Reginald Spofforth (1769 ( baptised 12 September) – 8 September 1827) was an English musician. He was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, but moved to London around 1790. He was active as an

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

, conductor and music teacher, but he is best remembered as a composer. His best known works are the

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 ...

s ''

Hail Smiling Morn ''Hail Smiling Morn'', Roud #1346, is a glee which is sung either as a Christmas carol or as an Easter carol, and features in the Yorkshire pub Christmas singing traditions found in several parts of the city of Sheffield. It is performed also by c ...

'' (which has been described as having been "possibly the most popular glee in the entire repertory") and ''Hark! the Lark at Heaven's Gate Sings'', which are included in a number of recent collections of part-songs. He composed about 75 glees, three books of

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

settings, and many songs and duets, including songs for various stage performances at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

in the 1790s. Two elaborate hymns (''To Thee, our Saviour and our King'', and ''I sing the almighty power of God'') were published in John Page's 'A Collection of Hymns', dated 21 and 28 October 1804 respectively. He is thought not to have composed any instrumental music. His brother, Samuel, was cathedral organist at

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

, and composed chants and cathedral music.

References

External links

* *
Page with a link to a midi file of "Hail Smiling Morn"
* English classical composers Glee composers 1769 births English male classical composers 1827 deaths {{UK-musician-stub