Material
to support Christopher Maxim’s article ‘Where is Thy Zeal?: Jonathan
Battishill, his Anthem O Lord, look down
from Heaven, and a possible error in its musical text’ in Organists’ Review, Vol.XCV No.1, No.373
(February 2009), pp. 31-37.
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In
full, the title-page of the prime source of Battishill’s anthem O Lord, look down from Heaven reads:
Six Anthems
and TEN CHANTS
Composed by the late
Mr Jonathan Battishill,
Organist of Christ Church, Newgate Street,
St Clements Eastcheap
and formerly of St Paul’s Cathedral.
DEDICATED BY PERMSSION, TO THE
Honble George Pomeroy,
By JOHN PAGE,
Vicar Choral of St Paul’s Cathedral.
FROM THE
Original Manuscript in his Possession.
London.
Printed for the Editor No 19, Warwick
Square,
Newgate Street,
1804.
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The
same volume contains the following article:
MEMOIRS
of the late Mr. JONATHAN BATTISHILL,
COMMUNICATED BY
DR. BUSBY.
_____
When
Death deprives the world of an individual, whose genius and professional
learning hath attracted general notice, the Public feel a secret concern at the
loss; and while his Friends indulge the tenderest sorrow, and drop on his tomb
the tear of involuntary lamentation, they are anxious to learn those
particulars rendered interesting by distinguished merit.
The
Reverend Mr. JONATHAN BATTISHILL, formerly rector of
the parish of Sheepwash, near Hatherleigh, in the County of Devon, and
Grandfather to the late Mr. JONATHAN BATTISHILL, had two sons,
Jonathan and John. The former served his
clerkship in the profession of attorney at law, with Mr. Basil Hearne, of
Paternoster-row [sic], father of the present Sir William Hearne, Knight, of the
same place, and afterwards married Miss Mary Leverton, of Great Torrington, in
the above county, by whom he had issue, of which the Subject of this account
was the only survivor.
Mr.
JONATHAN BATTISHILL was born in London,
May, 1738. [D]iscovering at a very early age an uncommon genius for Music, and
having an excellent voice, he was, in the year 1747, placed in the Choir of St.
Paul’s, and under the tuition of Mr. SAVAGE,
then Master of the young gentlemen of that Cathedral. He was soon qualified to sing at sight; and before he had been in the Choir two years, his
performances there gave proofs of his native taste and improving judgment which
astonished and delighted his hearers. On
his voice quitting him at the usual period of life, he became an articled pupil
of the above Master, under whom he continued his professional studies with an
ardour and success, which, together with his superior understanding, love of
reading, and high relish of the beauties of our best authors, soon attracted much
notice and admiration. In contemplating
the works of the great Cathedral Composers, and other first rate Masters, his
penetrating mind never suffered an excellence of melody, harmony, or modulation
to escape him, nor rested satisfied till he had fully discovered his Author’s
meaning. This anxious research, aided by
constant practice on the organ, at
once stored his mind with those riches of harmonic combination and evolution on
which he formed his style, and gave him a command of hand adequate to the
execution of whatever his imagination suggested; and at the expiration of his
engagement with Mr. SAVAGE,
he came forth the one of the first extempore
performers in this country; having among his particular friends and admirers
the late Dr. ARNE,
Dr. HOWARD, Dr. WORGAN, Mr. STANLEY, and Dr. BOYCE, for the latter of which
Gentlemen, he officiated some time at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s.
He
had now just arrived at manhood; and having a pleasing though not powerful
voice; a tasteful and masterly style of execution on the Harpsichord; a fund of
entertaining information acquired by extensive reading; a pleasing manner, and
a gay and lively disposition, he possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of
tendering himself agreeable in every Company; and his society and instruction
were courted by Persons of the highest Character and respectability. Every encouragement was offered to excite his
future efforts, and promote his professional success; and no prospects could be
fairer or more flattering than those with which he commenced his professional
career.
Soon
after his leaving Mr. SAVAGE,
he was solicited to compose some Songs for various public occasions; and
produced some of the best Ballads of that time; among which was the celebrated
hunting song of “Away! To the Copse lead away!”
