John Jenkins (composer)
Encyclopedia
John Jenkins English composer, was born in Maidstone
, Kent
, and died at Kimberley
, Norfolk
.
Little is known of his early life. The son of Henry Jenkins, a carpenter who occasionally made musical instruments, he may have been the "Jack Jenkins" employed in the household of Anne, Countess of Warwick in 1603. The first positive historical record of Jenkins is amongst the musicians who performed the masque
The Triumph of Peace in 1634 at the court of King Charles I
.
The English Civil War
that broke out in 1642 forced Jenkins, as it did many others, to migrate to the rural countryside. During the 1640s he was employed as music-master to two Royalist
families, the Derhams at West Dereham
and Harmon L'Estrange of Hunstanton
. He was a friend of the composer William Lawes
(1602–1645), who was shot and died in battle at the siege of Chester
.
Around 1640 Jenkins revived the In Nomine
, an archaic form for consort of viols, based upon a traditional plainsong
theme. He wrote a notable piece of programme music consisting of a pavane
and galliard
depicting the clash of opposing sides, the mourning for the dead and the celebration of victory after the siege of Newark
(1646).
In the 1650s Jenkins became resident music-master of Lord Dudley North
in Cambridgeshire
, whose son Roger wrote his biography. It was in these years, during the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell
, in the absence of much competition or organised music-making, that Jenkins took the occasion to write more than 70 suites for amateur household players.
Jenkins played the lute
and was a virtuoso upon the lyra viol
. After the Restoration
he obtained a place as a musician to the Royal Court. The aged Jenkins played the lyra viol for King Charles II
, who wryly complimented him that he did "wonders on an inconsiderable instrument". Roger North
wrote:
Jenkins retired under the patronage of Sir Philip Wodehouse
of Kimberley, where he met Sir Thomas Browne. Although the musicologist Wilfred Mellers claimed that J.S. Bach's
Orchestral Suites No. 3 and No. 4 in D major (BWV 1068-69) recalled the sensibility of Sir Thomas Browne, Jenkins's music is much closer in time and temperament to an aural representation of the sensibility of this physician-philosopher.
Something of Jenkins's own temperament is indicated by his setting the religious poetry of George Herbert
to music. Like Haydn, he was a pious, reticent, and private person. Workmanlike and industrious in composition, he wrote dances "by the cart-load", according to North.
Jenkins was a long-active and prolific composer whose many years of life, spanning the time from William Byrd
to Henry Purcell
, witnessed great changes in English music. He is noted for developing the consort fantasia for viol
s, being influenced in the 1630s by an earlier generation of English composers including Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger
, Thomas Lupo
, John Coprario and Orlando Gibbons
. Jenkins composed numerous 4, 5, and 6 part fantasia
s for viol consort, almans, courant
s and pavane
s, and he breathed new life into the antiquated form of the In Nomine. He was less experimental than his friend William Lawes
; indeed, Jenkins's music was more conservative than that of many of his contemporaries. It is characterised by a sensuous lyricism, highly skilled craftsmanship, and an original usage of tonality and counterpoint.
His biographer North wrote of him:
Jenkins is buried in the nave of St. Peter's church, Kimberley, Norfolk
, with this inscription:
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and died at Kimberley
Kimberley, Norfolk
Kimberley is a village in Norfolk, in England. It is within the civil parish of Kimberley and Carleton Forehoe in South Norfolk, situated about north-west of Wymondham, around the crossroads of the B1108 and B1135....
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
.
Little is known of his early life. The son of Henry Jenkins, a carpenter who occasionally made musical instruments, he may have been the "Jack Jenkins" employed in the household of Anne, Countess of Warwick in 1603. The first positive historical record of Jenkins is amongst the musicians who performed the masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
The Triumph of Peace in 1634 at the court of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
.
The English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
that broke out in 1642 forced Jenkins, as it did many others, to migrate to the rural countryside. During the 1640s he was employed as music-master to two Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
families, the Derhams at West Dereham
West Dereham
West Dereham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 440 in 176 households as of the 2001 census....
and Harmon L'Estrange of Hunstanton
Hunstanton
Hunstanton, often pronounced by locals as and known colloquially as 'Sunny Hunny', is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, facing The Wash....
. He was a friend of the composer William Lawes
William Lawes
William Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
(1602–1645), who was shot and died in battle at the siege of Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
.
Around 1640 Jenkins revived the In Nomine
In Nomine
In Nomine is a title given to a large number of pieces of English polyphonic, predominantly instrumental music, first composed during the 16th century....
, an archaic form for consort of viols, based upon a traditional plainsong
Plainsong
Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. Though the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church did not split until long after the origin of plainchant, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a...
theme. He wrote a notable piece of programme music consisting of a pavane
Pavane
The pavane, pavan, paven, pavin, pavian, pavine, or pavyn is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century .A pavane is a slow piece of music which is danced to in pairs....
and galliard
Galliard
The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, among others....
depicting the clash of opposing sides, the mourning for the dead and the celebration of victory after the siege of Newark
Newark-on-Trent
Newark-on-Trent is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. It stands on the River Trent, the A1 , and the East Coast Main Line railway. The origins of the town are possibly Roman as it lies on an important Roman road, the Fosse Way...
