The Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal was the choirmaster of the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also appl ...

of England. They were responsible for the musical direction of the choir, which consisted of the Gentlemen of the Chapel and

Children of the Chapel The Children of the Chapel are the boys with unbroken voices, choristers, who form part of the Chapel Royal, the body of singers and priests serving the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they were called upon to do so. They were overseen ...

. In some periods regarded as the most prestigious choral directorship in the country, the holder was given power to take boys into service from the leading cathedral choirs.

Description

As well as singing in divine service in the chapel, in Tudor times the Masters of the Children were also involved in staging plays with the choristers. Initially these were for the entertainment of the Royal Court, but by Elizabethan times were taking place in theatres for the paying public. This culminated in the Clifton Star Chamber Case when the then Master of the Children, Nathaniel Giles, allowed his warrant for recruiting choir boys to be used for legal abduction of a nobleman's son to act in a theatre in which he had a financial stake. Following this case the practice declined. Upon the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Henry Cooke, commonly known as Captain Cooke, who had been a soldier in the Civil War, was appointed Master of the Children and reconstituted the choir. There followed a period of excellence in the choir of the Chapel Royal, with many of the boys under his tutelage in those years become famous musicians such as Pelham Humfrey,

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 ...

, John Blow and Michael Wise.

List of office holders

* 1444 John Plummer * 1455

Henry Abyngdon Henry Abyngdon, Abingdon or Abington (c. 1418 – 1 September 1497) was an English ecclesiastic and musician, perhaps the first to receive a university degree in music. Biography He may have been connected with the village of Abington in Cambridg ...

* 1478 Gilbert Banester * 1486 Lawrence Squier * 1493 William Newark * 1509 William Cornysh * 1526 William Crane * 1545 Richard Bower * 1561

Richard Edwardes Richard Edwardes (also Edwards, 25 March 1525 – 31 October 1566) was an English poet, playwright, and composer; he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was master of the singing boys. He was known for his comedies and interludes. He ...

* 1566 William Hunnis * 1569

Richard Farrant Richard Farrant (c. 1525 – 30 November 1580) was an English composer, musical dramatist, theater founder, and Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. The first acknowledgment of him is in a list of the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal in 1 ...

* 1597 Nathaniel Giles * 1633

Thomas Day Thomas Day may refer to: Sports * Tom Day (rugby union) (1907–1980), Welsh rugby union player * Tom Day (American football) (1935–2000), American football player * Tom Day (footballer) (born 1997), English footballer Others * Thomas Day (wri ...

* 1654 Vacant * 1660 Henry Cooke * c1672 Pelham Humfrey * 1674 John Blow * 1708 William Croft * 1727

Bernard Gates Bernard Gates ( The Hague, 23 April 1686 - North Aston, 15 November 1773, aged 87) was an English composer, and a bass singer employed by Handel in his oratorios. He was director of the choir at Westminster Abbey from 1740 to 1757. Surviving mus ...

* 1757 James Nares * 1780

Edmund Ayrton Dr. Edmund Ayrton (1734 – 22 May 1808) was an English organist who was Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. Early life Edmund Ayrton was born in Ripon and baptised on 19 November 1734. His father was Edward Ayrton (1698-1774), a 'ba ...

* 1805

John Stafford Smith John Stafford Smith (bapt. 30 March 175021 September 1836) was a British composer, church organist, and early musicologist. He was one of the first serious collectors of manuscripts of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Smith is best known for ...

* 1817 William Hawes * 1846 Thomas Helmore

References

Notes

{{Anglican church music Anglican church music English choral conductors Classical music in the United Kingdom History of the Church of England Positions within the British Royal Household *