John Alcock (organist)

For Alcock's son and fellow organist, see John Alcock (organist, born 1740).

John Alcock

John Alcock (11 April 1715, London – 23 February 1806) was an English organist and composer. He wrote instrumental music, glees and much church music.

Career

He was a pupil of John Stanley at St. Paul's Cathedral, and he earned a doctorate in music at the University of Oxford in 1766.[1] Much detail of his life is included in his semi-autobiographical novel, The Life Of Miss Fanny Brown published under the pseudonym John Piper in 1771. He also held a position as private organist to the Earl of Donegall.

He was:

• Organist of St Andrew's Church, Plymouth 1737–1741
• Organist of St Laurence's Church, Reading 1741–1750
• Organist of Lichfield Cathedral 1750–1766
• Organist of Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield 1761–1786
• Organist of St. Editha's Church, Tamworth 1766–1790[2]

Personal life

John Alcock married Margaret Beaumont (1711–1792) on 20 May 1737. They had several children, including their eldest son and fellow composer John (1740—1791) and youngest son and organist William (1756—1833).[3]

References

1. Randel, Don Michael, ed. (1996). "Alcock, John". The Harvard biographical dictionary of music. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. pp. 12. ISBN 0-674-37299-9.
2. Cathedral Organists, John E. West, London, Novello and Company, 1899.
3. Johnstone, H. Diack (2004). "Alcock, John (1715–1806)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/291. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Free scores by John Alcock in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by John Alcock at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)