Sebastian Westcott (also spelt Wescott or Westcote) (c. 1524 – 1582) was an English

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a ...

. He is especially known for staging performances of plays with the

Children of Paul's The Children of Paul's was the name of a troupe of boy actors in Elizabethan and Jacobean London. Along with the Children of the Chapel, they were an important component of the companies of boy players that constituted a distinctive feature of ...

Life

Westcott was a chorister, under John Redford, at

, London, and in 1550 became

and

almoner An almoner (} ' (alms), via the popular Latin '. History Christians have historically been encouraged to donate one-tenth of their income as a tithe to their church and additional offerings as needed for the poor. The first deacons, mentioned ...

of the cathedral. In 1557 he became master of

, the boys of that cathedral. He retained his post at St. Paul's, under

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour ...

, Queen Mary, and

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, from 1550 to 1582, notwithstanding the fact that he was an avowed Catholic. Westcott is best known for the many plays and pageants, with music, which he produced for the English Court during a period of 32 years, these plays being performed by the boys of the cathedral school. So celebrated was he in this respect that he was generally referred to as "Master Sebastian". Under Queen Mary he had the honour of arranging the music for the formal restoration of Catholicism at St. Paul's, in November 1553. He also composed the

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chu ...

which was sung on 9 February 1554, on the suppression of Wyatt's rebellion. He conducted the service for the reception of Cardinal

Reginald Pole Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal of the Catholic Church and the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter-Reformation. Early life Pole was bor ...

on the first Sunday of

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

, 1554, when the

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...

''Te spectant Reginalde Pole'', by

Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pale ...

, was sung. Di Lassus was in England at this time, as was also

Philippe de Monte Philippe de Monte (1521 – 4 July 1603), sometimes known as Philippus de Monte, was a Flemish composer of the late Renaissance active all over Europe. He was a member of the 3rd generation madrigalists and wrote more madrigals than any other comp ...

, and both were probably present. Under Elizabeth I, in 1559, Westcott refused to subscribe to the

Thirty-Nine Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

, yet official documents from 1559 to 1561 prove that "Master Sebastian" was well paid for his musical and dramatic performances. In May 1561 the Catholic propagandist

Nicholas Sander Nicholas Sanders (also spelled Sander; c. 1530 – 1581) was an English Catholic priest and polemicist. Early life Sanders was born at Sander Place near Charlwood, Surrey, one of twelve children of William Sanders, once sheriff of Surrey, who ...

, in a report to

Cardinal Morone Giovanni Morone (or Moroni) (25 January 1509 – 1 December 1580) was an Italian cardinal. He was named Bishop of Modena in 1529 and was created Cardinal in 1542 by Pope Paul III. As a cardinal, he resided in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace ...

, highly praised Westcott. In 1561 Bishop

Edmund Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church duri ...

summoned him for refusing to take part in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...

, and in July 1563

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

him.

Lord Robert Dudley Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ov ...

, the Queen's

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

, intervened for him, however, and Bishop Grindal answered at length, apologizing, and explaining his action, though declining to suspend his verdict, only to suspend it for a while.Rosenberg p. 302 14 years later, in December 1577, Westcott was deprived by Bishop John Aylmer and imprisoned in the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, i ...

as a

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth missed her customary Christmas plays by the

chorister A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

s of St. Paul's, and so Westcott was released on 19 March 1578. Westcott died in 1582, leaving assets of considerable value.

Notes

References

*Birt, Henry Norbert: ''The Elizabethan Religious Settlement'' (London, 1907) *Grattan-Flood: ''Master Sebastian in The Musical Antiquary'' (April, 1912) *Rosenberg, Eleanor: ''Leicester: Patron of Letters'' Columbia University Press (New York, 1958) ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westcott, Sebastian English classical organists British male organists English classical composers Renaissance composers History of Catholicism in England 1524 births 1582 deaths 16th-century English composers 16th-century English musicians 16th-century Roman Catholics English male classical composers Male classical organists