John Wall Callcott (20 November 1766 – 15 May 1821) was an eminent English composer. Callcott was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was a pupil of

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

, and is celebrated mainly for his

glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

compositions and

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke In music * Cat ...

. In the best known of his catches he ridiculed

Sir John Hawkins Sir John Hawkins (also spelled Hawkyns) (1532 – 12 November 1595) was a pioneering English naval commander, naval administrator and privateer. He pioneered, and was an early promoter of, English involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Hawki ...

' ''History of Music''. Although ill-health prevented Callcott from completing his Musical Dictionary, His ''Musical Grammar'' (1806) remained in use throughout the 19th century. His glees number at least 100, of which 8 won prizes. Callcott set lyrics by leading poets of his day, including

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classics, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country ...

, Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

Thomas Chatterton Thomas Chatterton (20 November 1752 – 24 August 1770) was an English poet whose precocious talents ended in suicide at age 17. He was an influence on Romantic artists of the period such as Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Althoug ...

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

and

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...

. They include (selective list): *''O snatch me swift'' for 5 voices SATBarB *''It was a friar of orders grey'' for 3 voices SSB *''In the lonely vale of streams'' for 4 voices SATB *''Ella'' for 4 voices SATB *''Cara, vale!'' for 4 voices SSTB *''Father of Heroes'' (1792) for 5 voices ATTBB *''The Erl-King'' - a setting of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

's ''

Erlkönig "Erlkönig" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking, a king of the fairies. It was originally written by Goethe as part of a 1782 Singspiel, . "Erlkönig" has been ...

'' translated into English by Matthew Lewis, author of the

Gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

, ''

The Monk ''The Monk: A Romance'' is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. A quickly written book from early in Lewis's career (in one letter he claimed to have written it in ten weeks, but other correspondence suggests that he had ...

'', *the original setting (as a three part glee) of

Drink to me only with thine eyes "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" is a popular old song, the lyrics of which are the poem "To Celia" by the English playwright Ben Jonson, first published in 1616. Lyrics After this song had been popular for almost two centuries, scholars bega ...

A number of his glees specify two soprano or treble (boy soprano) voices, the second of which has a range appropriate to a female mezzo-soprano or contralto (but would have been thought too high for a counter-tenor of this period). Callcott also composed solo songs and religious music including

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

and sacred canons. Callcott's daughter Elizabeth married

William Horsley William Horsley (18 November 177412 June 1858) was an English musician. His compositions were numerous, and include amongst other instrumental pieces three Symphony, symphonies for full orchestra. More important are his Glee (music), glees, o ...

who, in 1824, published ''A collection of Glees Canons and Catches'', an edition of his father-in-law's works together with a ''Memoir of Dr Callcott''. His son

William Hutchins Callcott William Hutchins Callcott (1807 – 5 August 1882) was an English organist, composer and arranger of music. Life Callcott, born in Kensington in 1807, was a younger son of the musician John Wall Callcott, and nephew of the painter Augustus Wall C ...

became a composer and arranger. His brother

Augustus Wall Callcott Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (20 February 177925 November 1844) was an English landscape painter. Life and work Callcott was born at Kensington Gravel Pits, a village on the western edge of London, in the area now known as Notting Hill Gate. ...

was a noted landscape painter.

Bibliography

*''Sketches of (the English) Glee Composers'' by David Baptie. William Reeves: London, 1896

External links

* * 1766 births 1821 deaths English classical composers Glee composers People from Kensington Pupils of Joseph Haydn {{UK-composer-stub