The New Bedford Manuscript Part-Books of Handel's Setting of L'Allegro

The New Bedford Manuscript Part-Books of Handel's Setting of L'AllegroAuthor(s): Frederick HudsonSource: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Mar., 1977), pp. 531-552Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/897470 .

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THE NEW BEDFORD MANUSCRIPT PART-BOOKS OF HANDEL'S SETTING OF

L'ALLEGRO BY FREDERICK HUDSON

In December 1973 my good friend, William Lichtenwanger, then head of music reference in the Library of Congress Music Division, passed on an enquiry he had received from "a gentleman in the old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts." This gentleman, Harrie W. Johnston, had in his possession "three very old manuscript parts" of G. F. Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (composed early in 1740 and first performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, 27 February the same year), the parts being for "1st fiddle, 2nd fiddle and bassoon." Enclosed in the first fiddle part were two concert programs headed The Shaw Musical Society, the first for the 117th anniversary of the Society dated Friday, 2 January 1857, and the second for the 120th anniversary dated Friday, 28 January 1859, both concerts held at the Queen's Head Inn, Shaw. Mr. Johnston rightly deduced that Shaw Musical Society originated at the same time as Handel's L'Allegro and wished for advice on whether this was significant and whether these old part-books might be a great value.

With such evidence one naturally exercises the utmost caution; but, equally, there are intriguing possibilities. Though Handel's performing parts were almost wholly destroyed in fires at London theatres during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, yet his musical output is represented by a rich store of manuscript material (most collections consisting of full scores) copied for the private libraries of his wealthy and aristocratic friends, in addition to the almost complete series of his autograph full scores. Nearly the whole of this material is extant and accessible at the present time, though some gaps are known and others suspected. As Handel hardly ever wrote out performing parts himself (but left this task to his friend and amanuensis, J. C. Smith senior, and his circle of copyists) it was fairly certain that Mr. Johnston's

Dr. Hudson is a member of the Department of Music, The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Among his recent publications are "A Revised and Extended Catalogue of the Works of Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)," Mfusic Revieuw 37 (1976): 105-29, and the first edition from Handel's autograph of the Contcerto in "Judas Maccabaeus," third state for organ solo (Kassel, Barenreiter, 1976; BA 6212).-Ed.

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part-books were not autograph. If this were so, several questions required answers, such as: "At what period were they copied?," "Who was the copyist?," "What is the history of Shaw Musical Society?," "How did these part-books arrive in America?," and "Where are the remaining part-books of the original set?." To which I confess I had to add: "Where is Shaw?," my gazetteer offering me alternative locations for the United Kingdom in the counties of Berkshire, Lancashire, and Wiltshire. In further correspondence with Mr. Lichtenwanger several theoretical possibilities were suggested but it was obvious that little progress could be made until a personal inspection of the part-books was possible. On my side of the Atlantic consultation with fellow-Hande- lians knowledgeable about eighteenth-century provincial performances showed that they knew as little about Shaw and its Musical Society as I did, though we guessed that it would be located in Lancashire. I was preparing for a North American lecture tour at that time and, though this gave me the opportunity of discussion with Mr. Lichten- wanger the following April, I had to wait for a return home before corresponding with Mr. Johnston and arranging for his part-books to be sent over. He was kind enough to entrust them to my care in December 1974 and I was able to begin what I hoped would be a thorough investigation. The following is an account of how far this has been achieved.

As was (and still is) customary with performing material, these part-books are in upright format, and are uniformly bound with brown leather spines and corners (the leather now perished) and boards covered with marbled paper: though much worn, the bindings appear to be in their original state, as do the contents. Each outer front and end board was originally identified by a handwritten, heart-shaped label with L'Allegro, the name of the instrument, and either Shaw or Shaw Club: in two of the part-books a printed label with a decorative border and Shaw Club has been stuck on top, obviously because of much use and consequent wear. As may be observed from the facsimile reproductions, the part-books are for Violino Primo, Viol [ino] Secundo, and Bassoons: they contain 40, 24, and 42 folios on which the copyist has written out the text of L'Allegro to 68, 43, and 69 pages respectively.

All three are written on the same thick, good-quality, creamy-white "Royal" paper, made in a mould sized 24" x 191/4" which had the main watermark design in the left half of the mould and the countermark in the right half, a deduction possible from observation of the watermark indentations. The sheets produced from the mould have been halved between the main mark and countermark, and the halves folded so that the fold [gutter] lies across the middle of the respective marks:

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the present bi-folium size is 11 5/8" x ca. 19" and there is evidence of trimming [cropping] before binding. Each book is made up of single bi-folia stitched into the binding. There were twenty-two chain-lines to the original, uncut sheet-now eleven to each half. The main mark is a fleur-de-lys over shield containing the arms of Strasbourg (right- handed bend) with a GR appendage, sewn on to the mould between the 5th and 8th chain-lines, whilst the countermark, J WHATMAN, occurs between the 14th and 19th chain-lines (3rd and 8th in the halved sheet). The accompanying illustrations have been obtained by the most recent and perhaps the most refined method of recording watermarks-beta-radiography '-a method which records the exact size and contour of watermarks, chain-lines, and laid-lines, and which is indepen- dent of colour and most inks used for writing and printing: the result is a negative of supreme clarity from which prints may be obtained in the normal way, so providing a precise image of the sheet as it came off the mould.

