Thomas Tudway facts for kids

Thomas Tudway (died 1726) was an English musician and a music professor at Cambridge University. He is well-known for writing music and for putting together a huge collection of Anglican church music.

Thomas Tudway

Early Life and Music Career

Thomas Tudway was likely born before 1650. He started his musical journey very young, becoming a choirboy in the Chapel Royal soon after the King returned to power.

In 1670, he became the organist at King's College, Cambridge. An organist is someone who plays the organ, a large musical instrument. He also taught the choirboys there for a while. Later, he became the organist at Pembroke College and Great St. Mary's church too.

In 1681, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree (Mus. Bac.). For this, he composed two pieces: one based on Psalm 20 in English and another on Psalm 2 in Latin. Both pieces included music for an orchestra.

Becoming a Professor

After the first music professor at Cambridge, Nicholas Staggins, passed away in 1700, Tudway was chosen to take his place on January 30, 1705. He then earned his Doctor of Music degree (Mus. Doc.). His special musical piece for this, an anthem called "Thou, O God, hast heard our desire," was performed at King's College Chapel. This happened on April 16, when Queen Anne visited the university.

He was even suggested to become a special composer and organist for the Queen, but this never officially happened.

A Small Trouble and Return to Work

Thomas Tudway was known for making jokes, especially puns (wordplay). On July 28, 1706, he made a joke about the Queen that was considered offensive. Because of this, he was temporarily removed from all his degrees and lost his professorship and his three organist jobs.

However, on March 10, 1707, he publicly apologized and took back his comment. After that, he was officially forgiven and got all his positions back. If he hadn't upset the Queen, he might have become a composer for the Chapel Royal, a very important musical role. His music was considered as good as other composers of his time.

Tudway passed away on November 23, 1726. Maurice Greene took over as professor in July 1730.

The Harleian Music Collection

One of Thomas Tudway's most important projects was for Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, a powerful politician. From 1714, Tudway started copying a huge collection of music for the Anglican church. At that time, much of this music was not written down and easily available.

He created six large books, known as the Harleian Manuscripts (7337–42), which had over 3,000 pages! He wrote letters to Humphrey Wanley, who helped him with this project. Tudway gathered 70 church services and 244 anthems (songs for church choirs) by 85 different composers. Of these, 19 anthems and one service were his own compositions. He found music from old manuscripts all over England, but a lot of it came from old choir books at Ely Cathedral.

Thomas Tudway's Sacred Music

Thomas Tudway's church music was very good, matching the quality of other composers from his era. He was especially skilled at writing music for the organ to play along with singers, often using special sounds from the organ to create a duet with a voice.

Here are some of the anthems and services he composed:

Tudway's anthem "Is it true that God will dwell with men?" was performed at St George's Chapel, Windsor, when Queen Anne first attended there. He also wrote a special thanksgiving anthem, "I will sing of Thy great mercies," to celebrate the victory at the battle of Blenheim.

In 1720, Tudway composed anthems and a Te Deum (a Christian hymn) with orchestral music for the dedication of Lord Oxford's private chapel at Wimpole Hall. He added a Jubilate (another hymn) in 1721. However, the chapel itself was never officially dedicated, so it's unlikely these pieces were performed there during Tudway's lifetime.

Some of his songs were published in different collections. One of his anthems, "Thou, O Lord, hast heard our desire," was printed in a book called Cathedral Music.