Con Christopher Gibbons (figlio di Orlando), compose le musiche per Cupid and Death, il masque del 1653 di James Shirley.[1] La loro composizione per quel lavoro è l'unica di quell'epoca giunta ai nostri tempi.[2] Locke fu uno dei cinque compositori che scrissero le musiche per The Siege of Rhodes (1656), la prima opera di Sir William Davenant.[3] Locke compose poi la musica per le successive opere di Davenant, The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (1658) e The History of Sir Francis Drake (1659).[4] Scrisse anche le musiche per la marcia processionale per l'incoronazione di Carlo II.[5]
Nel 1673 venne pubblicato il trattato di teoria musicale di Locke, Melothesia,. La pagina del titolo descriveva Locke come "Compositore di Sua Maestà, e organista della cappella di Sua Maestà dei monarchi Carlo II e Caterina di Braganza. Locke fu al servizio di re Carlo anche come compositore della Wind Music ("musica per le cornamuse e i pifferi del Re"), e compositore per i Violini del Re. (Il suo successore nell'ultimo incarico fu Henry Purcell;[6] Locke era un amico di famiglia e potrebbe aver avuto una certa influenza sul giovane compositore[7]). Nel 1675 compose la musica per l'opera di Thomas Shadwell, Psyche.
^Music In The Baroque Era (From Monteverdi to Bach) - Manfred F Bukofzer - Published by J.M Dent & Sons (First UK Edition 1948) - p186 "When the masque as a regular court institution fell with Cromwell's rise to power, it was an overripe and doomed form. The Commonwealth did not interrupt the musical life as severely as Burney and others have claimed. Although stage plays were forbidden, musical shows passed the censorship and music in the homes of the urban middle classes flourished more than ever. Shirley's masque Cupid and Death (1653) was privately performed with music by Christopher Gibbons and Locke."
^Henry Purcell (Glory Of His Age) by Margaret Campbell (Oxford University Press Paperback 1995) (ISBN 0-19-282368-X) p46 "...his appointment on 10 September 1677 as 'composer in ordinary with fee for the violin to his Majesty, in the place of Matthew Lock(e), deceased'...."
^Henry Purcell (Glory Of His Age) by Margaret Campbell (Oxford University Press Paperback 1995) (ISBN 0-19-282368-X) p44 "The first mention is in Pepys diary: After dinner I back to Westminster-hall...Here I met with Mr Lock(e) and Pursell, Maisters of Musique; and with them to the Coffee-house into a room next the Water by ourselfs...Here we had a variety of brave Italian and Spanish songs and a Canon for 8 Voc:, which Mr Lock(e) had newly made on these words: "Domine salvum fac Regem", an admirable thing."