The career of John Braham must always be of interest to those who love
the traditions of English music. The associate and contemporary of a
host of distinguished singers, and himself not least, his connection
with the musical life of Cata-lani would seem to make some brief sketch
of the greatest of English tenor-singers singularly fitting in this
place. He was born in London in 1773, of Jewish parentage, his real name
being Abrams, and was so wretchedly poor that he sold pencils on the
street to get a scanty living. Leoni, an Italian teacher of repute,
discovered by accident that he had a fine voice, and took the friendless
lad under his tutelage. He appeared at the age of thirteen at the Covent
Garden Theatre, the song "The Soldier tired of War's Alarms" being the
first he sang in public. One of the papers spoke of him as a youthful
prodigy, saying, "He promises fair to attain every perfection,
possessing every requisite necessary to form a good singer." Braham at
one time lost his voice utterly, and his prospect seemed a gloomy
one, as his master Leoni also died about the same time. He now found a
generous patron in Abraham Goldsmith, however, and became a professor of
the piano, for which instrument he developed remarkable talent.
An Italian master named Rauzzini seems to have been of great service to
Braham when he was about twenty years of age, and under him he fitted
himself for the Italian stage, and secured an opening under Storace,
father of the brilliant Nancy Storace, at Drury Lane. His success was
so marked that the following season found him reengaged and his
professional life well opened to him. Braham's ambition, however,
would not permit him to rest on his laurels, or rest contented with the
artistic fitness already acquired. He determined to find in Italy that
finishing culture which then as now made that country the Mecca of
artists anxious to perfect their education. He visited Florence, Genoa,
Milan, Naples, and Rome, studying under the most famous masters. Not
content with his training in executive music, Braham studied composition
and counterpoint under Isola, and laid the foundation for the knowledge
which afterward gave him a place among notable English composers as well
as singers.
While in England Braham had shown proof s of a transcendent talent. His
singing both in oratorio and opera was of such a stamp as to place him
in the van with the most accomplished Italian singers. With the added
finish of method which he gained by his Italian studies, he made a most
favorable impression in the various cities when he sang in Italy, and
his name was freely quoted as being one of the very greatest living
singers. The elder Davide, whose reputation at that time had no equal,
even Crescentini being placed second to him, said on hearing him sing,
"There are only two singers in the world, I and the Englishman." Braham
had one great advantage over his rivals in this, that his knowledge of
the science of music in all its most abstruse difficulties was thorough.
Skillful adept as he was in all the refinements of executive technique,
his profound musical grasp and insight made all difficulties of
interpretation perfect child's-play. Our readers will recall an
illustration of Braham's readiness and quickness of resource in the
anecdote of him told in connection with Mrs. Billington's life.
Refusing the most flattering offers from Italian impressarii, who were
eager to retain him for a while in Italy, Braham returned to England in
1801, and for the most part during a number of years devoted himself to
English opera. Though he had approved himself a brilliant master in the
Italian school, his taste and talents also peculiarly fitted him--like
Sims Reeves, who seems to have taken Braham for a model--for the
simple and affecting ballad-music with which English opera is so
characteristically marked. His only appearances in Italian opera in
England after his return were in the seasons of 1804, 1805,1800, and
1816. These seasons were marked by the performance of the fine operas
of Winter, of some of the masterpieces of Cimarosa, and by the first
introduction into England of the music of Mozart, the "Clemenza di
Tito," in which Mrs. Billington and Braham appeared, having been the
earliest acquaintance of the English public with the greatest of the
German operatic composers. The production of this opera was at the
suggestion of George IV., then Prince of Wales, who had a manuscript
score of the work, with instrumental parts, sent to him as a gift by the
great Haydn several years before, as a memorial of the kindness shown by
the Prince to the composer of the "Creation," when in London conducting
the celebrated Salaman symphonic concerts. The characters of _Vittellia_
and _Cesto_ were splendidly performed by the two singers; but the
Italian part of the company did not perform the difficult and exacting
music _con amore_, neither were the audiences of that day trained up
to the appreciation of the glorious music of Mozart which has obtained
since that time.
Braham's career as a singer of English opera is that with which his
glory in art is chiefly associated. His first appearance was in a
somewhat feeble work called the "Chains of the Heart," and this was
succeeded by the "Cabinet," a production in which Braham composed all
the music of his own part, both solo and the concerted portions in which
he had to appear--a custom which he continued for a number of years.
Seldom has music been more popular than that in which Braham appeared,
for he knew how to suit all the subtile qualities of his own voice.
