Twelve Good Musicians - John Milton

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seven of Twelve Good Musicians From John Bull to
Henry Purcell. This is a librivok recording. All Librivok's recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. Twelve Good Musicians from John
Bull to Henry Purcell by Frederick Bridge. Chapter seven, John

(00:26):
Milton fifteen fifty three through sixteen forty six, or perhaps
forty seven. To many, the name of John Milton will
hardly suggest a musical composer, and yet I am able
to include this name, the name of the father of
the poet, among the band of good musicians whose careers

(00:47):
and works I am considering. I've always felt greatly interested
in him, and desired to find out all I could
of his personal history, and particularly of his musical education. Undoubtedly,
in the elder Milton we have a really accomplished musician.
We are told he educated his distinguished son in music,

(01:09):
and that he had an organ in his house. Doctor
Burney gives a very good and concise account of him,
upon which I cannot improve, and from which I venture
to quote. Bernie, Volume eight, page one thirty four. We
come now to John Milton, the father of our great poet, who,
though a scrivener by profession, was a voluminous composer and

(01:32):
equal in science, if not genius, to the best musicians
of his age, in conjunction and on a level with
whom his name and works appeared in numerous musical publications
of the time, particularly in those of Old Wilde, in
the Triumphs of Oriana published by Morley, in Ravenscroft Psalms,

(01:55):
in the Lamentations published by Sir William Layton, and in
manuscript collection still in the possession of the curious mister Wharton,
in his notes upon Milton's poems on several occasions, tells
us from the manuscript Life of the Poet by Aubrey
the Antiquary, that Milton's father, though a scrivener, was not

(02:18):
apprenticed to that trade, having been bred a scholar and
of christ Church, Oxford, and that he took to trade
in consequence of being disinherited. His son celebrates his musical
abilities in an admirable Latin poem ad Patrum, where, alluding
to his father's musical science, he says that Apollo had

(02:38):
divided his favors in the Sister Arts between them, giving
music to the Father and poetry to the son. Nor
blame O a much loved sire, the sacred Mind, who
THEE have honored with such gifts, Divine who taught THEE
how to charm the listening throng with all the sweetness
of a siren's song, such tunes as every breast in flame,

(03:03):
and made the heir to great o'rahan's fame by blood
united and by kindred arts on each apollo. His reflugence
starts to thee, points out the magic power of sound
to me the masis of poetic ground, and fostered thus
by his parental care, we equal seem divinity to share.

(03:28):
This is a translation. The Elder Milton was born in
fifteen fifty three and is said to have been in
the choir of Christ Church, Oxford. His father was a
Roman Catholic, and it is said that he disinherited his
son for abjuring the Catholic faith. The son went to
London and became a member of the Scrivener's company in

(03:51):
fifteen ninety nine or perhaps sixteen hundred. In sixteen hundred
thirty two, he retired to Horton in Buckinghamshire. Having made
a considerable fortune in London. He lived in bread Street,
where John Milton the poet was born. He contributed an
admirable six part madrical to the Triumphs of Oreana sixteen

(04:14):
oh one, motets to Leyton's Tears and Lamentations sixteen fourteen,
and tunes to Ravencroft's Psalter. There are various anthems and
fancies in five and six parts in manuscript in various libraries.
Now Here is a man who contributed to three or

(04:35):
four important musical publications, and was included in a list
of the best known English composers. Had he been a
professional musician, he could not have done more. But we
know he was a scrivener. What was he before he
became a scrivener? And whence did he get his musical knowledge?
If we could prove that the suggestion is true, which

(04:58):
makes him a chorister at christ ch Oxford, we should
know where he probably got his musical knowledge and his
proficiency in Latin. But this information seems to be impossible
of proof. For the purpose of these lectures, I have
devoted a good deal of time to this subject. Doctor
Straw and the Dean of christ Church, now Bishop of Rippon,

(05:19):
has been kind enough to look into the matter very carefully,
and he writes me the following interesting letter, christ Church, Oxford,
June twenty fifth, nineteen nineteen. My dear Bridge, I am
sorry to say that I cannot discover anything about mister
John Milton Senior. We have here a very important series

(05:41):
of books called disbursement books. These contain a sort of
summary statement of the payments made under various heads. But
what makes them of interest is that all the members
of the Foundation, from the Dean down to the cook,
receive their payments through the treasurer insigned a receipt for
them in the book. So there is a whole list

(06:02):
of signatures beginning about fifteen seventy and going down with
the exception of the Civil War period to about eighteen thirty,
when new methods were adopted. It is always possible to
discover by this who held each office and whether they
were in residence on a particular day. Unfortunately, they do