After checking that paper and watermarks were consistent throughout all three part-books, I realized that I was handling paper made by the preeminent eighteenth-century English firm of James Whatman. The history of this firm's rise to fame is fully documented by Thomas Balston.2 In brief, James Whatman senior (1702-1759) gained the legal title to the Turkey Mill, Maidstone, Kent, when he made a marriage contract with Ann Harris, widow of the former owner, on 2 July 1740, the which marriage was celebrated in All Saints Church, Maidstone, on 7 August the same year. His earliest-known watermark consisted of his initials, IW, which Thomas Balston in his search for its first occurrence found in paper used in 1747.3 It was the War of the Austrian

1. The author provides a detailed, non-technical explanation in the paper, "The Study of Watermarks as a Research Factor in Undated Manuscripts and Prints: Beta-Radiography with Carbon-14 Sources," printed in the Congress Report, Eleventh Congress of the International Musicological Society, Copenhagen, August, 1972 (Copenhagen: Edition W. Hansen, 1974), vol. I, pp. 447-53. This also gives a select bibliography concerning beta-radiography from its inception in 1960 up to 1972, a table of known locations in Europe and the USA where a service is provided for accredited research workers, and a list of Carbon-14 Beta sources available from The Radiochemical Centre (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority), Amersham, Bucks., reproduced from their 1971 catalogue by kind permission. Since that time other libraries in the USA have obtained Beta sources, now available from the Amersham/Searle Corporation, Illinois.

2. Thomas Balston, James Whatnan, Father and Son (London: Methuen, 1957). (Also relevant are The Housekeepinzg Book of Susanna Whatman, ed. Thomas Balston [London: Methuen, 1956] and Grace Lawless Lee, The Story of the Bosanquets [Canterbury: Phillimore & Co., 1966].) Thomas Balston continues the history of the firm of Whatman in William Balston, Paper-Maker (1759-1849) (London: Methuen, 1954).

3. In the course of my editorial work for the Hallische Hdndel-Ausgabe (Kritische Gestamtausgabe), I have discovered paper with the earliest watermark of Whatman senior in part-books containing works by Handel printed for John Walsh, London, and published by him in December 1740, a mere five months after Whatman gained the legal title to the Turkey Mill, Maidstone, Kent. This has become the subject of an investigation into the incidence of paper made by Whatman of the critical period 1739-1741, the results of which (with beta-radiographic reproduction of watermarks) will be published in The Music Review 38 (1977).

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Plate I. Beta-radiographic reproduction (actual size) of the main watermark in the paper of the three part-books of Handel's L'Allegro, the paper made not earlier than 1762: the watermark lies across the bi-folium gutter.

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Plate 11. Beta-radiographic reproduction (actual size) of the countermark J WHATMAN in the paper of the three part-books of Handel's L'Allegro, the paper made not earlier than 1762: the countermark lies across the bi-folium gutter.

Succession, 1739-1748, that impeded the export of Dutch and French paper to England and provided both the opportunity and the incentive for Whatman to make similar good-quality paper for the home market, which by the end of the War he had captured completely.

The next observation was that the paper and watermarks in the part-books were more typical of the even higher quality product of

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James Whatman junior (1741-1789) who took over control of the Turkey Mill from his widowed mother by an indenture of 28 September 1762. From Thomas Balston4 we learn that IW, developing to JW and then to a monogram cypher, continued to be used as a countermark until about 1760. Whatman junior revived the monogram form as an appendage to the three shield forms used by the firm as main marks- fleur in crowned shield, post horn in crowned shield, and fleur over shield with bend-about 1777. Whatman senior had used LVG as an appendage to these three shield marks, not in imitation of the initials of the great Dutch paper-makers,5 but as an accepted indication of good-quality paper (in the same distinguishing sense that the Whatmans used the arms of Strasbourg mark solely for paper of "Royal" size). From about 1762 (when he assumed control) the son sometimes used GR as an alternative appendage, and from about 1777 discarded LVG altogether, instead using the JW monogram cypher as the alternative. The countermark J WHATMAN in full is found first in 1760 and was used alternately with the initials JW until about 1775, after which the full name in various designs became the norm.

Though statements above refer to the paper-mould in the singular, yet, paper-makers worked with at least a pair of moulds at any one vat, used in alternation with the help of an assistant in a continuous process. Most frequently these two moulds were intended to be identical but, as they were handmade, could not be exactly so.6 Whatman junior's Mill Ledger for the Turkey and Loose Mills (the latter acquired 1775 and worked until 1794) for the eight years 1780-87 has been discovered in recent years by Thomas Balston,7 and this volume records that eighty pairs of new moulds were made for Whatman's two mills over this period by one Thomas Harris-in particular, for our purpose, that twelve pairs of moulds were made in "Royal" size. Applying this information to the three part-books, one finds that to the unaided eye the respective runs of mark and countermark appear to be identical; but, in fact, there is a variation in measurement of, for example, the extremes of the J WHATMAN mark of 4.5 mm. Expansion or contrac- tion of the paper in the drying process would not account for this difference and it may be concluded that "twin" watermarks from at least a pair of moulds are present in this paper.

