BLOW, JOHN English musical composer, was born in 1648, probably at North Collingham in Nottinghamshire. He became one of the children of the Chapel Royal when the choir was reconstituted in 166o. He composed several anthems at an unusually early age, including Lord, Thou hast been our refuge; Lord rebuke me not; and the so-called "club anthem," / will always give thanks, the last in collaboration with Pelham Humphrey and William Turner. To this time also belongs the composition of a two-part setting of Herrick's Goe, perjur'd man, written at the request of Charles II. to imitate Carissimi's Dite, o cieli. When his voice broke he spent his time in the study of music, and in 1669 became organist of Westminster Abbey. In 1673 he was made a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and in September of this year he was married to Elizabeth Braddock, who died in childbirth ten years later. Blow, who by the year 1678 was a doctor of music, was named in 168s one of the private musicians of James II. Between 168o and 1687 he wrote the only stage composition by him of which any record survives, the Masque for the Entertainment of the King: Venus and Adonis. In 1687 he became master of the choir of St. Paul's church; in 1695 he was elected organist of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and is said to have resumed his post as organist of Westminster Abbey, from which in 168o he had retired to make way for his pupil, Henry Purcell. In '699 he was appointed to the newly created post of composer to the Chapel Royal. Fourteen services and more than a hundred anthems by Blow are extant. In addition to his purely ecclesiastical music Blow wrote Great sir, the joy of all our hearts, an ode for New Year's day 1681-82; similar compositions for 1683, 1686, 1687, 1688, 1689, 1693 ( ?), 1694 and 17oo; odes, etc., for the celebration of St. Cecilia's day for 1684, 1691, 169s, and 17oo ; for the coronation of James II. two anthems, Behold, 0 God, our Defender, and God spake sometimes in visions; some harpsichord pieces for the second part of Play ford's Musick's Handmaid (1689); Epicedium for Queen Mary (169s); Ode on the Death of Purcell (1696). In 17oo he pub lished his Amphion Anglicus, a collection of pieces of music for one, two, three and four voices. His pupil, Henry Purcell, said of him that his "character is sufficiently known by his works, of which this very instance (the Gloria from his Jubilate in C major) is enough to recommend him as one of the greatest masters in the world." Blow died on Oct. 1, 17°8, at his house in Broad Sanctu ary, and was buried in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey.