BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF JOHN TRAVERS, WILLIAM HAYES, MUS. D., THOMAS SAUNDERS DUPUIS, MUS. D., AND EDMUND AYRTON, MUS. D.
JOHN TRAVERS received his musical education in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and having gained the good will of Dr. Godolphin, Dean of St. Paul’s and Provost of Eton College, was by him put apprentice to Dr. Greene. About the year 1725 he succeeded Kelway as organist of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and subsequently became organist of Fulham. On the decease of Jonathan Martin, in 1737, Travers was appointed organist of the Chapels Royal, when he relinquished his situation at Fulham. He died in 1758, and his successor in the King’s Chapel was Dr. Boyce.
‘Travers,’ says Sir John Hawkins, who knew him well, ‘was a sound musician; he commenced an early acquaintance with Dr. Pepusch, and received some assistance from him in the course of his studies, which by sedulous application he was very careful to improve. In the Chapel books are sundry anthems of his composition; but as composer he is best known to the world by eighteen Canzonets, being verses and songs taken from the posthumous works of Prior, which he set for two and three voices, in a style as elegant as it is original. Besides these he published the whole book of Psalms for one, two, three, four, and five voices, with a thorough-bass for the harpsichord[58].’
Dr. Burney, speaking of Travers, says, ‘His compositions, however pure the harmony, can only be ranked with pieces of mechanism, which labour alone may produce, without the assistance of genius[59]’. But this criticism is no less inconsiderate than severe. To his compositions for the church it may apply, but his canzonets—many of them at least—have stood the test of time, and, popular as they were when first brought forth, are still as much as ever admired for their genius, their originality, as well as their beauty and contrivance, by all impartial judges of English music; among whom Dr. Burney certainly cannot properly be reckoned, so strong were his prejudices in favour of the Italian school; though latterly the German composers, Haydn especially, had some share of his esteem.
In Arnold’s Collection of Cathedral Music, are a Morning Service, a Te Deum, and one Anthem, by Travers, which do not exhibit any creative powers: his best sacred composition is the anthem, ‘Ascribe unto the Lord,’ and this is still occasionally performed in the King’s Chapel.
WILLIAM HAYES, Doctor in Music, was born at Gloucester, in 1707, and giving early proofs of a musical disposition, was admitted a chorister of the cathedral, under Mr. Hine, the organist, where as a boy he early distinguished himself as a solo singer, and soon arrived at a high degree of excellence as an organ-player. On quitting Gloucester, he was appointed organist of Shrewsbury, and shortly afterwards succeeded to the same situation in the Cathedral of Worcester. But after the lapse of a few years, a vacancy occurring in the office of organist and master of the choristers at Magdalen College, Oxford, he obtained that appointment, which having been the ultimate object of his ambition, he retained till his death. In 1735 he proceeded to a Bachelor’s degree in music, and some years after, on the death of Mr. Goodson, was elected Professor of Music to the University. On the opening of the Radcliffe Library, in 1749, he was honoured with a doctor’s degree, to which he was presented by Dr. Bradley, Savilian Professor of Astronomy, who, in an elegant Latin speech, represented him not only as a man eminent in his faculty, but as possessed of other estimable qualities, among which sweetness of temper was mentioned as not the least remarkable.
In 1753 Dr. Hayes published his ‘Remarks on Mr. Avison’s Essay on Musical Expression,’ which were drawn from him in consequence of what he considered a covert attack on Handel by the author of that well-known, and in many respects able, critical work; but he here manifested more knowledge of his subject than control of temper; and his observations,—though many of them are very just, while some are rather hypercritical,—lose much of their force from the asperity of language in which they were uttered, a fault only to be accounted for, in one of so mild a disposition, from his enthusiastic admiration of the illustrious composer whom he vindicated.
On the establishment of the Catch-Club, Dr. Hayes, in 1773, obtained three out of the six prizes given that year, one of his successful compositions being that exquisitely beautiful but brief piece of simple counterpoint, the Glee, ‘Melting airs soft joys inspire.’ This, and the lovely Round, ‘Wind, gentle evergreen,’ are enough to transmit his name to posterity, had he produced nothing else; but his Cathedral Music in Score, comprising a full service and upwards of twenty anthems, published after his decease by his son, Dr. Philip Hayes, will continue to be highly valued so long as this species of composition shall continue in use. His Canon, ‘Let’s drink, and let’s sing together,’ is mentioned by Dr. Burney (in Rees’ Cyclopædia) as ‘the most pleasant of those laboured compositions which go under the name of Canon.’
Dr. Hayes, after suffering three years from the effects of a paralytic stroke, died in 1777, and was succeeded in all his appointments at Oxford by his above-mentioned son[60].
