The Music of William Boyce

During my listening presentation we heard the Canadian Brass play a suite by William Boyce. This piece was on the same album as such standards as Scheidt's Galliard Battaglia, Mouret's Rondeau, and Bach's Air on the G String, so the presence of Boyce's music should come as a relief to well-listened brass players who are looking for something different.

Boyce is little-known to most people, but according to Grove, he was "the most technically accomplished and versatile English composer of the 18th century." Much of his fame came from his eight short symphonies that were originally written as introductions to theater pieces. Boyce was an admirer of Handel.

Here is a link to the first movement of his First Symphony in D.