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Henry Cooke (c. 1616 – 13 July 1672) commonly known as Captain Cooke, was an English composer, choirmaster and singer. He was a boy chorister in the Chapel Royal and by the outbreak of the English Civil War was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.[1] He joined the Royalist cause, in the service of which he rose to the rank of captain. With the Restoration of Charles II he returned to the Chapel Royal as Master of the Children and was responsible for the rebuilding of the chapel and the introduction of instrumental music into the services. The choristers in his charge included his successor and eventual son-in-law Pelham Humfrey, as well as Henry Purcell, John Blow, William Turner, Robert Smith and Michael Wise.[2]
On reconstituting the choir of the Chapel Royal, Dussuaze states:
A year after the opening of his Majesty's Chapel, the orderers of the music were "necessitated to supply superior parts of the music with cornets and men's feigned voices, there being not one lad for all that time capable of singing his part readily." The conditions soon became better under Cooke's management. On 23 February 1660-1, Pepys mentions Cooke and his boy, apparently Pelham Humfrey, whom he heard make a trial of an anthem for the following day. By November, 1663, the first set was properly trained, and Cooke had already obtained remarkable results. On the 22nd Humfrey's first anthem, "Have Mercy upon Me, O God," was sung in his Majesty's Chapel, and Pepys remarks: "They say there are four or five of them that can do so much"; the other four being probably Smith, John Blow, Michael Wise and Tudway or Turner.
Cooke was one of the five English composers who created music for Sir William Davenant's The Siege of Rhodes (1656), often called the first English opera.
References
- Scholes, Percy (1970). Ward, John Owen (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Henry Cooke". Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
- ^ Percy M. Young. A History of British Music (1967), p. 241
- ^ Henri Dussuaze (1911), Captain Cooke and his choir-boys, p. 27
- ^ Cooper, Barry (16 July 2009). Child Composers and Their Works: A Historical Survey. Scarecrow Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0810869110. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
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4 Annotations
First Reading
Alan Bedford • Link
The following item on Captain Cooke was posted to the diary entry of 18 May 1662 by Michael Robinson:
See:-
http://www.katapi.org.uk/SingingC…
He was also Pelhem Humphrey
Second Reading
Bill • Link
COOKE, HENRY (d. 1672), musician; chorister of the Chapel Royal; entered Charles I's army, 1642, and became captain; teacher of music in London before 1655, several of his pupils becoming afterwards distinguished composers; part-composer of the music for Sir William D'Avenant's operas, 1656; choir-master of the Chapel Royal; composed the music for the coronation service, 1661; composer to Charles II, 1664; marshal of the Corporation of Musicians, 1670.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.
Bill • Link
Henry Cooke, chorister of the Chapel Royal, adhered to the royal cause at the breaking out of the Civil Wars, and for his bravery obtained a captain's commission. At the Restoration he received the appointment of Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal; he was an excellent musician, and three of his pupils turned out very distinguished musicians, viz., Pelham Humphrey, John Blow, and Michael Wise. He was one of the original performers in the "Siege of Rhodes." He died July 13th, 1672, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Pepys says,- " a vain coxcomb he is, though he sings so well."
---Wheatley, 1896.
Bill • Link
"King's Musick: Music From the Chapel Royal" is available currently from Amazon as a CD or MP3 download. Music by John Blow, Henry Cooke , and Pelham Humfrey among others.