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Music, Creativity, and Culture in England, 1642-88

A Conference and Concert Marking the 350th Anniversary of the Death of Captain Henry Cooke

Saturday, 21 May 2022 | The Queen's College, Oxford


A one-day event marking the 350th anniversary of the death of Captain Henry Cooke, Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal from the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 until his death on 13 July 1672. Little is known of Cooke's life prior to his appointments in the King's Musick, but what cannot be disputed is his profound impact on the musical world, rearing (in his capacity of Master of the Children) some of the most prodigious musicians of the seventeenth century: Pelham Humfrey, John Blow, and, most notably, Henry Purcell.

The event is in two parts. The first, an academic conference featuring eminent speakers from the field of Seventeenth-Century English Music. The second, an evening concert featuring a programme of Restoration verse anthems (including repertoire by Cooke, Humfrey, Blow, and Purcell).

The dates have been chosen to encapsulate the tumultuous period of English history beginning with the outbreak of the English Civil Wars in 1642 and ending in 1688 with the Glorious Revolution. It is hoped that this broad timespan will allow for lively discourse, and foster some reassessment of the period by using Cooke as a lens to peer at the late seventeenth-century.


To book your space and find further details about the conference, including a provisional timetable for the event, please go to the Conference page.

To see more about those presenting at the conference, please go to the Speakers page.

Tickets for the concert are not currently available, but will be released in due course. Please see the Concert page for more details.