John Blow

English composer John Blow (1649-1708) was Henry Purcell's teacher and famously memorialized his pupil in his An Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell (1696). He was also a significant composer in his own right, composing the opera (or, properly, masque) Venus and Adonis (1685) with librettist Aphra Behn in addition to numerous anthems, odes, songs, and keyboard works. Much of Blow's activity was centered in the Chapel Royal in London, where he served as organist and choirmaster, though Blow held similar posts at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Blow also served in the court of King James II.