BOYCE, Hector. See Boece, vol. iii. p. 849.

BOYCE, William, an English musical composer of eminence, was born in London in 1710, and died there in 1779. As a chorister in St Paul’s he received his early musical education from King and Dr Greene, and he afterwards studied the theory of music under Dr Γepusch. In 1736 he was appointed organist of St Michael’s church, Cornhill, and in the same year he became composer to the chapel royal. In 1749 he received the degree of doctor of music from the University of Cambridge, as an acknowledgment of the merit of his setting of the ode performed at the installation of the duke of Newcastle as chancellor. He became master of the king’s band in succession to Greene in 1757, and soon afterwards he was appointed principal organist to the chapel royal. As an ecclesiastical composer Boyce ranks among the best representatives of the English school. His two church services and his anthems, of which the best specimens are By the Waters of Babylon and O, Where shall Wisdom be found, are still frequently performed. Of his other works the best known are the serenade of Solomon, a setting of David’s lamentation over Jonathan, and twelve trios for two violins and a bass, which were long popular. One of his most valuable services to the art was his publication (1760) of a collection of English church music in three volumes quarto, which included all the best compositions of the two preceding centuries. The collection had been begun by Greene, but it was mainly the work of Boyce.