Considering the above evidence together, one surmises that Mr.

4. Op. cit., Appendix V, pp. 156-64. 5. Lubertus and Lucas van Gerrevink. 6. Allan H. Stevenson in "Watermarks are Twins" (Studies in Bibliography [University of Virginia]

4 [1951]: 57-91) lists ten points of difference, among others, which may occur between "twin"moulds used concurrently.

7. Op. cit., pp. 51-72.

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Johnston's three part-books were written on paper made by Whatman junior not earlier than 1762, and therefore that the copying out of L'Allegro was definitely post-Handelian. In speculating on the earliest date when the part-books might have been copied we need to remember that paper was handmade at this time, that at least five months were needed for the paper to mature,8 that paper-makers and middle-men stockists would not be likely to hold large stocks of any particular sort, and that the unknown copyist would require a fairly large supply of this one sort of paper for the three part-books alone (without considering the amount of paper needed for the now missing books which made up the complete set, always assuming that the same paper was used for these). Under the heading of Carriage Account, Whatman's Mill Ledger for 1780-87 shows that his paper was transported to London by William Comber of Maidstone, hoy owner (and his successor Elizabeth Comber), down the river Medway and up the Thames estuary and river to David Griffin's wharf at Morgan Lane, Southwark.9

Consideration of a terminal date for the period of copying must include an assessment of the copyist's handwriting and style, both in verbal text and musical notation, and a collation of his (or her 1) handwriting with that of copyists of Handel's circle and the immediate post-Handelian period. Broadly, the copyist's style is typical of the second half of the eighteenth century. It is experienced, well-formed, and reasonably accurate in text, with self-correction of most copying errors (a comparison of the first two measures of the parts for Violino Primo and Viol Secundo which are in unison shows the omission of cross-bars in two groups of the former). The Handel scholar, Jens Peter Larsen," has isolated and codified the handwriting of copyists who worked for Handel or,. more probably, who assisted J. C. Smith senior in producing a vast range of conducting scores, performing parts, and presentation copies of scores (together with single parts in the case of Charles Jenneris) for Handel's wealthy friends. Larsen details characteristics in the style of each copyist, periods when they were active, and provides facsimile reproductions of their handwriting. He begins with J. C. Smith senior and codifies his helpers from "S 1" to "S 13" (the "S" signifying "Smith circle"), the chronology ranging from 1716, when Handel persuaded Smith senior to leave Anspach and join him in England, through to

8. See footnote 3 above. 9. Thomas Balston, op. cit., p. 62. 10. In his article, "The Importance of the Aylesford Handel Manuscripts," James S. Hall makes

the interesting speculation that the copyists "S I" and "S 2" of the Larsen series may have been the daughters of J. C. Smith senior, Charlotte (b. 1710) and Judith (b. 1713), Brio 4, No. 1 (1967): II.

11. Jens Peter Larsen, Handel's Mlessiah: Origins, Compositioni, Sources (London: A & C Black, 1957; reprinted New York, 1973), pp. 260-323.

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the decades after Handel's death. He also includes an example by Jennens, who was not a professional copyist, and one by J. C. Smith junior, who never acted as a copyist for Handel during the latter's lifetime. Larsen's valuable work in this field has been extended by Hans Dieter Clausen 12 for the collection of conducting scores and other Handel manuscripts in Hamburg Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek. Each copyist can be shown to have a distinctive style in the formation of clefs, signatures, musical notation, and verbal text, but the one sign in which each showed the greatest uniqueness of character is the C-clef. The part headed Bassoons (a basso continuo part which is active throughout the three sections of L'Allegro) uses the tenor C-clef in addition to the bass clef, as was customary because of the wide range of the instrument, and examples may be seen in the facsimile of the first page where the C-clef appears on the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth staves. Collation with the handwriting in Mr. Johnston's part-books proved, sadly, that this scribe cannot be identified with any copyist working either within or outside the Handel circle either before or in the years following the composer's death. The initial date for the period of copying, "not earlier than 1762," seems fairly certain, but a terminal date remains as speculation for the present. The paper and watermarks are typical of those in certain Handelian manuscripts by known copyists active ca. 1770-ca. 1785, and experience in attempting to date such manuscripts by all bibliographical means suggests ca. 1780 as a reasonable date for the copying of the part-books.

The next question that needed answering concerned the location of Shaw and the history of its Musical Society. I had guessed that it would be Shaw in Lancashire, now a small township (but then a village) three miles to the north of the Metropolitan Borough and industrial town of Oldham. This guess proved to be correct. The county archives are largely deposited in Manchester Central Public Library and, during the course of the investigation, the Archivist kindly supplied me with some initial information concerning the Society from a few copies of original documents they hold. The original documents and records were thought to be still at Holy Trinity Church, Shaw, where the Society had originated; but I learned after many weeks of waiting that their records are now deposited in nearby Crompton Public Library, together with permission to obtain copies. Several months passed before it was possible to gain a reasonably complete impression of the foundation of the Society and its subsequent history.

It began as a scheme to form a "Society of Singers" attached to

12. Hans Dieter Clausen, Handels Direktionspartituren ("Haitdel-exetnplare"), Hamburger Beitrage zur Musikuwissenschaft 7 (Hamburg: Karl Dieter Wagner, 1972).

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"Shaw Chapel," a scheme promoted by some forty people of Shaw and the neighboring village of Crompton in association with the Rev. Joshua Stopford, minister of Shaw, and church officials. On 6 January 1741 they drew up, signed, and sealed a deed which began:

Articles, Proposals, and Agreements for the better encouragement and propagation of Singing Chants, Hymns, and Anthems, and other Divine Musick, in Shaw Chappel, within the Township of Crompton and Parish of Oldham and County of Lancaster and Dyocese of Chester, made, concluded, and agreed upon the Sixth Day of January, in the fourteenth year of the Reign of our most gracious Sovereign Lord, George the Second . . . and in the year one thousand seven hundred and fourty.

There followed fourteen articles drafted for the conduct and ordering of the Society, its meetings, rehearsals, choirmaster, choir library, etc., and some idea of its musical scope is contained in the first article:

Two Vollumes the works of William Croft, Doctor of Musick, by the proprietors, them, and every of them are hereby, hereafter and forever fully and forever wholely given and appropriated to and for the sole use of all and every person and persons whose Hands are hereunto subscribed and their seals put and placed (this present Society of Singers) belonging to the said Chappell, ....

The tenth article makes it clear that these anthems were to be sung "in Divine Service" and that attendance at rehearsals and services was obligatory for all who had signed the deed, under pain of fines!

This semi-rural, younger-sister church of Oldham Parish must have taken up this ambitious scheme with great enthusiasm for, four weeks later on 2 February 1741, an indenture was made between the Rev. Joshua Stopforth and four prominent persons on the one part and five responsible residents who became trustees on the other part (some of whom were signatories to the Articles), to give power and provide funds for the erection of a choir-gallery at the west-end of the church for "the use and Behoof of all and every such person or persons whatsoever skillfull in the art of Divine Musick."

The document of 6 January 1741 contains two endorsements, one of 3 March 1750 and the other of 2 April 1763. The second of these shows that the choir library had been augmented:

Dr. Croft's 30 Select Anthems in Five Vols. Folio, Dr. Green's 40 Select Anthems in Two Vols. Folio, Two Setts Two Vols. Folio in transcript being a collection of Anthems by divers authors, one quarto book in manuscript, one octavo book in manuscript both being a collection of Anthems by divers authors.

William Croft's Musica Sacra (30 anthems in score in 2 to 8 voice-parts, 2 volumes) was first published by John Walsh in 1724-25 and reissued ca. 1730 and again on 20 October 1740. There is no record of this collection being published in five volumes and we may assume that duplicate copies were represented in the second endorsement list. Walsh's Cattalogue of Musick (ca. 1736-44) lists Croft's anthems as "Bound in

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2 vol. ?2.12s.6d. No. 211." Maurice Greene's Forty Select Anthems (1 to 8 voice-parts in score, 2 volumes), first published by Walsh in 1743, went through several editions or reissues, the edition of 24 December 1761 probably being that described in the Society's second endorsement.

For the history of Shaw Chapel and the subsequent history of the Society of Singers we are indebted to the Rev. George Allen, Vicar of Shaw towards the nineteenth century. The first mention of Shaw Chapel occurs in records of 1534. This was replaced by a new stone building in 1739: this was almost certainly the incentive for the formation of the Society of Singers and the erection of a choir-gallery to accommo- date them. The Chapel became unsafe and was rebuilt and enlarged in 1798: this was followed by a new Victorian-Gothic building that was consecrated as Holy Trinity Church, Shaw, in 1871. As George Allen gradually uncovered a wealth of information about the history of the district, Shaw Chapel, and the Society of Singers (or Shaw Musical Society as it was later renamed), he reported his research in the monthly parts of his parish magazine. The collected articles were reprinted in book form in Oldham in 1898, and in 1907 he published an extended complementary volume in York.'3 Though the initial purpose of the Society of Singers was to function "in Divine Service," concerts must nevertheless have been given outside the church from the inception of the Society at least once a year in January as an anniversary celebration. For a considerable period before 1825, rehearsals and concerts were held in "the large room" at the Blue Bell Inn, Shaw Lane, and, because more space was needed, thereafter in the concert room of the Queen Anne Inn (or Queen's Head) which was specially constructed for the Society.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century the Society gained a certain relationship with the London concert organization, the "Concerts of Antient Musick" established in 1776 and active until 1848. Singers from the Society, especially females, were engaged to sing in the chorus of the Antient Concerts, often resulting in visits to London which extended from Christmas to Easter. One of these young ladies, Deborah Travis (granddaughter of John Travis, a founder member), so impressed the directors with her voice that she was trained by Thomas Greatorex, conductor of the Antient Concerts until 1831. She became an eminent vocalist and, in 1827, married William Knyvett, a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1797, one of the composers to the same in 1802, and conductor of the Antient Concerts from 1832. The connection

13. The Reverend George Allen, Shaw Chapel in By-Gone Days (Market Place, Oldham: W. E. Clegg, 1898); revised and extended as Shaw Church in By-Gone Days (Little Stonegate, York: Coultas and Volans, 1907).

