1678–1727 · Baroque
William Croft (1678–1727) was an English Baroque composer and organist who served in the Chapel Royal and later succeeded John Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey. Like Henry Purcell, he had a marked influence on English sacred music. Players today mostly know him through the hymn tune "St Anne", set to words by Isaac Watts — a good starting point for getting to know his music.
William Croft's birthplace was an estate called Manor House, in the Warwickshire village of Nether Ettington. He was baptised on 30 December 1678. The name of these places later resurfaced in the title of one of his hymn tunes.
He trained in music at the Chapel Royal under John Blow, remaining there until 1698.
Two years on, in 1700, Croft took up the organ post at St Anne's Church in London's Soho; at the Chapel Royal he also became an organist and "Gentleman extraordinary" — a post he shared there with his friend Jeremiah Clarke.
That same year, 1700, he worked with "an Italian Master" — Gottfried Finger, in all likelihood — and brought out a set of six sonatas scored for viol, harpsichord, flute and violin, cast in the fashionable Italian idiom of the time. He also composed suites for harpsichord, though he is remembered above all as a writer of church choral music. Alongside Henry Purcell, he had a marked influence on the development of English sacred music in the closing years of the seventeenth century.
In late 1707 Croft took up the post of Master of the Children at the Chapel Royal, left vacant by the death of Jeremiah Clarke; among his pupils was Maurice Greene. A year later John Blow also died, and Croft took over his position as organist of Westminster Abbey.
In 1714 Croft composed music for Queen Anne's funeral, as well as for the coronation that followed it, at which George I was proclaimed king. By that time he was already organist of Westminster Abbey.
In 1724 Croft brought out his major work, the church-music collection Musica Sacra ("Sacred Music"), the first collection of its kind to be printed as a score. The book included a Burial Service that may have been composed for Queen Anne's funeral or for that of the Duke of Marlborough.
The Burial Service from this collection is still sung today, at state funerals in Britain. His Funeral Sentences were also part of that same service.
After Musica Sacra appeared, Croft's health began to fail. He died at 48 in Bath, where he had gone to take the waters, and was buried in Westminster Abbey — the same place where he had served as organist for many years.
Perhaps the most significant part of what survives from Croft is the suite of Funeral Sentences within the Burial Service of Musica Sacra: it has been called a glorious work of near genius, though the exact date and reason for the suite's composition are unknown. Its seven sentences are verses from the Book of Common Prayer, gathered from various books of the Bible meant for speaking or singing as part of an Anglican funeral rite.
One of those seven verses is not really his: "Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts" came from Henry Purcell, lifted from the music Purcell wrote for Queen Mary's funeral in 1695. Croft himself said the reason he did not recompose that verse would be obvious to any musician, and that Purcell's name remained attached to it in memory of him. Elsewhere in the service, he said, he had tried to stay close to the manner of a master whose name would always rank among those who improved the English style.
This music was performed at George Frideric Handel's funeral in 1759, and every British state funeral since has included it.
Among Croft's longest-lived melodies is the hymn tune "St Anne", written for Isaac Watts's words "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past". Later composers borrowed it in turn: Handel used it in his anthem "O Praise the Lord With One Consent", Arthur Sullivan in his 1872 Festival Te Deum, and Hubert Parry in his 1911 Coronation Te Deum.
Bach's Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552, is also often nicknamed "St. Anne" for the resemblance of its subject to the opening of the hymn tune, although the likeness here is coincidental. Croft is credited with two more hymn tunes: "Binchester", named for an English village, and "Eatington", named after his native Ettington.
Croft worked in several genres: in 1700, with "an Italian Master" — Gottfried Finger, in all likelihood — he brought out sonatas for viol, harpsichord, flute and violin in the fashionable Italian idiom of the time, and he also wrote suites for harpsichord. But he is best known for his church choral music — like Henry Purcell, he left a notable mark on the history of English sacred music in the closing decades of the seventeenth century. His 1724 collection Musica Sacra was the first church-music publication to be printed as a score.
The core of his church legacy is the Funeral Sentences from the same collection: seven verses from the Book of Common Prayer for an Anglican funeral service, one of which was in fact written by Henry Purcell. The date and reason for their composition are unknown, but this music is still part of British state funerals today, although the sheet music for that suite is not yet on the site.
For now the site has his hymn tune "St. Anne (hymntune)", set to words by Isaac Watts, for mixed choir, at an elementary level. It is a hymn tune familiar from its later use by other composers — a convenient, and for now, given the amount of material on the site, the only starting point for getting to know Croft's music here. It suits those who are only just starting to sing in a choir.