THOMAS SAUNDERS DUPUIS, Doctor in Music, was in 1733 born in this country, though his parents were natives of France. His father held some situation at court under George II., and this probably was the reason why his son was placed in the Chapel Royal. The first rudiments of his education were received from Mr. Gates. He afterwards became a pupil of Travers, at that time organist of the King’s Chapel, and for whom, in the early part of his life, he officiated as deputy.
‘On the death of Dr. Boyce, in 1779, Mr. Dupuis was appointed organist and composer to the Chapel Royal; and it is probable that the Bishop of London (Lowth) never exercised his taste and judgment more properly than by nominating so worthy a man to so respectable a situation.’ Bingley’s Musical Biography, ii. 215.
In 1784 he was named as one of the assistant-directors of the Commemoration of Handel; and in 1790 was admitted to the degree of Doctor in Music by the University of Oxford. He died in consequence of taking an excessive dose of opium, at his house in Park Lane, on the 17th of June, 1796. His successors were Mr. Knyvett, senior, as organist of the Royal Chapels, and Mr. Attwood as composer to his Majesty.
Dr. Dupuis published several compositions, among which his Organ Pieces and two Sets of Chants are the most valuable; but his reputation is more permanently based on his services and anthems, written for the use of the King’s Chapel, a selection of which was printed after his death, in two handsome volumes, by his pupil and friend, John Spencer, Esq., son-in-law and nephew to the late Duke of Marlborough. These consist of four Services, and fourteen Anthems in score; and in Page’s Harmonia Sacra are two other of his Anthems, ‘The Lord, even the most mighty God,’ and ‘I cried unto the Lord,’ which were published during the life of the author.
Great knowledge and taste are more conspicuous in Dr. Dupuis’ compositions than any very great brilliancy of genius; but they are by no means deficient in invention, though this was curbed by his devotedness to the school of music in which he had been educated, and of which he was to the last a most uncompromising defender. His Services, particularly those in E flat and C, are as beautiful in melody, as they are skilful, considered as specimens of writing in parts. Of his anthems, ‘The souls of the righteous,’ ‘Bow down thine ear,’ and ‘Be thou my judge,’ will long continue as records of his ability as a harmonist; and ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ ‘Lord, what love have I unto thy law,’ together with ‘Teach me, O Lord,’ can never cease to please the admirers of graceful, flowing air. As a performer on the organ, he was excelled by no Englishman of his time; his extemporaneous fugues were the admiration of all lovers of this kind of music, and drew multitudes to hear him at the conclusion of the service at the Royal Chapel.
Dr. Dupuis was a most worthy and amiable man, successful in worldly matters, but unfortunate in his family. He followed his eldest son (a clergyman) to the grave, and bequeathed a handsome fortune to an only remaining one, who thoughtlessly dissipated the whole of it in his power, and died at an early age.
EDMUND AYRTON, Doctor in Music,—who closes the list of Masters of the children of the Chapels Royal, to the end of the eighteenth century[61],—‘was born in 1734, at Ripon, of which borough his father was an active and upright magistrate, whose three immediate ancestors held, successively, the livings of Nidd and Stainley, within the liberty of that town. He was intended for the church, and received his education at the free grammar-school of his native place, where, during five years, he was a contemporary of Beilby Porteus, afterwards bishop of London. But his father, finding it prudent to indulge his son’s natural inclination for music, placed him under the instruction of Dr. Nares, then organist of the cathedral of York. At an early age he was elected organist, auditor, and rector chori of the collegiate church of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, where he married a lady of good family. He quitted that place in 1764, upon being appointed gentleman of the Chapel Royal; shortly after which he was installed a vicar-choral of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and subsequently became one of the lay-clerks of Westminster Abbey.
‘In 1780 he was promoted, by Bishop Lowth, to the office of master of the children of his Majesty’s Chapels, on the resignation of his friend Dr. Nares. In 1784 the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Doctor in Music; and some time after he was admitted ad eundem by the University of Oxford. His exercise was a grand anthem, for a full orchestra, which merited and gained so much praise, that it was ordered to be performed, with a complete band, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the 29th of July, 1784, the day of the General Thanksgiving for the peace. This was afterwards published in score. In the same year he was chosen one of the assistant-directors of the Commemoration of Handel, in Westminster Abbey, which situation he filled at all the succeeding performances in that venerable building, and took a very active part in their management. In 1805 he relinquished the mastership of the children of the Chapel, and was succeeded by John Stafford Smith, Esq., having been allowed for many years previous to perform the duties of his other appointments by deputy. He died in 1808, and his remains were deposited in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near those of his wife and several of his children.
‘Dr. Ayrton was an excellent musician, of which his compositions for the church bear indubitable evidence[62]. The performance of these has been chiefly confined to the Royal Chapel, but the publication of them, which has long been expected, would usefully augment the musical resources of our various choirs, and add greatly to the reputation of their author.’ (Dictionary of Musicians.)