(?)
raven in the very fabric of the old Cathedral. The embryo musician took the trouble, upon two occasions, to inscribe his name upon the walls of the Cathedral, together with the dates. Upon the inner side of the old organ screen runs the legend "Matthew Lock, 1638," and in a more abbreviated form at a later date "M. L., 1641." As a boy he seems to have b
f music; the country was in a state of civil war, the soldiers of Cromwell wrought sad havoc in the Cathedr
organs for pots of ale," and the Cathedral at which Locke serv
hat it is so much connected with the stage, and in that way marks the progress towards the Opera, of the English form of which Locke is sometimes credited with being the originator. As instances of this kind of work we might, perhaps, draw attention to his association with Christopher
rning him is in the Diary of Samuel Pepys; the
Coffee House, into a room next the Water by ourselves. Here we had a variety of brave Italian and Spanish Songs, and
w the feeling of loyalty towards the Crown which ended in the Restoration; words which ten years before it would have been a heresy to utter. It may be pointed out that the entry February, 1659, by the old way of reckoning, was really February, 1660, and therefore the year of the Restoration. In the Ceremonies connecte
ems, whilst his music for Stapylton's Stepmother presents another instance of his association with dramatic music. This dramatic side of his natu
this outpouring of his wrath was the treatment a Kyrie of his composition had received at the hands of the Chapel Royal choir. It would appear that he had set the Kyrie in an original way, giving different music to each response; such an innovation did not meet with the approval of the Choir, and they seem to have given it rather a rough time.
changing the custom of the Church by varying that which was ever sung in one tune, and occasioning confusion in the Service by its ill performance. That such defects should take their rise from the difficult
nvincing it might be, I believe the Kyrie
of Locke's response to the ten commandments, which he hath set very finely, and was a good while since sung before the King, and spoiled in the perf
have been sung in the Abbey and in various Cathedrals. The Kyries are, many of the
s Church music, of which we have some ex
in this position. He says: "Locke was organist of Somerset House Chapel as long as he lived, but the Italian Masters that served there did not approve of his manner of play; but must be attended by more polite hands, and one while, one Signor Baptista Sabancino, and afterwards Signo
ollege, Oxford, who had written and published An Essay to the Advancement of Music by casting a
hat Mr Salmon was not over judicious in his method of recommending his scheme. He seems to have purposely hit out at music masters (of whom Locke was one of the most eminent), a
ptions and new way of attaining music lately published by Thomas Salmon, M.A. The controversy was very warm. Yo
own upon the most eminent Professors of Musick than for anything of learning that I found in him. Those gentlemen he accused of ignorance for not embracing his illiterate absurdities for which it was necessary to bring him to the "Bar of
er on he gets
yed," "hunch-backed" or the like (ornaments which the best of my an
produced in 1673, with the title of The English Opera. It contained a Preface, setting forth Locke's opinions on real Opera. North calls his works in this branch of Art "semi-Operas," but from the title just quoted it may be inferred that Locke, at any rate, considered them full-grown specimens. It should be added that the Act tunes in Psy
sic, which has for so many years been associated with his name. For long the matter h
a beautiful Dialogue on the death of Lord Sandwich, the great patron of Samuel Pepys, which is to be found in the Pepys Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge. No doub
an aggressive Preface
fashionable art to peck and carp at other men's conceptions, how mean soever their own are. Expecting, therefore, to fall under the lash of some soft-headed or hard-hearted c
agreeably to the design of the author, and that the variety of his setting was never in Court or Theatre till now pre
edicated to James, Duke of Monmouth, who (the composer says) "gave this life by your often hear
ook of its kind, and he contributed to many other works. Roger North tells us "Locke set most of the Psalms to music in parts for the use of
Purcell wrote an ode commemorative of his decease "On the death of his worthy friend Mr Matthew Locke, Mu