit of some +kind or other; but his songs are quite on a level with the rest." + +Burney's remarks are not only spiteful, but untrue. To mention only +one song, Humfrey's setting of _Where the Bee Sucks_, which he wrote +for Dryden and Davenant's altered version of _The Tempest_ (the oldest +setting but one which we possess), is charming, both as regards melody +and harmony. The first part is in the minor key, for which Humfrey +seems--like Purcell--to have a weakness. There is an effective change +to the Tonic Major at _Merrily, merrily shall I live now_, with a most +striking and delicious drop of a {105} 7th (I expect Burney regarded +this as a crudity), To me the song seems one of the best of the time. + +Humfrey went on adding rapidly to his honours. On January 24th, 1672, +he was elected one of the wardens of "the Corporation for regulating +the Art and Science of Musick," and in July of the same year his old +master, Captain Cooke, died; his death being accelerated--so Antony +Wood tells us--by chagrin at finding himself getting supplanted by his +old pupil. This I do not believe: Cooke would have had a soul above +such foibles, and had too many successful pupils to be jealous of poor +little Humfrey. + +However this may be, Humfrey succeeded him as Master of the Children of +the Chapel Royal, and later, jointly with Thomas Purcell, he was +appointed Composer in Ordinary for the Violins to His Majesty. + +It was in this year, 1672, that he wrote a charming little song called +_Wherever I am and Whatever I do_. It was written for Dryden's +_Conquest of Granada_, produced in that year. + +Nothing of any importance is chronicled of him for the last two years +of his all too short life. He died at Windsor on July 13th, 1674, and +was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near the south east +door. His last will and {106} testament, witnessed by his old +schoolfellow, Dr Blow, is interesting: + + + Aprill ye 23rd, 74. + + Bee itt knowne to all people whomsoever itt may Concerne that I + leave my deare wife my sole executrix and Mrs. of all I have in the + world after those few debts I owe are payd: + + I only desire that 3 Legacyes may bee given that is to say to my + cousin Betty Jelfe: to Mr. Blow ad to Besse Gill each of them + twenty shillings to buy them Rings. + + Pell. Humfrey. + + + 30 July, 1674. + + Which day appeared personally John Blow of Westminster and made + oath that he was present when Mr. Pelham Humfrey wrote the above + written writing containing his last will and testament and he the + sd Mr. Pelham Humfrey being of perfect mind and sound memory + published and declared the same for his last will and testament. + + John Blow. + + 30 July, 74. + + (Proved 30 July 1674 by Catherine Humfrey Relict and sole + executrix). + + +Humfrey's life, brief though it was, must be regarded as a turning +point in our art's history--not alone by his own compositions, but by +the infusion of his influence into the greater Purcell. He was not +only Purcell's master at the Chapel Royal, but actually composed an +Anthem jointly with Purcell, called _By the Waters of Babylon_. In +Boyce's opinion "he was the first of our ecclesiastical {107} composers +who had the least idea of musical pathos and expression of the words," +but this is an exaggeration. + +This great advance in our music was carried on by the immortal Purcell, +who, as a choir-boy under Humfrey, was, no doubt, an eager listener to +the "new effects" which his master introduced. The pupil is so great, +one is in danger of forgetting the master. At least here we have +endeavoured to do some justice to the short-lived genius Pelham Humfrey. + + + +[1] I have lately identified the spot. Keepe was for eighteen years a +member of the Abbey Choir, and probably sang at Humfrey's funeral. + +[2] I cannot help thinking Pepys meant Pelham as the swaggering young +handsome gentleman, and Monteith as the sober citizen merchant. + + + + +{108} + +XI. DR JOHN BLOW + +1648--1708 + +If there is one name among the Twelve Musicians with whom I am dealing +in this course of Lectures to which I desire specially to do justice, +it is that of Dr. John Blow. As a child I sang his Anthems in +Rochester Cathedral, and I well remember the delight with which I +listened to, and took part in, his beautiful and expressive _I beheld, +and lo a great multitude_, and _I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day_. +In those days the great masterpieces of the English Cathedral School +were constantly done, and very well done, at Rochester, and none of the +Anthems except I may say, perhaps, Purcell's great Anthem _O Sing unto +the Lord_, touched me and thrilled me as did that of Blow. And as long +as I played in Manchester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, so long did +I feel the power and religious impressions of these splendid specimens +of Blow's genius. Of course there are many Anthems and Services by +this master, but none, to me at least, ever spoke so eloquently as did +the two I have mentioned. This is one reason {109} why I approach the +subject of Blow's career with such a desire to do him justice. Another +is the strange neglect of most of his secular music, and lastly the +absurd and ignorant criticism of Dr Burney, as displayed in his +_History_, when he talks of "Blow's crudities." + +Without further delay let us proceed to trace his musical life. I +refrain, on account of time, from dwelling much on biographical details +in these Lectures. So I will merely state that it seems pretty certain +that Blow was born at North Collingham, in Nottinghamshire, and +baptised in the Parish Church of Newark in February 1648-9. Let us +begin with recording his admission as a Chorister to the Chapel +Royal--one of the "clever boys" whom Captain Cooke got together and +taught. Of his school-fellow, Pelham Humfrey, I have already spoken, +and, like Humfrey, Blow composed Anthems while in the choir. It is +possible--or rather, I think, probable--that an entry in Pepys' _Diary_ +refers to him. Under the head of August 21, 1667, we read: + + + This morning come two of Captain Cooke's boys, whose voices are + broke, and are gone from the Chappell, but have extraordinary + skill, and they and my boy, with his broken voice, did sing three + parts: their names were Blaew and Loggings, but notwithstanding + their skill, yet to hear them sing with their {110} broken voices, + which they could not command to keep in tune, would make a man mad, + so bad it was. + + +If this refers to Blow he would be about nineteen years old, and could +have had but a very broken voice. But it is not impossible, as many +boys retain their voices until a good age, and continue singing "alto" +in a moderate sort of style. It is hardly likely there would be a boy +named Blaew and one named Blow. And there was some arrangement whereby +boys who had left the Choir continued to reside with the Masters, +possibly to study.