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Matthew Locke (c. 1621 – August 1677) was an English
Locke was born in
Matthew Locke (c. 1621 – August 1677) was an English Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
composer and music theorist
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
.
Biography
Locke was born in Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
and was a chorister in the choir of Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...
, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical fami ...
. At the age of eighteen Locke travelled to the Netherlands, possibly converting to Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
at the time.
Locke, with Christopher Gibbons
Christopher Gibbons ( bapt. 22 August 1615 – 20 October 1676) was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was the second son, and first surviving child of the composer Orlando Gibbons.
Life and career Background
Chri ...
(the son of Orlando), composed the score for ''Cupid and Death
''Cupid and Death'' is a mid-seventeenth-century masque, written by the Caroline era dramatist James Shirley, and performed on 26 March 1653 before the Portuguese ambassador to Great Britain. The work and its performance provide a point of contr ...
,'' the 1653 masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
by Caroline-era playwright James Shirley
James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist.
He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...
. Their score for that work is the sole surviving score for a dramatic work from that era. Locke was one of the quintet of composers who provided music for ''The Siege of Rhodes
''The Siege of Rhodes'' is an opera written to a text by the impresario William Davenant. The score is by five composers, the vocal music by Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke, and Captain Henry Cooke, and the instrumental music by Charles Coleman and G ...
'' (1656), the breakthrough early opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
by Sir William Davenant
Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March 1606 – 7 April 1668), also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned bot ...
. Locke wrote music for subsequent Davenant operas, ''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru
''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' was an innovative 1658 theatrical presentation, a hybrid entertainment or masque or "operatic show", written and produced by Sir William Davenant. The music was composed by Matthew Locke.
The work was sig ...
'' (1658) and ''The History of Sir Francis Drake
''The History of Sir Francis Drake'' was a hybrid theatrical entertainment, a masque or "operatic tableau" with an English libretto written by Sir William Davenant and music by Matthew Locke. The masque was most likely first performed in 1659 and ...
'' (1659). He wrote the music for the processional march for the coronation of Charles II.
In 1673 Locke's treatise on music theory, ''Melothesia,'' was published. The title page describes him as "Composer in Ordinary to His Majesty, and organist of her Majesty's chapel"—those monarchs being Charles II and Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, ...
. Locke also served King Charles as Composer of the Wind Music ("music for the King's sackbutts and cornets"), and Composer for the Violins. (His successor in the latter office was Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
, who composed an ode on the death of Locke entitled ''What hope for us remains now he is gone?'', Z. 472; Locke was a family friend and may have had a musical influence on the young PurcellHenry Purcell (Glory Of His Age) by Margaret Campbell (Oxford University Press Paperback 1995) () p44 ''"The first mention is in Pepys diary: After dinner I back to Westminster-hall...Here I met with Mr Lock(e) and Pursell, Maisters of Musique; and with them to the Coffee-house into a room next the Water by ourselfs...Here we had a variety of brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for 8 Voc:, which Mr Lock(e) had newly made on these words: "Domine salvum fac Regem", an admirable thing."''). In 1675 Locke composed the music for the score of Thomas Shadwell's ''Psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
''.
See also
*Drexel 3976
Drexel 3976, also known as The Rare Theatrical (based on an inscription from a former owner), is a 17th-century music manuscript compilation of works by the composer Matthew Locke, considered by some to be "the father of all Restoration dramatic mu ...
Notes
Sources
* Baker, Christopher Paul, ed. ''Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution, 1600–1720: A Biographical Dictionary.'' London, Greenwood Press, 2002. * Caldwell, John. ''The Oxford History of Music: From the Beginnings to C. 1715.'' Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. * Harding, Rosamund E. M. ''A Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Matthew Locke with a Calendar of the Main Events of his Life.'' Oxford, Alden Press, 1971.External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Matthew English classical composers English Baroque composers English music theorists Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal 1620s births 1677 deaths 17th-century classical composers English male classical composers 17th-century English musicians People educated at Exeter Cathedral School 17th-century male musicians