George Job Elvey

Sir George Job Elvey (1816–1893) was an English organist and composer whose career was centered on Anglican church music and the royal chapel at Windsor. Born in Canterbury, he was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and later studied with his older brother Stephen Elvey, at Oxford, and at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1835, while still a young man, he became organist and master of the boys' choir at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he remained until his retirement in 1882.

Elvey earned the Bachelor of Music degree at Oxford in 1838 and the Doctor of Music degree in 1840. His long Windsor appointment brought him into the musical life of the royal household, and he supplied music for major ceremonies as well as regular chapel worship. He was knighted in 1871. His compositions include anthems, services, larger sacred works, organ music, and numerous hymn tunes.

DIADEMATA, composed in 1868 for Matthew Bridges's “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” became Elvey's most widely circulated hymn tune. Because its meter is 6.6.8.6 D, it was later paired effectively with Charles Wesley's “Maker, in Whom We Live,” especially in Methodist and Anglican hymnals.