[1] + +At the early age of twenty-one, in 1669, he became Organist of +Westminster Abbey, and the appointment, apparently, was not enough for +his ambition (or, more probably, for his needs!), for in 1674 he +succeeded Humfrey as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, +becoming Organist also (while still holding Westminster Abbey) in 1676. +As regards his degree of Mus. Doc. I have (on the authority of the late +Dr Southgate) to make a little correction of former statements. It has +generally been said the degree was conferred upon Blow by Archbishop +Sancroft, but {111} Dr Southgate told me in a note, when I was about to +lecture on Blow, some years ago, that the degree was granted by +Bancroft's _representative_ the Dean of Canterbury--the Archbishop +being dead. It is marked in the Lambeth Register "_Sede vacante_": it +was thus bestowed when the "See was vacant." It is a curious fact that +Blow gave up his Abbey post in 1680, being succeeded by Purcell; and on +Purcell's death, in 1695, he was again appointed organist of the Abbey, +and held that post until his death. + +But I have to record yet another important Cathedral appointment which +our indefatigable musician held. He was Almoner and Master of the +Choristers in St Paul's Cathedral, holding those offices for six years, +from 1687 to 1693. Again he seems to have resigned in favour of a +pupil, Mr Jeremiah Clarke. It is a remarkable testimony to the esteem +in which he was held that he should have filled posts at the Chapel +Royal, St Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey, all at the same +time. Bishops, in the old days, often presided over a Diocese, filled +a Canonry or directed a College and occupied a "Living" or two, +simultaneously; but Blow seems to me to have been the greatest Organist +pluralist on record! + +But this is a testimony to his worth, and in {112} following up our +investigation of his contributions to music I will not dwell longer +upon his Church music, except to mention that he wrote an Anthem _I was +glad_, for the opening of St Paul's Cathedral in 1697, and to tell the +story of the composition of the Anthem which I mentioned in the early +part of my lecture, _I beheld and Lo_! When it was performed in the +Chapel Royal, the King (who had asked him to compose it) sent Father +Petre to say he was greatly pleased with it; "but (added Petre) I +myself think it too long!" "That (answered Blow) is the opinion of but +one fool--I heed it not." The Priest was greatly incensed at this +remark, and it is said that, had not James II lost his place by his +sudden flight to France, Dr Blow would have lost _his_! + +Among the Anthems of this composer may be mentioned two which he wrote +for the Coronation of James II, and he also took part in the funeral of +William III in the Abbey, receiving, according to an Abbey record, the +very large fee of 7s. 10d. for the latter. He does not seem to have +directed the music at the Coronation, but took part in the choir. On +the death of his pupil, Purcell, he wrote an ode, the words by Dryden, +beginning _Mark how the lark and linnet sing_. + +I must not omit to mention that he and Purcell were the Organists +selected by Father Smith to {113} display the organ of the Temple +Church at the memorable competition between Smith and Harris, the two +rival organ-builders. Smith won the day, and showed his wisdom in +getting the best men to preside at his instrument. It was the custom +for many years to have an _Ode for St Cecilia's Day_ composed for and +performed in Stationers Hall on the Saint's Day. Blow wrote the second +of these _Odes_ in 1684--the year of the Temple Church competition. He +published, in 1700, a great collection of his secular vocal music, +under the title of _Amphion Anglicus_, and in his dedication to the +Princess Anne of Denmark he announces that he is preparing "as fast as +I can a second musical Present, my Church Services and Divine +composition." He gives his sentiments with regard to Sacred +composition in the same dedication, which are worth repeating: + + + To those in truth I have ever more especially consecrated the + thoughts of my whole life. All the rest I consider but the + blossoms or rather the leaves those I only esteem as the Fruits of + all my labours in this kind. With them I began my first Raptures + in this Art, with them I hope calmly and comfortably to finish my + days. + + +The composer did not carry out his design, though he lived about eight +years after this. + +A very interesting work, which has only of late {114} years been made +known, is a Masque entitled _Venus and Adonis_. Some years ago I +noticed it among the music in the Chapter Library at Westminster. It +has since been edited by Mr Arkwright, and, quite lately, produced upon +the stage at Glastonbury. It is very interesting, as it shows that +Blow, like Purcell, had a leaning to dramatic music and this Masque is +specially noticeable as it consists of musical dialogue--not +spoken--thus coming very near to a little Opera. + +Blow also contributed to some _Choice Lessons for the Harpsichord_, a +collection published by Playford, to which also Henry Purcell +contributed. There are also interesting specimens of organ music, +among which is a curious arrangement of the _Hundredth Psalm Tune_ "as +they are played in Churches and Chapels." I have also a copy of a MS. +_Lesson on the Hundredth Psalm_. It would now be called a Choral +Prelude for the Organ. After a short introduction, the whole tune +appears at intervals in the Bass, with very florid upper counterpoint. +It is evidence of Blow's knowledge of organ effects and of his ability +as a player. + +A writer in 1711, three years after Blow's death, tells us "he was +reckoned the greatest Master in the world for playing most gravely and +{115} serenely in his Voluntaries", and we have Purcell's testimony to +him as "one of the greatest masters in the world". With this testimony +before him it seems incredible that Dr Burney should have made such a +fierce onslaught upon