Antiphon for Organ (1988)

Francis Judd Cooke (1910–1995) — Antiphon for Organ (1988)

American composer Francis Judd Cooke (1910–1995) was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a family of New England missionaries turned cattle ranchers. A composer from childhood, Cooke was educated at Yale University and the University of Edinburgh (where he studied with Donald Francis Tovey). In 1939, he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music where taught until his retirement in 1970. He also taught for periods at Yale University and Wellesley College. Cooke remained active as an organist and choir director throughout much of his life (serving First Parish Unitarian in Lexington, Massachusetts for 26 years) until a 1981 stroke. He then composed full-time until the morning of his death. Cooke’s output includes numerous works in many genres. He also published a textbook, “Sixteenth-Century Vocal Polyphony,” in 1974.