Maurice Greene

Maurice Greene

Maurice Greene (12 August 1696 – 1 December 1755) was an English composer and organist.

Biography

Born in London, the son of a clergyman, Greene became a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral under Jeremiah Clarke and Charles King. He studied the organ under Richard Brind, and after Brind died, Greene became organist at St Paul's.

With the death of William Croft in 1727, Greene became organist at the Chapel Royal, and in 1730 he became professor of music at Cambridge University. In 1735 he was appointed Master of the King's Musick. At his death, Greene was working on the compilation Cathedral Music, which his student and successor as Master of the King's Musick, William Boyce, was to complete. Many items from that collection are still used in Anglican services today.

Works

Greene wrote a good deal of both sacred and secular vocal music, including:

• the anthem Hearken Unto Me, Ye Holy Children (1728)
• the oratorio The Song of Deborah and Barak (1732)
• the opera Florimel (1734)
• settings of sonnets from Edmund Spenser's Amoretti (1739)
• a collection of anthems (1743), of which the best-known is Lord, let me know mine end.
• the opera Phoebe (completed 1747)

And published some keyboard music:

• Choice Lessons, for harpsichord or spinet (London, 1733)
• 6 Overtures … in Seven Parts, arranged for harpsichord or spinet (London, 1745)
• A Collection of Lessons, for harpsichord (London, 1750)
• Twelve Voluntarys, for organ or harpsichord (London, 1779)

References

1. Johnstone, H. Diack. "Greene, Maurice", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 October 2004).

External links

•  "Greene, Maurice". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

Free Scores

• Free scores by Maurice Greene in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Maurice Greene in the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Maurice Greene in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)