this really excellent man and versatile musician, +on account of what he calls his "crudities." He has actually given +four pages of music type in his History, full of quotations of Blow's +misdeeds. I have examined these carefully, and in many cases the +examples are really a remarkable testimony to Blow's advanced ideas, +and his feeling for pathetic and expressive harmony. In some specimens +there are obvious mis-prints, accidentals omitted, etc., which Burney, +had he not been prejudiced, would certainly have perceived. But it is +not worth while to follow up this matter, although I am sorry to say +Sir Frederick Ouseley took rather the same line when commenting on +Blow's music. He really pays Blow a compliment when he says that "he +always appears to have been trying experiments in harmony or +introducing new combinations and discords". This was what was said of +another great musician, Monteverde, to whom we owe so much, and such +criticisms only bring discredit upon the writers who failed to see the +value behind the novelty. Sir Hubert Parry, in speaking of these {116} +"crudities" says "they do Blow, for the most part, great credit, for +they show that he adventured beyond the range of the mere conventional, +and often with the success that betokens genuine musical insight." + +I have already commented upon his greatest Anthems _I beheld and lo!_ +and _I was in the Spirit_. They are full of examples of Blow's +melodious power, and this also comes out in some of his secular airs. +Perhaps one of the best is his beautiful song which is to be found in +_Amphion Anglicus_ entitled _The Self Banished_ beginning "It is not +that I love you less"; the words are by Waller, and the music is worthy +of them. + +Blow, as described by Sir John Hawkins, was "a very handsome man in his +person, and remarkable for a gravity and decency in his deportment, +suited to his station". + +This worthy musician died in 1708, aged 60, and is buried in +Westminster Abbey, near the old entrance to the organ-loft and in close +proximity to Purcell. A fine monument is erected near the spot, and a +specimen of his composition, in the form of a _Gloria_ from one of his +services is engraved thereupon. This _Gloria_ is said to have been +sung at St Peter's at Rome. I remember an interesting matter in +connection with this monument. In my early days at the Abbey (during +{117} Dean Stanley's time) the Emperor of Brazil paid a visit and was +shown round the Abbey by the Dean. The only thing he specially asked +to be shown was "Dr. Blow's monument"! The Dean told me His Majesty +inspected it very closely and seemed to be reading the music. He +probably knew more about Blow's music than Burney's _History_! + + + +[1] There is an account preserved in the Bodleian Library of Blow being +paid L40 a year for "keeping and teaching two boys" but this was in +1685. It shows that it was usual for boys whose voices were gone, to +be kept on for tuition. + + + + +{118} + +XII. HENRY PURCELL + +1658--1695 + +In Henry Purcell I reach the last and the greatest of my Twelve Good +Musicians. And to attempt to consider and discuss completely his life +and work in the short space of a University Lecture, would be an absurd +effort. But, as I have before pointed out, my object has been to +endeavour to interest the musical student--amateur and professional--in +certain prominent masters of music, and in the remarkable progress made +in our own country by their aid in the seventeenth century. I can do +little more than arouse interest, and I cannot pretend to write a +complete history, but I trust the Lectures will have helped to fill up +the "blank" which Sir Hubert Parry declared existed in many minds as +regards the music of this period. + +[Illustration: Henry Purcell] + +In the consideration of the various musicians of whom I have already +treated I have avoided biographical detail. As a rule information in +these matters may be gleaned from the well-known books of reference. +But in the case of {119} Purcell I am obliged to enlarge a little on +his life, in the hope that I may be able to contribute a few +interesting facts with regard to his family that are not generally +known. + +Let me begin, then, with Purcell's father. It is an extraordinary +thing that we know nothing whatever of him until we find his name among +distinguished musicians, such as Captain Cooke, Locke, and Lawes, as +one of the performers in the _Siege of Rhodes_, in 1656. In the +Preface to this publication it is claimed that "The Musick was composed +and both the Vocal and Instrumental is exercised by the most +transcendent of England in that Art." + +What did the elder Purcell do before he attained to such a position? +We know absolutely nothing as regards his origin, his training, or his +career up to this. I have made diligent search in the archives of +Westminster to see if there were anything to be learned there, and have +gleaned a few small facts. + +The name of Roger Pursell occurs in a bill for bringing timber to the +College--in August 1628. The items of the bill include Carriage by +land 1s. 6d., for watching 6d., for helping to land ye timber 6d. This +would seem to apply to a load of timber brought from a distance for the +use of the carpenters of the College. Roger Pursell {120} may have +come up with the timber or he may have been one of the carpenters. He +was paid 3s. for two days' work. The name appears again in 1659 when +we find in a page of accounts "Expended by George Blackborn and Joseph +Hobbes for the travelling charges about the Colledge affaires at +Offord, in the County of Huntingdon" the following note: "In the Bonds +taken from Mr Throgmorton and _Roger Pursell_ there is included L4 +towards travelling charges." Then Roger Pursell is spoken of as "the +'Bayliffe' of Mr Giles." It is rather curious that the name of Roger +Pursell should occur at such a wide interval, 1628 and again in 1659. +One wonders if Roger's connection with the Abbey and its property was +the beginning of the musical members of the family coming to +Westminster. + +There was a Shropshire Purcell family of some standing, and in the +_Herald's Visitation of Shropshire_ in 1623 it was given as of Onslow, +and Shrewsbury; and there were many distinguished Purcells in Ireland. + +We know and hear nothing more of the elder Purcell after the production +of the _Siege of Rhodes_ in 1656 until his name appears in a book in +the Library at Westminster. This book records the admission of one or +two Petty Canons {121} in 1660, and the payment by them of 5s. for the +entry. Mr Henry Purcell's name is also entered with the note "instead +of 5s. _this book_." + +Here, then, we have the great musician's father installed in the Abbey +as Master of the Choristers (not organist also) and Copyist. He was +also a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and a Singing Man of Westminster. +Later on we find him a member of the Royal Band (1663). All these +important appointments testify to his leading musical position. + +We have a glimpse of him in Pepys' _Diary_, under date February 21st, +1660. + + + "After dinner I back to Westminster Hall. Here I met with Mr. Lock + and Pursell, Master of Music, and with them to the Coffee House + into a room next the Water by ourselves. Here we had variety of + brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for eight voices which + Mr. Locke had lately made on these words '_Domine Salvum fac + Regem_.'" + + +Another small fact of interest in connection with the elder Purcell is +furnished me by my brother of Chester. He finds in the Chirk Castle +accounts, by the steward of Sir Thomas Myddelton, an allusion to Mr +Purcell, who is, no doubt, our elder Purcell. Dr. Bridge writes as +follows: + + + "In 1661 the family had gone up to London and we find the Steward + there and recording + + Dec. 24, Paid for a quart of + Purle with Mr. Purcell .... 2d. + + {122} + + As a rule only the names of important personages are put in the + accounts. As the Steward did not _live_ in London, it looks as if + Mr. Purcell was a former acquaintance from somewhere near Chirk. + This place is on the borders of three Counties of which Shropshire + is one, and as the Purcells probably came from Salop, their + birth-place or place of residence, may have been at the Chirk end + of the County. Possibly Mr. Purcell was an old friend of the + Steward's." + + +There is no doubt the elder Purcell lived in the place called the +Almonry, where the "Singing Men" had houses. These stood where the +well-known Westminster Palace Hotel now stands. And here his +distinguished son was born.[1] + +It is generally stated that he was born in 1658. It seems, however, +just as likely--or even more likely--the date should be 1659. +Unfortunately it has been impossible to find the record of his baptism. +The Register at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, for this period +(which was then very carefully kept) does not show Henry Purcell's +name. The approximate date is fixed fairly well for us by the fact +that in June, 1683, Purcell published some Sonatas to which his +portrait was prefixed. On this portrait he is {123} said to be +"_aetat: suae_ 24," i.e. in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Again +on his monument in the Abbey we find "_Anno Aetatis suae 37_," i.e., in +the thirty-seventh year of his age. Therefore, if he was in his +thirty-seventh year on November 21, 1695 (the date of his death), he +must have been born between November 21st, 1658, and November 20th, +1659. + +Not only is his baptism during these years not recorded at St +Margaret's, but the _Rate Books_ of St Margaret's for 1658 and 1659 _do +not contain the name of Purcell_, as they certainly would have had his +father had a house in the parish. + +A friend has made most careful enquiries for me on this point. I +expect the Almonry was in the precincts of Westminster Abbey, and so +would not be "in the parish," and it is quite reasonable to suppose the +child born in the Almonry was christened in the Abbey: but I have never +yet found any record of this. Purcell's own son, Edward, was +christened in the Abbey in 1689. + +It is interesting to know that Henry Lawes lived also in the Almonry, +and so must have known the little boy Purcell; but, as Lawes died in +1662, the child could not have given any great proof of his future +genius. The elder Purcell died in 1664, and the young boy was {124} +placed in the Chapel Royal Choir at the early age of six years. + +Thomas Purcell, brother of the elder Purcell, was a distinguished +musician also and a member of the Chapel Royal, besides holding other +important posts. He looked after his clever little nephew, and was a +real father to him. As in the case of Henry Purcell, Senior, we know +nothing of the previous history of Thomas Purcell until we find him in +his high position. Who trained him and his brother Henry we know not. + +Henry Purcell was thus one of the remarkable set of boys to which I +have often alluded in these Lectures, among his fellow choristers being +Pelham Humfrey and Blow. Like the other boys, he began to compose, and +the first reliable composition we have was the _Address of the Children +of the Chapel Royal to the King and their Master, Captain Cooke, on His +Majestie's Birthday A.D. 1670, composed by MASTER PURCELL, one of the +Children of the said Chapel_. + +Purcell, no doubt, owed much to Captain Cooke, but it is also certain +that the influence of Pelham Humfrey, with the experience he gained by +his studies with Lully, must have made a deep impression. As we know, +Humfrey died at the early age of twenty-seven, and Purcell continued +his studies with Blow, whose monument in the {125} Abbey records he was +"Master to the famous Henry Purcell." + +The first appointment Purcell held was that of copyist to Westminster +Abbey (1676), a post which his father had held before him. We know +little for certain as to his compositions for the Church in his early +days. As a matter of fact, he seems to have been drawn (like Henry +Lawes) more to the secular side, writing for the theatre. It has been +suggested that he was introduced to this kind of work by Locke, who we +know was a prominent composer for the stage. We must also remember +that Humfrey would, very likely, have helped to influence the mind of +the young Purcell in that direction. On Locke's death in 1677 Purcell +wrote an ode _On the death of his worthy friend, Matthew Locke_. + +In 1680 Dr Blow resigned his position as Organist of Westminster Abbey, +and Purcell succeeded him. There is no record of Blow resigning or the +cause of it in the Chapter Books; one simply finds in the Treasurer's +accounts that Purcell drew the salary as Organist instead of Blow. +Probably his appointment to Westminster turned his mind more towards +Church than stage. + +The composition of the Opera _Dido and AEneas_ is, I think, proved by Mr +Barclay Squire's {126} clever article on Purcell's dramatic music not +to be a composition of his early years. It is not possible for me to +go minutely into the subject of Purcell's many compositions, but I will +for a few moments call attention to what I consider almost his +master-piece. I allude to the splendid and original set of Sonatas +which he issued in 1683.[2] This was Purcell's first publication, and +it was issued from St Ann's Lane, beyond Westminster Abbey, where the +composer resided--having been married in 1681. (It should be added +that he was made Organist of the Chapel Royal in 1682, holding that +post at the same time as the Abbey.) + +These Sonatas are a very interesting study in Purcell's career. Like +many of the composers mentioned in these Lectures, Purcell wrote +Fancies; but the Sonatas are a very different thing. Written for Two +Violins 'Cello and Basso Continuo, and consisting of three or four +movements of differing character, they are a wonderful advance on +anything previously done in this direction, either in England or abroad. + +Corelli issued his Sonatas in the same year that Purcell's appeared. +But Corelli's--although beautiful--have not the depth or originality of +{127} Purcell's, which are admirably written for the strings and abound +in clever devices, but are in no way dull or suggestive of vocal +writing. The three strings are often complete without the Continuo, +but occasionally there is an extra part for this. My own experience of +them in performance is that the least possible accompaniment is best, +and it should be remembered that the Continuo is not written for a +modern pianoforte with its powerful tone, but for the Harpsichord or +Organ. + +Purcell in his Preface says: "for its Author he has faithfully +endeavoured a just imitation of the most favour'd Italian Masters". He +goes on to explain the meaning of certain Italian "terms of Art perhaps +unusual," such as _Adagio, Grave, Presto, Largo_, etc., and concludes +with a wish that his book may fall into no other hands but those who +carry musical souls about them; for he is willing to flatter himself +into a belief that with such his labours will seem neither unpleasant +nor unprofitable." + +The question of the models that Purcell had in writing these fine +Sonatas and what famous Italian Masters he imitated has been often +debated. For myself I cannot but believe that Purcell owed much to a +remarkable Neapolitan violinist, Nicola Matteis. + +{128} + +This Italian violinist and composer came to London about 1672, and +resided there till after Purcell's death. The date of Matteis's birth +is not known, but the accounts of his playing given from personal +observation by such authorities as John Evelyn in his contemporary +_Diary_, and Roger North in his _Memoirs of Musick_, show that he came +here as a mature artist. Purcell was then fifteen years old, and +during the eleven years which elapsed till the publication of the 1683 +Purcell Sonatas, Matteis was much the most prominent foreign musician, +and the only Italian musician of any rank resident in London. The +propagation of musical styles from one country to another was carried +out in those days very little by the dissemination of copies, whether +manuscript or printed, and much more by the activity of persons who +went here and there giving performances and concerts. And Roger North +says specifically: "But as yet wee have given no account of the +decadence of the French musick, and the Italian coming in its room. +This happened by degrees, and the overture was by accident, for the +coming over of Sig. Nicolai Matteis gave the first start. He was an +excellent musician, &c., &c., &c." Purcell, the Organist of +Westminster Abbey, must of course have known Matteis, as he directed +the concerts of Chief {129} Justice Francis North (Roger North's +brother) in Queen Street, and it is evident from the writings of Roger +that the Norths were supporters of Matteis. In the Bodleian Library I +have found Chief Justice North's name inscribed as the owner on one of +the volumes of Matteis's _Aires for the Violin_. Then as to the +explanation of Italian terms in Purcell's Preface, it is a little +singular that much the same sort of information is found prefixed to +Matteis's second volume of Violin Pieces. Again I have discovered in +MS. parts in the Bodleian Library, and had performed at a Lecture at +the Royal Institution, a Sonata in A by Matteis, in the exact Sonata +form used by Purcell in 1683; and, though the date of this MS. +composition cannot be traced, it is at least as likely to have been +composed before 1683 as after. However, I am not asserting that a +composer like Purcell copied Matteis's works. I am only saying that it +was Matteis who made the Italian chamber-music prevalent in London, and +that but for him Purcell would possibly never have thought or written +in that style. And I cannot better conclude than by quoting from one +of North's voluminous manuscripts, _Essay of Musical Ayre_ (Brit. +Museum, _Addit._ MSS., 32, 536, folio 78): + +{130} + + + The poor man (Matteis) as a grateful legacy to the English nation, + left with them a generall savour for the Itallian manner of + Harmony, and after him the French was wholly layd aside, and + nothing in towne had a relish without a spice of Itally, and the + masters here began to imitate them, _wittness Mr. H. Purcell, in + his noble set of Sonnatas_. + + +Purcell composed another set of Sonatas, which was published after his +death. One of them, generally called _The Golden Sonata_, is, perhaps, +the best known of any in either of the issues. But it is inferior to +others, particularly No. 4 of the first set, and altogether I do not +think the second is at all on a level with the first. I may add that I +have in my library the parts of the original publication of the first +set. The Continuo contains an immense number of additional figures, +and there are a few corrections in the other parts, which I have never +found in any other copy. It would appear almost as if Purcell had +himself made the corrections, and, indeed, Sir Hubert Parry was of +opinion this was so. I hope I may be able shortly to print these +Sonatas in separate parts so that they may be accessible to lovers of +Purcell. + +I cannot linger now over these interesting Sonatas, but must glance at +Purcell's further activities. He wrote an _Ode for St Cecilia's Day_ +in this year (1683) and many Anthems about this {131} time. In 1686 he +took part in the competition of Organ-Builders at the Temple