Chapter XXIII (3)

_Dr. William Crotch_.

The celebrated musician, William Crotch, was born in the parish of St. George at Colegate in this city, July 5th, 1775. His genius for music may be supposed to have commenced with his existence, as his parents did not remember any period in which he did not shew a great predilection for an organ, to which instrument he seemed to have a special attachment. Indeed he had a _penchant_ for every musical instrument at an early age. As soon as he could walk alone, which was at the beginning of his second year, he would frequently quit his mother’s breast to hear a tune on the organ, and when he wanted any particular tune, he would put his finger upon that key on which the tune began; and as it sometimes happened that more than one tune began on the same key, he would strike two or three of the first or leading notes of the tune he chose to have played. Before he was two years and a quarter old, he played “God save the King” with both hands. At two years and a half he had played to several ladies and gentlemen, and was soon afterwards noticed in the public journals. At two and three quarters he could distinguish any note, and call it by its proper name, though he did not see it struck. His memory was so retentive, that a gentleman only playing to him the Minuet in _Rodelinda_ two or three times in the evening, was astonished to hear him perform it next morning, as soon as he went to the organ. Before he was three years old, he played at Beccles, Ipswich, and other places. Afterwards he was taken to Lynn, Bury, &c., and in October, 1778, to Cambridge. In November, he was nominated to a degree of Bachelor of Arts, with a small annuity annexed to it. In December he went to London, and after performing before the foreign ambassadors, maids of honour, &c., in 1779, he was introduced to the sovereign, to whom he gave the greatest satisfaction, as he had done to the nobility and gentry in general, but more particularly to the greatest musicians. At the early age of 22 he was appointed professor of music in the University of Oxford, and there, in 1799, took his degree of doctor in that art. In 1800 and the four following years, he read lectures on music at Oxford. Next he was appointed lecturer on music at the Royal Institution; and subsequently, in 1823, principal of the Royal Academy of Music. He published a number of vocal and instrumental compositions, of which the best is his oratorio of “Palestine.” In 1831 appeared an octavo volume, containing the substance of his lectures on music, delivered at Oxford and in London. He also published “Elements of Musical Composition and Thorough Bass.” He arranged for the piano-forte a number of Handel’s oratorios and operas, besides symphonies and quartetts of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. He performed all his public duties laboriously, zealously, and honourably, and in private life he was much beloved. He died on December 29th, 1847, in the house of his son, at Taunton.