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He was a choirboy, first in the Cathedral at Palestrina and then at Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. Here he came under the influence of the great Dutch composer Orlando di Lassus. In 1554 he was appointed organist of the Cathedral in Palestrina, and in 1551 his bishop, having become Pope Julian III, took Palestrina with him to be director of the Julian Chapel in the Vatican.
In 1555 Palestrina became a pontifical singer in the Sistine Chapel; and much of the remainder of his life was spent in various papal and other choirs in Rome. Reckoned the greatest composer of contrapuntal music for unaccompanied voices, he wrote, in addition to some secular madrigals, a great quantity of music for the Roman Catholic Church. His style was officially held by the Council of Trent to be the ideal at which all other composers should aim.
(See also GDM; OCM)
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(See also DNB; OCEL)
[ DNB (Epitome) 1903/6, p.995 ]
PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER (1824-1897), poet and critic: son of Sir Francis Palgrave [né Cohen, who embraced Christianity and adopted the name Palgrave in 1823]; educated at Charterhouse School and Balliol College, Oxford; Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, 1847; B.A. and M.A., 1856; assistant private secretary to William Ewart Gladstone, 1846; entered education department, c.1848; vice-principal, 1850-55, of Kneller Hall, Twickenham, where he became close friend of Tennyson; successively examiner and assistant secretary of education department, 1855-84; art critic to `Saturday Review'; published, 1864, `Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics', and other anthologies, including a second series of `The Golden Treasury', 1896; professor of poetry at Oxford, 1885-95. His publications included lectures, critical essays, and several volumes of original poems. [Suppl. iii. 242]
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She was a scholar and Chappell gold medallist at the Tobias Matthay Piano School; and studied composition with B.J.Dale and Sir Ivor Atkins. She was pianist and secretary to Mrs Catherine Booth-Clibborn on her evangelistic tours.
She was music mistress at Clarendon School Malvern 1929-48; and then taught piano and composition privately, and became visiting teacher of piano at several schools in the Bristol area, including Redland High School 1948-58 and St Brandon's School Clevedon 1959-61. Many of her compositions were for use at Clarendon School; they include pieces for piano and 'cello and much vocal music. She edited the music of Wings 1960 for the Dohnavur Fellowship.
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(See also DAB; Julian p.877)
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He was the second son of Thomas Gambier Parry, a well-to-do painter and patron of the arts. He began to compose at the age of eight, and took the Oxford B.Mus. degree while still a schoolboy at Eton. At Exeter College Oxford he helped to found the Oxford Music Club. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Sterndale Bennett and G.A.Macfarren; but, as his father was opposed to music as a profession, he entered Lloyd's Register in 1870. However, after about five years he abandoned this for composing and teaching.
He was Professor of Composition and Music History at the Royal College of Music 1883; became Director of the College 1894; and examiner for the University of London 1891-1918. He helped in the compilation of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1879.
He is buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral.
(See also DNB; GDM; OCM)
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He was born into a poor family, and was working in the iron works before he was ten years old. The family emigrated to Danville, Pennsylvania in 1854; and his first study of music was in a class conducted by fellow Welsh iron-workers, who subscribed to send him to a music college in New York in 1861.
In 1862 he returned to Wales, took an organist's post, and won prizes for composition in various Eisteddfodau. Friends in America and Wales raised a fund to help him continue his music studies at the Royal Academy of Music 1868-71.
He conducted a music school in Danville 1871-73; then became Professor of Music at the new University College at Aberystwyth, holding the post from 1873-79. He ran private music schools in Aberystwyth 1879-81 and in Swansea 1881-88. He was lecturer and later Professor of Music at University College Cardiff 1888-1903.
He had a large influence on music in Wales, and his output of operas, oratorios, cantatas, songs, anthems and about 400 hymn tunes achieved great popularity.
His birthplace, a terraced cottage in Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, was saved from demolition in 1975 and is now a museum in his memory.
