WHITE, Rev. Matthew, Mus. Doc., a bass singer in the choir of Wells Cathedral, became organist of Ch. Ch. Cathedral, Oxford, 1611, and was admitted Nov. 2, 1613, gentleman and gospeller of the Chapel Royal. He resigned the appointment Sept. 25, 1614. On June 2, 1619, he and Cuthbert Joyner, Serjeant of the Vestry of the Chapel Royal, were appointed Surveyors of lands, etc., belonging to rectories, vicarages, and rural prebends in England and Wales. He accumulated the degrees of Mus. Bac. and Mus. Doc. at Oxford, July 18, 1629. Anthems by him are in Barnard's MS. collections, in the Tudway Collection, in Ely Cathedral Library, and elsewhere. The words of some are given by Clifford. Some catches by him are in 'The Musical Companion,' 1667. [See White, Robert.]
WHITE, Maude Valérie, born of English parents at Dieppe, June 23, 1855. After acquiring the rudiments of harmony and composition from W. S. Rockstro and Oliver May, she entered the Royal Academy of Music in Oct. 1876, and studied composition under Sir G. A. Macfarren. In Feb. 1879 she was elected to the Mendelssohn Scholarship, which she held for two years, studying the while under Macfarren and F. Davenport. In April 1881 ill-health compelled her to give up the scholarship and reside for a time in South America. Previously, however, to her departure, a portion of a Mass of hers was performed at a Royal Academy Students' Orchestral Concert. In the winter of 1883 she completed her musical studies in Vienna, since which she has resided in London.
It is as a song-writer that Miss White is known; her songs are often graceful, melodious, well-written, and well-adapted to the voice. Among the most popular of them are 'Absent yet Present,' 'The devout lover,' 'Ye Cupids,' and 'When passion's trance.' Her best songs are to words by Herrick and Shelley. For instance, for 'To Blossoms,' 'To Daffodils,' 'To Electra,' 'To Music, to becalm his fever,' she has written pure, quaint, and measured music in thorough accord with Herrick's delicate but somewhat archaic turns of thought and language. But a song of greater scope and merit than any of these is to Shelley's words, 'My soul is an enchanted boat,' from 'Prometheus Unbound.' Here she has completely caught the spirit of Shelley's beautiful song, and has proved herself to be an adequate interpreter of a most exquisite lyric; and it is not too much to say that the song is one of the best in our language. And worthy of all praise is her thorough appreciation of the importance of the words of songs, an appreciation attested alike by the excellence of the poetry she sets to music, and by her own careful attention to the metre and accents of the verse.
Of Miss White's German and French songs we may mention Heine's 'Wenn ich in deine Augen seh,' and 'Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,' and Victor Hugo's 'Chantez, chantez, jeune Inspirée,' and 'Heureux qui peut aimer,' also a fine setting of Schiller's 'Ich habe gelebt und geliebet,' for soprano and orchestra.
Of her later attempts we may mention some interesting settings of poems from 'In Memoriam.' But it may be doubted whether these noble poems are sufficiently lyrical for the musician's purpose.
WHITE MEADOWS, Alice Mary Meadows White, née Smith, a distinguished English composer, was born May 19, 1839. She was a pupil of Sir W. Sterndale Bennett and Sir G. A. Macfarren; married Frederick Meadows White, Esq., Q.C., Jan. 2, 1867, was elected Female Professional Associate of the Philharmonic Society in Nov. 1867, Hon. Member of the Royal Academy of Music in 1884, and died Dec. 4, 1884. She was a prolific composer of works of all dimensions. The list embraces 2 Symphonies, in C minor (1863), and G (18—); Overtures to 'Endymion' (1871), 'Lalla Rookh' (1865), 'Masque of Pandora,' with two Intermezzi (1878), and 'Jason' (1879); a Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (1872); an Introduction and Allegro for PF. and orchestra (1865); 4 PF. quartets, in B♭
(1861), D (1864), E, and G minor; a PF. trio in G (1862); 3 String quartets, in D (1862), A (1870), and G; also 5 Cantatas for soli, chorus, and orchestral accompaniment—'Rüdesheim or Gisela' (1865), Kingsley's 'Ode to the North-East Wind' (Hackney Choral Association, 1880), Collins's 'Ode to the Passions' (Hereford festival, 1882), Kingsley's 'Song of the Little Baltung' (1883), Kingsley's ' Red King' (1884), the four last published by Novellos; Part Song 'The Dream' (1863); Duet (S. T.) 'Maying'; many solo-songs, duets, etc. 'Her music,' says the 'Athenæum' of Dec. 13, 1884, 'is marked by elegance and grace rather than by any great individuality … that she was not deficient in power and energy is proved by portions of the Ode to the North-East Wind, and The Passions. Her forms were always clear and her ideas free from eccentricity; her sympathies were evidently with the classic rather than with the romantic school.'
WHITE, Robert, a great English musician of the 16th cent., of whose life no particulars seem obtainable. In an organ-book at Ely Cathedral there is a list of organists, according to which White was organist there from 1562 to 1567, and died in the last-named year. The official register of the organists commences with John Farrant on Dec. 9, 1567. An old MS. in the possession of the Rev. Sir F. A. G. Ouseley may be understood to say that White was organist of Westminster Abbey 'temp. 1560.' In one of the MSS. in the library of Ch. Ch., Oxford, he is constantly described as of Westminster, and once in full as 'Mr. Ro. Whytt, batchelar of art, batchelar of musick, organist of Westminster, and mr of the children of the same.' More definite still is a MS. note by Mr. John Stafford Smith in the margin of a copy of Burney's History (vol. iii. p. 66) in the Royal College of Music Library, according to which 'Robert
