William Russell (organist)

William Russell (6 October 1777 – 21 November 1813) was an English organist and composer. Life He was the son of William Russell, an organ-builder, and was born in London on 6 October 1777. From age seven Russell was taught by the organists William Cope, William Shrubsole, and John Groombridge. Between 1789 and 1793 he was deputy to his father, who was organist to St. Mary’s, Aldermanbury. In 1793, Russell was appointed organist to the Great Queen Street chapel; cathedral services were performed there until 1798, when the chapel became a Wesleyan meeting-house. On 2 September 1798 he was elected organist at St. Anne’s, Limehouse. In 1801 he was elected to a similar post at the Foundling Hospital. About the same time he resumed musical studies under Samuel Arnold. In 1808, Russell graduated Mus. Bac. at Oxford. He died on 21 November 1813 at Cobham Row, Coldbath Fields, in Clerkenwell. Works Russell’s organ voluntaries were in suite form. He published Twelve Voluntaries for the Organ or Pianoforte (1805), and a Second Book (1812). Job was an oratorio adaptation for organ or pianoforte, from Samuel Wesley, issued in 1826. He also composed music to Christopher Smart’s Ode on St. Cecil