Samuel Wesley was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period.
Background
Born in Bristol on the 24th of February 1766, he was the son of noted Methodist and hymn-writer Charles Wesley, the grandson of Samuel Wesley (a poet of the late Stuart period) and the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.
He developed so precocious a talent for music that at three years old he played the organ and at eight composed an oratorio entitled Ruth-a fact which is duly chronicled on a curious portrait, painted in 1774, and afterwards engraved, wherein he is represented in the childish costume of the period.
In 1771 his father acquired a second house, in Chesterfield Street, Marylebone, London. Samuel left Bristol for the house in London by 1778.
Education
His early musical education mostly took place in the family home in Bristol, where Sarah Wesley, his mother, sang and played the harpsichord. Hymn tunes and the works of Handel were the family's favourite pieces. Samuel also had lessons from David Williams, the organist of All Saints' Church, Bristol.
Career
He may indeed be regarded as the father of modern organ-playing, for he it was who, aided by his friends Benjamin Jacob and C. F. Horn, first introduced the works of Sebastian Bach to English organists, not only by his superb playing, but by editing with Horn, in 1810, the first copy of Das wohltemperirte Clavier ever printed in England.
Wesley's last performance took place on the 12th of September 1837 at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London, where, after hearing the wonderful performances of Mendelssohn, he was himself induced to play an extempore fugue.
He died on the 11th of October 1837, leaving a vast number of MS and printed compositions.
Achievements
Though suffering for many years from an accidental injury to the brain, Wesley was long regarded as the most brilliant organist and the most accomplished extempore fugue- player in England.
Many of his best-known compositions were written for the church; they include the motet In exitu Israel. His secular compositions include the five-part madrigal O singe unto mie roundelaie set to the well-known poem by Thomas Chatterton. The Duke of Sussex appointed him Grand Organist in 1812, but he resigned the appointment in 1818.
He grew up in the Methodist family but in 1784, Wesley privately converted to Roman Catholicism, to the dismay of his uncle John Wesley
Views
Wesley's compositional style was eclectic, with influences from the late Baroque era, Classicism and, later, early Romanticism.
Membership
In 1788 Wesley was initiated into Freemasonry in the Lodge of Antiquity.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
His father, Charles, wrote:
"He was full eight years old when Dr [William] Boyce came to see us and accosted me with, 'Sir, I hear you have an English Mozart in your house'. I called Sam to answer for himself. He had by this time scrawled down his Oratorio of Ruth. The Doctor looked it over very carefully and seemed highly pleased with the performance. Some of his words were, 'These airs are some of the prettiest I have seen. This boy writes by nature as true a bass as I can do by rule and study".
Connections
He married Charlotte Louise Martin in 1793, and they had three children. This marriage broke up with Charlotte's discovery of Samuel's affair with the teenaged domestic servant Sarah Suter. Samuel and Sarah never married but had four children together, among them Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) who was a cathedral organist and notable composer.
His brother Charles (1757 - 1815) was also an accomplished organist.
