Introduction

Biography

William was the son of John Boyce and Eli­za­beth Cord­well.

He start­ed his mu­sic­al ca­reer sing­ing in the choir at St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral.

After stu­dy­ing un­der St. Paul’s or­gan­ist, Mau­rice Greene, he be­came or­gan­ist at the Earl of Ox­ford’s cha­pel.

In 1736, he be­came com­pos­er at the Cha­pel Roy­al, and or­gan­ist at St. Mi­chael’s, Corn­hill. In 1749, he re­ceived mu­sic de­grees from Ox­ford.

Deafness forced him to re­tire from per­form­ing in the 1760’s, but he con­tin­ued to write.

Works

He com­piled a three vol­ume Ca­thed­ral Mu­sic (1760–73), and wrote stage works, an­thems, in­stru­men­tal piec­es, and oth­er mu­sic.