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.
[Illustration: 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.”
[Illustration: 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.”
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: WALTZER AU MOUCHOIR—1800.]
[Illustration: LA VALSE—1810.]
[Illustration]