#War of the 5 kings full

#War of the 5 kings full

By 1666, the full number of sixteen was attained. With the Restoration in 1660, ten new choristers were immediately elected to the Choir. Sung services were completely suppressed from 1652 to 1660, although the Organist and Master, Henry Loosemore continued to draw his salary from the College. The organ was dismantled and each time a boyвЂ™s voice broke, he was not replaced by around 1650 only one chorister and five layclerks remained. In 1646, the Commonwealth forbade the recruitment of new choristers, in line with the puritan stance it took against music as part of church services. come to service with surplices and when they list they come without themвЂ™.

Following this, however, the ChoirвЂ™s fortunes fell and, by 1636, when Archbishop Laud sent visitors to KingвЂ™s, they reported that the вЂchoirmen cannot sing and are divers of them very negligent. During his tenure, the Choir flourished and a very high standard of singing was attained. John Tomkins, brother of the composer Thomas Tomkins, was officially appointed as Organist in 1606 and he stayed until 1625. His numerous sacred and secular compositions remain in the repertoire his death on 5 June 1625 is regularly marked by the singing of his music at Evensong. During his short lifetime, he showed himself to be one of the most versatile English composers of the age. At the age of 21, he was appointed as вЂgentlemanвЂ™ and Organist of the Chapel Royal by James I. In 1598, Orlando entered the University and gained the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. In 1596, the twelve year-old Orlando Gibbons entered the Choir as a chorister, probably under the direction of his eldest brother, Edward, who was then the Organist. He later became a fellow of the College, and taught the boys singing. In the early years of the 16th century, Christopher Tye, later to become a prolific composer of Church music, was a chorister at KingвЂ™s. Even though the Chapel was completed by 1515 by Henry VIII, the Choir continued to sing in a small, temporary chapel, until this collapsed in 1536 and they moved to the current Chapel. In 1506, though, Henry VII attended Evensong in the still incomplete Chapel and resolved to allow sufficient funds to complete the Chapel and support the Choir. The Choir fared little better during the reign of Richard III and in the early years of Henry VIIвЂ™s rule. During the Wars of the Roses, and especially after Henry VIвЂ™s capture in 1455 and death in 1461, Edward IV cut the revenues to the College and reduced the number of choristers (until 1467, when the number was restored to sixteen). In the early years, the fortunes of College, the Chapel and the Choir were closely tied to those of the reigning monarch. Except for a few years in the 1550s under Edward VI, and during the period of the Commonwealth in the 1650s, when choral services in the Chapel were suppressed, the Choir has been singing services continuously for over 500 years. The earliest record of a permanent schoolmaster dates from 1456, when Robert Brantham, a former Eton and KingвЂ™s scholar, held the post of master over the choristers, as well as singing in the Choir. They were not allowed to wander beyond the College grounds without permission from their Master or the Provost. The boys were provided with meals and clothing, and eight pence a week for their board. In addition to their choral duties, singing daily Matins, Mass and Vespers, they were to wait at table in Hall. They had to be under twelve years of age when admitted, and able to read and sing. Henry VI specified that the choristers were to be poor boys, of strong constitution and of вЂhonest conversationвЂ™. The College Statutes of 1453 stipulate that the College would consist of a Provost, seventy fellows and scholars, and a choir composed of ten secular chaplains, six stipendiary lay clerks (or вЂsinging-menвЂ™) and sixteen choristers. When Henry VI founded KingвЂ™s College in 1441, it was his intention that a choir would provide music for the daily offices and celebrations of the Mass.