Joseph Gibbs

Joseph Gibbs (23 December 1698, in Dedham, Essex12 December 1788), was an English composer. Biography Joseph Gibbs was not a prolific composer, but he was not entirely unknown. He was born in Dedham, Essex on 23 December 1698 to John Gibbs and Judith Gibbs. He had an older brother Edward born 4 years before. Though not much more has been traced of Gibbs until 1748. In that year, he was appointed organist at the Church of St. Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, and his first published work Eight solos for violin with a thorough bass, also appeared. Only one other work (six quartettos) is known to have been published in the remaining forty years of his active musical life. The purchase of a Gainsborough in 1928 by the National Portrait Gallery created a renewed interest in Joseph Gibbs. This painting of Gibbs was hitherto unknown and handed down through generations of Gibbs's family who were the only ones aware of its existence. Ipswich had a lively Music Club in which Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) was a keen and passionate member. It is during this period that Gainsborough painted a portrait of his friend Joseph Gibbs. In the background of this portrait are two volumes. One is titled Corelli and the other... Gem... presumably Geminiani. Acknowledgement of these names in a portrait speaks profoundly of the sitters projections towards the violin. Apart from missing accidentals, the music on the stand is identical in layout and page number to a sonata by Michael Festing, Op 7 no. 1, published in 1744 where Gibbs is listed as a subscriber. At Christchurch Mansion is another painting attributed to Gainsborough. This is on the case of the grandfather clock, assumedly of the convivial Music Club, amongst whom one can recognize Joseph Gibbs in sober grey, seated at a table with a glass in front of him. The Music Club met in the home of a Mr. Sparrowe, which is now known as the Ancient House in the Buttermarket.