A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Robinson, John

by William Henry Husk

ROBINSON, John, born 1682, was a chorister of the Chapel Royal under Dr. Blow. He subsequently became organist of St. Lawrence, Jewry, and St. Magnus, London Bridge. Hawkins, in his History, describes him as 'a very florid and elegant performer on the organ, inasmuch that crowds resorted to hear him'; and elsewhere says: 'In parish churches the voluntary between the Psalms and the First Lesson was anciently a slow, solemn movement, tending to compose the minds and excite sentiments of piety and devotion. Mr. Robinson introduced a different practice, calculated to display the agility of his fingers in allegro movements on the cornet, trumpet,