John Wall Callcott

Who was John Wall Callcott?

John Wall Callcott was an eminent English composer.

Callcott was born in Kensington, London. He was a pupil of Haydn, and is celebrated mainly for his glee compositions and catches. In the best known of his catches he ridiculed Sir John Hawkins' History of Music. Although ill-health prevented Callcott from completing his Musical Dictionary, His Musical Grammar remained in use throughout the 19th century.

His glees number at least 100, of which 8 won prizes. Callcott set lyrics by leading poets of his day, including Thomas Gray, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Chatterton, Robert Southey and Ossian. They include:

O snatch me swift for 5 voices SATBarB

It was a friar of orders grey for 3 voices SSB

In the lonely vale of streams for 4 voices SATB

Ella for 4 voices SATB

Cara, vale! for 4 voices SSTB

Father of Heroes for 5 voices ATTBB

The Erl-King - a setting of Goethe's Erlkönig translated into English by Matthew Lewis, author of the Gothic novel, The Monk,

the original setting of Drink to me only with thine eyes

A number of his glees specify two soprano or treble voices, the second of which has a range appropriate to a female mezzo-soprano or contralto.