Westminster Abbey (Concluded) Author(S): Dotted Crotchet Source: the Musical Times, Vol
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Westminster Abbey (Concluded) Author(s): Dotted Crotchet Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 48, No. 773 (Jul. 1, 1907), pp. 447-449 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/904993 . Accessed: 23/12/2014 17:16 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Musical Times Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Times. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 17:16:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JuLY I, 1907. 447 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. dwell upon the fame of this master-musician,nor (Concluded from Page 378.) to recountthe details of his all too-shortlife.* We THE ORGANISTS. may pass on to the Restoration,merely mentioning that John Day, Richard Portman and Thomas John Howe, Master Whitt, and John Taylor Warwick had in the meantime and are the threefirst recorded of (or Warrock) organists Westminsterin succession held the of In 166o held officebetween the post organist. Abbey; theysuccessively Dr. son of Orlando Gibbons, and If are unknown to ChristopherGibbons, years 1549 I570. they was appointed. He had previouslybeen one of fame, not so is Robert White, Wight or Whytt, the children of the and from till who have been Chapel Royal organist organist 1570 1574, may of Exeter Cathedral until about 1644, when he the Whittmentioned above, or some relativeof his. the At the Restorationhe little is known of his joined Royalist Army. Although biography,White obtained the dual of of is mentioned appointments organist by Thomas Morley,in his 'A plaine Westminster and the like his and easie Introduction to as Abbey Chapel Royal, practicall musicke,' father before him. In 1664 he was created a in rank to Orlando and being equal Lasso, Doctor of Music at Oxford Per Literas Regias, man of in a John Baldwine, 'singing Windsor,' on which occasion the Dean and Chapter made manuscriptwritten in 1591, says, in recountingthe principalcomposers of his age: I will begin withWhite, Shepperd, Tye, and Tallis, Parsons, Gyles, Mundie, th'oulde one of the Queen's pallis. i::s::::;;::.::::: White succeeded Christopher Tye in the organistshipof Ely Cathedral,and he may have marriedTye's daughter. He graduatedin Artsand Music at Cambridge,and entered upon his duties at Westminsterin 1570. He died, probably from the plague, at Westminsterbetween November 7 and 11, 1574, and was buried at St. Margaret's Church. He bequeathed to his father,Robert White 'the some of threepoundes . and all such his household stufe and goodes wch he did bringe unto me at or before his cominge to me,' fromwhich it seems that his fatherlived withhim. Among the bequests is one to his daughter MargeryWhite of 'six syluerspones and a mazer wchwas her late graundmothers,'and he left 'to everyof my skollers to eche of them iiii"d' For a list of White's compositions and furtherdetails concerning this worthy musician, the reader is ::I:' : ?:._::::::::i:i;-::::? ::?-?:::::: referred to Grove's of Music and ?:???:??:?:-:-?:-:-::-:-?::?':::?:?::: :::::::::::::":' 'Dictionary :?,,??j::r:::::-?:::::::?:?i::::::: Musicians,' vol. iv., pp. 451 and 816. :::::: :~::::::::::::::: The first regularly-appointedorganist of the Abbey was Edmund Hooper, who became master of the choristersin 1588 and organist in I6o6. He was also a gentleman and organist of the Chapel Royal, and, to the according Abbey records, DR. COOKE he was occasionally employed in the BENJAMIN (1734-1793). 'mending ORGANIST OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY FROM 1762 TO 1793. organs' and 'pricking new song-books.' Hooper, (From an engraving in thke ossession of Mr. John S. Bumhus.) who was buried in the Abbey cloisters, was succeeded at a of by John Parsons, salary fI6 per him a present of He died October 20, as and for /?5. annum organist, f?36 I3s. 4d. 'teaching I676, and was buried in the Abbey cloisters. and the children.' He died in finding July,1623, Anthony Wood does not give him a very like his was buried in the a and, predecessor, Abbey good grand debauchee,' he says, cloisters. Camden's 'Remaines Britain' character--'A concerning 'He would often sleep at Morning Prayer when containsthe Master (1657) followingepitaph 'Upon he was to play the organ.' In 1666, Albertus at Westminster': Parsons, organist Bryan (Brian, or Byrne) having been burnt out, Death passingby and hearingParsons play, so to speak, at St. Paul's Cathedral,was appointed Stood muchamazed at his depthof skill, organistof the Abbey, an officehe held forthree And said 'This artistmust with me away,' a reference to