William Boyce (composer)

In 1749 he wrote an ode and the anthem O be joyful to celebrate the installation of the Duke of Newcastle as Chancellor of Cambridge University, and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music.

Charles Burney wrote that they were "not only in constant use, as Chamber music, in private concerts ... but in our theatres, as act-tunes [i.e. intermezzi] and public gardens, as favourite pieces, during many years.

These included his own operas The Chaplet and The Shepherd's Lottery, both to libretti by Moses Mendez, and for Garrick's 1759 pantomime Harlequin's Invasion which contained what became Boyce's most famous song, Heart of Oak.

[1] As Master of the King's Musick Boyce had the responsibility of writing music for royal occasions including funerals, weddings and coronations.

[1] However, that coronation is the only one recorded where a single musician wrote nearly all the music, Boyce having composed a total of eight anthems specifically for the event.

He resolved to give up teaching and to retire to Kensington, and devote himself to editing the collection of church music which bears his name.

[7] Boyce was largely forgotten after his death and he remains a little-performed composer today, although a number of his pieces were rediscovered in the 1930s and Constant Lambert edited and sometimes conducted his works.

1 in B-flat was the first piece of music played during the procession of the bride and bridegroom at the conclusion of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.