William Child

For other people named William Child, see William Child (disambiguation).

William Child

Portrait by James Caldwall

Background information
Born| 1606
Died| 23 March 1697(1697-03-23) (aged 90–91)
Genres| Church music
Instrument| Organ

Musical artist

William Child (1606 – 23 March 1697) was an English composer and organist.

## Early life

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Born in Bristol, Child was a chorister in the cathedral under the direction of Elway Bevin. In 1630 he began his lifetime association with St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, becoming first a lay-clerk and, from 1632, Master of the Choristers there until the dissolution of the chapel in 1643. After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Child was re-appointed to St. George's, became Master of the King's Wind Music and a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.

## Works

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His output of church music is understandably considerable, including a set of psalms (1639), many anthems and 17 service settings. He was often influenced by the Italian 'tastes' of his time, but also wrote anthems in more conventional English forms.

Little secular music of Child survives, namely, a number of catches and instrumental pieces.

## Sources

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* Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Child.

* Free scores by William Child at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
* Free scores by William Child in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

Cultural offices

Preceded by

New position created after the Interregnum

|  First Organist of the Chapel Royal
1660-1697  | Succeeded by

Francis Pigott

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Italy
* Latvia
* Israel

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* SNAC
* Yale LUX