Samuel Webbe
Encyclopedia
Samuel Webbe was an English composer.

Born in Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....

 in 1740, Webbe was brought up in London. His father died when he was still a baby and his mother returned to London where she raised Webbe in difficult circumstances. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to a cabinet maker, and during the first year of his apprenticeship his mother died. Webbe determined to educate himself. He first discovered his aptitude for music when called on to repair the case of a harpsichord. During the course of the repair work he taught himself to play the instrument. Near the end of the job he was overheard playing it. As a result of this incident he turned to the study of music under Carl Barbandt
Carl Barbandt
Stephan Carl Philipp Barbandt , known as Charles Barbandt in England, was a German musician and a minor composer. He was baptised on 30 April 1716 in Hanover and died in London sometime after 1775. He was employed as the organist at the Bavarian Embassy Chapel in London from 1764...

.

In 1766, he was given a prize medal by the Catch Club for his "O that I had wings', and in all he obtained twenty-seven medals for as many canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...

s, catch
Catch (music)
In music, a catch or trick canon is a type of round - a musical composition in which two or more voices repeatedly sing the same melody or sometimes slightly different melodies, beginning at different times. In a catch, the lines of lyrics interact so that a word or phrase is produced that does...

es, and glee
Glee (music)
A glee is an English type of part song spanning the late baroque, classical and early romantic periods. It is usually scored for at least three voices, and generally intended to be sung unaccompanied. Glees often consist of a number of short, musically contrasted movements and their texts can be...

s, including "Discord, dire sister", "Glory be to the Father", "Swiftly from the mountain's brow", and "To thee all angels". Other glees like "When winds breathe soft", "Thy voice, O Harmony", and "Would you know my Celia's charms" are even better known. A Roman Catholic, in 1776 he succeeded George Paxton as organist of the Sardinian Embassy Chapel
Sardinian Embassy Chapel
The Sardinian Embassy Chapel was an important Roman Catholic church attached to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Lincoln's Inn area of London.-History:...

, a position which he held until 1795: he was also organist and choirmaster of chapel of the Portuguese Embassy in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the only place in London where the Catholic liturgy could be publicly celebrated. Webbe's "An Essay on the Church Plain Chant" (1782), was followed by a "Collection of Motetts" (1792) and "A Collection of Masses for Small Choirs" (1795), both of which were extensively used in Catholic churches throughout Great Britain and more widely through the 19th century. If not of a very high order, they are at least devotional, and historically important in terms of the start of the revival of Roman Catholic liturgical music in England. Some of his motets and hymns are still sung in Catholic and Anglican churches today: the (Anglican) "English Hymnal" included eight musical settings by Webbe, and "Liturgical Hymns Old and New" (1999) widely used today in English Catholic churches also includes eight of his works, including popular settings of "O Salutaris Hostia" and "Tantum Ergo" for the Catholic service of Benediction. His hymn tune Melcombe, often sung to the words New Every Morning is the Love is also regularly heard in Anglican and Catholic churches today. Webbbe also published nine books of glees, between the years 1764 and 1798, and some songs. Arguably his glees are his best claim on posterity, though his church music was particularly influential. He wrote one opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, The Speechless Wife, which premiered at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

 on May 22, 1794.

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