(1646).
In the 1650s Jenkins became resident music-master of Lord Dudley North
Dudley North, 4th Baron North
Dudley North, 4th Baron North K.B. was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1660.-Life:...
in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, whose son Roger wrote his biography. It was in these years, during the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, in the absence of much competition or organised music-making, that Jenkins took the occasion to write more than 70 suites for amateur household players.
Jenkins played the lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
and was a virtuoso upon the lyra viol
Lyra viol
The lyra viol is a small bass viol, used primarily in England in the seventeenth century.While the instrument itself differs little physically from the standard consort viol, there is a large and important repertoire which was developed specifically for the lyra viol...
. After the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
he obtained a place as a musician to the Royal Court. The aged Jenkins played the lyra viol for King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, who wryly complimented him that he did "wonders on an inconsiderable instrument". Roger North
Roger North (17th century)
Roger North, KC , English lawyer, biographer, and amateur musician, was the sixth son of t he fourth Baron North....
wrote:
- Tho' he for many years was incapable to attend, the Court musicians had so much value for him, that advantage was not taken, but he received his salary as they were paid.
Jenkins retired under the patronage of Sir Philip Wodehouse
Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet
Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet was an English baronet and Member of Parliament.Wodehouse was the son of Sir Thomas Wodehouse, 2nd Baronet, and Blanche, daughter of John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon...
of Kimberley, where he met Sir Thomas Browne. Although the musicologist Wilfred Mellers claimed that J.S. Bach's
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
Orchestral Suites No. 3 and No. 4 in D major (BWV 1068-69) recalled the sensibility of Sir Thomas Browne, Jenkins's music is much closer in time and temperament to an aural representation of the sensibility of this physician-philosopher.
Something of Jenkins's own temperament is indicated by his setting the religious poetry of George Herbert
George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest.Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in...
to music. Like Haydn, he was a pious, reticent, and private person. Workmanlike and industrious in composition, he wrote dances "by the cart-load", according to North.
Jenkins was a long-active and prolific composer whose many years of life, spanning the time from William Byrd
William Byrd
William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
to Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
, witnessed great changes in English music. He is noted for developing the consort fantasia for viol
Viol
The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...
s, being influenced in the 1630s by an earlier generation of English composers including Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger
Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger
Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger was an English composer and viol player of Italian descent. He straddles the line between the Renaissance and Baroque eras.-Biography:...
, Thomas Lupo
Thomas Lupo
Thomas Lupo was an English composer and viol player of the late Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Along with Orlando Gibbons, John Coprario, and Alfonso Ferrabosco, he was one of the principal developers of the repertory for viol consort.-Life:He was part of a distinguished family of musicians, who...
, John Coprario and Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
. Jenkins composed numerous 4, 5, and 6 part fantasia
Fantasia (music)
The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....
s for viol consort, almans, courant
Courant
Courant may mean several things.* Courant is a common word for "newspaper". In 1618 the first periodical news sheets, called "corantos", went on sale in Amsterdam. This idea - for regular news updates - was adopted by publishers in London and on Sept 24, 1621, the first issue of an English weekly...
s and pavane
Pavane
The pavane, pavan, paven, pavin, pavian, pavine, or pavyn is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century .A pavane is a slow piece of music which is danced to in pairs....
s, and he breathed new life into the antiquated form of the In Nomine. He was less experimental than his friend William Lawes
William Lawes
William Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
; indeed, Jenkins's music was more conservative than that of many of his contemporaries. It is characterised by a sensuous lyricism, highly skilled craftsmanship, and an original usage of tonality and counterpoint.
His biographer North wrote of him:
- he was certainly a happy person,....of an easy temper, superior in his profession, well accepted by all, knew no want, saw himself outrun by the world, and having lived a good Christian, died in peace.
Jenkins is buried in the nave of St. Peter's church, Kimberley, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, with this inscription:
-
- Under this Stone Rare Jenkins lie
- The Master of the Musick Art
- Whom from the Earth the God on High
- Called up to Him to bear his part.
- Aged eighty six October twenty seven
- In anno seventy eight he went to Heaven.
- In God We Trust.
Discography
- Fantazia
- Ensemble Jérôme Hantaï. Naive-Astrée E 8895. 2004
- Fantasias
- Les Voix Humaines violes de gambe. Atma ACD2 2205. 2001
- The Mirrour and Wonder of his Age: John Jenkins Consort Music
- FretworkFretwork (music group)Fretwork is a consort of viols based in England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1986, the group consisted of six players, while it is currently five viols...
. Virgin 7243 5 45230 2 1. 1996
- All in a Garden Green: Pavan, Newarke Seidge, Four-part ayres, Fantasia-suite
- Rose Consort of Viols. Naxos 8.550687. 1993
- Consort Music for Viols in Six Parts
- Hespèrion XX. Astrée E 8724. 1991
- Consort Music The Consort of Music Dir. Trevor Jones. Explore EXP0010 2006 (Decca 1983)
- Six Airs (Almain, Pavanne, Courante, Courante, Almain, Almain)
- Double Reed Ensemble of the New York Kammermusicker. Dorian DOR-90189. 1995
External links
- Fantasias in four, five, and six parts from the Viola da Gamba Society of America (VdGSA).