1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pepusch, John Christopher

PEPUSCH, JOHN CHRISTOPHER (1667–1752), English musician, of German parentage, was born in Berlin. He began his study of music at an early age, and about 1700 left Berlin and went to England, where he had various engagements, and where he went on with his researches into ancient music. He composed a number of church services and instrumental pieces, besides music for masques and plays, but he is best known in connexion with the founding in 1710 of the Academy of Ancient Music. In 1713 he was made a Mus.D. of Oxford, and in 1746 F.R.S. In 1718 he married Margarita de l’Épine (d. 1746), who, as the first Italian to sing in England, was described in 1692 in the London Gazette simply as “the Italian woman.” Pepusch died in London on the 20th of July 1752. His Treatise on Harmony (anonymous 1st ed. 1730) is believed to have been an embodiment of his rules drafted by his pupil Viscount Paisley, afterwards earl of Abercorn.