Samuel Webbe (1740 – May 25, 1816) was an English composer.
Born in Minorca in 1740, Webbe was brought up in London. His father died when he was still a baby and his mother returned to London where she raised Webbe in difficult circumstances. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to a cabinet maker, and during the first year of his apprenticeship his mother died. Webbe determined to educate himself. He first discovered his aptitude for music when called on to repair the case of a harpsichord. During the course of the repair work he taught himself to play the instrument. Near the end of the job he was overheard playing it. As a result of this incident he turned to the study of music under Carl Barbandt.
In 1766, he was given a prize medal by the Catch Club for his "O that I had wings', and in all he obtained twenty-seven medals for as many canons, catches, and glees, including "Discord, dire sister", "Glory be to the Father", "Swiftly from the mountain's brow", and "To thee all angels". Other glees like "When winds breathe soft", "Thy voice, O Harmony", and "Would you know my Celia's charms" are even better known. In 1776 he succeeded George Paxton as organist of the chapel of the Sardinian embassy, a position which he held until 1795: he was also organist of the Portuguese chapel.
His "Collection of Motetts" (1792) and "A Collection of Masses for Small Choirs" were extensively used in Catholic churches throughout Great Britain from 1795 to the middle of the nineteenth century. If not of a very high order, they are at least devotional, and some were still sung into the twentieth century. He also published nine books of glees, between the years 1764 and 1798, and some songs. His glees are his best claim on posterity, and his hymn tune "Melcombe", often sung to the words "New Every Morning is the Love" is still regularly heard in churches today. He wrote one opera, The Speechless Wife, which premiered at Covent Garden on May 22, 1794.[1]
