Mid-19th century manuscript collection of English glees, anthems, and hymns
ca. 1848.
Quarto (ca. 275 x 220 mm.). Half dark brown leather. 68ff. (unfoliated). Notated on 14-staves in dark brown ink in a single hand throughou. J. Whatman armorial watermark dated 1805.
Contents:
1r-2r: Webbe, Samuel 1740-1816. As the moments roll. 4 voices
2r-4r: Wainright, Richard 1757-1825. Life's a bumper. 3 voices
4r-4v: Hullah, John 1812-1884 arr. Poor Marian, a dirge. 4 voices
5r-6v: Stevens, Richard John Samuel 1757-1837. The archer's glee. 4 voices
7r-7v: Anon. Who'll be a penney. 4 voices
8r-8v: Callcott, John Wall 1766-1821. Farewell to Lochaber. 3 voices
8v-9v: Danby, John 1757-1798. Soft breathing the Zephyrs awaken. 3 voices
9v: Hayes, [?]Philip 1738-1797. Weep o'er his tomb. 3 voices
10r-11v: [?]Smith, John Stafford. Tell me the path sweet wanderer. 4 voices
12r-15v: Wilbye, John 1574-1638. Flora gave me fairest flowers. 5 voices
16r-17v: Anon. Oft let me wander. 4 voices
18r: Anon. How sweet with combs to pierce. 3 voices
18v-20v: Attwood, Thomas 1765-1838. Hark the curfew's solemn sound. 3 voices
20v-21r: Mazzinghi, Joseph 1765-1844. The Wreath. 3 voices
21v: Mornington, Garret Wesley 1735-1781. The Housemaids. 3 voices
22r-23r: Busby, Thomas 1754-1838 Thanks that spring from pure delight. 4 voices
23r-24r: Cooke, Benjamin [?]1695-1742. Epitaph on a doormouse. 4 voices
24r-26r: Callcott. Peace to the souls of the heroes. 3 voices
26v-29r: King, Matthew Peter 1773-1823. Witches Glee As sung in the Tragedy of Macbeth. 3 voices
29v-31r: Shield, William 1748-1829. O happy fair. 3 voices
31r-32v: Arnold, Samuel 1740-1802. Old women will you go a shearing. 3 voices
33r-34r: Anon. Turn holy Father. 4 voices
35v-38r: Parry. What Joys inspire our Rustic Mind. 3 voices
39r-41r: Stevenson, J.A. The Red Red Rose. 4 voices
41r-44v: King, P. By shallow rivers to whose falls. 3 voices
44v-52v: Calcott. Father of Heroes. 5 voices
53r-56r: Mazzinghi. Lochgyle. 3 voices
56r-58r: Calcott. Fill away. 3 voices
58v-60v:Twas within a mile of Edinborough. 4 voices. Attribution trimmed
61r-62r: Spofforth, Reginald 1769-1827. It is Night and I am alone. 3 voices
62r-63v: Harrington. What shall we sing. 3 voices
64r-64v: Danby, Awake Aeolian Lire. 4 voices. Incomplete
64v-70v: Scribbles, doodles, and rough musical material.
Boards quite worn, rubbed, and bumped; spine defective; previous owner's name in ink to front pastedown and free front endpaper: "Joseph Mellor Leeds 1848." Edges of most heavily soiled; minor additional staining; several leaves torn with loss to text and music, some repaired with contemporary pastedowns; trimmed at edges with some loss.
An interesting and varied collection of music from the Golden Age of the English glee.
Samuel Webbe was an organist, composer, and singer whose contribution to English popular music, especially the glee, earned him the following praise: "as an English composer, he will always rank with Lock, Morley, Purcell and Arne." From his obiturary in The Gentleman's Magazine. "He composed several hundred catches, canons, rounds and glees, and wrote many of the texts. His works display a broad stylistic range, from short, witty, three-part catches and more serious canons (in which there is a marked delight in technical proficiency), to the glees, whose sectional nature is designed to reflect more closely the changes in mood of the text. His contribution to the field of the glee was such that his compositions were recognized as the standard to which both his contemporaries and successors aspired." Paul Weaver et al in Grove Music Online
Richard Wainwright was an organist and composer active in Manchester and Liverpool. He published a collection of hymns and several single songs of which Life's a bumper (contained in this manuscript) was the most popular.
"[Richard John Samuel] Stevens’s chief claim to attention is as a composer of glees. He was not prolific, considering the length of his life; the bulk of his composing was done between 1780 and 1800. His glees are among the most polished of their time, at their best rising to the level of Webbe and Callcott. They are not in the ‘pure’ style of the older glee, but begin to show the influence of instrumental music, especially that of Haydn, whom he admired greatly."
"[John Wall] Callcott is generally regarded as one of the half-dozen leaders in the glee tradition: Baptie selected him for the frontispiece of Sketches of … Glee Composers. He was particularly skilful at simplifying his style to suit the domestic use, often with piano accompaniment, that had become fashionable by the 1790s."
"[John Danby] composed 92 glees, catches, solo songs and partsongs (according to Baptie), many of which appeared in three books published during his lifetime and in a posthumous collection issued in 1798 ‘for the benefit of his widow and four children’. He won eight prizes from the Catch Club for his compositions (1781–94). His glees are polished and graceful, and occasionally original, for example, ’Tis midnight, all (1794) uses a mixture of time signatures in the different voices with good effect." Nicholas Temperley in Grove Music Online.
Item #35786
Price: $285.00 other currencies