Pelham Humfrey

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Pelham Humfrey (Humphrey, Humphrys) (London 1647 - Windsor 14 July 1674) was the first to prominence of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration.

He died at the age of 27, but along with Matthew Locke exerted a strong influence on his peers even at his young age, including Henry Purcell and John Blow. His early death is considered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of English music; at his death he had already produced several works of great poignancy and expressive power including the Verse Anthem 'O Lord my God'.

By the age of seventeen his anthems were evidently in use and he was sent by the King to study in Paris, probably in January 1665 where he was greatly influenced music at the French Court. He later succeeded Henry Cooke (his father-in-law) as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal and also became composer to the Court.

Pelham Humfrey's dress sense and general demeanour is mentioned unfavourably in the diary of Samuel Pepys. He writes: "Little Pelham Humphreys is an absolute monsieur as full of form and confidence and vanity, and disparages everybody's skill but his own".

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[edit] References

Dennison, Peter. Pelham Humfrey. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Wood, Bruce. "Humfrey, Pelham", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed April 12, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
Scholes, Percy (1970). in Ward, John Owen: The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press.