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Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary is heard nearly every time a bride walks down the aisle of a church.

When Clarke wrote this and and a couple of hymn tunes, most notably ST MAGNUS, he was probably infatuated with one of his pupils: a woman who was rather well-to-do, more well-to-do than, say, the organist at the Chapel Royal.

Though he contemplated hanging or drowning himself, eventually Clarke's infatuation drove him to put a bullet in his head.

Previously: Purcell, Henry (1659-1695)

Labels: Clarke, notable deaths

In the 300^th anniversary of his death, one is likely to encounter a performance of the "Blow Ode", written, of course, by John Blow. The piece is officially titled "An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell" with the first line "Mark how the lark and linnet sing".

In 1680, Purcell succeeded his mentor, John Blow, as organist at Westminster Abbey. He held the post for some time until he "caught a chill after returning late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out" or "succumbed to chocolate poisoning" -- one of the two.

(A much less notable theory is that he contracted tuberculosis.)

In any case, he died in his mid-thirties as a result.

Previously in this series: Cooke, Robert (1768-1814)

Labels: church music, notable deaths

Cooke served as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey beginning in 1802.

Twelve years later, on August 13, 1814, he drowned himself in the Thames.

I can't be certain from the Psalter blurb, or from Grove's account, but I don't think this was an accidental drowning.

The New St Paul's Cathedral Psalter lists Robert Cooke (1768-1814) as the composer of chants for Psalms 7, 45 and Benedictus 4. These efforts seem quite deliberate, as does his burial in Westminster Abbey.

Labels: church music, notable deaths

Robert Parsons is remebered for two things: his Ave Maria and his death. The Oakham School cleverly combines these two things in a program note:

Many Catholics composed settings of the Ave Maria as it is one of the chief prayers, often said as one dies. Whether Robert Parsons (15277[sic]-1570) remembered to say this when he was drowning in the River Trent at Newark is unknown, but he did leave behind a luminous 5-voice setting which some see as the crown of Tudor polyphony.

from http://www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk/Activities/The_Arts/Music/CD/AveM_mc_par.htm

As a gentlemen at the Chapel Royal, Tallis and Byrd would have known Parsons. They would also probably be able to clear up some of the confusion over exactly when he drowned. Both 1570 and 1572 appear in the literature.

My guess is he was not in the process of drowning for two years.

More: Previously in the Notable Deaths of Notable Church Musicians Series.

Labels: church music, notable deaths

from his biography in The New St Paul's Cathedral Psalter:

In the course of an altercation with the night watchman in Salisbury, he received a blow on the head "which broke his skull, of the consequence whereof he died."

Kind of gives new meaning to the word wisecrack, doesn't it?

Labels: church music, notable deaths