Matthew Locke: A Dynamic Figure in English Music

Author(s): Anthony Lewis

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 74th Sess. (1947 - 1948), pp. 57-71
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
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 6 MAY, 1948.

FRANK HOWES, ESQ., M.A.,

PRESIDENT,
IN THE CHAIR.

MATTHEW LOCKE : A DYNAMIC FIGURE

IN ENGLISH MUSIC.

BY ANTHONY LEWIS, M.A., MUS.B.,

Professor of Music in the University of Birmingham.

THE seventeenth century is conspicuous in musical history

for the picturesque and unorthodox personalities that
flourished during its span. None of them was more vigorous,
colourful or intrepid than that robust and adventurous
character, Matthew Locke. Born about x63o, and therefore
the older contemporary of Buxtehude and Lully, Locke
grew up in an age that was largely occupied in trying to
absorb the new doctrines expounded or implied by the
Florentine revolutionaries at the beginning of the century.
The pupil of Christopher Gibbons, his musical lineage thus
sprang in direct succession from the great Elizabethan poly-
phonic school, and the conflict between that tradition and
the new methods infiltrating from the continent was the
perpetual undercurrent of his development. The earlier
generation of composers, which included such men as
William Child and Christopher Gibbons himself, had been
inclined to evade the issue, and let it be understood that it
was too late for them to undertake so fundamental a re-
orientation. But it was impossible to ignore any longer the
changing aspect of European music; the new influences
abroad had to be incorporated into the national idiom, how-
ever drastic the process involved. Locke was not one to
decline such a difficult and, in many ways, thankless task;
on the contrary the challenge afforded him a certain stimulus.
It demanded a man of dauntless fibre, and Locke was tough,
both personally and musically. He had need to be, for as if
his artistic problems were not sufficient, they were set
against a background of social upheaval. His youth was
spent under the early Stuarts, the Commonwealth witnessed
his progress to maturity, and the climax of his career was
reached during the Restoration. He is thus of unusual

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 58 Matthew Locke

interest historically, since his life not only spans the artistic
gap between the last survivals of the Elizabethan period and
the widespread adoption of the Italian manner, but also
links two political eras separated by a succession of events
that profoundly changed the whole constitutional scene.
Locke's most important appointments, as regards his
standing and prestige, were those of Composer in ordinary
to the King and Organist to the Queen. Whether either of
these posts, particularly the first, could be relied upon as a
regular source of income is highly questionable, in view of
the monarch's chronic insolvency and his unwelcome habit
of placing music high amongst his cultural necessities but its
exponents correspondingly low in the long line of his
material creditors. But such offices will have been valued
for the access they gave to more lucrative fields and the
opportunities provided for personal distinction.
Locke was no stranger to his duties at the Chapel Royal.
He had been a chorister at Exeter Cathedral under Edward
Gibbons, and as an adult had been a sufficiently accom-
plished solo singer to take part in Davenant's Siege of Rhodes
in x656. His vocal line has a quality above that of the able
craftsman who has carefully observed singing technique;
it gives the appearance of having been conceived by one
who was an executant himself. He had also gained some
experience of current continental trends in church music
during his visit to the Low Countries in x648. He copied
there certain motets by minor Italian composers of the day
that were representative as far as style and procedure were
concerned, though valuable in little else. One would not
expect a musician of his creative vitality to extract much
substance from these collections of moribund formulae, but
his study of the idiom gave him something to build on, and
placed him in a strong position in serving a royal patron
with pronounced foreign inclinations in artistic matters. For
the rest he had ideas enough of his own, without needing to
borrow them elsewhere; it was chiefly the structure of
these works that attracted his interest, not their content.
His church music shows that he both admitted and
rejected many features exhibited by his models. The
Italian declamatory style is there, though much strengthened
and intensified, while the general organisation of material
owes much to the same source, and also to French principles
of construction. On the other hand, Locke eschews the com-
placent fatuity of the more insipid and perfunctory Italian
cantilena and rejects the prevailing tendency towards regular
design and smoothness of finish where these are pursued

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 Matthew Locke 59

irrespective of the spirit of the text. In view of the peculiar

circumstances existing at the Restoration, and in particular
the unavoidable delay in the reconstruction of choirs dis-
banded during the Commonwealth, Locke found himself
considerably restricted in the extent and quality of the
resources at his disposal. The choirboys were, at best, an
uncertain factor for some years and the prudent composer
did not entrust anything too elaborate to the treble line
unless he was very sure of his executants. Not all the lay
clerks either might have attained the old standards, and
there was consequently a disposition to rely more and more
on individual solo singers whose capacities were known. We
should not be surprised therefore to discover that the bulk
of Locke's anthems are Verse or Solo anthems, with the
short tuttis regarded more often as solo ensembles than as
true choral passages. There are notable exceptions to this,
such as the fine Lord, let me know mine end, but taken as
a whole, Locke's church music makes little use of the rich
and spacious choral effects employed to such advantage by
Purcell. That this is not due to any fundamental incapacity
on Locke's part is sufficiently demonstrated by slight but
convincing evidence in his dramatic music and canons.
Lacking the encouragement and stimulus of a highly trained
and well balanced full choir, he decided to concentrate on
producing the maximum expressiveness from solo declama-
tion. In Arise, 0 Lord and other Verse Anthems of the
same calibre he attains a striking degree of success in this
direction, and the text is expanded and illumined thereby.
Elsewhere he is not so successful, and in his preoccupation
with increasing the impact of key words, neglects the over-
riding necessity of preserving the sense of the phrase, and
the shape of the paragraph of which it forms part.
An admirable example of his skill in simple homophonic
writing may be found in his set of responses to the Ten
Commandments. This was the set that caused such a com-
motion when it was placed before the Chapel Royal choir
in 1666. Accustomed to use the same mechanical response
for nine out of ten of the Commandments, the choir appar-
ently protested against Locke's version, in which there is
different music for each response. For his part Locke may
have been justly incensed at this indolent reaction to his
work, for it is clear that it was produced with much thought
and imagination. Without being in the least pretentious or
departing from an appropriate simplicity, each setting of
the response is subtly varied in rhythm and melody and the
whole sequence linked together by a skilful use of modulation

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 6o Matthew Locke

and cadence. These responses are worthy of an honourable

place in their own limited but exclusive field, and one can
understand Locke's vigorously expressed resentment at their
reception.
Yet despite these material achievements, Locke never
gives the impression that he is entirely at his ease in church
music. Certainly one would not have imagined that the
Restoration church would have subjected its composers to
any very irksome discipline, but such an independent
character as Locke may have felt confined by even such a
minimum of restraint. Sometimes he seems to relax more
freely when setting a Latin text, and there are many delight-
ful passages in the Latin motets included in Playford's
Cantica Sacra (1674). His Cantate Domino for two
sopranos is a spirited piece with a short but distinctive
Hallelujah, while O Domine Jesu Christi, for the same
combination of voices, is an exquisitely poignant miniature,
very moving in its tender appeal. No doubt Locke could be
rough and uncouth on occasion, but such pages show him
also capable of great delicacy and poise.
Apart from his compositions for the Chapel Royal, Locke's
official activities also included the provision of music for
court ceremonies and state occasions. This must have often
been a thankless task, alike from the routine nature of the
celebration, the artificial sentiments it aroused and the
ephemeral career of the music written for it. But once at
least his imagination was deeply stirred, and the occasion
was certainly a notable one, being the King's progress from
the Tower to Whitehall the day before his coronation-
an event that was to confirm the restoration of the English
monarch. Seldom has a sovereign been greeted under such
circumstances with finer music than that which Locke pro-
vided. The suite of short movements constituting his Music
for the King's Sackbuts and Cornetts has both dignity and
brilliance ; the rhythmic flow is admirably controlled and
the splendid vitality of the part-writing draws the music on
with impressive momentum. One of the most remarkable
features is the instinctive feeling shown for the treatment of
a brass ensemble. It is clear from the score that it was
designed specifically for that medium, and the noble effect
in performance fully confirms that view. Unless we are to
suppose the entire loss of other works of similar character,
this brass music of Locke's represents a unique phenomenon
in its period, and it is something of a mystery how he obtained
the experience necessary to accomplish it so confidently. It
seems as if Locke was the sole British exponent in the great