Church, +already spoken of in my Lecture on Dr Blow. + +In 1685 he produced music for the Coronation of James II, himself +singing in the choir with Blow, Child, and others. Who directed the +music, i.e., played the organ, as was customary, we are not told. I +possess a very rare engraving of this great ceremony, and one of the +Choir seems certainly to hold a baton in his hand, but it was not usual +to have a Conductor. + +A second Coronation in which Purcell took part had a rather serious +turn. It was that of William and Mary, and Purcell admitted persons to +the organ-loft to see the Ceremony, for which they evidently paid +pretty well. Purcell thought it was a "perquisite" (I do not suppose +he was paid for his extra work on the occasion); but the Dean and +Chapter claimed the money and passed the following Chapter Order: + + + April 18, 1689. It is ordered that Mr. Purcell, organist to ye + Dean and Chapter of Westminster, do pay to the hand of Mr. John + Needham, Receiver of the College, all such moneys as was received + by him for places in the Organ Loft at ye Coronation of King + William and Queen Mary, by or before Saturday next, being ye 20th + day of this instant {132} Aprill. And in default thereof his place + is ordered to be null and void. And it is further ordered that his + stipend or salary due at our Lady Day past be detayned in the hands + of the Treasurer until further order. + + (_Entry in Chapter Book_) + + +Poor Purcell paid up, as an entry in the Treasurer's book states: + + + "Received of Mr. Purcell (his poundage and charges being deducted) + L78 4s. 6d." + + +The visitors to the organ-loft could not have been many, as it was but +small, so they paid pretty well for their seats, and Purcell seems to +have had some sort of commission in the way of "poundage and other +charges." + +The Opera of _Dido and AEneas_ has often been quoted as a marvellous +effort of Purcell's early days. Being a complete Opera without spoken +Dialogue, it is a most interesting example of Purcell's advanced views, +and, had he written it in 1675 (when only seventeen years of age), it +would indeed have been a marvel. But I feel sure Mr Barclay Squire is +right in putting it much later--in 1689. Although a splendid piece of +work it is that of a man of experience and not of a youth. + +One of the composer's best Operas is _Dioclesian_, an adaption from +Beaumont and Fletcher by {133} Betterton. It is scored for strings, +flutes, hautboys (3), bassoons and trumpets. It is very interesting +music, and there is a "Masque" included in it, containing some of the +host of Purcell's operatic work. Purcell corrected the copies of the +first issue by his own hand. + +I possess one of these scarce books. He tells us a little of his +troubles with the printer in an advertisement at the end of the book. +"In order to the speedier publication of the Book I employed two +several printers, but one of them falling into some trouble and the +volume swelling to a bulk beyond my expectations have been the occasion +of this delay." The music to _Dioclesian_ and to _Amphitryon_ (a play +by Dryden), added greatly to Purcell's fame; and Dryden who at one time +thought Grabu, the French master of the King's Music, to be far +superior to any English composer, now mentions Purcell as one "in whose +Person we have at length found an Englishman equal with the best +abroad. At least my opinion of him has been such since his happy and +judicious performances in the last Opera." (Dryden's.) + +Dryden wrote another Opera in 1691, _King Arthur_, which Purcell set to +music. This is, I think, the best (excepting _Dido and AEneas_) of +Purcell's dramatic works, containing as it does the {134} celebrated +Air _Come if you dare_ and the Frost Scene. + +I cannot dwell longer on Purcell's dramatic music, but will turn for a +moment to the music for _St Cecilia's Day_ in 1692. This was +performed, as usual, in Stationers Hall (the Hall still stands at the +bottom of Paternoster Row), and _The Gentleman's Magazine_ of the time +mentions the performance and tells us the interesting fact that the +second stanza was sung with incredible graces by Mr. Purcell himself. +So it seems that Purcell had an alto voice; and it is pleasant to go +into the very Hall, with the Musicians Company of the present day, and +think of the old building echoing, years ago, to the strains of +Purcell's voice. + +And now I must turn to one of the finest of Purcell's contributions to +the Services of the Church. In 1694 he wrote an elaborate _Te Deum_ +and _Jubilate_ with orchestral accompaniment: this is the first of its +kind by an English composer. It was written for the festival of _St +Cecilia's Day_, 1694, but was not published until after the composer's +death. The _Te Deum_ was performed in St Paul's at the Annual Festival +Service of the Sons of the Clergy until 1713, when Handel's _Te Deum_, +composed for the Peace of Utrecht, took its place. From that time for +some years the {135} two rival _Te Deums_ were performed alternately. +There are some points of resemblance. Handel must have heard Purcell's +setting, but the version of it which, until lately, was known--and +sometimes performed--was a sad corruption of the original. Boyce, with +the intention no doubt of helping Purcell's _Te Deum_ to compete with +Handel's, broke it up into various movements, made some alterations in +the harmony, and added many dull symphonies. The original Purcell +score consisted of 325 bars and Boyce added 149 more! The result was +disastrous and practically killed the Purcell setting. A performance +of it was given in 1829, again at the Festival of the Sons of the +Clergy. A very interesting letter from M. Fetis, the great French +writer, is preserved in a musical paper of June 1829, which I will +quote: + + + I must confess that my curiosity was considerable to hear the music + of Purcell, whom the English proudly cite as being worthy of being + placed in the same rank with the greatest composers of Germany and + Italy. I was in a perfectly admiring disposition of mind when the + Te Deum of this giant began; but what was my disappointment upon + hearing, instead of the masterpiece which they had promised me, a + long succession of insignificant phrases, ill-connected modulations + and incorrect, albeit pretending harmonies. At first I imagined + myself deceived, and that I ought to doubt my judgment on a style + of music to which I was unaccustomed {136} but M. Felix + Mendelssohn, a young