Benjamin Cooke

Memorial to Benjamin Cooke in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey

Benjamin Cooke (1734 - 14 September 1793) was an English composer, organist and teacher.

Cooke was born in London and named after his father, a music publisher based in Covent Garden. From the age of nine, he was one of four boy sopranos who sang at performances of the Academy of Ancient Music under the Academy's director Johann Christoph Pepusch (now best known as the composer of the 'Beggar's Opera'), who also supervised the boys' education. In later life Cooke received doctoral degrees in music from both Oxford and Cambridge universities.

He was the organist at Westminster Abbey and master of the Abbey's choristers for over thirty years, as well as being the organist at the church of St Martins in the Fields. His Christmas Ode, written in a Handelian style, is one of his relatively few large-scale pieces to have been successfully revived in recent years. He is also the author of glees such as How Sleep the Brave and Hark! the Lark, as well as a variety of church music and organ music. Very many of his musical autographs are now owned by the Royal College of Music.

At Cooke's death, he was succeeded at the Abbey by Samuel Arnold, while his son Robert Cooke (1768-1814) was appointed organist of St Martin's in the Fields. Robert Cooke eventually succeeded Arnold at the Abbey.

External links

• Benjamin Cooke page of the Choral Public Domain Library

• Benjamin Cooke and the 'Christmas Ode'

Donate to Wikimedia