Henry John Gauntlett

Among the contributions of Gauntlett to musical literature were, what were said to be, thousands of popular melodies for hymns. His tune "Irby" was the inspiration for, and indeed lives on in, the Christmas song "Once in Royal David's City." Although his father appointed him organist at Buckinghamshire at the age of ten, he would not allow Henry to study music with Attwood, preferring preparations for becoming a solicitor, which he did in 1831. During his training he was an organist at St. Olave's in Southwark where he took lessons from Samuel Wesley. Gauntlett also was instrumental in introducing the C organ to England from the continent. Mendelssoh performed a number of Bach's works on the organ at Christ Church in Newgate. Later he asked Gauntlett to play the organ in the performance of "Elijah". Together with Allon, Gauntlett produced the "Congregational Psalmist" for which the Doctor of Music was conferred to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a major contributor and editor to journals and periodicals Gauntlett demonstrated his wealth of information ranging from the history of music to the laws of acoustics. His interests in musical styles extended from Bach to Gregorian chants. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi