out of his place, nor the execution) had a small chamber-organ by, on which he perform'd with them the same services.' North adds that Locke 'set most of the Psalms to musick in parts for the use of some vertuoso ladyes in the city, and he composed a magnified consort of 4 parts after the old style, which was the last of the kind that hath been made.'
According to the testimony of Downes in his 'Roscius Anglicanus,' Locke was author of the well-known 'Macbeth' music for its representation in 1672, but this music is now ascribed to Henry Purcell. Locke did compose 'Macbeth' music, some of which was published in 1666 and again in 1669, but it has no resemblance to the popular music which passes under his name. He wrote instrumental music for the Dryden and D'Avenant version of the 'Tempest,' and vocal music with Draghi in 1673 for Shadwell's 'Psyche,' which he published with an interesting preface in 1675.
In 1672 Locke was involved in a bitter controversy with Thomas Salmon, who had published 'An Essay to the Advancement of Musick, by casting away the Perplexity of different Cliffs.' Locke replied to Salmon's proposals in 'Observations upon a Late Book entitled "An Essay,"' &c.; Salmon retorted in 'A Vindication of an Essay,' and Locke answered him again in 1673 in 'The Present Practise of Music Vindicated.' Other writers joined in the fray, which was carried on with characteristic asperity; but Salmon's proposals had no practical result, and Locke had the better of the argument.
In 1673 a small treatise by Locke appeared, with the title 'Melothesia, or Certain General Rules for Playing upon a Continued Bass, with a Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Organ of all sorts;' and he contributed to numerous printed collections of the time, including:
- 'Courtly Masquing Ayres,' 1662.
- 'Musick's Delight on the Cithern,' 1666.
- 'Catch that Catch can, or the Musical Companion,' 1667.
- 'Apollo's Banquet,' 1669.
- 'The Treasury of Musick,' 1669.
- 'Cantica Sacra,' 1674.
- 'Choice Ayres,' 1676-84.
- 'Musick's Handmaid,' 1678.
- 'Greeting's Pleasant Companion,' 1680.
- 'The Theater of Musick,' 1687.
- 'Harmonia Sacra,' 1688 and 1714.
Locke lived in the Savoy, and died in August 1677. He is supposed to have been buried in the Savoy Chapel, but the absence of the registers of the chapel for that year renders the assertion unprovable. He left no will, and his widow having renounced her right to administer his estate, letters for the purpose were granted to the musician's daughter, Mary Locke, 13 Dec. 1677. Locke lived on the most intimate terms with Henry Purcell [q. v.] and other members of the Purcell family. Purcell composed an ode, solo and chorus, 'On the Death of his Worthy Friend, Mr. Matthew Locke, Musick Composer in Ordinary to His Majesty, and Organist of Her Majesties Chappel who Dyed in August 1677,' which was printed by Playford. Locke in his early days spelt his name without the final vowel, but eventually adopted the form here given.
A certain 'Matthew Lock of Westminster' obtained a license, dated 8 March 1663-4, to marry in London, Alice, daughter of Edmund Smyth of Annables, Hertfordshire (Chester, Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 854). It is needful to remember that there was living at the same time as the musician another Matthew Lock, who was 'secretary-at-war,' and is frequently mentioned in Pepys's 'Diary.'
North writes with some regret of Locke's abandonment of 'the old style' for 'the modes of his time,' and of his fall 'into the theatricall way;' but he admits that his compositions for 'the semi-operas' met 'with very good success' and only gave way to 'the divine Purcell.' His 'viol-music' was highly esteemed, and may be judged by the specimens in the autograph collection of his compositions which he presented to Charles II in 1672; it is now in the British Museum (Add. MS. 17801). The same library contains the autograph scores of the music to the Psalms (ib. 31437) and of the masque 'Cupid and Death'(ib. 17799). Other manuscript compositions are to be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Ely Cathedral, and the Royal College of Music. Several part books with sackbut music composed for the king, which belonged to Charles II, are in the possession of the present writer, together with a perfect set of the Salmon and Locke controversial tracts, believed by Hawkins not to exist. An oil portrait of Locke is preserved in the university of Oxford.
[Sir J. Hawkins's Hist. of Music; Burney's Hist. of Music; Grove's Dict. of Music; North's Memoirs of Musick, ed. Rimbault, pp. 95-6.]
LOCKE or LOCK, WILLIAM (1732–1810), art amateur, born in 1732, belonged to a family which claimed connection with that of John Locke the philosopher. Locke was well known as a wealthy amateur of his day, and formed a collection of works of art at Rome, which included the picture of 'St. Ursula' by Claude, now in the National Gallery, and among other antique marbles
