John Wall Callcott
John Wall Callcott was an English composer.
Callcott was born in Kensington, London. He was a pupil of Haydn, and is celebrated mainly for his glee compositions and catches. In the best known of his catches he ridiculed Sir John Hawkins' History of Music. Although ill-health prevented Callcott from completing his Musical Dictionary, His Musical Grammar remained in use throughout the 19th century.
His glees number at least 100, of which 8 won prizes. Callcott set lyrics by leading poets of his day, including Thomas Gray, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Chatterton, Robert Southey and Ossian. They include :
- O snatch me swift for 5 voices SATBarB
- It was a friar of orders grey for 3 voices SSB
- In the lonely vale of streams for 4 voices SATB
- Ella for 4 voices SATB
- Cara, vale! for 4 voices SSTB
- Father of Heroes for 5 voices ATTBB
- The Erl-King - a setting of Goethe's Erlkönig translated into English by Matthew Lewis, author of the Gothic novel, The Monk,
- the original setting of Drink to me only with thine eyes
Callcott also composed solo songs and religious music including psalms and sacred canons.
Callcott's daughter Elizabeth married William Horsley who, in 1824, published A collection of Glees Canons and Catches, an edition of his father-in-law's works together with a Memoir of Dr Callcott. His son William Hutchins Callcott became a composer and arranger.
His brother Augustus Wall Callcott was a noted landscape painter.