and highly distinguished German composer, who + stood beside me, received precisely the same impressions. Such + indeed was the inconvenience felt by him that he would not prolong + it, but escaped, leaving me to encounter Purcell alone during the + performance of the Jubilate[3], which appeared to me no way + superior. + + + It was a great anxiety to me to know what to do about introducing + this _Te Deum_ in the music of the Abbey Purcell Celebration. I + consulted Sir Hubert Parry, who said it was "long-winded and dull"! + And so I had always found it, and the result was I gave up the + idea. But--most providentially--the MS. score of this work was + brought to me one day in the Cloisters of the Abbey; the + announcement of the coming celebration had called the owner's + attention to it. He sold it to me--and when I looked it over I + found out what was the real reason of its failure. It was Boyce's + edition and not Purcell's music. A new edition was prepared and + the _Te Deum_ again restored to life! + + In another direction Purcell showed his remarkable versatility. He + corrected and amended Playford's Introduction to the Skill of + Musick, a book of great interest. Purcell's observations on Canon + are particularly good and valuable. + + In 1695 the funeral of Queen Mary took place {137} in the Abbey, + Purcell contributing an Anthem and other music. The solemn March + for "flat mournful trumpets" has lately been recovered and + published; this is a beautiful specimen of Purcell's art, and, it + is said, was played at his own funeral. + + Purcell died on November 21st, 1695, and Dr Cummings, in his _Life + of Purcell_, draws a moving picture of the death of the composer + "in a house on the west side of Dean's Yard." But--Purcell never + lived in Dean's Yard. Rate Books are not romantic, but generally + trustworthy. The Rate Books of Westminster show that in 1682 + Purcell paid rates for a house in Great St Ann's Lane, in 1686 for + a house in Bowling Alley East, and in 1693, 1694, and 1695 (the + year of his death) for a house in Marsham Street. All these houses + are now demolished, but the one in Bowling Alley existed until + lately, and I possess cupboards made from the mantelpieces and + balusters of the staircase of Purcell's house. + + Further proof that he rented houses lies in the fact that he was + allowed L8 a year in lieu of a house, and this same payment + continued up to the time of my predecessor, who had no house for + the early years of his organistship. + + The death of this great man was a grievous loss to English music. + Although he had worthy {138} pupils in Dr Croft and others, yet he + had no real successor; and the arrival of Handel and the musical + domination which he exercised did much to cause Purcell's name to + sink somewhat into oblivion. But it was only for a time--and now + there is no English musician whose name and fame is more assured. + A Purcell Society is gradually publishing all his works and making + them more accessible. His Operas of _Dido and AEneas_ and _The + Fairy Queen_ have been performed with great success, and his Church + music is still constantly on the lists of our Cathedrals. + + It has not been possible for me to notice all his work as I would + wish to have done, but we must all feel that, not only was he the + last of my _Twelve Good Musicians_, but by far the greatest. + + A translation of the lines upon his gravestone in Westminster Abbey + may fitly close this chapter. + + + Applaud so great a guest, celestial powers, + Who now resides with you but once was ours, + Yet let invidious earth no more reclaim + Her short-lived fav'rite and her chiefest fame, + Complaining that so prematurely died + Good-natured pleasure and devotion's pride. + Died? no, he lives while yonder Organs sound + And sacred echoes to the Choir rebound. + + + {139} + + NOTE + + Since the preceding pages were written I have been in + correspondence with Dr W. H. Grattan-Flood, of Enniscorthy, with + reference to the Irish Purcells mentioned on p. 120. Dr + Grattan-Flood claims to have proved Henry Purcell to be descended + from a distinguished Irish family. Before quoting from his kind + communication, I may say it seems to me very probable the Purcells + were of good family. Both the elder Henry and his brother Thomas, + were musicians of note when we first hear of them, and at the + Restoration were members of the King's Band, Henry being also + "Master of the Choristers" of Westminster Abbey. Edward Purcell, + an elder brother of the composer, was a distinguished officer, who + took part in the Siege of Gibraltar, and ended his days in + honourable retirement at the seat of the Earl of Abingdon, at + Wytham, near Oxford, in the chancel of which Church he is interred. + Another small point is the fact that Purcell's first published + work, the Sonatas, was issued with a portrait of the composer and + with a coat-of-arms. All this looks as if "Roger Purcell, the + 'Bayliffe' of Mr. Giles," (see p. 120) is not so likely to have + been an ancestor of the musician as one of the Irish Purcells. + + I am not able to give all the matter kindly sent to me--which I + hope Dr Grattan-Flood will make public--but append his observations + on the most important points:-- + + + "Henry Purcell, the composer, was the younger son of Henry Purcell + the Elder; and was adopted at the age of six by his uncle Thomas. + The puzzle, then, is: Who was the father of Henry Purcell the Elder + and of Thomas Purcell? + + {140} + + "In order to answer this, I have made a systematic search in the + _Fiants_ of Elizabeth and James I, in the _Calendars of State + Papers, Ireland_, 1623-1670, in the _Inquisitions, Funeral Entries + in the Office of Arms_, etc., and have succeeded in tracing the + father and grandfather of Henry Purcell the Elder. I had unusual + opportunities of making this investigation inasmuch as I assisted + Capt R. P. Mahaffy, B.L., in the editing of the _Irish State Papers + of Charles I and Charles II_. + + "Henry Purcell the Elder was the son of Thomas Purcell of Gortanny + and Ballycross, Co. Tipperary, the son of Thomas Fitz Piers + Purcell, cousin of the Baron of Loughmoe, and cousin of the + Purcells of Croagh, Co. Limerick. Both Henry and Thomas Purcell + were brought when quite young to England by their aunt, and placed + in the Chapel Royal. Their aunt was a blood-relation of the + Marquis of Ormonde, who was on intimate terms with King Charles I. + Mrs James Purcell, their aunt, took for her second husband Colonel + John Fitzpatrick, who was also a personal friend of Charles I and + of Charles II. This lady was Elizabeth Butler, 4th daughter of + Thomas, Viscount Thurles; her marriage jointure is dated 11 + February, 1639. She returned from London in 1643. + + At the Restoration, through the influence of the Marquis of + Ormonde, who was created Duke of Ormonde on March 30, 1661, both + Henry Purcell the Elder and his brother Thomas were given posts as + Gentlemen in the Chapel Royal, and were in the immediate entourage + of the Court, and not unregarded by the observant Pepys. Henry + married _circa_ 1651, and his eldest son, Edward, called after an + uncle of the same name, was born in 1653." + + "W. H. GRATTAN-FLOOD." + + + It will be seen Dr Grattan-Flood gives interesting particulars of + the Irish family. On one point the {141} suggestion that the elder + Purcell and his brother Thomas were "placed in the Chapel Royal," I + wish he could give some real proof, for it would, I think, explain + all the ensuing musical success of Purcell's father, his Uncle + Thomas, and himself. But I can only hope that Dr Grattan-Flood's + further researches may end in completely clearing up the mystery of + the ancestry of Henry Purcell. + + J.F.B. + + + + [1] Mr Hooper, the Organist, and Mr John Parsons, the Master of the + Choristers, both had houses in the Little Almonry in 1616. Their + names appear on a document of that time, a lease from Dr Montaigne + and the Chapter. + + [2] The portrait which was issued with these sonatas has been + reproduced for this volume. + + [3] The _Jubilate_ was also "improved" by Boyce. + + + + +{143} + +INDEX + + + _Abbey Amen_, The, 42 + Allnutt (Mr), 67 + _Amphion Anglicus_, 113 + Anne of Denmark (Princess), 113 + + Bach Choir, 51 + Bannister, 101 + _Beaumont and Fletcher_, 132 + Bleaw, 110 + Blow (Dr John), 108-117 + Bodleian Library, 26 + Boethius, 56 + Boyce's _Cathedral Music_, 10 + Brackly (Viscount), 74 + Brazil (Emperor of), Visit to Westminster Abbey, 117 + Bridgewater (Lord), 76 + Bull (Dr John), 1-10 + _Burlesque Madrigal_, 36 + Byrd (Wm.), 11-20 + + Camden History Professorship, 42 + Campion, 31 + Canterbury Cathedral, 48 + _Cantiones_ (Byrd), 13 + Casaubon, 47 + Clarke (Hyde), 68 + Clarke (Jeremiah), 111 + Coleman (Mrs), 82 (note) + Collier (J. P.), _Catalogues of Early English Literature_, 78 + Comic Song, The First Real, 77 + _Comus_ (Milton), 72 + Coperario (Giovanni), 71, 72 + Corelli, 126 + Coszyn's (Ben), _Virginal Book_, 36 + Crews (Mr), 49 + Cromwell (Oliver), 53 + _Cryes of London_, 31, 36, 60 + + Davenant's _First Day's Entertainment_, 82 + Deering (Richard), 50-62 + Deering (Henry), 54 + Deering (William), 54 + _Dido and AEneas_, 125, 132 + _Dioclesian_, 132 + Drayton (Michael), 28 + Dyke (Eleanor), 54 + + Earle's _Microcosmographie_, 45-47 + Egerton (Lady Alice), 76 + _English Country Songs_, 70 + + _Fairy Queen_ (_The_), 138 + _Fancies_ (Byrd), 20 + Fawkes (Guy), 59 + Fellowes (Rev Dr), 33 + Ferabosco, 37 + Fetis (M), 135 + _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_, 9, 16, 25 + Forster's _Virginal Book_, 25 + + Gibbons (Christopher), 85 + Gibbons (Edward), 34-35 + Gibbons (Orlando), 34-49 + _Gloria Tibi Trinitas_, 37 + Grabu (Grebus), 101 + Gresham Lectures, 1 + Grey (Lady Elizabeth), 54 + + Hamilton ("Single-speech"), 95 + Hamlet's Soliloquy, 93 + "Hatten's" Galliard, 36 + Hatton (Sir Christopher), 36 + Hawkins (Sir John), 116 + Heyther (Dr), _Doctor's Exercise_, 42 + _Humorous Fancy_, 31, 33, 37, 60 + Humfrey (Pelham), 95-107 + Humfrey (Col. John), 96 + + _In Nomines_ (Byrd), 20, 37 + _It was a Lover and His Lass_ (Morley), 23 + + James II, Coronation of, 131 + Jenkins (John), 95 + Jerusalem Chamber, 44 + Jonson (Ben), 6 + + Keepe's _Monumenta Westmonasteriensia_, 96 + + _Lady Nevill's Booke_, 16 + Lambeth Register, 111 + Lawes (Henry), 71-83 + Lawes (William), 83 + _Life of Archbishop Williams_, 44 + Locke (Matthew), 84-94 + Locke's Response to the Ten Commandments, 89 + London University, 1 + Ludlow Castle, 74 + Lully (J. B.), 99 + + _Macbeth_, 92 + Mace's _Musick's Monument_, 54 + _Madrigals and Mottets_, 36 + Matteis (Nicola), 127-130 + _Medulla Musicke_, 16 + Merchant Taylors' Company, 5 + Milton (John), 63-70 + Morley (Thomas), 21-28 + _Musica Transalpina_, 14 + Musical Antiquarian Soc., 39 + Musicians, Worshipful Company of, 26 + Myriell (Thomas), 38 + + _Non nobis Domine_ (Byrd), 20 + North (Francis), 129 + North (Roger), 82, 89, 92, 129 + _Notes and Queries_, 67 + + _O Mistress Mine_ (Byrd), 19 + Ouseley (Sir Frederick), 53, 115 + Overture, Development of, 99 + Oxford University, 10, 48, 83 + + Paris University, 98 + Parry (Sir Hubert), 115, 136 + _Parthenia_, 10, 35 + Peacham's _Compleat Gentleman_, 19, 53 + Pepys (Samuel), _Diary_, 83 + Petre (Father), 112 + Playford, 75 + Purcell (Henry, the Elder), 82 + Purcell (Henry), 118-141 + Purcell (Roger), 119, 120 + Purcell (Thomas), 105, 124, 139, 140, 141 + Purcell Family, 120 + Purcell Society, 138 + + Ravenscroft, 31 + Ripon, Bishop of, 66 + Robinson (Dr Armitage), 51 + Rochester Cathedral, 108 + + _Sagbutts and Cornets_, 87 + St Paul's Choir, 6 + Salmon (Thomas), 90 + Sancroft (Archbishop), 110 + Sandwich (Lord), 93 + Sandys (George), 73 + Scott (Dr), 56 + Scrivener's Company, 65 + "Semi-operas," 92 + Shakespeare (W.), 25 (note) + _Siege of Rhodes_, 82, 119 + Smith (Dr Cooper), 75 + Somerset House Chapel, 89 + Southgate (Dr), in + Stanley (Dean), 117 + Stanley (Sir William), 58 + Stondon, 18 + Sweelinck, 9 + + Tallis (Thomas), 11 + _Tavola_ (Lawes), 77 + _Teares and Lamentations_ (Leighton), 10 + Tewkesbury, 3 + _Three Ladies of London_, 32 + _Triumphs of Oriana_, 11, 23 + _Twincledowne Tavye_, 32 + _Venus and Adonis_, 114 + + Waelrant, 9 + Weelkes (Thomas), 28-33 + Westminster Abbey, Gibbons' Festival (1907), 48 + Westminster Abbey, Chapter Library, 50 + _Where the Bee Sucks_, 104 + Wilbye, 33 + Wilson (Dr), 83 + Wither's _Hymns and Songs of the Church_, 43 + Wood (Anthony), 11, 54 + + _York_, 69 + + + + +PRINTED AT THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY, ENGLAND. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Twelve Good Musicians, by Frederick Bridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWELVE GOOD MUSICIANS *** + +***** This file should be named 39935.txt or 39935.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/3/39935/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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