Robert Wainwright (1748 – 15 July 1782) was an English church organist and composer. He was the son of John Wainwright, whom he succeeded as organist at the Manchester Collegiate Church (later

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the c ...

) on his father's death in 1768. His daughter

Harriet Wainwright Harriet Wainwright Stewart (c. 1766–1843) was a British composer, singer, and writer. A musical entrepreneur, she developed a subscription list of several hundred people and sold at least two of her compositions (''Comala'' and ''Seringapatam'') ...

also became a composer. After moving to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

he became the organist at St Peter's on 1 March 1775. Wainwright composed church music and wrote an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

, ''The Fall of Egypt'', first performed in Liverpool in 1780, as well as

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s and concertos. His work has been described by musicologist Ronald Kidd as "competent and occasionally engaging ... although ... of little consequence".

References

1748 births 1782 deaths English composers English organists British male organists 18th-century composers 18th-century British male musicians 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century English musicians {{Organist-stub