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 Matthew Locke 61

tradition of brass ensemble writing founded by Giovanni

Gabrieli and passed on by him to Heinrich Schiitz; he
certainly achieved here a sonority worthy of these two
masters.
We know from Purcell's Odes and Welcome Songs what
a Restoration composer had to endure from his librettist in
these formal addresses, and Locke suffered no more lightly
than others. Indeed one is tempted to think that the follow-
ing lines, from a Royal Birthday Ode set by Locke, sound
unsuspected depths of banality:
Welcome, welcome royal May,
Welcome long desired Spring,
Many Springs and Mays we've seen
Have brought forth what's gay and green,
But none is like this glorious day
Which brings forth our gracious King.

To a composer who had collaborated with Shirley, it must

have been a penance to deal with such stuff, and it is difficult
to blame Locke if sometimes his music is barely more dis-
tinguished. Rather, as with Purcell also, one is surprised
at the amount of real artistic value to be found developed
out of such unpromising material. The New Year's Song
beginning All things their certain periods have, while
presenting the humble duty of his loyal subjects to the
sovereign in unbelievably pedestrian terms, is linked with
many felicities of musical declamation and piquant harmony
of which the words are totally unworthy.
Locke was little better served in his solo songs. The long,
tortuous constructions and involved syntax of his poets did
not lend themselves easily to musical setting, and both
the literary and the melodic sense tend to become confused.
The rhythmical energy flags, and not all Locke's abundant
vitality can avail to revive the drooping line. But once, in
the charming-air To a Lady singing to herself by the Thames'
side does he seem at all suitably matched. It was only in
his dramatic music that this aspect of his art found its
proper scope.
As a dramatic composer Locke had a long and varied
career. When quite a young man he had had the larger
share, in company with Christopher Gibbons, in providing
the music for Shirley's masque Cupid and Death. In 1656
he was one of the three composers associated with Davenant's
famous production of The Siege of Rhodes, and there is
reason for thinking that he contributed at least some of the
music to Davenant's succeeding ventures The Cruelty of
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 62 Matthew Locke

the Spaniards in Peru and The History of Sir Francis Drake.

The original adaptation of Macbeth by Davenant had music
by Locke-though how much of this has survived in what
is often attributed to him is open to question-and for
another contemporary version of Shakespeare, that made by
Shadwell of The Tempest, he composed the orchestral inter-
ludes. Shadwell also chose Locke to undertake the major
part of the music in Psyche (styled by him 'The English
Opera') which was produced in 1673. Other playwrights
who enlisted Locke's co-operation included Sir Robert
Stapylton, in The Stepmother, and Elkanah Settle, in his
Empress of Morocco.
This is a very substantial list for the period, and represents
an output of dramatic music which for range and importance
could not be approached by any other English composer of
Locke's generation. He possessed a remarkably sure
instinct for the stage, and it is clear that he won the con-
fidence of the theatrical world of his day to an extent rarely
enjoyed by a musician. He may thus claim not only to have
been a pioneer in making experiments in operatic technique
in this country, but also by actual achievement to have laid
an indispensable foundation, on difficult and unfamiliar
ground, over which Purcell could build so magnificently
later.
Most of Locke's music in this field that is extant has
been discussed at length by Professor Dent in his masterly
Foundations of English Opera and in such cases I do not
propose to elaborate much further now. But there is one
interesting work of which I have seen no previous account,
that merits a study in some detail. I refer to Locke's setting
of the Masque in Settle's Empress of Morocco of which a
score exists in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford.
Though it was written towards the end of his career, in the
tale of Locke's dramatic composition this Masque occupies
something of a central place, coming after Cupid and Death
and The Siege of Rhodes but before Psyche or The Tempest.
It marks therefore a significant point in his development as
a composer for the theatre.
In Cupid and Death Locke had had fine opportunities for
exploiting the peculiarly English type of' recitative musick '
which he had adopted as his main channel of vocal expression.
Shirley's masque contained far more drama than had been
customary in these entertainments; the tendency which
Jonson had initiated of introducing dramatic incidents into
masques had been accentuated by him to a degree where
the scheme was little different from that of a play with

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 Matthew Locke 63

music. There are quite long passages of dialogue in Cupid

and Death and the action is often carried on through the
medium of music, instead of being reserved for the spoken
portions. Thus Shirley gave his composer good scope for
characterisation and dramatic effect, of which Locke was
not slow to take advantage. The dances especially are full
of lively invention, those for Death, for the Satyr and Apes,
and for the Old Men and Women being highly graphic and
arresting. The recitative is also telling--it is even imbued
at times with a kind of youthful ebullience--and the poet's
lines are delivered sensitively and with imagination. At the
crucial moments Locke never fumbles or misses his
chances; much of it is often very moving, as well as being
fresh and delightful. But with this engaging spontaneity it
possesses certain drawbacks. Locke's comparative in-
experience led him too frequently into the besetting weak-
ness of Lawes-the exact measuring of a self-contained
musical phrase against each separate line of the words.
Apart from the violence to the sense which this method
permits the musical result is piecemeal and lacking in con-
tinuity, and is liable to end in complete rhythmic stagnation.
Being far more genuinely creative than Lawes, Locke pre-
vented his recitative from being crippled by the constant
dynamic energy of his line, but this technical failing was a
persistent handicap which he found it hard to shake off.
From what we can deduce of his share (the fourth Entry)
in The Siege of Rhodes, the problem of sustained declamation
would also have been to the forefront there. That the author
was aware of the composers' difficulties in this respect is
plain from some interesting observations in his preface, in
which he explains some unusual features of literary style
as having been incorporated out of regard for musical con-
siderations. It is particularly disappointing, therefore, that
not a note of The Siege of Rhodes should have survived,
since it would have been possible to judge how far the task
of the composer in an extended scene had been eased by
this exceptionally sympathetic attitude on the part of the
dramatist. This gap in our knowledge caused by the loss of
The Siege of Rhodes adds materially to the interest of the
Masque in The Empress of Morocco, for this consists of a
single dramatic scene complete in itself and set to music
throughout. It gives us a unique chance of observing Locke's
declamatory power in circumstances where a convincing
atmosphere has to be created and maintained entirely
unsupported by any spoken narrative. It is, in fact, true
opera in embryo.
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 64 Matthew Locke

Elkanah Settle, who was born in 1648, made his name

with The Empress of Morocco. It was first privately presented
before the King at Whitehall, probably early in 1670, with
a cast drawn from the leading personalities at court. Having
found favour there, it was soon after transferred to the
professional stage, being produced at the newly opened
Dorset Gardens Theatre in 1671. This theatre had been
designed for Davenant by Wren, and was particularly
suited to the display of elaborate scenery, with which it
was lavishly equipped. If we seek the reasons for the
success of The Empress of Morocco, a play which to-day
seems to have few virtues, there is little doubt that much
must have been due to the spectacular effects that it
demanded, which were so much to the taste of the audiences
of the day. The scene is laid in the Morocco that existed in
the popular imagination of 1670, and the plot, which is
packed with lurid and sensational incident, concerns the
vile machinations of the Empress of that country, who is
represented as combining the attributes of Lady Macbeth,
Queen Gertrude and the White Devil and yet keeping plenty
of wickedness to spare. The Empress makes her lover,
Crimalhaz, poison the Emperor, and then plans the death
of her son who succeeds to the throne. For this second
murder again she gets her evil work done by another, this
time by means of a masque arranged by Crimalhaz as an
entertainment for the court. The story of the masque is
Orpheus's descent to Hell to rescue Euridice, and to secure
her ends the Empress persuades the young King and Queen
to take part. She tells her son that Crimalhaz, supported by
an overwhelming conspiracy, has sworn to murder him and
ravish his queen that very night, and that their only chance
of escape is for them to assume the characters of Orpheus
and Euridice at the end of the masque and make their way
to safety in disguise. The king agrees to this subterfuge
unaware that his queen has been told that it is not he but
Crimalhaz who is going to replace the actor playing Orpheus,
and that if she wishes to save his life and her honour, she must
stab Orpheus to the heart as he approaches her. The
Empress's nefarious ruse succeeds, and as the young king
comes forward to lead away his queen from the company, she
kills him with a dagger. But the triumph of the old Empress
is short lived, for all her stratagems eventually recoil upon
herself and she dies by her own hand.
It will be seen from this brief indication of the context
of the masque in the play that it has a most important place
in the scheme and occurs at what may be considered the

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 Matthew Locke 65
central point of climax, since it marks the turn in the
fortune3 of the principal character, the Empress. The
Masque is therefore no mere incidental diversion but an
essential part of the drama at a moment of the greatest
tension. Settle must have been very confident of Locke's
capacity for him to introduce an extended musical scene
at this juncture, since any serious weakness here would
have been fatal to the play as a whole. If the action were
not to be gravely impeded, the Masque had to be concise
in length, yet it had also to present its subject clearly and
expressively if it were to be convincing.
The scene of the Masque is Hell, in which Pluto,
Proserpine and other Women Spirits appear seated,
attended by Furies. Orpheus enters seeking Euridice and
accuses Pluto of having stolen her from him. Pluto,
enraged, is about to send him to his death also, but relents
at the plea of Proserpine. Orpheus is asked by Proserpine,
who wonders at his presence in Hell, to describe Euridice.
He replies:
If a gentle Ghost you hear
Complaining to the Winds, and sighing to the Air,
Breathing an unregarded Prayer;
If she in faint and murmuring whispers cry
'Orpheus, Orpheus, Oh I die,
Snatch'd from Heaven and thee,'
Oh, that is she.
Pluto is quite unmoved by Orpheus's petition, and declares
rather ponderously:
Shall Lovers' Idle Prayers disturb my Ear ?
Mortal, we've serious business here.
Your tiresome story pleads in vain;
Begone I
But here again Proserpine interposes a call for mercy, and
after some persistence on both sides, finally persuades Pluto
to release Euridice. Proserpine leaves the scene and
returns with Euridice (who it will be remembered is the
young queen in disguise). Orpheus sings a song in praise
of the power of love and his words are taken up by the
chorus in conclusion. Then, according to the stage direc-
tions, 'a Dance is performed, by several infernal Spirits,
who ascend from under the stage; the Dance ended, the
King (disguised as Orpheus) offers to snatch the Young
Queen from the Company, who instantly draws her dagger
and stabs him.'
After the Dorset Gardens production Settle's Empress of
Morocco became the centre of some sharp controversy,
more, one suspects, for personal reasons than for its literary

