John Gostling [SEP] voice type
John Gostling
John Gostling (1644–1733) was a 17th-century Church of England clergyman and bass singer famed for his range and power. He was a favourite singer of Charles II and is particularly associated with the music of Henry Purcell.
Background.
John Gostling was the son of Isaac Gossling, a Canterbury mercer, or chandler. He was educated in Rochester and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he sang in the choir. He was a Gentleman and later Priest of the Chapel Royal and was
in the form of an anthem, and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, including a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's voice, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.
Gostling Manuscript.
One of the important sources for Purcell's music is the "Gostling Manuscript", a collection made by Gostling in 1706, which contains sixty-four anthems: seventeen by Purcell, twenty-three by John Blow, three by Matthew