Bernard Gates (23 April 1686 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

– 15 November 1773 in North Aston) was an English composer, and a bass singer employed by

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

in his oratorios. He was director of the choir at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

from 1740 to 1757. Surviving music, in a conservative style, includes six anthems and a morning service.Annual register: Volume 16 - Page 150 Edmund Burke - 1774 Died lately, at North Aston, in Oxfordshire, aged 87, Bernard Gates.

Life

He was the second son of Bernard Gates, gentleman, of St. Margaret's,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. His name appears in the list of children of the Chapel Royal in 1702. At the end of 1708 he was sworn a gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the place of J. Howell, who died on 15 July in that year. He held the sinecure office of tuner of the regals at court, and was a member of the choir of Westminster Abbey. At some time before 1732 Gates was made master of the children of the Chapel Royal. On 23 February 1732 Handel's ''

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

'' was performed at Gates's house in James Street, Westminster, by the children of the chapel. The same singers sang the work at a subscription concert at the

Crown and Anchor Tavern The Crown and Anchor, also written Crown & Anchor and earlier known as The Crown, was a public house in Arundel Street, off The Strand in London, England, famous for meetings of political (particularly the early 19th-century Radicals) and var ...

, and again at the room in Villiers Street, York Buildings. In 1734 Gates seceded from the Academy of Vocal Music, taking the children of the chapel with him. He had been a prominent member of the society from its inauguration. Gates sang one of the airs in the first performance of the "Dettingen Te Deum" in 1743. John Hawkins states that says that Gates introduced into the Chapel the system of solmisation by

hexachord In music, a hexachord (also hexachordon) is a six- note series, as exhibited in a scale ( hexatonic or hexad) or tone row. The term was adopted in this sense during the Middle Ages and adapted in the 20th century in Milton Babbitt's serial t ...

Death

On 10 March 1737, Mrs. Gates died, and in 1758 Gates moved to North Aston,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. He died there on 15 November 1773, and was buried in the north cloister of Westminster Abbey on the 23rd of the month. The inscription on his monument, a source for his family information, gives his age as eighty-eight. A tablet to his memory was put up in the church of North Aston, at the expense of his pupil, Thomas Sanders Dupuis.

Family

Gates married before 1717, since on 6 June of that year his eldest child, a daughter named Atkinson, was buried in the north cloister of Westminster Abbey. This unusual Christian name, which was borne by another daughter of Gates (buried 1736), was derived from a Mrs. Atkinson, who had been laundress to Queen Anne, and who had brought up Mrs. Gates, and made her Mrs. Atkinson's heiress.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Bernard English Baroque composers English bass-baritones 1686 births 1783 deaths Musicians from The Hague Masters of the Children of the Chapel Royal