CLARK, Jeremiah, [App. p.591 adds that "he is said to have been born in 1669, but that the date is probably much earlier"] was a chorister in the Chapel Royal under Dr. Blow. After leaving the choir he became, for a short time, organist of Winchester College. In 1693 hia master, Dr. Blow, resigned in his favour the appointments of almoner and master of the children of St. Paul's Cathedral. About 1695 he was appointed organist and one of the vicars choral of St. Paul's. On July 7, 1700, Clark, and his fellow-pupil, William Croft, were sworn in as gentlemen extraordinary of the Chapel Royal, with the joint reversion of an organist's place, whenever one should fall vacant, a contingency which happened on May 15, 1704, by the death of Francis Piggott, on which Clark and Croft were on May 25 sworn in as joint organists. Clark, having the misfortune to become enamoured of a lady whose position in life rendered his union with her hopeless, fell into a state of despondency, under the influence of which he shot himself. The precise date of his death has not been ascertained, but it was, doubtless, shortly before Nov. 5, 1707, when Croft was sworn into the full place of organist of the Chapel Royal. Clark composed several anthems, chiefly of a pathetic kind, but not deficient either in force or dignity. He was the original composer of Dryden's famous ode, 'Alexander's Feast,' which was performed at Stationers' Hall on the occasion for which it was written, the feast on St. Cecilia's day, Nov. 22, 1697, and at two or three concerts shortly afterwards; but the music was not printed, and seems now irretrievably lost. In the same year [App. p.591 "1699"] Clark (in conjunction with Daniel Purcell and Richard Leveridge) composed the music for the opera 'The Island Princess,' and (jointly with Daniel Purcell) for the opera 'The World in the Moon' [App. p.591 "1697"]. He also furnished music for 'The Fond Husband' (1676), Sedley's 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1677), 'Titus Andronicus' (1687), and 'A Wife for any Man,' [App. p.591 adds "'The Campaigners,' 1698; 'The Bath,' 1701; 'All for the better,' 1702, and 'the Committee,' 1706"] besides composing an ode in praise of the Island of Barbados, a cantata called 'The Assumption,' some lessons for the harpsichord, and numerous songs published in the collections of the day. [App. p.591 & 2 adds "Since the publication of the article in the Dictionary of National Biography, from which the above additions are taken, its writer, Mr. W. Barclay Squire, has succeeded in establishing the date of Clark's death, concerning which authorities have hitherto been at variance. The printed copies of Hawkins's History give Nov. 5 as the date, but in a copy corrected by Hawkins himself, now in the British Museum, this is altered to Dec. 1, 1707; a contemporary news-sheet has been found which confirms this date beyond a doubt. For the detailed account of the occurrence, and for the process by which the true date has been established, the reader is referred to the Athenæum of April 2, 1887."]
CLARK, Richard, was born at Datchet, Bucks, April 5, 1780. At an early age he became chorister at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, under Dr. Aylward, and of Eton College under Stephen Heather. In 1803 he succeeded his grandfather, John Sale, the elder, as lay clerk at St. George's and Eton College; these appointinents he held until 1811. In 1805 he officiated as deputy in the metropolitan choirs, and in the same year was appointed secretary to the Glee Club. He subsequently obtained the places of lay vicar of Westminster Abbey, and vicar-choral of St. Paul's, and in 1820 succeeded Joseph Corfe as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1814 Clark published a volume of the poetry of the most favourite glees, madrigals, rounds, and catches, with a preface containing an account of the song 'God save the King,' the composition of which he there attributed to Henry Carey. A second edition of this work appeared in 1824, but the subject of the popular tune was omitted, Clark having in 1822 published a separate volume assigning its composition to Dr. John Bull. [See God save the King.] Clark distinguished himself by his assiduity in endeavouring to procure for the various cathedral and collegiate choirs a restitution of their statutory rights and privileges. He was the composer of a few anthems, chants, and glees, and the author of several pamphlets on 'Handel and the Harmonious Blacksmith, etc.'; Handel's 'Messiah'; the derivation of the word 'Madrigale.' Musical pitch, etc. He died Oct. 5, 1856.
CLARKE, John, Mus. Doc., afterwards known as Clarke-Whitfeld, was born at Gloucester Dec. 13, 1770, and received his musical education at Oxford under Dr. Philip Hayes. In 1789 he was appointed organist of the parish church of Ludlow; in 1793 he took the degree of Bachelor of Music at Oxford; in 1795 he was appointed organist of Armagh Cathedral, which he quitted in the same year for the places of organist and master of the choristers of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church, Dublin. In 1798 the Irish rebellion led him to resign his appointments and return to England, [App. p.592 replaces with "… in the same year (1793) he was appointed master of the choristers (not organist) at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church, Dublin. In 1794 he succeeded Richard Langdon as organist of Armagh Cathedral, which post he held till 1797. In 1795 he took the degree of Mus. D. in Dublin, and in 1799 the Irish rebellion led him to resign his appointments …"] where he soon afterwards became organist and master of the choristers of Trinity and St. John's Colleges, Cambridge. In the following year he took the degree of Doctor of Music at Cambridge, and in 1810 was admitted ad eundem at Oxford. He assumed the name of Whitfeld, in addition to his paternal name of Clarke, on the death [App. p.592 "1814"] of his maternal uncle, Henry Fotherley Whitfeld. In 1820 he resigned his appointments at Cambridge for those of organist and master of the choristers of Hereford Cathedral, and on the death of Dr. Hague, in 1821, he was elected Professor of Music in the University of Cambridge. In 1833, in consequence of an attack of paralysis, he resigned his appointments at Hereford. He died at Holmer, near Hereford, Feb. 23, 1836, and was buried in the cloisters of Hereford Cathedral, where a mural tablet is erected to his memory. Dr. Clarke-Whitfeld's compositions consist of Cathedral Services and Anthems (published in four vols. in 1805 and subsequently), 'The Crucifixion and the Resurrection,' an oratorio, and numerous glees, songs, etc. He edited a collection containing thirty anthems from the works of various composers. Amongst the many works arranged by him for voices and pianoforte his edition of several of Handel's oratorios and other pieces must not be forgotten, as being the first of that author's works so treated.
CLASSICAL is a term which in music has much the same signification as it has in literature. It is used of works which have held their place in general estimation for a considerable time, and of new works which are generally considered to be of the same type and style. Hence the name has come to be especially applied to works in the forms which were adopted by the great masters of the latter part of the last century, as instrumental works in the sonata form, and operas constructed after the received