in the For deathbereaves us of the betterstill; years only. (See Bryan But let thequire, while he keepstime, sing on, article on Dulwich College, p. 442 of the present For Parsonsrests, his servicebeing done. issue.) For two short years--1623 to 1625-the keys of In 1669 began the reigns of Dr. John Blow, the Abbey organ responded to the fingers of Henry Purcell, and Dr. Croft-a gloriousperiod- Orlando Gibbons, one of the most eminent A portrait of Orlando Gibbons formed one of the Supplements to organistsof the statelyfane. There is no need to THE MUSICAL TIMES of June, i9go6. This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 17:16:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 448 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JULY I, 1907. fifty-eightyears, till 1727, which is known and read years successively held the organistship after of all men. As biographies and portraitsof this Dr. Arnold,were Robert Cooke, son ofDr. Benjamin illustrioustrio of English church musicians have Cooke, George Ebenezer Williams, and Thomas been alreadygiven in thisjournal, thereis no need Greatorex. There is no need to give the details to repeat the details of theirdistinguished careers.* of their somewhat uneventfullives; it should be John Robinson-of whom a portraitwas given in mentioned, however, that Benjamin and Robert our issue of April last-succeeded Dr. Croft in Cooke furnish the second instance of father 1727,and held officefor thirty-five years. According and son having been organists of Westminster to Dr. Boyce, JohnRobinson was 'a most excellent Abbey, Orlando and ChristopherGibbons having performeron the organ': to posterityhe is known set this unusual example. by his melodious double chant in E flat. He died By reason of his melodious chants and dignified April 30, 1762, and was buried in the north aisle hymn-tune 'Westminster,' the name of James of the Abbey, in the same grave as Dr. Croft. Turle is known in all the churches. Born at During Robinson's organistship the organ was Somerton,Somersetshire, March 5, 1802,he became removed fromthe north side of the choir to the a chorister of Wells Cathedral. At that time screen. (i81o) the nave of that beautifulbuilding appears Dr. Benjamin Cooke, the son of a music-sellerto have been the recognized playground of the and publisherat the Golden Harp in New Street, choristers. There they were wont to indulge a Covent Garden, was appointed organist in I762, juvenile passion for throwingstones, and Master on the death of John Robinson. A pupil of Turle distinguishedhimself as 'a good shot' by Dr. Pepusch, Cooke, at the age of twelve,became sending a missile throughSt. Andrew's nose in a deputy-organistto Robinson at the Abbey, and he stained glass window! 'That was done by the was successivelymaster of the choristers(1757) and organistof WestminsterAbbey,' a sacristan long lay-vicar(1758). In 1782, while still holding the afterremarked when pointingout the damage. At Westminsterorganistship, he became organist of the age of eleven Turle was sent to London, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields.Dr. Cooke is best known studied under J. J. Goss and G. E. Williams, by his Service in G-composed, as already stated organist of the Abbey. He held in succession (p. 372), for the re-openingof the Abbey organ the officeof organistof ChristChurch, Southwark, afterthe addition of pedals in i778-and his many and St. James's, Bermondsey. In 1831, on the beautifulglees, canons, &c. He made a large and death of Greatorex-whose deputyhe had been for important collection of manuscript music, now twelve years previously-Turle was appointed preservedin the Library of the Royal College of organistof WestminsterAbbey, an officehe held Music. Dr. Cooke, who was a Doctor of Music at with distinctionfor fifty-oneyears, though during the Universitiesof Cambridge and Oxford,died at the last seven years (from 1875) of that period its his house, Dorset Court,Cannon Row,Westminster, active duties were discharged by the permanent September 14, 1793. His remains were interred deputy-organist, Dr. (now Sir) J. Frederick in the west cloister. The mural tablet which Bridge. there records his worth contains a fine canon, As a cathedral organist, James Turle was a composed by him to be sung as an appendix to fine example of the old school-dignified and Bird's Non nobisDomine. reverent. Like his life-longfriend, John Goss, Dr. Samuel Arnold (1740-1802) succeeded he excelled in playing from the old figured- Dr. Cooke. He was connected with the Chapel bass scores. He had an enormous hand. On Royal, firstas one of the children and afterwardsone occasion, at the Prussian Embassy, he met as organist and composer.