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not go back beyond fifteen seventy. I searched through a
volume in hopes that mister Milton or the organists might
be among the signatories. The singing men and even the
choristers are there, but apparently at that time there was
no organist, and certainly there is no allusion to Milton
or any names such as you want. I think it

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is a great pity we have not got the books
from the beginning. The first twenty three years would have
been very useful. Also, my matriculation book, which is in
this house is very inaccurate and incomplete for the earlier years.
I am afraid therefore I cannot help help you as
to regards mister Milton. You will understand how very interesting

(07:05):
these signatures are when I say that in the volumes
I looked at the other day, I found a whole
series of signatures of Richard Hakluk, the geographer, who was
a student of the house. Yours, very sincerely, Thomas be Strong.
It is very unfortunate that the records in Christ Church
do not exist before fifteen seventy. But it may be

(07:28):
remarked if Milton the Elder was born in fifteen fifty three,
he would be seventeen and fifteen seventy, and would therefore
certainly have left the choir of Christ Church, if he
ever belonged to it, And this of course before the
entries began as to this matter. There are one or
two facts brought out in notes and queries some years since,

(07:50):
which bear upon it. Richard Milton, the grandfather of the poet,
although a Roman Catholic, appears to have been churchwarden of
the parish stat in Saint John in fifteen fifty two.
Mister al Knott of Oxford, who contributed this bit of
historical knowledge rights does this render it less probable that

(08:12):
the poet's grandfather was Richard Milton of Stanton? Or are
other instances known of Roman Catholics serving the office of
churchwarden under the Protestant regime of the period. In the
same paper a little later, mister Hyde Clark writes on
the subject of Milton's father being a choir boy at

(08:32):
Christ Church, my Oxford and other correspondence, including mister Mark Pattison,
the eloquent critic of the poet, who is labored in
this investigation, I have looked unfavorably on my proposition, i e.
That he was a chorister of Christ Church, because they
considered the Roman Catholic recusant can never have sent his

(08:53):
son to any heretical school. An answer is now given
in my favor by mister Allnutt, because if in fifteen
fifty two Richard Milton could serve as churchwarden, the other
matter of providing a scholarship for his son was but
a small one. It is further probable that Richard Milton
became a confirm Roman Catholic only in his later years.

(09:17):
Hyde Clark, I think it is quite possible, and even
very probable, that Milton's father learnt his music at christ Church.
Then who taught him? Whoever it was, it turned out
a thoroughly good musician. Milton's own compositions prove it, and
as we have seen, he is associated with all the

(09:37):
best English composers of the period in more than one work.
Coming to London, we are told he had an organ
and other instruments in his house, and to the practice
of music he devoted his leisure. Mason says his special
faculty was music, and it is possible on his first
coming to London he had taught or practiced music profession.

(10:01):
He was evidently in the musical world of London, and
his house was probably the resort of many of the
best musicians of the time. The short Motet for Tears
and lamentations is in a good contrapunctal style, with many devices,
which a man would use if he had been educated
in a cathedral choir. The style had eaten into his marril,

(10:25):
as old Sir John Goss once said to me, in
reference to a chorister's daily musical work. Another interesting matter
is Milton's contribution to ravenscroft Whole Book of Psalms, published
in sixteen twenty one. Here found two tunes credited to
John Milton, but I think there is no doubt they

(10:46):
were merely harmonized by him. The best one is a
tune still often sung in our churches, entitled York. This
seems to be an old Scottish tune. It was published
in Edinburgh in sixteen fifty. It appears three times in
Ravencroft's book, and with different harmonies, two of them being
by the elder Milton. The melody in this tune is

(11:09):
of course given to the tenor, as was the custom
at this time. The tune has always been a favorite,
and an old author says it was so well known
that half the nurses in England used to sing the
tenor part as a lullaby. This sounds rather starkly, one
would not believe that any baby could be put to
sleep by hearing the tenor part of any him tune.

(11:33):
But the tenor part here is the melody, and really
it has a gentle swaying style about it, so that I,
for one believe the story of the nurses and the babies.
The melody is given in English Country Songs, edited by
Miss Broadwood and mister Fuller. Maitland allied to some amusing words.

(11:54):
Although we cannot claim the elder Milton as a musician
who did much to advance the art, I think I
may be forgiven for having included his name in my list.
So little has said about him in musical histories, and
I have been able, I think, to get together some
comparatively unknown matter regarding him, that I hope I have

(12:14):
done right giving place among my twelve good musicians to
John Milton, the Elder end of Chapter seven