an English composer, actor and singer. At the outbreak of the English Civil War he was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and joined the Royalist cause, in the service of which he rose to the rank of Captain. With the Restoration of Charles II he returned to the Chapel Royal as Master of the Children and was responsible for the rebuilding of the Chapel and the introduction of instrumental music into the services. Cooke was one of the five English composers who created music for Sir William Davenant's The Siege of Rhodes (1656), often called the first English opera.
