B L O 



from HiSi^cdon, domclic organi:! to Oliver Croauvcll, and 

 Dr. Chriil. Gibbons. In 167 j, he was fvvorn oiie of the 

 geiitlfxcn of the chapel; and in 1674, upon the deccafe of 

 Kiiinphrey, appointed mailer of the children. In 16S5, he 

 was nominated one of the private nivilic to ki:g James 11. 

 and ill 16S7, he was likcrvife appointed almoner and mailer 

 of the choriilers h the cathedral church of St. Panl ; but, 

 in 1093, he rcfij^nied this lail place in favojr of his fell, lar 

 Jeremiiih Clark. 



Blow had '::i3 degree of Qoclor of mnfic conferred on liim by 

 the fpecial grace ot archbifhop Sancroft, without performing 

 an exercise for it in either of the Univerfities. On the dcceafe 

 of Pu;-: 11, in l5y5, he was elefted organift of St. Marga- 

 ret's, Wellmiftcr ; and, in i6c)C), appointed compofer to 

 the chapel of thirir majellies, king William and queen Mary, 

 at a falary of 40!. a year, wh-ch afterwards was a'j<:;mentcd 

 to 73'. A fecond compofer, with the like appointment, 

 was added in 1715, when John Weldon was fworn into that 

 office ; at which time it was required that each fliould pro- 

 duce a new antiiem on the firll Sunday of his month of 

 waiting. 



That Blow was a compofer of anthems, while a finging- 

 boy in the chapel roval, appears from Clifford's Colleftion 

 of the Words of the Services and Anthems ufed in our col- 

 legtTite and cathedral churches, 1664; for among the ec- 

 clefiailical compofers mentioned in this book, amounting to 

 upwards of fixty, are included the names of Pelham Hum- 

 phrey, John Blow, and Robert Smith, children of his ma- 

 jefty's cliapcl. Humphrey was born in 1647, and Blow in 

 1648 ; fo that at the rellovation, the firit being only thir- 

 teen, and the fecond but twelve, their compofmg anthems 

 fit for the chapel royal, before they had attained the age 

 of fixteen or feventecn, would now be regarded as wonder- 

 ful proofs of precocity, if Purcell, foon after, at a more early 

 period of his life, had not produced compofitions that were 

 flill fuperior to thtfe. 



Dr. Blow died in 1 70S, at fixty years of age ; and though 

 he did T;ot arrive at great longevity, yet, by beginning his 

 career, and mounting to the fummit of i:is profellion fo 

 early, he enjoyed a profperous and eventful life. His com- 

 pofitions for tlie church, and his Icholars who arrived at 

 eminence, have rendered his name venerable among the mu- 

 ilcians of our country. 



Though his church mufic was never collefted in a body, 

 yet, belldes the three fervices and ten full and verfe anthems 

 printed by Boyce, in Dr. Tudway's MS. colleftion, nineteen 

 of his choral produflions have been prcferved ; and in Dr. 

 Aldrich's colleClion in Chriil-charch there are five more. 

 The aggregate of which, amounting to upwards of torty 

 different compolitions of this elaborate kind, is but a fmall 

 part of what might be found in the chapel and choir-books 

 of our cathedrals. 



Some of his choral produflions arc doubtlefs in a very bold 

 and grand ftyle; however, he is unequal, and frequently un- 

 happy, in his attempts at new harmony and modulation ; 

 but, as a compofer who ranked fo high among our moft 

 claffical mailers (hould not be praifcd or cenfured indifcrimi- 

 jiately, we fhall point out a few inftances of his great, and, 

 to our conceptions, unwarrantable licentioufntis, as a con- 

 trapuntitl. 



We are as forry to fee, as to fay, how confufed and inac-. 

 curate a harmonill he was ; but as it is necelfary to fpeak of 

 an artill fo celebrated and honoured by his contemporaries, to 

 diffemble his faults would furpafs candour, and incur che 

 ccnfure of ignorance and partiality ; for it is as much the 

 duty of an hillorian to blame as to praife, when juftice and 

 integrity require it. Indeed) upon whatever fubjedl a mao 



B L O 



writes, he fiiould afpire at nothing fo mucli as fpeaking truth, 

 if he wilhes for tiie approbation of his confcience, which is 

 not only the moll comfortable of all praife, but, luckily, the 

 moil within his own power. The abihties of the dead, we 

 can have no interell in depreciating; and if our opinion (hould 

 be unjull, the milchief will recoil on ourfelves ; for the dead 

 have more friends than the living, who are ever ready to 

 vindicate fuch wrongs. 