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between Shaw and London music-making was further strengthened by Jonathan Nield, a signatory to the second endorsement of the Articles of 1763, who also became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. When both Deborah Travis and Jonathan Nield were billed as soloists for Shaw concerts it is recorded that "carriages would stream into the village bringing persons from all the surrounding country." There is no doubt that this connection with London's music acted as an incentive for Shaw to pursue and maintain the highest standards.

In his book published in 1907, the Rev. George Allen prints the Shaw concert program for the 100th anniversary (held 6 January 1840, a year too early, probably because of a misreading of the Old Style Calendar) and programs for the annual concerts of 1841, 1845, 1849, and 1854-56. The sole program sheets known to survive are those for 1857 and 1859 which Mr. Johnston discovered in his Violino Primo part-book. Though the concert for 1854 was devoted to Handel's Messiah, the other programs are miscellaneous concerts typical of the mid- to late-Victorian period containing few items of enduring value. A newspaper advertisement for 25 September 1766, reprinted by Elsie Ballard,14 gives a good impression of performing conditions and much higher standards a century earlier:

Performance of the "Messiah" Oratorio, with portions of "Judas Maccabeus" at Shaw Chapel, for the benefit of James Newton, organist there. The instrumental parts by the best hands in this and adjacent counties. Vocal parts by the PRINCIPAL SINGERS of HEY, OLDHAM and SHAW. The Grand Chorus's will be as full as possible, with Drums, Trumpets, etc.

Conducted by Mr. Wainwright. Doors open at NINE o'clock in the morning, and the performance to begin at Half-past Ten.. . . Gallery 1 /6d. The other 1/- each.

The style of this advertisement also reflects London custom, for London newspapers of the early- to mid-eighteenth centurV constantly advertise concerts with the instrumentalists described as "the best hands from the opera"-as, for example, in benefit concerts for Pietro Castrucci, leader of Handel's opera orchestra. Though the Society's 138th anniversary was celebrated in 1877, the last public concert was held in 1868. The last secretary, William Travis, died in 1883, so bringing to an end the 142 years of the Society's existence.

Towards the end of the present investigation I learned that about 40 music volumes, "some printed, others manuscript," which belonged to the Shaw Society of Singers had been discovered about 1955 in the belfry of Holy Trinity Church, Shaw, and were now housed in Crompton Public Library. The Librarian kindly provided a detailed

14. Elsie Ballard, A Chroniicle of Cromptoni (Crompton: Crompton Urban District Council, 1967).

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list and Xerox copies of significant manuscript sheets and printed title-pages which supply valuable bibliographical information. With this additional documentation it has proved possible to identify the copyist of Mr. Johnston's part-books and to confirm my speculative dating of the period of copying. The collection totals forty-one volumes consisting of twenty-one manuscript part-books (all except one of works by Handel) and twenty printed volumes, details as below:

MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF WORKS IN CROMPTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

Composer & Title Part-book Copyist G. F. Handel 1. Acis and Galatea Violino Primo Fine Jn. C [John Cocker?] 2. Acis and Galatea Hautboy 3. Anthems (Chandos) Violino Secundo FINIS/Edm[und]

Cheetham /Scripsit /June 24th 1788 4. Anthems (Chandos) Treble (Soprano) Finis E. C. Scripsit. January 16th 1792 5. Alexander's Feast Bass [vocal] Fine E [dmund] C [heetham] July 29th

1780 6. Alexander's Feast Violino Primo [owner] John Travis of Heyside. His book by

gift of George Travis 1777 7. Alexander's Feast Violino Secundo E [dmund] C [heetham] Scripsit March

13th 1780 8. Athalia Bassoon E [dmund] C [heetham] Scripsit December

1791 9. Belshazzar Violino Secundo Edmund Cheetham January 31st 1788 10. Belshazzar Bassoon Finis Edmund Cheetham March 12th 1788 11. Joseph Violino Primo 12. Joseph Bassoon 13. Messiah Bass [vocal] [owner] James Chetham his book

1767 / Holebottom / Crompton 14. Samson Violino Secundo Finis December 10th 1774 15. Samson Bassoon 16. Samson Contra Tenor Finis March 21st 1776 17. Samson Bass [vocal] 18. Saul Violino Secundo The End /of the Oratorio October 27th 1778.

