1823–1889

Introduction

portrait
National Portrait Gallery

Creative Commons License

Born: March 16, 1823, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Died: March 1, 1889, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Buried: High­gate Ce­me­te­ry (East), Lon­don, Eng­land.

portrait

Biography

In 1874, Monk be­came a sing­ing teach­er at King’s Col­lege. In 1876, he be­came a teach­er at the Na­tion­al Train­ing School for Mu­sic. In 1878, he start­ed teach­ing at Bed­ford Col­lege.

In ad­di­tion, he was mu­sic di­rect­or for al­most four de­cades at St. Mat­th­ias, Stoke New­ing­ton, Lon­don, and was the first mu­sic­al ed­it­or for Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern (HAM), the his­tor­ic hym­nal which sold 60 mill­ion co­pies. Tho­mas Har­dy wrote of Monk’s ed­it­ing for HAM:

Stripped of some of your vesture
By Monk or another. Now you wore no frill,
And at first you startled me. But I know you still,
Though I missed the min­im’s waver
And the dotted quaver.

Sources

Music