Thomas Weelkes (baptised 25 October
1576 – buried
1
December 1623)
was an English
composer
and organist.
He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester
Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigals,
anthems
and services.
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Contents
- 1 Life
- 2 Music
- 3 See
also
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
|
Life
Weelkes madrigal manuscript: Since Robin Hood, 1608
Thomas Weelkes was baptised in the little village church of Elsted in Sussex on 25 October
1576. It has
been suggested that his father was John Weeke, rector of Elsted,
although there is no documentary evidence of the relationship. In 1597 his first volume
of madrigals was published, the preface noting that he was a very young
man when they were written; this helps to fix the date of his birth to
somewhere in the middle of the 1570s. Early in his life he was in service at
the house of the courtier Edward Darcye. At the end of 1598, at the probable
age of 22, Weelkes was appointed organist at Winchester College, where
he remained for two or three years, receiving the salary of 13s 4d per
quarter. His remuneration included board and lodging.
During his Winchester period, Weelkes composed a further two
volumes of madrigals (1598,
1600). He
obtained his B. Mus. Degree from New
College, Oxford in 1602,
and moved to Chichester to take up the position of
organist and informator choristarum (instructor of
the choristers)
at the Cathedral at some time between October 1601 and October 1602. He was also
given a lay
clerkship at the Cathedral, being paid £15 2s 4d annually alongside his
board, lodging and other amenities. The following year he married
Elizabeth Sandham, from a wealthy local family. They had three children
and it was rumoured that Elizabeth was already pregnant at the time of
the marriage.
Weelkes' fourth and final volume of madrigals, published in 1608, carries a title
page where he refers to himself as a Gentleman of the Chapel
Royal; however, records at the Chapel Royal itself do not mention him,
so at most he could only have been a Gentleman Extraordinary - one of
those who were asked to stand in until a permanent replacement was
found.
Weelkes was later to find himself in trouble with the
Chichester Cathedral authorities for his heavy drinking and immoderate
behaviour. In 1609
he was charged with unauthorised absence, but no mention of drunken
behaviour is made until 1613,
and J Shepherd, a Weelkes scholar, has suggested caution in assuming
that his decline began before this date. In 1616 he was reported to the Bishop for being
‘noted and famed for a comon drunckard (sic) and notorious swearer
& blasphemer’. The Dean and Chapter
dismissed him for being drunk at the organ and using bad language
during divine service. He was however reinstated and remained in the
post until his death, although his behaviour did not improve; in 1619
Weelkes was again reported to the Bishop:
Dyvers tymes & very often come so disguised eyther
from the Taverne or Ale house into the quire as is muche to be
lamented, for in these humoures he will bothe curse & sweare
most dreadfully, & so profane the service of God … and though
he hath bene often tymes admonished … to refrayne theis humors and
reforme hym selfe, yett he daylye continuse the same, & is
rather worse than better therein.
In 1622
Elizabeth Weelkes died. Thomas Weelkes was, by this time, reinstated at
Chichester Cathedral, but appeared to be spending a great deal of time
in London.
He died in London in 1623,
in the house of a friend, and was buried on 1 December, 1623 at St
Bride's Fleet Street. Weelkes' will, made the day before he died at the
house of his friend Henry Drinkwater of St Bride's parish, left his
estate to be shared between his three children, with a large 50s legacy
left to Drinkwater for his meat, drink and lodging.
In Chichester Cathedral there is a
memorial stone with the following inscription:
REMEMBER
IN THE LORD
THOMAS WEELKES
THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN
COMPOSER, ORGANIST OF
WINCHESTER COLLEGE
1598 AND OF THIS
CATHEDRAL CHURCH
FROM 1602 UNTIL HIS DEATH
He died on 30 November 1623
And was buried at St. Bride's
Church. Fleet Street. London
Music
Thomas Weelkes is best known for his vocal music, especially
his madrigals
and church music. Weelkes wrote more Anglican services than any other major
composer of the time, mostly for evensong. Many of his
anthems are verse anthems, which would have suited
the small forces he was writing for at Chichester Cathedral.
Weelkes was friends with the madrigalist Thomas
Morley who died in 1602, when Weelkes was in his
mid-twenties. (Weelkes commemorated his death in a madrigal-form anthem
titled A Remembrance of my Friend Thomas Morley.)
His own madrigals are very chromatic and use varied organic counterpoint
and unconventional rhythm in their construction.
Only a small amount of instrumental music was written by
Weelkes, and it is not much performed. His consort music is all sombre
in tone, contrasting with the often gleeful madrigals.
See also
- List of
compositions by Thomas Weelkes
- Philip Ledger (ed) The Oxford Book
of English Madrigals OUP 1978
References
- David Brown "Weelkes, Thomas" in Grove Music
Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 20 Dec. 2006) www.grovemusic.com
- (1980)
"Thomas Weelkes: a Biographical Caution". MQ lxvi:
505–21.
- W.K. Ford: ‘Chichester Cathedral and Thomas Weelkes’,
Sussex Archaeological Collections, c (1962), 156–72
External links
