ST. MATTHEW (Croft)

Composer: William Croft

William Croft (baptized 30 December 1678 – 14 August 1727) was an English composer and organist. Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal, under the instruction of John Blow, and remained there until 1698. Two years after this departure, he became organist of St. Anne's Church, Soho. In 1707, he took over the Chapel Royal's "Master of the Children" post, which had been left vacant by the suicide of Jeremiah Clarke (one of Croft's pupils in this capacity was Maurice Greene). The following year, Croft succeeded Blow (who had lately died) as organist of Westminster Abbey. He composed works for the funeral of Queen Anne (1714) and for the coronation of King George I (1715). I… Go to person page >

ST. MATTHEW was published in the Supplement to the New Version of Psalms by Dr. Brady and Mr. Tate (1708), where it was set to Psalm 33 and noted as a new tune. The editor of the Supplement, William Croft (PHH 149), may be the composer of ST. MATTHEW. One of the longer British psalm tunes, it has a fine mix of larger and stepwise intervals. It bears forceful or even jubilant singing with one broad beat per measure. If taken at a brisk tempo (c. dotted half = 50), consider holding the last note of every long phrase an extra measure to provide a breathing space between sentences.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook