London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
– 14 July 1674 in Windsor) was an English composer. He was the first of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration to rise to prominence.
Life and career
Pelham Humfrey was born in 1647. By the age of seventeen Humfrey's anthems were evidently in use and he was sent by the King to study in Paris, probably in January 1665 where he was greatly influenced by music at the French Court. On the basis of the music he wrote on his return, he also assimilated the more expressive vocal style of
Carissimi
(Gian) Giacomo Carissimi (; baptized 18 April 160512 January 1674) was an Italian composer and music teacher. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi established the ...
. He later succeeded Henry Cooke (his father-in-law) as
Master of the Children
Master of the Children is a title awarded to an adult musician who is put in charge of the musical training, and in some cases the general education (which sometimes gets offered as a priceless perk to recruit the best singers) of choir boy (or si ...
of the Chapel Royal and also became composer to the Court.
Humfrey died at the age of 27, but along with
Matthew Locke Matthew Locke may refer to:
* Matthew Locke (administrator) (fl. 1660–1683), English Secretary at War from 1666 to 1683
* Matthew Locke (composer) (c. 1621–1677), English Baroque composer and music theorist
* Matthew Locke (soldier) (1974–2 ...
John Blow
John Blow (baptised 23 February 1649 – 1 October 1708) was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. Appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in late 1668,Samuel Pepys has mentioned about Humfrey's dress sense and general demeanour in his diary. He states, "Little Pelham Humphreys is an absolute monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, and disparages everybody's skill but his own. The truth is, every body says he is very able, but to hear how he laughs at all the King's musick here, as Blagrave and others, that they cannot keep time nor tune, nor understand anything; and that Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's master of the musick, how he understands nothing, nor can play on any instrument, and so cannot compose: and that he will give him a lift out of his place; and that he and the King are mighty great! and that he hath already spoke to the King of Grebus would make a man piss."
One of Humfrey's best-known compositions is his setting of the poem "
A Hymn to God the Father
"A Hymn to God the Father", also titled "To Christ", is a poem by English poet and clergyman John Donne. It is one of his Divine Poems. Its date of composition is unknown.
Overview
The poem was set to music by Pelham Humfrey in the 17th century ...