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 66 Matthew Locke

qualities. Settle had secured the favour of Rochester and

the court, who temporarily seemed to prefer him above all
rivals. This privileged position and some unfortunate
remarks made by Settle in his preface excited the anger of
Dryden and others, who combined to launch a lengthy
diatribe against the play, which took the form of a detailed
criticism practically line by line. Settle's bombast and care-
less grammar were easy targets and Dryden scored many
amusing hits; but he was apt to lay himself open to attack
at the same time, and Settle in his answer, which he pub-
lished soon after, frequently achieved a shrewd riposte at
Dryden's expense. For instance, at the beginning of the
Masque Orpheus describes the soothing effect of his art on
the denizens of Hades, using inter alia this phrase:
Whilst Ravished by my warbling Strings,
The Vultures moult their Wings;
These lines bring the following observation from Dryden:
Warbling Voices I have heard of; but if Elkanah had but under-
stood a Cittern (which I wonder he does not) he would have known
that Strings never warble, nor do Vultures care for Strings, though they
did warble not so much as to moult their Feathers much less their
Wings; moulting of Wings is very new.
Settle dismisses the first part of this criticism as beneath
contempt, but remarks rather cogently regarding the second
line that the moulting of wings is 'not so over-new,' since
it occurs in Dryden's own Annus Mirabilis, stanza 143:
With cord and canvas, from rich Hamburg sent
His Navy's moulted wings he imps once more.
Nevertheless Settle's resourcefulness in defence cannot
disguise the fact that his text is not a very inspiring affair,
and Locke starts with few advantages in that respect. But
he makes good use of such words and phrases as possess
some degree of emotional colour, and even manages to
invest some lines with a dignity that is not theirs intrinsically.
The style fluctuates between melodious recitative and
flowing arioso, which would suggest French influence more
strongly if the line were less firm or had not such pronounced
vitality. Locke does not perhaps entirely dispose of the
problem of continuity; the declamation is rather stiff and
halting in places, and the replies do not always spring
naturally in dialogue. Some of this lack of smoothness is
no doubt due to his concern with characterisation, since the
more sharply he distinguishes the protagonists, the greater
is his difficulty in finding a common factor in their music
to serve as a running link. Within the limits allowed him

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 Matthew Locke 67
by Settle he must certainly be accorded a measure of success
in giving some personality to the three main figures. Orpheus
has an appropriately lyric vein, Pluto is gruff and decidedly
pompous, while Proserpine pleads far more persuasively in
music than in rhyme. There is plenty of contrast in atmos-
phere and movement, and the emotional ebb and flow is
sensitively controlled. Noteworthy are the instances where
a real sense of growth towards a climax is apparent, even
if the culmination does not always quite fulfil its promise.
But above all the musical importance of this Masque lies
in its complete and connected presentation of a dramatic
incident. For this it could have been, and probably was,
a model for the broader structures of Venus and Adonis and
Dido and ?Eneas, in both of which many of its technical
features are reproduced. Its scale is certainly only that of
a miniature, but like a miniature it contains the essential
attributes of a larger design.
(At this point in the paper a performance was given of Locke's
music for the Masque in Settle's Empress of Morocco.)
In what has survived of his dramatic music after The
Empress of Morocco Locke does not attempt to repeat on
the same scale what he had achieved there. In Psyche, that
strange Molibre-Shadwell compound of Semele and Lohen-
grin, he aims at something at once simpler and more
sophisticated. A much greater variety of voices and
instruments is employed, and many refinements of
colour and texture displayed that are lacking in his
treatment of Settle's Masque, but he is nowhere required
to sustain such an extended span of recitative, which had
been the special problem of the earlier work. Indeed he
develops in rather a different direction. Apart from the
scene of the Despairing Lovers, the recitative shows some
falling away from his previous level-it has neither the
spontaneity and gusto of Cupid and Death nor the pliancy
of The Empress of Morocco, but is inclined to be stiff and
characterless. He is obviously much more interested in
taking advantage of the scope for ensemble work which
Shadwell has given him. The trio of the Nymphs and
River God is delightfully contrived, the Song of Echoes is
admirable of its sort, while the ingenious scheme of the
Song at the Treat of Cupid and Psyche is both original and
well executed. Some of the best solo writing is to be found
in the airs, of which Vulcan's Song is an aptly robust example.
Locke's music for The Tempest was exclusively instru-
mental, and though highly evocative of the strange, super-
natural atmosphere of that play (it gives little hint of the

