Boyce wrote songs for Vauxhall Gardens. Many people would have heard these songs. He became composer to the Chapel Royal in 1736. This was a great honour. He wrote several big works, although we do not know much about them or about their performances. Some time during the 1740s he composed a theatre work called "The Secular Masque". The words were by John Dryden. In 1749 he was given the title of Doctor of Music after a performance of his anthem "O be joyful".