Introduction

Biography

Son of a Cha­pel Roy­al cho­ris­ter, Courte­ville be­came the or­gan­ist of St. James’ Ta­ber­na­cle, West­min­ster, Eng­land, Sep­tem­ber 7, 1691, at an an­nu­al salary of £20.

According to church re­cords, he held this po­si­tion 81 years (at any rate, there is no re­cord of a change in or­gan­ist dur­ing that per­iod, though Courte­ville did have a son, al­so named Ralph, and al­so a mu­si­cian).