Among the more celebrated operas in which he appeared, now unknown
except by tradition, may be mentioned "Family Quarrels," "Thirty
Thousand," "English Fleet," "Out of Place," "False Alarms," "Kars,
or Love in a Desert," and "Devil's Bridge." As Braham grew older he
attained a prodigious reputation, never before equaled in England. In
theatre, concert-room, and church he had scarcely a rival; and whether
in singing a simple ballad, in oratorio, or in the grandest dramatic
music, the largeness and nobility of his style were matched by a voice
which in its prime was almost peerless. His compass extended over
nineteen notes, and his falsetto from D to A was so perfect that it was
difficult to tell where the natural voice ended. When Weber composed his
opera "Oberon" for the English stage in 1826, Braham was the original
_Sir Huon_.
Braham had made a large fortune by his genius and industry, the
copyright on the many beautiful ballads and songs which he contributed
to the musical treasures of the language amounting alone to a handsome
competence. But, following the example of so many great artists, he
aspired to be manager also. In conjunction with Yates, in 1831 he
purchased the Colosseum in Regent's Park for forty thousand pounds, and
five years afterward he spent twenty-six thousand pounds in building
the St. James's theatre. These speculations were unfortunate, and Braham
found himself compelled to renew his professional exertions at a period
when musical artists generally think of retiring from the stage. He made
a concert and operatic tour in America in 1840, and it was while playing
with him in "Guy Manner-ing" that Charlotte Cushman, who then performed
singing parts, conceived the remarkable _rôle_ of _Meg Merrlies_, which
she made one of the most picturesque and vivid memories of the stage.
Francis Wemyss, in his "Theatrical Biography," refers to Braham's
appearance at the National Theatre, Philadelphia: "Who that heard
'Jephthall's Rash Vow' could ever forget the volume of voice which
issued from that diminutive frame, or the ecstasy with which 'Waft
her, angels, through the skies' thrilled every nerve of the attentive
listener? He ought to have visited the United States twenty years
sooner, or not have risked his reputation by coming at all. Like
Incledon, he was only heard by Americans when his powers of voice were
so impaired as to leave them to conjecture what he had been, and mourn
the wreck that all had once admired." Such an impression as this seems
to have been common with the American public--an experience afterward in
recent years repeated in the last visit of the once great Mario.
In private life Braham was much admired, and was always received in
the most conservative and fastidious circles. As a man of culture, a
humorist, and a raconteur, he was the life of society; and he will be
remembered as the composer who has left more popular songs, duets, etc.,
than almost any other English musician. He died in 1856, after living to
see his daughter Lady Walde-grave, and one of the most brilliant leaders
of London high life.
The Davides, father and son, also belonged to the Catalani period, the
elder having sung with her in Italy, and the younger in after years both
in opera and concert. Giacomo Davide, the elder, whose prime was between
1770 and 1800, was pronounced by Lord Mount Edgecumbe the first tenor of
his time, possessing a powerful and well-toned voice, great execution as
well as knowledge of music, and an excellent style of singing. His son
Giovanni, who became better known than himself, was his pupil. Though
singing with a faulty method, Giovanni Davide had a voice of such
magnificent compass and quality as to produce with it the most
electrical effects. M. Edouard Bertin gives an interesting account
of him in a letter from Venice dated 1823: "Davide excites among the
dilletanti of this town an enthusiasm and delight which can hardly
be conceived without having been witnessed. He is a singer of the new
school, full of mannerism, affectation, and display, abusing like
Martin his magnificent voice with its prodigious compass (three octaves
comprised between four B flats). He crushes the principal motive of
an air beneath the luxuriance of his ornamentation, which has no other
merit than that of a difficulty conquered. But he is also a singer full
of warmth, _verve_, expression, energy, and musical sentiment. Alone
he can fill up and give life to a scene: it is impossible for another
singer to carry away an audience as he does, and when he will only be
simple he is admirable. He is the Rossini of song. He is the greatest
singer I ever heard. Doubtless the way in which Garcia* plays and sings
the part of _Otello_ is preferable, taking it all together, to that of
Davide; it is pure, more severe, more constantly dramatic; but with all
his faults Davide produces more effect, a great deal more effect.
There is something in him, I can not say what, which, even when he is
ridiculous, entrances attention. He never leaves you cold, and when he
does not move he astonishes you. In a word, before hearing him, I did
not know what the power of singing really was. The enthusiasm he excites
is without limit."
* The father of Mlle. Mulibran and Viardot-Garcia.
This remarkable singer died in St. Petersburg in 1851, being then
manager of an Imperial Opera in that city of enthusiastic music-lovers.