Matthew Locke 1621-1677

I had always been under the impression that Matthew Locke was one of the minor seventeenth century composers. Locke was part of the unlucky generation to be caught up in the Civil War and then the Commonwealth. He lived in the Netherlands for a while and became a Roman Catholic. During the Protectorate, there was no place for church musicians, but he wrote a number of pieces for the theatre and was appointed to a position in court at the Restoration.

Locke has been eclipsed by the better known Henry Purcell, but listening to this set for The Tempest, the verdict seems unjust. I am not suggesting that Purcell was a plagiarist, but there are pieces here which turn up almost unchanged in some of the Purcell settings such as the Faerie Queen. The practice of re-using earlier music was widespread in the Baroque period. Handel was a master of the art, but it must be a good thing to acknowledge the source.