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Matthew Locke (c. 1621 – August 1677) was an English
Locke was born in
Matthew Locke (c. 1621 – August 1677) was an English Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
composer and music theorist
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...
.
Biography
Locke was born in Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
and was a chorister in the choir of Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The presen ...
, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons. At the age of eighteen Locke travelled to the Netherlands, possibly converting to Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
at the time.
Locke, with Christopher Gibbons (the son of Orlando), composed the score for '' Cupid and Death,'' the 1653 masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...
by Caroline-era playwright James Shirley
James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist.
He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb (writer), Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of ...
. Their score for that work is the sole surviving score for a dramatic work from that era. Locke was one of the quintet of composers who provided music for '' The Siege of Rhodes'' (1656), the breakthrough early opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
by Sir William Davenant. Locke wrote music for subsequent Davenant operas, '' The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' (1658) and '' The History of Sir Francis Drake'' (1659). He wrote the music for the processional march for the coronation of Charles II.
In 1673 Locke's treatise on music theory, ''Melothesia,'' was published. The title page describes him as "Composer in Ordinary to His Majesty, and organist of her Majesty's chapel"—those monarchs being Charles II and Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza (; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, King Charles II, which la ...
. Locke also served King Charles as Composer of the Wind Music ("music for the King's sackbutts and cornets"), and Composer for the Violins. (His successor in the latter office was Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...
, who composed an ode on the death of Locke entitled ''What hope for us remains now he is gone?'', Z. 472; Locke was a family friend and may have had a musical influence on the young PurcellHenry Purcell (Glory Of His Age) by Margaret Campbell (Oxford University Press Paperback 1995) () p44 ''"The first mention is in Pepys diary: After dinner I back to Westminster-hall...Here I met with Mr Lock(e) and Pursell, Maisters of Musique; and with them to the Coffee-house into a room next the Water by ourselfs...Here we had a variety of brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for 8 Voc:, which Mr Lock(e) had newly made on these words: "Domine salvum fac Regem", an admirable thing."''). In 1675 Locke composed the music for the score of Thomas Shadwell's '' Psyche''.
See also
* Drexel 3976Notes
Sources
* Baker, Christopher Paul, ed. ''Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution, 1600–1720: A Biographical Dictionary.'' London, Greenwood Press, 2002. * Caldwell, John. ''The Oxford History of Music: From the Beginnings to C. 1715.'' Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. * Harding, Rosamund E. M. ''A Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Matthew Locke with a Calendar of the Main Events of his Life.'' Oxford, Alden Press, 1971.External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Matthew English Baroque composers English music theorists Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal 1620s births 1677 deaths 17th-century English classical composers English male classical composers 17th-century English musicians People educated at Exeter Cathedral School 17th-century English male musicians