CHAPTER XLII.
Music—Composers of the time—Mrs. Billington—Her salaries—Mdlle. Mara—Mrs. Crouch—Incledon—Braham—Chamber music—Musical societies—Commemoration of Dr. Arne—Competition of pipers—Dancing—The Valse.
THESE open-air concerts showed that there was a natural taste for music in the English character, and when we look at the composers who then flourished, and at the singers who expounded their works, we must own that the dawn of the century could fairly hold its own with its latter days. Dr. Arnold, Dr. Callcott (whose glees are still sung in many a home), Shield, Stevens, and Clementi, were among the composers; and, for singers—was there not Mrs. Billington, with her extraordinarily sweet voice, her forcible expression, and flexible execution?
Gillray here has kept an excellent likeness of our prima donna, and, probably, did not much exaggerate her proportions. She was paid remarkably well, as most divas are, and, if the satirical prints, and newspaper reports of the time, do not belie her, she was as voracious after “Refreshers” as a modern Queen’s Counsel, or she could not appear.
Here we see Mrs. Billington utterly prostrate, until revived by golden pills, of which Sheridan is bringing a good supply. We can see what she earned from a newspaper cutting, or two.
MRS. BILLINGTON, AS CLARA, SINGING A BRAVURA (1802).
Morning Post, June 12, 1800: “Mrs. Billington is engaged for the King’s Theatre next season, and she is to have two thousand guineas.”
THEATRICAL DOCTORS RECOVERING CLARA’S NOTES.
Morning Post, July 15, 1801: “Mrs. Billington after humming all the Theatres, has, at last, fixed on the hive in Covent Garden, where she will, no doubt, make much buzz and honey next season. Articles were signed between her and Mr. Harris yesterday. This we can state as a positive fact. It is with much pleasure we find she has resolved to return to the English stage; she will revive our Operas, of late fallen into disrepute, and bring music again into fashion. The terms are very liberal, but not more so than we expected so extraordinary, so charming a singer, to obtain. She is to have three thousand guineas, and a free benefit, besides fifty guineas per night at the oratorios; this altogether will amount to upwards of four thousand pounds for the season, and this season is not to extend beyond half a year.”
PLAYING IN PARTS.
[Gillray, 15th May, 1801.
Morning Herald, April 2, 1802: “Mrs. Billington will net this single season, by her professional abilities, no less than eleven thousand pounds!”
Mdlle. Mara, too, whose rich, sweet voice was so often heard in oratorio, got her fifty guineas a night at Drury Lane, in the year 1800, so that we see that in those old days “singing women” were well paid. Mrs. Crouch, that sweet songstress, and rival of the Billington, although she had quitted the stage through an unfortunate accident, which injured her voice, died in this decade, on the 2nd of October, 1805. There were many more of respectable calibre, but none with the exception of Storace, to compare with the three named.
Among male voices Incledon, and Braham, were pre-eminent. Incledon had a beautifully rich voice, the successful cultivation of which was doubtless owing to his early training, under the celebrated William Jackson, at Exeter Cathedral.
Many of us now living can remember having heard John Braham sing, although, of course, only in his decadence. His was a wonderfully successful musical career, not only here, but on the Continent; but then he had a most rare voice, and one of such extensive range, that he could sing airs written for Mdlle. Mara.
No other male singers of this period are worthy of note, nor do we find many good, or lasting, names among the instrumentalists. Wesley on the organ, Clementi and Cramer on the pianoforte, F. Cramer on the violin, about exhaust the list. But the people were musical at heart and there is no greater fallacy than to think the English were ever otherwise. Small and select parties would meet of an evening, and perform concerted chamber music. The illustration by Gillray is slightly caricatured, but it gives a very fair view of such a domestic scene.
Or, we might take another drawing-room scene, in which only two are actors, and are executing a duet to a harp accompaniment.
That good, and what we term severe, music was then appreciated, we have evidence in the existence of the “Academy of Ancient Music,” which was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Covent Garden—an institution which began in Queen Anne’s reign, under the conduct of the celebrated musician, Dr. John Christopher Pepsuch; and, till 1737, no ladies were admitted in the audience. In another twenty years it assumed more of the form of a public concert; and, in 1786, the society migrated to Freemason’s Hall, where, in 1788, it was resolved to admit ladies as subscribers. The subscription, which, at its commencement, was only half a guinea, rose, by degrees, to five guineas, and then settled down to four, which covered a season of six, or eight, concerts.
HARMONY BEFORE MATRIMONY—1805.
There was a split in the musical camp, and a branch of the parent society seceded, and established themselves at the Opera House, in the Haymarket, under the title of “The Concert of Ancient Music,” or “King’s Concerts.” They afterwards moved to the Hanover Square Rooms. The concerts commenced in February, and continued till the end of May. Six directors, chosen from the nobility, selected, in turn, the pieces for each concert—at which all modern music was utterly excluded, and nothing could be played unless twenty-five years old. So strictly was this carried out, that if the director for the night introduced anything more modern, he was (and it was done more than once) fined in a very considerable sum. There were also popular concerts held at the Hanover Square rooms, during the season, to which the admission was generally half a guinea.
And yet, with all this reverence for old music, it was found impossible to make a success of a “Commemoration of Dr. Arne,” which took place at Ranelagh on June 10, 1802; the expenses being £100, and the actual receipts for the night only £26! Well may the newspaper editor end the paragraph with “Poor Thomas Arne!”
In contradistinction to this, a Competition of Pipers, which was annual, seems to have been a great success. The Highland Society of London gave the prizes, three in number: 1st, a handsome set of pipes with a silver plate, and forty merks Scots; 2nd and 3rd, thirty merks, and it was decided at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, before an enthusiastic audience.
The principal dance of this period was the country dance; but the valse had already been introduced, and rapidly came into favour, although it was held to be fast, and rather indecent, and was danced in a somewhat different style to what it is nowadays.
WALTZER AU MOUCHOIR—1800.
LA VALSE—1810.
