Clarke, Jeremiah

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Clarke, Jeremiah

Clarke, Jeremiah, English organist and composer; b. probably in London, c. 1674; d. there (suicide), Dec. 1, 1707. He was a chorister in the Chapel Royal before serving as organist at Winchester Coll. (c. 1692–95). In 1699 he was made vicar-choral and organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, where he assumed the position of Master of the Choristers in 1703. In 1700 he became a Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapel Royal, and in 1704 he was made joint organist there with Croft. Clarke shot himself over a hopeless love affair with one of his pupils of noble lineage. His most celebrated score is the Trumpet Voluntary, erroneously ascribed to Purcell for many years and included in a harpsichord anthology as The Prince of Denmark’s March (1700). It also appeared in a suite for wind instruments. Among his other works were theater music, services, about 20 anthems, including one for the coronation of Queen Anne (1702), odes, and harpsichord pieces.

Bibliography

T. Taylor, Thematic Catalog of the Works of J. C. (Detroit, 1977).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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