Matthew Camidge (1764-1844) - Concerto for Organ (c.1815)

Happy birthday Matthew Camidge! 🎹🎉

Composer: Matthew Camidge (1764-1844)
Work: Concerto (G minor) for Organ from 'Six Concertos for Organ or Grand Piano Forte', Op.13 (c.1815)
Performers: Simon Lindley (1948-2025, organ)

Drawing: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) - The Roman Catholic Chapel, Lincoln's Inn Fields
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2r6WUp7

Further info: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Camidge,_Matthew
Listen free: No available

---

Matthew Camidge
(York, bap. 25 May 1764 - York, 23 October 1844)

English organist and composer. Son of John Camidge (1734-1803), at an early age he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal under his father’s old master, James Nares. On his return to York he became assistant to his father. He is said to have been the first to teach the cathedral choristers to sing from notes; previously all the services had been learnt by ear. The two Camidges also originated the York musical festivals, beginning with a performance, on a small scale, of Handel's ‘Messiah’ at the Belfry church, which led to oratorios being given with orchestral accompaniments in the minster. On the resignation of John Camidge, he was appointed his successor as organist (11 November 1799), a post he held until his retirement (8 October 1842). As a composer, he published a considerable quantity of music for the harpsichord, organ, and piano, besides a collection of psalm tunes, a ‘Method of Instruction in Musick by Questions and Answers,’ and some church music. In the preface to his Organ Concertos, op.13 (c.1815), he wrote that he had "endeavoured to imitate the particular style of music which has been so long admired, namely that of Handel and Corelli. This acknowledgement will, he hopes, secure him from the critics’ censure". Matthew Camidge was married to a niece of Sheriff Atkinson of York, by whom he had three sons; two took orders, and became respectively vicar of Wakefield and canon of York, and chaplain at Moscow and Cronstadt, and the third, John Camidge (1790-1859), succeeded his father as organist of York.