Editing Maurice Greene (composer)

{{short description|English composer and organist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Maurice Greene by Francis Hayman.jpg|thumb|Maurice Greene]]
'''Maurice Greene''' (12 August 1696 – 1 December 1755) was an English [[composer]] and [[organ (music)|organist]]. He was an admirer and friend of [[George Frideric Handel]].

== Biography and works ==
He was born in [[London]], the son of a cleric, Thomas Green(e) (1648–1720)<ref>{{acad|id=GRN664T|name=Green, Thomas}}</ref> who was a chaplain of the [[Chapel Royal]], and his wife Mary Shelton (d. 1722). He became a [[choirboy]] at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] under [[Jeremiah Clarke]] and [[Charles King (composer)|Charles King]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=11416|first=H. Diack|last=Johnstone|title=Greene, Maurice (1696–1755)}}</ref> 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 the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id= GRN730M|name=Greene, Maurice}}</ref> 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 (composer)|William Boyce]], was to complete. Many items from that collection are still used in [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] services today.

Greene wrote in the prevailing Georgian England, particularly longer verse [[anthem]]s, of which ''Lord, Let Me Know Mine End'', is a representative example. In it, Greene sets the text using a polyphonic texture over a continuous instrumental [[walking bass]], with an effective treble duet in the middle of the work. Both this section and the end of the anthem contain examples of the [[Neapolitan chord|Neapolitan sixth chord]]. His organ voluntaries — published only some years after his death — are closer to [[Thomas Roseingrave]] in style than, say, John Stanley or William Boyce, and are more contrapuntal than melodic.  They do not specify manuals or stops, unlike later contemporaries such as Bennett, Boyce and Stanley. Instances of '[[false relation]]' can be heard frequently in these works. Chromaticism is also common in the voluntaries.

Greene died in 1755 aged 59 and was initially buried at [[St Olave Old Jewry]].  On the church's demolition in 1887, he was reburied in [[St Paul's Cathedral]].<ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 471: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.</ref>

==Works==
Greene wrote a good deal of both sacred and secular vocal music, including:
* the [[anthem]] ''[[Hearken Unto Me Ye Holy Children (Maurice Greene)|Hearken Unto Me, Ye Holy Children]]'' (1728).
* the [[oratorio]] ''The Song of Deborah and Barak'' (1732)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greene, Maurice |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011707 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Grove Music Online |date=2001 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11707 |last1=Johnstone |first1=H. Diack |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 }}</ref>
* the [[oratorio]] ''Jephtha'' (1737), libretto by [[John Hoadly (playwright)|John Hoadly]] (1711–76).
* the [[opera]] ''[[Florimel]]'' (1734).
* settings of [[sonnet]]s from [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''Amoretti'' (1739).
* a collection of [[anthem]]s (1743), of which the best-known is ''Lord, Let Me Know Mine End''.
* the opera ''[[Phoebe (opera)|Phoebe]]'' (completed 1747).

He also published keyboard music, including:
*''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 ((published posthumously by J. Bland of Holborn) London, 1779).

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* Johnstone, H. Diack. "Greene, Maurice", ''[http://www.grovemusic.com Grove Music Online]'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 October 2004).

==External links==
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Greene, Maurice|volume=12|page=538}}

== Free scores ==
*{{ChoralWiki|Maurice_Greene|Maurice Greene}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Greene, Maurice|cname=Maurice Greene}}

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{{s-court}}
{{succession box|title=[[Master of the Queen's Music|Master of the King's Music]]|before=[[John Eccles (composer)|John Eccles]]|after=[[William Boyce (composer)|William Boyce]]|years=1735&ndash;1755}}
{{s-culture}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William Croft]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=First [[Organist]] of the [[Chapel Royal]]
|years=1727–1755}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Nares (composer)|James Nares]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Richard Brind]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Director of Music|Organist and Master of the Choristers]] <br />of [[St Paul's Cathedral]]
|years=1718–1755}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Jones (organist)|John Jones]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Tudway]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Professor of Music, Cambridge University]]
|years=1730–1755}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Randall (organist)|John Randall]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Maurice}}
[[Category:1696 births]]
[[Category:1755 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English classical composers]]
[[Category:18th-century English keyboardists]]
[[Category:18th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:Professors of Music (Cambridge)]]
[[Category:English cathedral organists]]
[[Category:English classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:English Baroque composers]]
[[Category:English opera composers]]
[[Category:English classical organists]]
[[Category:English male opera composers]]
[[Category:Masters of the King's Music]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy of Ancient Music]]
[[Category:Composers from London]]
[[Category:People educated at St. Paul's Cathedral School]]
[[Category:English male classical organists]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal]]