William Crotch

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William Crotch, 1820

William Crotch (born July 5, 1775 in Norwich , † December 29, 1847 in Taunton ) was an English composer and organist who caused a sensation as an early musical talent.

Life

William Crotch, the musical child prodigy in England , from: Picture Academy for Young People, Nuremberg, late 18th century.

William Crotch caused a sensation as an early musical talent. He is said to have been able to play the national anthem on an organ constructed by his father, a carpenter, at the age of 2 years and 3 months. In February 1779, the composer and music historian Charles Burney gave a lecture at the Academy of Sciences on the phenomenon of the not yet four-year-old, who had meanwhile also demonstrated perfect pitch. In the following years Crotch appeared in public as a musical child prodigy, for example, as a four-year-old, he gave daily concerts in a hatter's premises in Piccadilly / London .

In 1786 William Crotch began studying at Cambridge ; his oratorio The Captivity of Judah , composed around this time, was premiered in 1789 in the local Trinity Hall. In 1788 Crotch moved to Oxford to study theology there, but soon turned back to music, became organist at Christ Church in Oxford in 1790 and obtained a bachelor's degree in music in 1794. In 1797 Crotch became a university professor of music and organist at St. John's College . Around 1807 he moved to London, where he worked as a teacher and gave lectures. Crotch also engaged in the fine arts, got in touch with John Constable and published some etchings and drawings in 1809. For a time he was a member of the Philharmonic Society of London . In 1822 he was appointed director of the newly established Royal Academy of Music . One of his students there was William Sterndale Bennett . He resigned from his position as director in 1832. In 1834 Crotch withdrew from the public eye and spent the last years of his life with his son in Taunton.

plant

Crotch composed three oratorios: he set The Captivity of Judah to music twice, and in 1812 he wrote Palestine, the first English oratorio for more than forty years. However, the grown-up composer could not fulfill the hopes placed in the child prodigy; his works are regarded as a rather pale Handel echo with Haydn's influences . Some of his choral songs and anthems are still cultivated in England . He also wrote two symphonies, an organ concerto and didactic works.

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personal data
SURNAME Crotch, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English composer and organist
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwich
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1847
Place of death Taunton