John Malchair

John Baptist Malchair (ca. 1730 – 1812) was a German-born watercolour-artist, violinist, drawing master, and collector of traditional European music. He is described as “one of the most distinctive figures of eighteenth century Oxford”, and is recognised as having been an influence on later landscape artists, including John Constable. He was the son of Elizabetta Roggieri and Joannes Malchair, a watchmaker. He resigned from the Music Room in 1792 following an incident in which his violin was broken by an orange thrown during a concert.

Music collection and composition Alongside his work at the Music Room, Malchair took an interest in traditional ‘National’ music. He recorded the melodies that he heard in Oxford: including the music of military bands, the popular airs whistled by the townspeople, and the melodies of the singers and musicians in the streets of the city. He produced at least three volumes of collected music, one of which is in the collection of The English Folk Dance and Song Society. Malchair's work provided the foundation for William Crotch's 1808 work Specimens of Various Styles of Music. with notable pupils including Sir George Beaumont, Heneage Finch, William Crotch, and John Austen, brother of Jane Austen.