Tuesday music spot, Thomas Attwood, "Turn thy face from my sins"
Thomas Attwood (Born 23 November 1765 in London, died 24 March 1838) was an English composer and organist. Attwood studied under Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and he was a friend of Felix Mendelssohn.
As should be obvious from the dates above, he was born 70 years after the death of Henry Purcell and died before the birth of Edward Elgar.
His musical career began as a chorister in the Chapel Royal, where he caught the eye of the Prince of Wales, later George IV; he went on to compose music for the coronations of both George and his brother William IV. Attwood was also organist of St Paul's Cathedral.
His compositions included a number o anthems, some of which are still sung in churches today, music and songs for some twenty musical plays and comic operas, and he was also a prolific writer of glees, including a setting of A Rose-Bud by my Early Walk, a poem by Robert Burns.
Of his anthems, my favourite is "Turn thy face from my sins"
Apologies for the fact that, due to a slight scheduling error, the heading of this post appeared a few minutes before the link to the music!
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