A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wise, Michael

by William Henry Husk

WISE, Michael, born in Wiltshire (probably at Salisbury), about 1648, was admitted a child of the Chapel Royal under Captain Cooke in 1660. In 1663 he became a lay- clerk of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In 1668 he was appointed organist and master of the choristers of Salisbury Cathedral. On Jan. 6, 1675–6 he was admitted a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the place of Raphael Courteville, deceased, being described in the cheque-book as 'a counter-tenor from Salisbury.' At the time of the coronation of James II. (April 23, 1685) he was suspended from that office, and Edward Morton officiated in his stead. The cause of such suspension is unknown. There is in the Bagford collection in the British Museum library a coarse political song, published in London in 1680, entitled 'The Wiltshire Ballad,'^[1] from which it appears that Wise had been engaged with other Wiltshire men in getting up a petition for calling a parliament. It is possible that this siding with those opposed to the Court policy may have been made the pretext for his suspension. On Jan. 27, 1686–7, Wise was appointed almoner and master of the choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral. But he did not hold those offices long. On Aug. 24, 1687, being at Salisbury, he had a dispute with his wife, in the heat of which he rushed out into the street, and the hour being late, was challenged by a watchman, with whom he commenced a quarrel, and received a blow on the head from the man's bill which killed him, The place of his burial is unknown; no traces of it can be found in the registers of the cathedral or any of the churches in Salisbury. Wise's principal compositions are for the church, and they are 'among the glories of our cathedral music. He added melody to science, and in setting sacred words evinced as much judgment as genius. His anthems, "Awake up, my glory," "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," and "The ways of Zion do mourn," have lost none of their charm by use or age, and are still listened to with admiration by all those who hear them, and whose feelings are attuned to church music of the most elegant and expressive kind.'

Six of his anthems are printed in Boyce's 'Cathedral Music,' and an Evening Service in E♭ in Rimbault's 'Cathedral Music.' Other anthems and services exist in MS. in the Tudway collection, the library of the Royal College of Music, and the choir-books of many of the cathedrals. Some catches by him are included in 'The Musical Companion,' 1667, and his duet 'Old Chiron thus preached to his pupil Achilles,' has often been reprinted.

[ W. H. H. ]

1. Reprinted by the Ballad Society in 'The Bagford Ballads.'