Thomas Chilcot (1707-1766)
- Organ Concerto in D, No.3 (1765)
Performers: Andrew Wilson-Dickson (organ); Welsh Baroque Orchestra
Further info: Thomas Chilcot - Songs and Concertos
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English composer and organist. He was educated at Bath Charity School,
and was apprenticed in 1721 to Bath Abbey organist Josias Priest, on
whose death in 1725 he became acting organist on full salary. In 1728,
when his apprenticeship was due to end, his appointment was confirmed,
and he remained in the post until his death, rarely travelling far from
Bath. He married Elizabeth Mills of Bath in 1729 and had seven children,
of whom four survived. Following Elizabeth's death, he married Anne
Wrey, a member of a prominent West Country family, in 1749; Thomas and
Anne are depicted on a memorial tablet in Tawstock Church, near
Barnstaple. Chilcot was active in the concert life of Bath, rented out
instruments, and was a freemason and a founder-member of the Society of
Musicians. His large private library, including a collection of Handel
manuscripts, was sold by auction in 1767 and again in 1774. His pupils
included Thomas Linley. The 12 concertos are sophisticated, large-scale
works. The meticulously planned first movements are cast in binary form
(occasionally evoking sonata forms), but the relationship between solo
and tutti resembles ritornello form. Like the early works of Domenico
Scarlatti, the first set of concertos is full of hand crossings,
several-octave arpeggios and leaping figures. The second set is more
restrained and mature. The slow movements are galant in style: the D
minor Adagio from the fifth concerto of the 1765 set, for instance, has
long coloratura melodies without losing its sense of direction.
Orchestral parts were published for the 1756 concertos, and a set once
owned by William Boyce was catalogued in 1928, but all copies are now
lost (except for a single violin part at GB-Gm). The second set of
concertos was intended to be published in the early 1760s, but was not
actually issued until early 1767, shortly after Chilcot's death. The
title-page mentions ‘accompanyments’, but it is uncertain whether
orchestral parts were ever issued.
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