Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flintoft, Luke

1149787Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 19 — Flintoft, Luke1889John Alexander Fuller Maitland

FLINTOFT, LUKE (d. 1727), composer, took the degree of B.A. at Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1700, and was appointed priest-vicar at Lincoln Cathedral in 1704. He remained there until 1714. On 4 Dec. 1715 he was sworn as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and is described in the ‘Cheque Book’ as ‘from Worcester,’ which therefore was probably his birthplace. On 9 July 1719 he was appointed reader in Whitehall Chapel, and was subsequently made a minor canon of Westminster. He died on 3 Nov. 1727, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. His claim to a place in musical history depends upon the question whether a certain ‘double chant’ in G minor, attributed to him, is or is not the first specimen of the kind in existence. The arguments for and against this will be found in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 3rd ser. x. 206, xi. 267, 391, and 445.

[Grove's Dict. i. 533; Bemrose's Chant Book; Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal, ed. Rimbault; Graduati Cantabr. (1823), p. 172; Notes and Queries, as above.]

J. A. F. M.