Not long after this he was engaged at the harpsichord at Covent Garden
Theatre, when he became acquainted with Miss DAVIES,
pupil of Dr. HOWARD,
an admired vocal performer at that theatre, and the original representative of Madge, in the opera of “Love in a
Village.” To Mr. BATTISHILL this young lady, whose
elegance of figure, and beauty of countenance, heightened by the attractions of
an excellent voice, and a sweetly simple style of singing, gave her hand, when
she immediately quitted the stage, to which he never permitted her to return.
Not
long after his marriage, the place of Organist in the united parishes of St.
Clement, East-cheap [sic], and St. Martin Orgar, became vacant, to which he was
elected; and also, soon afterwards, to that of Christ-church [sic],
Newgate-street [sic].
About
this time Mr. BATTISHILL published
a set of twelve airs, the melodies and harmonical construction of which bespoke
a highly florid fancy, and a degree of science and judgement much beyond his
years and practical experience; but the circumstance which established his
reputation as a Composer, was the high style in which he soon afterwards
acquitted himself in furnishing, in conjunction with Mr. MICHAEL ARNE, son of Dr. ARNE, the music of Almena, an English Opera, written by Mr. HOLT, and produced under the direction of
Mr. GARRICK,
at Drury-Lane Theatre, about the year 1764.
In Mr. BATTISHILL’S
portion of the music, there were come Chorusses [sic] which, for their science,
dignity, and fire of expression, deserved to be classed with the greatest
production in that species of composition; while several of his airs,
particularly the two Bass songs, “Pois’d in Heaven’s eternal Scale,” and “Thus
when Young Ammon march’d along,” both sung by the late Mr. SAMUEL CHAMPNESS, strongly picture his
energy and vigour of imagination, and prove that he felt the Character for
which they were written. This piece was
shortly afterwards succeeded by the Rites
of Hecact, a musical drama, in which his powers were again displayed in an
eminent degree; especially in a song beginning with “A fond Father’s Bliss is
to number his Race,” the melody of which is particularly rich and dignified. But neither these avocations, nor the
attention demanded by his pupils, wholly diverted Mr. BATTISHILL’S mind from Cathedral
composition. Retiring occasionally from
the gay and busy concerns of life, he indulged that propensity which had its
birth in the Choir, and produced a number of Anthems, the excellences of which
have been universally confessed and admired.
Among these we have particularly to name his “Call to remembrance” the
artful and close imitations of the
opening movement of which are inimitably fine, while the beauty and sweetness
of melody in the succeeding movements are every where [sic] original and
striking. He also, at the express desire
of the Reverend Mr. CHARLES
WESLEY, brother of the
celebrated Mr. JOHN
WESLEY, and father of
the present scientific and ingenious Messrs. CHARLES
and SAMUEL WESLEY,
set to music a collection of Hymns, written by that Gentleman, the melodies of
which are peculiarly elegant, yet exceedingly chaste and appropriate.
In
the Catch and Glee style he has given the most convincing examples of his
diversity of taste and ingenuity; in evidence of which it is only necessary to
mention his “O my Clarissa, thou cruel Fair” – “I lov’d thee, beautiful and
kind” – “Consign’d to dust beneath this Stone! – and “Ye Shepherds and Nymphs
of the Grove.” About the year 1770 he
was among the Candidates for the gold medal given by the Nobleman’s Catch-club
at the Thatched House, St. James’s-street [sic] to the Composer of the best
cheerful Glee, which Medal he obtained by his charming and well known glee for
three voices, “Underneath this myrtle Shade.”
As proofs of the beauty and originality of his fancy in ballad
composition, every one [sic] will admit the charming pastoral melody of “Ye
Shepherds and Nymphs of the Grove” -- the
mellifluous and affecting air of “When Damon languished at my Feet,” formerly
sung by Mrs BADDELY,
in the Tragedy of the Gamester, -- the expressive passages in “When Beauty on
the Lover’s Cheek,” in Almena, and above all, his popular and universally admired
“Kate of Aberdeen,” sung by Miss Polly Young, at Ranelagh, the beauty and
sweetness of which will be felt and acknowledged in this Country as long as
taste for vocal music exists.
Mr.
