John Blow was unquestionably the leading church musician of the Restoration period. He was one of the original group of children recruited for the Chapel Royal in 1660 by the new Master of the Children, Henry Cooke; he rejoined the Chapel as an adult in 1674, when he became a Gentleman and Master of the Children in quick succession; and in 1676 he became one of the three organists of the Chapel, in succession to Christopher Gibbons. Blow retained these posts for the rest of his long career, and taught generations of Chapel Royal choristers, including Henry Purcell, Henry Hall, Daniel Purcell, William Croft and Jeremiah Clarke. His contribution to the music of the Chapel was recognized in 1700, when he was given the newly created post of Composer of the Chapel Royal. Blow’s activities as a church musician were not confined to the Chapel Royal: he became organist of Westminster Abbey in 1668, and although he passed the post on to Purcell in 1679 (presumably because he was too busy at court), he became organist of the new St Paul’s Cathedral in 1687, and returned to Westminster Abbey in 1703.