Though there are flrokes of pathetic and fubjefts of 

 fugue in Blow's works that are admirable ; yet we have ex- 

 amined no one of them that appears to be wholly unexcep- 

 tionable, and free from confufien and crudities in the coun- 

 terpoint. Of the two-part anthem with chorufes, " Lord 

 how are they increafed," the firll movement is very plaiiiti%-e 

 and exprcflive; but there are licences in the harmony which 

 look and found quite barbarous. Indeed, thcfe crudities are 

 fo numerous as to throw a doubt on his learning, as well as 

 genius. Whether they are notes of paffion, effufiors of an 

 unruly fpirit, or of ignorance and afftftation, we will not ven- 

 ture to determine ; but, to our ears, they have the full effeft 

 of jargon and want of principles. 



It does not appear that Purcell, whom he did hlmfclfthe 

 honour to call his fcholar, or Crofts, or Clark, his pupils, 

 ever threw notes about at random, in his manner, or infultcd 

 the ear with lawlcfs difcords, which no concords can render 

 tolerable. 



In an anthem, " Turn thee unto me, O Lord," printed 

 by Henry Playford in the fecond colleftion of Divine Har- 

 mony, there are fo many wanton violations of rule, particu- 

 larly in the lall chorus, that it would be endlefs to poi;' 

 them out ; but they feem fuch as no rule, authority, or j "7 • 

 can juftify; 7ths refolved on the Sth, afcending- -•'^" ^^' 

 fccnding ; 2ds treated with as little ceremony ^ 3°^" ,' 

 deed, we never faw fo flovenly a fcore in prir'' ^J^° 't Oiay, m 

 general, be laid of his faults in countcrr^'^^' ^"^^ 'J'^'''^ ^""^ 

 unaccounted millions of them to be f ''"'i '" "'^ "'°''''^- . 

 He has been celebrated by D • ^oy«' f""" ," ^'^ '^"'^"'^ 

 in cultivating an uncommo- '-a'^nt for modulation; but 

 how fo excellent a judge '^ <^om& and pure harmony could 

 tolerate his licences. '''' reconcile them to his monumental 

 character atid tli'- additional praife he has himfelf bellowed 

 upon him', is p-' unaccountable as any thing in Blow's com- 

 pofitions, tonfidering the knowledge and known probity of 

 the late worthy editor of Cathedral Mufic. 



Many of his ballads, though only in two parts, are full of 

 crude difcords unprepared and unrefolved ; the caufe of 

 which, in fome meafure, may be afcribcd to the ground- 

 Injh, on which it was now the falhion to write: for melody- 

 being fcarce, both that and the harmony were frequently in- 

 jured by this Gothic rcilraint. But the paffing-notes and notes 

 of embellifliment of the compofers, in general, of this period, 

 were uncouth in melody, and licentious in harmony. Per- 

 haps thofe of the prefent times, in lefs than a century, will 

 be equally unpleafing to the ears of pofterity ; and yet we 

 fancy that both melody and harmony have received their 

 lall polifh. 



The ballads of Dr. Blow are in general more fmooth and na- 

 tural than his other produdions, and, indeed, than any other 

 ballads of his time ; there is more melody than in thofe of 

 Henry Lawes, or any compofer of the picceding reign ; yet 

 it is not of that graceful kind in which the Italians were now 

 advancing towards perfection, with great rapidity. It is 

 cither of a Scots call, or of a languid kind, tliat excites ng. 

 other fenfation than fatigue and drowfinef?. 



His palloral, " Since the Spring comes on," is, how- 

 ever, as chaiUiint as any mongrel mixture of Scots, 

 Irilh, French, and Englilli. that has been fingc com- 



piled*. 



