s.v. "Episcopus puerorum."

BOYCE, WILLIAM (1710-1779), English musical composer, the son of a
cabinet-maker, was born in London on the 7th of February 1710. As a
chorister in St Paul's he received his early musical education from
Charles King and Dr Maurice Greene, and he afterwards studied the theory
of music under Dr Pepusch. In 1734, having become organist of Oxford
chapel, Vere Street, Cavendish Square, he set Lord Lansdowne's masque of
_Peleus and Thetis_ to music. In 1736 he left Oxford chapel and was
appointed organist of St Michael's church, Cornhill, and in the same
year he became composer to the chapel royal, and wrote the music for
John Lockman's oratorio _David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan_. In
1737 he was appointed to conduct the meetings of the three choirs of
Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. In 1743 was written the serenata
_Solomon_, in which occurs the favourite song "Softly rise, O southern
breeze." In 1749 he received the degree of doctor of music from the
university of Cambridge, as an acknowledgment of the merit of his
setting of the ode performed at the installation of Henry Pelham, duke
of Newcastle, as chancellor; and in this year he became organist of
All-hallows the Great and Less, Thames Street. A musical setting to _The
Chaplet_, an entertainment by Moses Mendez, was Boyce's most successful
achievement in this year. In 1750 he wrote songs for Dryden's _Secular
Masque_ and in 1751 set another piece (_The Shepherd's Lottery_) by
Mendez. He became master of the king's band in succession to Greene in
1757, and in 1758 he was appointed principal organist to the chapel
royal. As an ecclesiastical composer Boyce ranks among the best
representatives of the English school. His two church services and his
anthems, of which the best specimens are _By the Waters of Babylon_ and
_O, Where shall Wisdom be found_, are frequently performed. It should
also be remembered that he wrote additional accompaniments and choruses
for Purcell's _Te Deum_ and _Jubilate_, which the earlier musician had
composed for the St Cecilia's day of 1694. Boyce did this in his
capacity of conductor at the annual festivals of the Sons of the Clergy
at St Paul's cathedral, an office which he had taken in succession to
Greene. His twelve trios for two violins and a bass were long popular.
One of his most valuable services to musical art was his publication in
three volumes quarto of a work on _Cathedral Music_. The