Biography (read more)
William Croft (baptised 30 December 1678 – 14 August 1727) was an English Baroque composer and organist. Born at the Manor House in Nether Ettington, Warwickshire, he was educated at the Chapel Royal under John Blow. He became organist of St Anne’s Church, Soho, and later a Gentleman and organist of the Chapel Royal, a post he shared with his friend Jeremiah Clarke. In 1707 he was appointed Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and in 1708 he succeeded Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey.
Croft wrote music for the funeral of Queen Anne (1714) and the coronation of George I (1715). In 1724 he published Musica Sacra, the first English collection of church music to be printed in score, containing his Burial Service. His Funeral Sentences have been sung at every British state funeral since, and he is widely remembered for the hymn tune “St Anne”, set to “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”. The keyboard Ground in C minor attributed to him was later used by the composer Michael Nyman.
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Repertoire
Ground in C minor
Performed by Apolline Khou
Ye Tuneful Numbers. A Song With Symphonies: II. Air, Ye Tuneful Numbers— Iestyn Davies
Performed by Iestyn Davies
Ye Tuneful Numbers. A Song With Symphonies: III. Air, Tell Her I’m Wounded— Iestyn Davies
Performed by Iestyn Davies
Ye Tuneful Numbers. A Song With Symphonies: IV. Recitative, But Oh Why Shou’d I Blame This…— Iestyn Davies
Performed by Iestyn Davies
Ye Tuneful Numbers. A Song With Symphonies: V. Air, When Thousands More, the Same Must Share— Iestyn Davies
Performed by Iestyn Davies
Croft: A Hymn on Divine Musick (Arr. Britten for High Voice & Piano)— Ian Bostridge
Performed by Ian Bostridge
J.S. Bach: Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54: I. Aria. Widerstehe doch der Sünde— Iestyn Davies
Performed by Iestyn Davies