[not signed but copied by Edmund Cheetham]

19. Saul Bassoon 20. Te Deum (Grand Violino Secundo

Dettingen) and Coronation Anthem

William Boyce 21. Solomon Violino Primo to E [dmund] Cheetham March 21st 1782

Dr. Boyce's Solomon

A collation of the handwriting in Nos. 3-5, 7-10, 18, and 21 above with that of the copyist of Mr. Johnston's three part-books shows without any shadow of doubt that they were copied by one and the same person,

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namely Edmund Cheetham, who was one of the signatories to the Articles of 1741 and to the second endorsement of 1763. The speculative date of copying, 'ca.1780,' falls within the period 1778-1792 when Edmund Cheetham copied Nos. 3-5, 7-10, 18, and 21; this fact may be taken as authentication of the dating arrived at by the bibliographical means described earlier in this paper. The handwriting in the Messiah bass part-book, No. 13, is different from that of Edmund Cheetham; the owner of the book, James Cheetham, signed the Articles as well as the first endorsement of 1750, and it is possible that he copied this book for his own use.

The following is a list of the twenty printed scores and part-books discovered at the same time as the above-named Handel and Boyce manuscript copies. The dates of publication assigned to them are tentative until a detailed examination of the volumes is possible, and are derived from the valuable bibliographical works of William C. Smith and Charles Humphreys.15 A pointer to the late eighteenth-century development of this Society and its reflection of London standards is provided in the full score of Esther (No. 7, p. 542), where the list of subscribers is printed, headed by the King, the Queen, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Cumberland. There were sixty-eight subscribers for seventy-seven copies, the directors of the Concerts of Antient Music taking ten and the subscribers taking single copies including "Shaw Chaple Lancashire."

Thus far I have been able to provide reasonably certain answers to most of the questions posed by the present investigation. Perhaps the most intriguing questions still remain to be answered-"How did these part-books arrive in America?" and "Where are the remaining part-books of the original set?" (if, indeed, there were further part-books of L'Allegro owned by this Shaw Society).

Mr. Johnston informed me that the three part-books had been in his possession for fifteen years or more (i.e., since about 1960), and that he had purchased them "in a second-hand store on Rivet Street, a predominantly Portuguese section of New Bedford." He has no idea how these part-books arrived in New Bedford but adds that the south end of the city has always been populated by a large number of English immigrants and their families. When the Shaw Musical Society ceased to exist in 1883 with the death of its last secretary, William Travis, we may reasonably assume that its music library was dispersed except

15. William C. Smith and Charles Humphries, A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published . by Johni Walsh 1721-1766 (London: Bibliographical Society, 1968); Handel-A Descriptive Catalogue of the Early Editionts (London: Cassell & Co., 1960); 2nd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1970); Charles Humphries and William C. Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles. . ., 2nd edition (London: Cassell, 1972).

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PRINTED SCORES AND PART-BOOKS IN CROMPTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

Composer & Title Score/Part Publisher & Date

Avison, Charles 1. Concertos Alto Viola Bremner, 1766

Croft, William 2/3. Anthems Musica Score John Walsh, John and Joseph Hare

Sacra 2 copies [1st issued 1724-25, this issue 1740?]

Handel 4. Anthems (Chandos, Full Score Wright & Wilkinson, [1784]

Vol. III) 5. Athalia Full Score Harrison & Co., [1787] 6. Belshazzar Full Score Wright & Co., Subscription edition,

[1783] 7. Esther Full Score Wm. Randall [Wright & Co.?],

Subscription edition, [1783] 8. Israel in Egypt Full Score Arnold's edition, No. 92-98, [1791] 9. Joseph Full Score H. Wright, [1785] 10. Joshua Full Score H. Wright, [1785] 11. Judas Maccabaeus Score [Songs from I. Walsh, [1749?, 1769?]

the Oratorio] 12. Judas Maccabaeus Full Score H. Wright, [1785?] 13. L'Allegro Full Score Wm. Randall, [1770] 14. Samson Full Score [Wm. Randall, 1769?] 15. Saul Full Score [Wm. Randall, 1773?] 16. Te Deum (Grand Full Score William Randall, [1769?]

Dettingen)

Haydn 17. Creation Tenor J. Hedgley, No. 12 Ebury Street,

(Chorusses) Pimlico, [1844-59] 18. Quintets (Grand Flauta London, Printed by the Royal

Sinfonias arranged Harmonic Institution, Lower Saloon, as) Argyll Rooms, [1820-26]

Pergolese [Pergolesi] 19. Sonatas [12] Violino Primo Bremner, London [12 + 14

of his 30 Trio Sonatas printed 1780-1789]

20. Sonatas [12] Violino Secundo

for those volumes which found their way into the belfry of Holy Trinity Church, and it is possible that officials and members of the Society took various volumes into their personal care for sentimental reasons at least. Until we have proof of how and when these three part-books crossed the Atlantic we may speculate that some member of the Society brought the books with him during the wave of immigration "that swelled to a flood, and then to a tidal wave in the thirty years between about 1885 and the First World War.'6 With this possibility in mind

16. Alistair Cooke, Alistair Cooke's America (London: British Broadcasting Corp., 1974), p. 274.

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I provided Mr. Johnston with a list of the family names of members of the Society throughout its history, many of which show close family relationships at any one period and continuity of family membership from generation to generation. Now it was Ralph Kirkpatrick 7 who first used a telephone directory as a research tool that led him to the discovery of direct descendants of Domenico Scarlatti still resident in Madrid. On receiving my list Mr. Johnston consulted his city telephone directory and found that thirteen different family names were common to members of the Society and present-day telephone subscribers. This is rough-and-ready speculation but nevertheless possible: perhaps information contained in this paper may reach residents or former residents of New Bedford or elsewhere whose families originated in the district of Shaw, Lancashire, England, and a direct link be established. The following lists are intended to further this object as well as to provide documentation of the membership of this progressive Society at successive periods of its history.

6 January 1741: Signatories to the Articles (the numbers refer to the names in each of the seven columns of the original document):

1. John NIELD Jacob WILDE Mary WILDE John WILDE James BUCKLEY William CROMPTON John COLLINGE Isaac BARDSLEY

2. John TRAVIS John WINTERBOTTON William COCKER James BUCKLEY Daniel DUNKERLEY

3. James MILNES George TRAVIS Joseph TRAVIS Daniel NIELD Mary X BELFIELD

her mark and seal 4. John BROMLEY

John BREARLEY William TRAVIS

John COCKER Joseph TRAVIS

5. Edmund CHEETHAM Jonathan GREAVES Abraham COCKER Peter LORD John COCKER John TRAVIS Peter JONES

6. Jonathan JONES James CHEETHAM George TRAVIS James COCKER Mary X NEWTON

her seal and mark 7. Jonathan GREAVES

John MILNE John TRAVIS Abraham X MILNE

mark and seal James CLEGG

3 March 1750: Signatories to the 1st Endorsement to the Articles:

Joshua MILNE John HEGINBOTTOM James CHEETHAM

James NEWTON Martha X BELFIELD

her seal and mark

17. Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953), p. 135.

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James BUCKLEY Joshua WYLDE Josiah WRIGLEY George CHEETHAM James MELLOR

Joshua WINTERBOTTOM Robert NEWTON

Witnesses: Jacob WILDE George TRAVIS

2 April 1763: Signatories to the 2nd Endorsement to the Articles:

John TRAVIS, Junr. William NIELD James CLEGG James BUCKLEY John COLLING John WILDE Thomas STOPFORD James BUCKLEY

JONES Betsy X BROMILY

mark and seal Luke NIELD James BUCKLEY

Witnesses: Thomas DYSON Joshua WILDE

Benjamin TRAVIS Samuel LORD James COCKER William TRAVIS Robert STOTT John TRAVIS Esther WRIGLEY

Witness:

Jos. BUCKLEY

George TRAVIS John WINTERBOTTOM James WILDE Thomas WHITEHEAD Joseph TRAVIS Jonathan NIELD James BUCKLEY John LEES James JONES Edmund CHEETHAM James MELLOR John NEWTON Joseph CHEETHAM George TRAVIS James MILNES Matthew NEWTON William NIELD George TRAVIS John NORMINTON John KERSHAW John GREAVES James WORRALLS John BUTTERWORTH

1840: In his book, Oldham 1898, the Rev. George Allen prints the following list of members at the centenary of the Society, though this is probably incomplete:

Benjamin TRAVIS John STOTT John TRAVIS John ASHWORTH William TRAVIS Maria CHADWICK Mary WILD Samuel LORD Jonathan GALLOWAY Joseph TRAVIS

Samuel Henry MILNE James MILNE Benjamin TRAVIS Mrs. Benjamin TRAVIS James HILTON George HALKYARD Watts BROADBENT Charles BUCKLEY Richard HUGHES

Five organists (probably acting as choirtrainers in addition) served the Society throughout its existence:

James NEWTON, from 1756 (when an organ was first installed), John TRAVIS, ?1766-1800 (grandfather of Deborah Travis), Benjamin TRAVIS, 1800-1820 (of Croft Head, b. 1774, d. 26 July 1820), Benjamin TRAVIS, 1820-1843 (of Heyside, b. 1779, d. 27 June 1843), Samuel GREAVES, 1843-1877 (d. 16 November 1877).

546



The last two surviving members were John Travis (d. 1878), secretary for almost 70 years, and his brother, William Travis (d. 1883), secretary for the next five years, after which the Society ceased to exist.

The final question that needs to be considered is based on the fact that part-books for Violino Primo, Violino Secundo and Bassoons (continuo) are woefully inadequate for the performance of Handel's setting of L'Allegro and assumes that the Society originally possessed a complete set of parts. Few 18th-century manuscript performing parts survive, but there is one large collection of Handel copies that might provide a yard-stick for speculation. This is the set of parts copied for Charles Jennens, librettist of the Messiah and the II Moderato section of the present Ode, which passed to his relative, the Earl of Aylesford, and which was eventually sold by auction at Sotheby's in May 1918. Though the British Library acquired certain volumes, and others went to William C. Smith (now held by Gerald Coke), the Library of Congress, and the University of Chicago Library, the larger part of the collection was bought by Sir Newman Flower. This (Aylesford) Newman Flower Collection of 367 volumes was purchased by the Manchester Public Libraries in 1965 and is housed there in the Henry Watson Music Library.'8 It is especially rich in performing parts, though there is no evidence of their use in any performance. The collection includes a complete set of part-books for L'Allegro, consisting of Violino I, Violino II, Violino III with Viola, Violoncello, Oboe I with Flauto I, Oboe II with Flauto II, Fagotto I, Fagotto II, Timpani, Canto I, Canto II, Alto, Tenor I, Tenor II, Bass I, and Bass II 16 parts in all. If this set is reflected in the former holdings of Shaw Musical Society, then some thirteen part-books have still to be located. Such were my thoughts during the earlier stages of the investigation.

On the other hand, more recent information concerning the forty- one volumes discovered in the belfry of Holy Trinity Church, Shaw, suggests that the above assumption may not be justified. Works by Handel predominate in this collection and, if this surviving section of the Society's library is typical, we may safely assume that the basis for the performance of a new work was the acquisition of a full score. John Walsh senior (d. 1736) and junior (d. 1766), Handel's main publishers, did not issue such scores and neither did their contempo- raries. They issued instrumental works in separate parts for each participant, and issues of operas and oratorios normally contained only the overture, arias, a selection of recitatives and occasionally one or two choruses with such titles as The Favourite Songs in the Opera

18. Catalogue of The Newman Flower Collection in the Henry Watsoni Music Library, compiled by Arthur D. Walker (Manchester: Manchester Public Libraries, 1972).

547



call'd ... or The Most Celebrated Songs in the Oratorio Call'd.... With little or no copyright protection and the risk of musical piracy, the production of his operas and oratorios remained under the control of Handel and his immediate circle until the period shortly after his death. The ever-growing popularity of his oratorios produced a complementary demand for local performance and it was Walsh's successors, Randall and Abell, William Randall, Elizabeth Randall, Wright and Co., who began to meet this demand with the issue of full scores. We may note that one of the earliest issues of such full scores is that of L'Allegro No. 13 in the above list, William Randall, 1770, the first issue of the complete work. This growing demand for local performance and the issue of full scores as the basis for performance of the complete work is reflected in the surviving volumes from Shaw Musical Society's library and the dates assigned to them.

In Edmund Cheetham the Society had an expert copyist of professional ability and his first task would be to copy out at least one part for each of the different vocal participants. This one-to-one basis for vocal parts is also true of the original manuscripts of J. S. Bach and suggests that the Society of Singers was no different from the Thomanerchor, Leipzig, in committing the chorus parts to memory during rehearsals; duplicates of manuscript vocal parts of the Baroque period are indeed rare. The list of Shaw's manuscript instrumental part-books suggests that the assumption of a complete set of parts may well be mistaken. An oboe part for Acis and Galatea survives and we may assume that other woodwind parts existed originally, though such participation would depend upon the availability of local players from time to time. Again, the newspaper advertisement of 25 September 1766 makes it clear that "the best hands in this and adjacent counties" supplied instrumental parts, including trumpets and drums; but almost certainly neither oratorio was presented complete, for the first full score of Messiah was not issued until 1767 and that of Judas Maccabaeus until 1768. If we consider the remaining instrumental parts surviving in Shaw's library, then we are left with Violino Primo, Violino Secundo, and the basso continuo part for Bassoons-exactly the parts owned by Mr. Johnston. From such considerations there emerges a picture of performing conditions at Shaw during the late eighteenth century. For performances in Shaw Chapel the main instrumental support would be provided by the organ from 1756 when it was first installed (from 1741 to 1756 a group of instrumentalists had supported the Singers, with many objections from the congregation). For performances on secular premises outside the Chapel there might have been a portable chamber organ (without pedal-board) or a harpsichord or even both, such facilities being common in very many of London's inns and coffee

548



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houses. The basso continuo would be strengthened by the two bassoon players sharing the single copy at one desk, and orchestral color at the other end would be provided similarly by two first violinists and two second violinists sharing their respective copies and desks.

The answers to the last two questions have been speculative. I hope that the facts recorded in this paper may reach whoever knows how Mr. Johnston's part-books came to arrive in New Bedford, perhaps whether other part-books of L'Allegro did exist; and that such information may be forwarded to the editor of this journal.'9

19. For valuable information and copies of documents and records I am infinitely grateful to Miss Dora Rayson, Assistant Archivist, Archives Department, Manchester Public Libraries; to Mrs. Elsie Ballard, Librarian, Crompton Public Library, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Libraries Depart- menit; aind to the Reverend R. W. Chippendale, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Shaw, for permission to obtain and make use of such documents and records in this paper. I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues in the University Library, University of Newcastle upon Tyne-Mr. Alistair Elliot, Assistanit Librarian, for preparing the beta-radiographic negatives of the Whatman watermarks, the staff of the Photographic Section for preparing prints from these negatives and of the first page of each of Mr. Johnston's part-books, anid to Dr. Brian J. Enright, University Librarian, for his kindness in reading the draft of this paper and in making helpful suggestions. My thanks are also due to the Research Committee of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for financial aid in pr-eparinig material.

552



Documents

The New Bedford Manuscript Part-Books of Handel's Setting of L'Allegro