Editing William Boyce (composer) (section)

==Life==
[[File:William Boyce, ca. 1745.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.3|William Boyce by [[Thomas Hudson (painter)|Thomas Hudson]], ca. 1745]]
Boyce was born in London, at Joiners Hall, then in [[Lower Thames Street]], to John Boyce, at the time a joiner and cabinet-maker, and [[beadle]] of the [[Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers]], and his wife Elizabeth Cordwell. He was baptised on 11 September 1711 and was admitted by his father as a [[choirboy]] at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in 1719. After his voice broke in 1727, he studied music with [[Maurice Greene (composer)|Maurice Greene]].<ref name=Bruce>Bruce (2005)</ref>

His first professional appointment came in 1734 when he was employed as an organist at the [[St Peter, Vere Street|Oxford Chapel]] in central London. He went on to take a number of similar posts before being appointed [[Master of the King's Musick]] in 1757 (he had applied for the post on the death of Maurice Greene in 1755) and becoming one of the organists at the [[Chapel Royal]] in 1758.<ref>Fiske (1995), p. 138-9</ref> He also gave lessons, his daughter telling the composer [[R. J. S. Stevens]] that both [[Thomas Linley the Elder]] and [[Thomas Linley the Younger]] had been his pupils in [[counterpoint]] in the period 1763–1768.<ref>Fiske (1995), p. 140</ref>

His work as a composer began in the 1730s, writing songs for [[Vauxhall Gardens]]. In 1736 he was named as composer to the [[Chapel Royal]] and wrote the [[oratorio]] ''David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan. ''He was engaged as conductor to the [[Three Choirs Festival]] in 1737; many of his works, including the ''Worcester Overture'' (today known as his Symphony no. 8), will have been premiered at the Festival over the succeeding years. The 1740s saw his opera ''Peleus and Thetis'', the serenata ''[[Solomon (Boyce)|Solomon]]'', and his ''Secular Masque'', to a libretto by [[John Dryden]]. In 1749 he wrote an ode and the anthem ''O be joyful'' to celebrate the installation of the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle]] as Chancellor of [[Cambridge University]], and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music.<ref>Fiske (1995), p. 138</ref> In 1747 he had published his first purely instrumental composition, a set of "Twelve Sonatas for Two Violins and a Bass" and these proved popular. [[Charles Burney]] wrote that they were "not only in constant use, as Chamber music, in private concerts ... but in our theatres, as act-tunes [i.e. intermezzi] and public gardens, as favourite pieces, during many years."<ref name=Bruce />

In the 1750s Boyce supplied [[David Garrick]] with songs and other music for many productions at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]].  These included his own operas ''The Chaplet'' and ''The Shepherd's Lottery'', both to libretti by [[Moses Mendez]], and for Garrick's  1759 pantomime ''Harlequin's Invasion'' which contained what became Boyce's most famous song, ''[[Heart of Oak]]''.<ref name=Bruce />

As Master of the King's Musick Boyce had the responsibility of writing music for royal occasions including funerals, weddings and coronations. He, however, refused to make a new setting of ''[[Zadok the Priest]]'' for the [[coronation of George III and Charlotte]] in 1761 on the grounds that [[George Frederick Handel|Handel]]'s setting of the anthem was unsurpassable – as a consequence of which Handel's setting has been played at every subsequent British coronation.<ref name=Bruce /> However, that coronation is the only one recorded where a single musician wrote nearly all the music, Boyce having composed a total of eight anthems specifically for the event.<ref>{{cite book |last=Range |first=Matthias |date=2012 |title=Music and Ceremonial at British Coronations: From James I to Elizabeth II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rIgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages= 162–163 |isbn= 978-1-107-02344-4 }}</ref>

By the year 1758, his deafness had increased to such an extent that he was unable to continue in his organist posts. He resolved to give up teaching and to retire to Kensington, and devote himself to editing the collection of church music which bears his name. He retired and worked on completing the compilation ''Cathedral Music'' that his teacher Greene had left incomplete at his death. This led to Boyce editing works by the likes of [[William Byrd]] and [[Henry Purcell]]. Many of the pieces in the collection are still used in [[Anglican]] services today.

On 7 February 1779 Boyce died from an attack of [[gout]], aged 67. He was buried under the dome<ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 471: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.</ref> of [[St Paul's Cathedral]].<ref name="Bruce"/> His only son, also William Boyce (25 March 1764 – 1824), was a professional [[double bass]] player.<ref>''[https://archive.org/stream/britishmusicalb00brow#page/56/mode/1up British musical biography]'' (Birmingham: S.S. Stratton, 1897) p. 56.</ref>