A small number of psalm tunes published by John Sreeve have found their way into local west gallery repertoire in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, one especially being his three-part setting of A Hymn for Christmas Day
Hark, hark what news the Angels bring!. This is taken from the second of his publications in 1741,
"The Oxfordshire Harmony", using the rather stark but attractive harmonies of that time, even more so as it is set in a minor key. [
Temperley HTI Tune No. 1644]
His only other publication, in 1740, was "The Divine Music Scholar's Guide" which contains the usual Rudiments, some 40 tunes, and several anthems, both three- and four-part. Sreeve claims on the title page to be the composer of the tunes he published, but only four seem actually to be so, the rest being reprinted from other, earlier, sources as was the habit of the time, ignoring any question of copyright or author's rights.
His books were published in London, leading to a debate as to where he might have lived. Booksellers, other than London, include Reading, Bambury (Oxfordshire) and Dafford (presumably Dartford) in Kent.
Ancestry has suggested several local possibilities, but there is an intriguing description of him in the Scholar's Guide : "... composed by John Sreeve, Teacher of the Same, (and other Masters of Psalmody,) who was brought up a Chorister at St John's College, Oxford, twelve Years under Mr Henry Wellford, now Organist at Warwick.
Can anyone suggest a correct interpretation of this rather curious description of where he might have lived and/or worked? And, any possible other sighting of his tunes??
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