Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
| William Child | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1606 |
| Died | March 23, 1697 |
| Genre(s) | church music |
William Child (1606 – March 23, 1697) was an English composer and organist.
Born in Bristol, William Child was a chorister in the cathedral under the direction of Elway Bevin. In 1630 he began his lifetime association with St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, becoming first a lay-clerk and, from 1632, Master of the Choristers there until the dissolution of the chapel in 1643. After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Child was re-appointed to St. George's, became Master of the King's Wind Music and a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.
His output of church music is understandably considerable, including a set of psalms (1639), many anthems and 17 service settings. He was often influenced by the Italian 'tastes' of his time, but also wrote anthems in more conventional English forms.
Little secular music of William Child survives, namely, a number of catches and instrumental pieces.
[edit] Sources
- Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001.
[edit] External links
- Free scores by William Child in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
- Free scores by William Child in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
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Annotations
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Pepys’s acquaintance
Child and Pepys have two big things in common — an interest in music and, apparently, the favor of Jemima Mountagu. So Pepys sometimes meets him at the Mountagu lodgings, but also socializes with him independently.
Child is an organist who also plays the lute and viol.
Born about 1606, he is roughly 54 years old on 30 August 1660 when Pepys first mentions him as a companion (with Shepley) in the evening at an unnamed tavern. (See last sentence of that entry.)
Child, a widower, takes Mrs. Pepys to Whitehall Chapel on Sunday, 23 September 1660, when Pepys and James Pearse go to church elsewhere to catch a sermon Pepys wants to hear. On 28 October, Child is eating with Jemima Mountagu and two of her sons when Pepys drops by for dinner.
— Sources: L&M companion and index volumes, Vol. 1 (1660)
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Child’s career
An organist and “a composer of anthems, catches and ayres whose works were studied by [composer John] Blow and Henry Purcell.”
Born: circa 1606
(His approximate age in parentheses below)
1630 (24) lay clerk, St. George’s Chapel, Windsor
1632 (26) organist
1660 (54) appointed to King’s Private Musick; becomes organist of the Chapel Royal
1663 (57) receives doctorate in music from Oxford
1697 (91) dies
— L&M Companion volume
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Pepys also knows these “Chapel Royalists”:
Thomas Blagrave
clerk of the cheque, Chapel Royal, as of 1662
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/539.phpRoger Hill
Chapel Royal musician in 1660; “Gentleman” as of 1661
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1508.php
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Chapel Royal, St. James Palace
“There are two historic chapels in St. James Palace — the Chapel Royal and the Queen’s Chapel… . In origin and still in principle, the Chapel Royal is not a building but an establishment; a body of priests and singers to serve the spiritual needs of the Sovereign. It was Henry VIII who constructed the present Chapel within St. James’s Palace… . The Chapel Royal has always been considered to be the cradle of English church music…”
— source: “The Monarchy Today” website
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page589.asp -
More “Chapel Royalists”: Purcell, Cooke
HENRY COOKE
Chorister of the Chapel Royal
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1192.phpHENRY PURCELL
“Gentleman” of the Chapel Royal, father of the celebrated composer
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/404.php -
Child taught music to Mountagu,
Pepys’s patron (according to L&M), which may be the main reason Pepys would find him in the Mountagu household, even though he can also be found in the company of Mountagu’s wife, Jemima.Of course, having musicians around was one great way to have good music around the house before recordings. Would he have practiced there?
— L&M Volume 1, footnote 1 , p 285, for 7 November 1660.
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More career information
This from a note (3) for 15 November 1660 in L&M Volume 1: Child was “later organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and one of the organists at Whitehall Chapel.” Why this information wasn’t included in the L&M Companion volume is beyond me.
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Job Description: Organist of the Chapel Royal
From a record book — the “Cheque Book” of the Chapel Royal for 19 December 1663 (p. 83):
“Of the three Organistes two shall ever attend, one at the organ, the other in his surplice in the quire [choir], to beare a parte in the Psalmodie and service. At solemne times they shall all three attend. The auncientest [“ancientest”? most senior?] organist shall serve and play the service on the eve and daye of the solemne feastes, viz: Christmas, Easter, St. George, and Whitsontide. The second organist shall serve the second day, and the third the third day. Other dayes they shall waite according to their monthes.”
So these three were members of the choir who would also take turns playing the organ.
The quotation is from J.A. Westrup’s biography, “Purcell” (1947; revised 1960), a biography of the composer Henry Purcell (1659-95). (Chapter 4: “Abbey, Court and Stage,” Page 56, Collier Books paperback edition, 1962)
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The Chapel Royal page:
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Child’s musical style, as can be gathered from his age at the time of Pepys, is rather antiquated, even “simple”, compared to that of Locke or Blow. It is often reminiscent of Thomas Morley. There is a recentish recording of his music on the ASV Gaudeamus label.