(See also DNB; GDM; OCM; OCLW)
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(See also DNB; Julian pp.884-5)
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He was practically self taught; organist of Holmfirth Parish Church, Yorkshire, at the age of nine; organist of four other churches in Yorkshire and four in Glasgow before becoming organist of Glasgow Cathedral 1879-97. He then moved to Liverpool where he was organist of St George's Hall 1897- 1912. He was one of the leading organ recitalists of his time; and after the lifting of the Church of Scotland ban on organs in 1865 he was much in demand for `opening' recitals.
He wrote much church and organ music, now largely forgotten, and edited hymnals, psalters and anthem books for the Church of Scotland.
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Educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, Elstree, he joined the Capuchin Friars at age 18, adopting `Peter' as his `name in religion'. He studied philosophy and theology at Capuchin friaries in Solihull and in Crawley, Sussex. After being ordained priest in 1936 he read modern languages and music at Oxford University, as a member of St Catherine's Society (now College). He taught for four years in a Capuchin School, and then held posts in the University while Warden of Greyfriars (the Oxford home of his Order) from 1953-72, combining these duties with those of music advisor to the City of Oxford (from 1949) and parish priest. From 1972 until his death he was professor of music and humanities at Loyola University, New Orleans.
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(See also DNB; Julian p.889a)
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The exact date of Thomas Pestell's birth is not known; but a Baptismal record at (the Cathedral Church of) St Martin's Leicester reads
The elder "Thommass" was a tailor, who became a freeman of Leicester (i.e. completed his apprenticeship) at about the same time. Young Thomas went to Queen's College, Cambridge with a sizarship (scholarship) in 1602, where (on his own reckoning, at least) he became known as a poet, and also made the acquaintance of some of the influential people who later became his patrons or employers.
In November 1611 he was appointed to the living of Cole-Orton, near Ashby-de-la-Zouche, and a few years later became (in addition) chaplain to Robert, Earl of Essex, who lived about 20 miles from Cole-Orton. He developed his reputation as a poet and as a fluent, if somewhat tedious, preacher. In 1622 he became Vicar of Packington in the Diocese of Lincoln, after composing some lavish verses in praise of Elizabeth Countess of Huntingdon, whose husband the Earl of Huntingdon was patron of the Packington living.
The rest of his long life was far from smooth. He suffered, inevitably, in the upheavals of the Civil War, when many Royalist supporters (as he was) lost their benefices; but he appears to have compounded his difficulties by a gift for making enemies of his parishioners, and a talent for unkind witticism and practical jokes did not help. In a prolonged legal battle he became the victim of a vicious prosecution for alleged drunkenness, abuse and neglect of parish duties, to which he replied in kind. He was finally sequestrated from his living in 1646, together with his sons Thomas and William who also held livings in the neighbourhood.
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 he lost no time in applying for reinstatement, and was quickly appointed to Lutterworth parish, together with the "Confratership" (roughly = chaplaincy) of Wyggeston Hospital, Leicester. He died in 1667, and was buried in the Hospital Chapel on July 2nd.
Although some of his poems appeared in other published collections, his only publication in his own name was Sermons and Devotions Old and New, 1659. This included 17 poems, of which `Fairest of morning lights' (`Behold the great creator') is one. Most of his surviving poems are contained in two manuscripts, one in the Bodleian and the other in Harvard College Library.
[ The details given above are taken mainly from information in The Poems of Thomas Pestell, edited by Hannah Buchan (Blackwell, 1940). ]
The spelling of his surname varies; most older books have double-l, but the single-l has become customary in present-day hymn-books and anthologies.
(See also DNB)
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He studied at the Royal Academy of Music 1882-86, and held various organist's posts in London. He contributed to the revival of interest in carols, publishing many original settings and arrangements of traditional carols, particularly continental. His best-known work was in the series of pamphlets published as The University Carol Book.
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(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 18/5/03)