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 68 Matthew Locke

vein of comedy that Dryden and Davenant had introduced)

it was not otherwise directly connected with dramatic
technique. It contains, however, some of the most
remarkable pages he ever wrote both for their unique harm-
onic flavour and as revealing most strongly the unpredictable
course of his fancy. The Curtain Tune well deserves its
fame as an early piece of impressionism, not only for the
unprecedented gradations of tone which Locke indicates
quite explicitly, but for the sheer musical content which is
highly subtle and allusive and is for its time quite revolu-
tionary in conception. Many of the other movements are
also most striking, showing a rare and livel creative
intelligence at work, sometimes appearing to take an almost
perverse delight in the unorthodox, at other moments
holding one fascinated by an astonishing blend of the
ingenuous and the esoteric.
To compare Locke's authenticated dramatic music with
what has been attributed to him by Boyce and others as
representing his music for Macbeth is perforce to recognise
a wide gulf between the characteristic idiom of the former
and the very different style, or more likely, group of styles
exhibited by the latter. Vexed and inconclusive as is the
documentary evidence concerning the authorship of this
miscellaneous collection of musical fragments, one is
inclined to base one's view on internal examination. The
result can hardly be other than a firm conviction that Locke
was not responsible for any of the surviving versions of
the Macbeth music as they stand, with the reservation that
some of the items might constitute a distant metamorphosis
of his original. The phraseology is quite alien to his tempera-
ment, but there is a certain air of assurance, a flavour of the
unexpected and the macabre, about some of the dramatic
handling that suggests his possible intervention at a previous
stage.
As a composer for the theatre Locke's musical language
is apt to suffer from over-compression. The Tempest music
is wonderfully expressive, but it is too tightly packed with
elusive meaning to succeed entirely in its dramatic function.
This intimate quality is typical of his instrumental writing,
and while it may sometimes seem inappropriate to the
playhouse, it is a most desirable attribute in chamber music.
Though it may seem strange to say so, with such a bold
and adventurous spirit as Locke, much of this intimacy was
due to a streak of conservatism in his nature. Ever looking
ahead and eager for experiment, his grounding in the older
style of chamber music technique was nevertheless so

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 Matthew Locke 69
thorough that he found it hard to desert its methods entirely.
The essential principle had been that each performer must
have an interesting, independent line to play, even if thereby
the whole was rather less than the sum of the parts. The
danger was that of inviting too many brilliant conversation-
alists to discuss the same subject; they might be so busy
airing their own opinions that they would have no time to
listen to one another or reach any general conclusion. On
the other hand there would be a powerful intellectual con-
centration in a short space, and if the composer acted as a
resolute chairman, the result could be musically productive.
The fewer the participants the easier it is for the listener to
disentangle the simultaneous threads of argument, which
probably accounts for the success of much of the two-part
writing of the polyphonic period. Here Locke must be
reckoned a worthy successor of Lassus and Morley; his
Duos for two Bass Viols (1652) show him at least their rival
in resourcefulness. As in their case, one wonders at the
range and variety possible in so restricted a medium. For the
most part what is involved is a private discussion between
equals but there are moments where the newer kind of
relationship prevails and the second instrument plays a
supporting bass to a melody above.
Of the three-part chamber works it is curiously enough
the earliest, the Little Consort (1657) that is the most con-
sistently homophonic. This is probably due to the fact that
it was written in the first instance for school children-the
pupils of Locke's old master, William Wake. These short
pieces are in no sense elementary, but they are more clearly
defined rhythmically and harmonically than was Locke's
practice elsewhere. The Flatt Consort (' for my cousin Keble ')
is thus more characteristic in that some of the richest move-
ments are mainly polyphonic. The opening Fantasia, for
instance, is on a broad scale with an impressive introduction
that clearly portends something substantial, followed by a
prolonged contrapuntal development of several arresting
and productive themes. In devising points of imitation
Locke instinctively favours the energetic and the ingenious,
which gives his phrases the decidedly personal character
that is strongly emphasised in the Fantasia (No. 3) and almost
reaches the point of self-caricature in the Fantasia (No. 13).
Nor are the shorter dance movements without their surprises;
at the end of the Jig (No. 6) there is a sudden change of
tempo introducing a solemn passage full of expressive
suspensions, while he chooses a Sarabande (No. io) for a
Canon 2 in I. There is throughout the Flatt Consort a more

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 70 Matthew Locke

flowing and spacious sense of rhythm than in the Little

Consort; in the earlier work the phrases tend to be abrupt
and to follow one another in breathless sequence, in its
successor the paragraph has become the rhetorical unit, and
the pauses are liberal and well timed. The Broken Consort
shares the technical advances of the Flatt Consort and in
many respects runs parallel with it. Here is the same jagged,
sometimes almost violent figuration, the same forceful
eloquence in the part-writing, and largely the same scheme
of movement sequence. There are, of course, many new
features such as the charming Echo Courante (No. 22), but
in the main it is an extension (never a repetition) along a
similar line of creative thought. These two works should
be viewed together with the six Suites for four Viols as
representing the quintessence of Locke's achievement as
a chamber music composer. The Suites take a stage further,
in terms of a more balanced and self-sufficient ensemble,
Locke's study of architecture and style in this medium.
The important Fantasia movements, which constitute the
main substance of each Suite are organised with much skill
and subtlety. The old system of a continuous overlapping
series of polyphonic sections is abandoned for methods that
afford greater variety and yet at the same time seem less
aimless. The judicious placing of short homophonic
passages (usually incorporating strikingly expressive har-
momnic progressions) amongst the groups of imitative
entries, presents both types of material to better effect and
lends more purpose and direction to the scheme. Locke's
texture in these Suites is richly intricate and full of colourful
and significant detail. The prevailing mood is one of sub-
jective lyricism interspersed with moments of dramatic
stress. Associated with all other elements is a style stripped
of all inessentials, and the combined result often reaches an
almost overwhelming intensity. If Locke's chamber music
just misses greatness, it is on account of a certain instability
in his control of rhythm and tonality (a weakness by no
means entirely overcome by Purcell), but his oblique
harmonic idiom, his characteristically incisive melodic line
and his exceptional powers of emotional concentration are
unique in the European music of his time.
Locke was a man of abundant versatility. In addition to
the activities that have been briefly touched upon here, he
wrote some accomplished and strongly individual keyboard
music. He compiled in Melothesia one of the earliest sets
of rules for accompanying from a thorough bass, and he
seized every opportunity of wielding a not untutored pen

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 Matthew Locke 7I
in lively controversy. There is scarcely a preface or a
dedication of his that does not contain a sharp thrust at
some object of particular aversion-be it the envious malice
of his critics, the ignorant stupidity of the public or the
unjustified conceit of foreign musicians. Not all his blows
strike home, but he bears down upon his adversaries with
such energy that they must have been hard put to it to
withstand the shock tactics of his assault. He selected one
of his own pupils, a certain Thomas Salmon, for an especially
rigorous and sustained attack. Salmon had put forward-
in somewhat affected and amateurish language it is true-a
proposal to substitute three standard clefs for the multiplicity
then in use. The angry outburst this provoked from Locke
finds him, rather surprisingly, adopting what seems to be an
obstinately reactionary attitude. Not a mezzo-soprano or
baritone clef will he yield, and he virtually calls Salmon a
sacrilegious impostor for having dared to question their
inviolable sanctity. But it was a contentious age and Locke
was a man with a zest for combat who probably derived
considerable relish out of a dispute for its own sake, so we
should not attach too much importance to the opinions given
out in this controversy. But their trenchant mode of
expression is typical of the man and his music. Fearless,
impulsive, shrewd, passionate, alert, uncompromising, Locke
had as few scruples for his audiences as for his enemies.
Destined by fate to wrestle with the problems of an era of
transition, he met them with unflinching integrity, and if
he did not always succeed in overcoming them, he never
shirked their implications or refused their challenge. It is
seldom that a composer in his circumstances sees clearly
enough to aim so high, or steadily enough to achieve so
much. In acclaiming the artistic triumph of Purcell, we
should not forget also to pay tribute to the composer whose
brilliant pioneer work made his spectacular advance possible.
* * *

Locke's music for the Masque in The Empress of Morocco

was sung by members of the Opera Class of the Royal
Academy of Music, by kind permission of the Principal.
Orpheus - - - - Desmond D'Arcy.
Pluto - - - - George Delderfield.
Proserpine - - - - Helen Watts.
Attendant - - - Honor McKellar.

Accompanied on the piano by the Lecturer.

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