BATTISHILL,
having possessed such extraordinary resources of mind, heightened and polished
by early study and practical application, the world will naturally be surprized
[sic], that during so many of the latter years of his life he has appeared so
seldom in the list of Publishing composers; for excepting two excellent collections
of three and four-part Songs, published by subscription, twenty-six years ago,
and a few Airs composed for a work projected about twelve years since by Mr HARRISON, late of
Paternoster-row [sic], nothing from is pen has appeared within these last
thirty years.
The
fact is, his library, which was constantly encreasing [sic], and at one time
consisted of between six and seven thousand volumes of the best editions of our
Classical Authors, employed all the hours not occupied with his Pupils or
festive friends. To this latter neglect
of musical study, we are to attribute his not becoming the greatest musician
the Country every produced (Purcel [sic] excepted) and the loss of many a composition
that would have done honour to the Catalogue of English music.
To
this division of his time we are also to impute the late decline of that
promptitude and warmth of imagination which had formerly been inseparable from
his performance on the Organ. Yet he
sometimes, even to the last, recovered a gleam of his native fire, and in
finely-conceived fugues poured forth all
the powers of harmony and responsive melody.
Mr.
BATTISHILL
was blest with an uncommonly strong constitution, but late some professional
disappointment, together with this insuperable grief for the loss of his friend
Colonel MORRIS,
killed in Holland during the late war, visibly preyed upon his health; and he
became so ill during the autumn of 1801, as to be confined to his Chamber. He was advised to try sea-bathing and the air
of Margate, but these rendered him no service.
He returned from that place rather worse than when he left town; and,
agreeably to the advice of his Physicians, took apartments at Islington, where
his general debility still continued to encrease [sic], and where he expired on
Thursday, the 10th of December, 1801, aged 63 years.
During his illness many of his friends were
solicitously attentive to his situation: amongst the kindest of whom were ROBERT JAMES,
Esq. of Queen’s-square [sic]; Miss POPE, of Drury-Lane Theatre; Mr. GEORGE PEPYS,
Finsbury Square; and Mr. GROOMBRIDGE, Organist, of St John’s Hackney. On the Tuesday following he was interred,
according to his dying wish, by permission of the Dean and Chapter, in the
vaults of St. Paul’s Cathedral, near the grave of Dr. BOYCE, on which occasion his own excellent Anthem, “Call to remembrance,” was performed by
the Gentlemen of the Choir, as also Dr. BOYCE’S funeral anthem, “I am the Resurrection and the
Life,” and a Burial Service composed for the occasion by the writer of this
account, whom the late Dr ARNOLD
joined as one of the chief mourners, succeeded by ROBERT JAMES,
Esq. Mr.
CHARLES
WESLEY, Mr. GROOMBRIDGE, Mr. WELDON, Mr. GLENN, and Mr. PAGE.
Mr.
BATTISHILL’S
retentive faculties were as remarkable as his quickness of conception, and
vigour of execution, what he once read or performed he scarcely ever forgot; and
the longest compositions of HANDEL,
CORELLI,
or ARNE, were always
sufficiently within his recollection to render the assistance of the text
unnecessary. His reminiscence with
respect to dates and other circumstances was truly astonishing. He always knew where and with whom he had
dined on any particular day, however distant, and could even recollect the
subjects of conversation. If he once
heard any music, it was indelibly written in his mind: and his memory remained
so long faithful to him, that dining with Dr.
ARNOLD no great while before his death, played to that
Gentleman by rote; passages from the Doctor’s Oratorio of the “Prodigal Son,” which he had not heard
for nearly thirty years, and which the Doctor himself had totally forgot.
Form what has been said of Mr. BATTISHILL’S
compositions, the reader will collect, that they were marked with a peculiar
strength of Idea, great force and justness of expression a masterly
disposition, and a happy contrivance in the parts.
Among
his amiable qualities are to be reckoned his great good-nature, unlimited
generosity of temper, tender humanity towards real merit, wherever he found it,
and a manliness of mind that rendered him superior to the littleness of
professional jealousy.
Great
Queen Anne-Street.
Cavendish-Square.
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For
a picture of Battishill see:
There
are several recordings of O Lord, look
down from Heaven. Both Call to remembrance and O Lord, look down from Heaven have been
recorded by the choir of New College Oxford on one disc: