RECENT ACQUISITIONS

Music

A MONUMENT OF THE ANCIENT MUSIC

Graham Pont

T H E British Library recently acquired a fineand complete copy of an important Handelcollection:

Forty Eight Overtures, Composed by Handel, asPerformed at the Concerts of Antient Music, NewlyArranged for the Organ or Piano Forte, with aFigured Bass for the use of the Organ, By JohnWatts.

The volume, which now bears the shelfmarkh.436.h, comes from an edition published forthe 'author' by H. Falkner of Bond St,London, evidently during the period 1822-4.The earlier date is that ofthe paper watermark,the later that of the review which appeared inThe Harmonicon, No. xxiii (November, 1824),pp. 207-8, where Watts's publishers are namedas 'Birchall, New Bond Street, and Harrison,44, Bedford Street, Covent Garden'. As anotice at the bottom of the title page advises,the collection was first issued in a series: 'TheWork will be completed in 12 Nos. each No. tocontain 4 Overtures'. This is the format of theonly other complete copy I have seen, which isin Cambridge University Library.^ Here thetitle page, taken from the same plate as theBritish Library copy, is prefixed to all twelveparts, each distinguished by its appropriatenumber in the series added to the top left handcorner ('No. 12' has been added in manuscriptto the last part of the Cambridge collection).The imprint also is slightly different: 'Pub-

lished for the Author by H. Falkner, 3 OldBond Strt. and all the Principal Music Sellers'.

The Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek,Hamburg, possesses copies of two of theseparately-issued sets, Nos. 3 and 12.̂ Thesehave the same musical text and title pageexcept that, instead ofthe 'Forty Eight' whichheaded the final collection, there is an elabo-rately engraved 'No. ' with a space to allowfor the addition of the particular numeral, inmanuscript. These issues are stated to havebeen 'Published for the Author, at Falkner'sOpera Music Warehouse, 3, Old Bond Strt., H.Harrison, Bookseller, 41, Bedford Strt., and atall the Principal Music Sellers'. Watts hasinitialled the Hamburg copy of No. 12, in ink,on the bottom right-hand corner of the titlepage. Both of the Hamburg numbers show theprices to subscribers and non-subscribers onthe title page — details missing from theCambridge copy. Since the complete series oftwelve parts seems to have been planned fromthe outset, it is strange to find the last tworelegated to an appendix with its own separatepagination.

The musical text of the copies examinedappears to be identical throughout: altogether201 pages handsomely engraved in folio, withvery few errors. In addition, there is an indexat the end (the Cambridge volutne has an extracopy of this) and, in the British Library copy

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Fig. I. Forty Eight Overtures, title page. BL. Music Library, h.436.h

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alone, a list of subscribers. There are also signsof pedagogical use in this volume - pencilledannotations showing fingerings, dynamics andother accents, instructions for counting and afew changes to octave-doublings in the lefthand.

The list of forty-six subscribers is mostilluminating. At the head is Miss Aspland ofHackney, apparently the original owner of thisvery volume. Her gold-stamped label has beenpreserved inside the front cover of the laterbinding. The next subscriber is the eminentviolinist Francois (Franz) Cramer (1772-1848),leader of the band at the Ancient Concerts formany years. Of the remaining subscribers, noless than eighteen are designated professors:fifteen of the subscribing professionals (mostlywell-known organists and singers of London)have entries in the British Musical Biography ofBrown and Stratton (1897). Among the moredistinguished are Vincent Novello (1781-1861)and Sir George Smart (1776—1867), bothleading exponents of Handel's music. Anotherprominent Handelian is the organist andcomposer Charles Knyvett (1773—1852): hisfather Charles sang in the Handel Commem-oration of 1784, and his brother Williamsang and conducted at the Ancient Concerts. Asubscriber also of solid Handelian pedigree isthe singer John Bernard Sale (i 779-1836),musical instructor to the future QueenVictoria.^ His father John Sale, junior(175S~i827), was a soloist at the AncientConcerts and his father John Sale, senior(1734-1802), was said to have sung underHandel's direction. Another subscriber isRichard Clark (1780-1856), grandson of JohnSale, senior, and author of the Reminiscences ofHandel (1836), notorious for its legend of the'Harmonious Blacksmith'. The list includesWilliam Watts, presumably the musician whoregularly performed in the Philharmonic Con-certs (1813-1841) and acted as secretary of theSociety (1815-1847); his career was con-temporary with that of John Watts and he mayhave been a relative. Noteworthy among the

subscribing amateurs is 'L NichoUs', almostcertainly John Nichols the well-known printerand publisher.

A detailed analysis of the professional andsocial connections of the subscribers wouldshow that the milieu^ of this edition was firmlylocated at the centre of the city and societywhich had first known HandePs greatest musicand close to the heart of those culturalinstitutions which had zealously preserved theHandelian traditions for more than sixty yearsafter the composer's death. Foremost amongthese institutions was the annual series of'Antient Concerts' where Handel's music wasperformed by leading artists under royal andnoble patronage. The overtures were a regularfeature of these programmes, and they musthave been very familiar to John Watts since heperformed in the ' tenor chorus' of the AncientConcerts every year from 1800 to 1831.^ Hencethe association with Francois Cramer, whosubscribed for two copies of the Forty EightOvertures.

It is indisputable, then, that Watts's col-lection belongs to the exclusive world of the' ancient music', the inner circle of professorsand dilettantes who saw themselves as thefaithful protectors of Handel's memory. Assuch, the publication preserves a rare insightinto the contemporary estimation and thepractical interpretation of Handel's keyboardovertures, some of which had then been in therepertoire for more than a century.* Being anorganist. Watts no doubt performed theseovertures himself: his versions reflect thetraditional manner which allowed variouslicences of interpretation. In the details of hiscarefully finished text, there is much ofmusicological interest, particularly the rhyth-mic alterations of the majestic introductorymovements to Handel's overtures in the Frenchstyle (see fig. 2).

The historical significance of the social andcultural context revealed by the subscribers'list is heightened by the meagreness of JohnWatts's biography. For a long time the only

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published account, apart from his obituary inThe Gentleman's Magazine^'' was the shortentry in Brown and Stratton:

Watts, John, organist and composer, was born in1780. Teacher and arranger of music in London.Died in Lambeth, London, October 16, 1854. Hearranged Handel's 48 overtures for pf. or organ{1824); Mozart's quartets for pf, and edited muchinstrumental music of various kinds.

On this testimony, John Watts could easilyhave been dismissed as just another minormusician, who made his living by teaching andarranging the music of greater masters and,after an uneventful career, died in decentobscurity. But, as it happens. Watts was notquite the obscure figure that this modest entrymight indicate. He was a member of the RoyalSociety of Musicians from 1818 until his deathand he held the office of Collector in theSociety for thirty years (1824-54). Eleven ofWatts's subscribers were members of thatSociety. A recent publication of records fromthe Society's archives reveals that John Watts'was educated as a Chorister in WestminsterAbbey under Dr [Benjamin] Cooke and Mr[Richard] Guise, is a Married Man...but hasno family: Is engaged as Organist at CharlotteChapel Pimlico, at the Antient & VocalConcerts, and Music Master at Miss Batten'sSchool Isleworth, is deputy for Mr [Thomas]Vaughan [lay-vicar] at Westminster Abbey,and has private teaching.'^

As far as they go, these notes agree with ashort curriculum vitae which someone haspencilled in the British Library copy of theForty Eight Overtures^ on the reverse of the titlepage:

John Watts born 16 August 1780W[est]m[inste]r Abbey (Chorister) 1790-1798Charlotte St. Pimlico OrganistGrosvenor Chapel... 1824St Georges, Hanover Squ[are] (Ass[istan]t)

Two of these appointments are confirmed byother publications of John Watts held by theBritish Library. On the title page of Mozart's

Grand Symphony in Z), As Performed at theConcerns of the Philharmonic Society^ Arranged

for Two Performers on the Piano Forte Wattsdescribes himself as 'Organist of Charlotte St.Chapel, Pimlico'. The watermark of the paperused in this publication is tentatively dated1814.® The 'Prague' Symphony was regularlyperformed at the early Philharmonic Concertsand there was enough interest in Watts'stranscription of this work to warrant a secondissue, which appeared about 1820.^" On thetitle page of Mozart''s Piano Forte Quartett[actually the Qiiintet K.452] netply arranged asa Duett for the Piano Forte..., Watts lists hisappointment as ' Organist of GrosvenorChapel', the edition being 'cordially inscribedto his much-esteemed friend Vincent Novello',Since this latter arrangement was published byJoseph Alfred Novello (London) about 1840,Watts's appointment as assistant organist at StGeorge's, Hanover Square, must have beenheld in conjunction with the one at theGrosvenor Chapel where, according to theChapel account books. Watts was paid until hisresignation in May 1851, three years before hisdeath.^^ The fact that they do not recordWatts's death suggests that the manuscriptnotes might date from the 1840s or early '50s.

At Westminster Abbey, Watts trained undermusicians who had living links with Handelhimself- not only Benjamin Cooke (1734-93)and Richard Guise (1740-1808), but alsoSamuel Arnold (1740-1802), who was ap-pointed organist at the Abbey in 1793. Watts'sposition there would have provided manyopportunities to hear the best interpreters ofthe old master's music, from the last generationof professionals who had the direct tradition.He probably sang in the Handel Com-memoration of 1791 at the Abbey and he mayeven have heard the playing of JonathanBattishill (1738-1801), who was a friend ofArnold and renowned for his faithful imitationof Handel's style on the organ.^^ But, even ifWatts did not hear Battishill play, he belongedto the same profession and school - and this

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OVERTURE to ATALANTA.

Composed bj'G.F.HandeI,in the Year 1736Arranged by J.M'Htts.

Fig. 2. Overture to Atalanta. Forty Eight Overtures^ p. 62

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fact alone would explain some remarkablesimilarities in their interpretations of Handel'sovertures at the keyboard. Taking together,then, the available biography of John Wattsand the list of identifiable professionals whosupported his edition of Handel's overtures, weare left with a coherent picture of a solid andrespected musician, whose career lasted formore than half a century. Like Battishill andmany other artists from the same background.Watts combined tbe professions of singing andkeyboard-playing.

After his brief notice in Brown and Stratton,John Watts seems to have been forgotten forthe next eighty years, until 1977 when Iencountered the Cambridge copy of the FortyEight Overtures. It was clear from the internalevidence of the arrangements that this pub-lication was one of the most important monu-ments of the Handel keyboard tradition,second only to the precious volume of overturessaid to have been annotated {c. 1785-95) byJonathan Battishill, and now preserved atHamburg. ̂ ^ I at once drew attention to theCambridge volume and its significance for theinterpretation of Handel's French overtures.^*Since then Handel's keyboard overtures havefinally achieved scholarly recognition.^^Though he was born almost two generationslater than Battishill, Watts provides powerfulsupport for his extraordinary interpretation ofthese overtures, which was said to have comefrom Handel's own performances.^®

The evidence preserved in the BritishLibrary copy of Watts's imposing collectiondemonstrates the importance of milieu in the

social history of the arts and sciences, par-ticularly when oral traditions and customaryusages are involved. The London copy of tbeForty Eight Overtures adds nothing to ourknowledge of the musical text as left by Watts;but the subscribers' list, enhanced by thecredentials of the professors who supportedand evidently approved of the publication,sanctions tbe text of Watts's interpretationswith formidable authority: the subscribers' listis no less than an imprimatur of tbe AncientSchool, the custodians of the Handel Tra-dition.^'' John Watts has left a noble monumentto that tradition, from a time when tbe long-lived memories of the composer's own playinghad finally faded and musical tastes wererapidly changing.

This was the second largest collection ofHandel's overtures to appear in keyboard form,nearly two thirds of the corpus published in tbecomposer's lifetime. ̂ ^ Its well crafted ar-rangements, which surely reflected a livingtradition of Handelian interpretation, werereceived with critical approbation and withoutany comment on the radical departures fromHandel's literal text. The judgment of thereviewer in The Harmomcon entirely confirmswhat we should expect from the implicitendorsement of the subscribers: 'Having thuscandidly stated our few objections - not veryweighty ones - we most gladly recommend tbiswork to our readers, and to all who wish toacquire a sohd taste for music... '̂ ® That taste,it will emerge, is sometimes very different fromwhat is accepted today as tbe authenticHandelian style.

1 Cambridge University Library, MR35o.a.8o.4.2 Staats- und Universitatsbibliotbek, Hamburg,

MB/4013. I thank Helga Heim for her kindassistance.

3 Tbis artist's second name is usually given as'Bernard', but it appears as 'Barnard' in tbearchives of tbe Royal Society of Musicians,wbicb include tbe application for bis mem-bership, written and signed by bis fatber.

4 I owe tbis useful concept to Jamie Kassler,wbose generous advice is much appreciated.

5 'Mr J. Watts' is first listed in Concerts of AntientMusic ...as performed at The New Room, King'sTheatre., Haymarket (London, 1800), p. 16; bisname last appears in Concerts of AntientAfw5(V... (London, 1831), p. vi.

6 Tbere were numerous manuscript versions ofHandel's keyboard overtures in circulation for at

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least ten years before Jobn Walsb publisbed tbefirst collection in 1726. See Terence Best, GeorgeFrideric Handel: Twenty Overtures in AuthenticKeyboard Arrangements^ 3 vols. (London,1985-6), Preface, pp. viii-ix.

7 The GentlematCs Magazine., New Series, xlii(1854), p. 642.

8 From Watts's application, probably in bis ownband, for membersbip of tbe Royal Society ofMusicians; tbe recommendation (dated 3 Mayi8i8) was signed by Vincent Novello. See BettyMattbews (comp.). The Royal Society of Music-ians of Great Britain; List of Members ij^8-ig84(London, 1985), pp. 152 & 249. I tbank tbeofficers of tbe Society, Marjorie Gleed and BettyMattbews, for tbeir ready advice and assistance.

9 See The Catalogue of Printed Music in the BritishLibrary to ig8o (London, 1987), vol. lix, p. 334.

10 The Britisb Library also holds a copy of tbisreissue, H.369O.tt.(5) (c. 1820), wbicb is notlisted under 'Watts' in tbe Catalogue., but isunder 'Mozart' (vol. xli, p. 156).

11 Watts's appointment is recorded in tbe ' Cburch-wardens' (Grosvenor Chape!) Account Book,(1830-99)', now preserved at tbe Vestry of StGeorge's Cburcb, Hanover Square. I tbank tbeRev. W. M. Atkins of St George's for tbisinformation.

12 Thomas Busby, A General History of Music, vol.ii (London, 1819), p. 500.

13 Tbe volume (Hamburg MB/1657) was dis-covered by Cbrysander wbo refers to it in bisedition of Handel's Works, vol. xlviii, p. vii; seeG. Pont, 'Battisbill's arrangements of Handel'skeyboard overtures', Gottinger Handel-Beitriige^iii (1989), PP- 139753-

14 G. Pont,'Rbytbmic alteration and tbe Majestic',Studies in Music, xii (1978), p. 75.

15 G. Pont, 'Handel's overtures for barpiscbord ororgan; an unrecogtiized genre'. Early Music, xi(1983), pp. 309-22. See also Best, op. cit.

16 G. Pont, 'Frencb overtures at tbe keyboard:"bow Handel rendered tbe playing of tbem'",Musicology, vi (1980), pp. 29-50.

17 Tbe work of Jobn Watts and otber members oftbe Ancient Scbool is discussed in a book nowbeing prepared, provisionally entitled TheHandel Tradition.

18 Tbe extent of Handel's actual responsibility fortbe Walsb editions of tbe overtures is still indispute. See Pont, 'Handel's Keyboard over-tures : problems of autbentication and interpret-ation'. Studies in Music, xxi (1988), pp. 39-68and Best's reply in tbe same volume, pp. 96-8.

ig The Harmonicon, no. xxiii (Nov., 1824), p. 208.

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