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 byRichard 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 thingsand 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 criticizedby 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 hisCompleat 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, theorganist, 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 hisMusick's Monument(1676) mentions Deering'sGloria Patriand 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,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 beingO 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 chiefcity 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 infact. 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'sstudiesto 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'sDictionary,allgive 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 untilshewas 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 theinvitation 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 ofCantiones Sacraefor 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] andthe 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]
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 remarkableHumorous Fancy, The Crycs of London. This is the third of these interesting Fancies which I have had the opportunity of recovering from oblivion. I havealready in the case of Weelkes and Gibbons explained the circumstances attending this recovery. Deering'sFancyis the most elaborate of the three, and, besides a number ofCryeswhich 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 wholeFancyis full of life, and shows Deering to be both dramatic and humourous. This work (and a similar one onCountry 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 ofthe 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 theDictionary of National Biographywill 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 Voiceswith Basso Continuo for Organ.
by
RICHARD DEERING, Englishman,Organist to the venerableEnglish Nuns in the Monasteryof the Blessed Virgin Mary at Brussels.Antwerp.at the house of Peter Phalese1617.
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.
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 ofold Wilbye; in theTriumphs of Orianapublished by Morley; in Ravenscroft'sPsalms; in theLamentationspublished by Sir William Leighton; and in MS. collections, still in the possession of the curious.
Mr Warton, in his Notes upon Milton'sPoems on Several Occasions, tells us, from the MS.Life of the Poetby 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 inflameAnd 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).
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 toThe Triumphs of Oriana(1601), Motets to Leighton'sTeares and Lamentations(1614), and Tunes to Ravenscroft'sPsalter(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 informationseems 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 veryuseful. 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 inNotes and Queriessome 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 theProtestant 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 Catholicrecusantcan 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 andto 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 forTeares and Lamentationsis 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'sWhole 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—entitledYork: 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 "itwas 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 inEnglish Country Songsedited 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.
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 hisposts, 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, entitledCoelum 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 ofComus, 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. Hestudied 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 settingA Paraphrase upon the Psalms of Davidby George Sandys, and also contributing another volume of tunes toChurch 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:
Harry, whose tuneful and well measured SongFirst taught our English musick how to spanWords 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'sMasque 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 openlyacknowledged 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 theComusmusic, 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 uponComus, 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 ofAyres and Dialogues, which contain some charming settings of excellent poetry. The first book ofAyreswas dedicated to hispupils, 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 hisBook of Ayreshe 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 (whichread 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 arare 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 asTavola(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 lipsAnd so my life .... (for three voices).
There is no doubt Lawes was a well-educated man, and it was certainly one of the reasonswhy 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'sCatalogue 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 whomComuswas produced.
Lawes was a real champion of English music and English musicians, and certainly understoodwhat he was writing about. Although somewhat lengthy, I really cannot refrain from giving the Preface to one of hisBooks 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 spellingwhich 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 thesweetest 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 ofAyres 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. Hiscompositions 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'sDivine Services and Anthems, published in 1666.
In 1656 he joined Captain Cooke and others in writing music for Davenant'sFirst Day's Entertainment at Rutland House, e.g., declamation and music. A little later he assisted in the production ofThe 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'sComus) 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 theAnthemZadok the Priestfor 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 theDiaryof 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 nightsshall beshades 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'ssableshades 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.
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 lettersLock; 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 inhis 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'sMasqueCupid and Death(1653), and the music he wrote in 1656 for Davenant'sSiege 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 theDiaryof 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 CanonDomine Salvum fac Regemshow 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,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 forSagbutts and Cornetsthat 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'sStepmotherpresents 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 wasthe 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.
Pepys refers to the incident in hisDiaryof 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 theseKyriesand theCreed, and they have been sung in the Abbey and in various Cathedrals. TheKyriesare, many of them, very tuneful, and the whole setting ofKyrieandCreeddoes 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 thatserved 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 publishedAn 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 theycould out of their pupils, by keeping them as long as possible under tuition.
Matthew Locke replied to this in a treatise entitledThe 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'sassociation 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'sPsyche; this, with the music toThe Tempest, was produced in 1673, with the title ofThe 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 inPsychewere written by Draghi. The writer on Opera in Grove'sDictionarymarks 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 theMacbethmusic, 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.
The music ofPsycheis so good that there is no ground for saying he could not have written theMacbethmusic. 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 toPsyche. 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 tothe nation, "though I must confess there has been something done, and more by me than any other of this kind."
Locke evidently consideredPsycheas 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 calledMelothesia, 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 toHisMajesty, and Organist ofHerMajesty's Chappell, who dyed in August, 1677."
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, andLatin 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 roundA 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-calledGrand 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 inThe Visitation of Northamptonof 1564, but had disappeared from it before the next Visitation some years later.
We know nothing of Pelham Humfrey's lifeuntil 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'sDivine Services and Anthems.
A reference to one of these Anthems is in theDiaryof 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-boyin 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 ofCaptain 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. Onleaving 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 ItalianRecitative 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 youngEnglishman 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'Diaryunder 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 understandsnothing 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.