1774 - 1856
John Braham as "Lord Aimworth", steel line engraving (1818) copyright expired
Born in London in 1774, of Jewish parentage, Braham became one of the leading singers in Europe. His long career as a tenor, singing throughout the British Isles and in Europe, demonstrates social mobility and the esteem afforded talented performers.
Braham’s precise origins are uncertain although it known that he was Jewish. There are no records of his birth but it is recognised that he was left as an orphan at an early age. He became a descant singer at the Great Synagogue and was discovered by the tenor Lyon, who appeared at Covent Garden under the name Michaele Leoni.
Braham’s first stage appearance was at Leoni's Covent Garden 1787 benefit, when he sang Thomas Arne's The soldier tir’d of war’s alarms. He next appeared at the Royalty Theatre, with Leoni.
After 1788 we know of no public performances until he appeared at Bath in 1794. His teacher, after the death of Leoni, was the male soprano Venanzio Rauzzini, who was a leader in Bath’s musical society. During this period he was supported by the Goldsmid family, influential financiers who used him as entertainment at their soirées. Braham remained with Rauzzini for two years and it is believed that the Goldsmid family financed his studies.
Rauzzini's pupils included the Irish tenor Michael Kelly who created the role of Don Basilio in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Braham certainly benefited from Rauzzini's influence and promotion, and acquired from him the basic precepts of the old Italian school and a virtuoso technique which was thought by some to be surpassed only by the soprano Angelica Catalani.
The 1794 performance in Bath saw Braham’s first encounter with the Storace family. Stephen Storace (1762-1796), the son of an Italian musician based in Dublin was an accomplished composer; and his sister Anna, known as Nancy (1765-1817), was a former student of Rauzzini and a talented soprano. They both had considerable experience of working in Italy and Vienna where, in 1786, Nancy created the first Susanna in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro At Braham’s début at Bath, Nancy also performed, as a soloist and in a duet with him.
Braham took the leading role in his Storace's new opera Mahmoud in 1796. Later that year he sang lead roles at the Italian Opera in London, an extraordinary attainment for a Briton. In 1797 he appeared in the role created for his mentor Leoni, as Carlos in Sheridan's The Duenna at Covent Garden.
With these success, Braham's career was launched. Over the coming years he and Nancy sang in every major continental house as well as in Britain and it was the starting-point of a liaison which was to last for over twenty years. In 1801, when they returned to London after their first continental tour, Anna Storace was pregnant. Their son William Spencer Harris Braham was born on May 3, 1802.
Despite a lack public support when he broke with Anna Storace, Braham’s reputation remained strong until at least the mid-1820s, when he created in London the role of Huon in Weber’s opera, Oberon and sang in Mozart’s Requiem at Weber’s funeral service. But in the 1830s critics began to dispute whether his voice still served, and he began to abandon tenor roles for baritone parts.
In 1840, when under financial pressure, he sang in Mendelssohn's Second Symphony (Lobgesang) at Birmingham under the composer's baton, and subsequently undertook a tour of America with his son Charles Braham. His last public performance was given in London in March 1852 (that is, when he was probably 78 years old) and he died there on 16 February 1856.
Links with Ayrshire:
It is known that Braham appeared at the Theatre Royal in Ayr.
John Templeton
Born at Riccarton, Kilmarnock, the son of Robert Templeton. John had a fine voice as a boy and from the age or fourteen until seventeen, when his voice broke, took part in concerts in Edinburgh with his eldest brother. In 1822 he became precentor to the Rose Street Secession church. Then, intending to become a professional singer, he went to London and studied under Jonathan Blewitt, Thomas Welsh, De Pinna, and Tom Cooke.
Templeton made his stage debut at Worthing in 1828, appearing as Dermot in The Poor Soldier. After some time in the provinces he made a successful London debut in October 1831 at Drury Lane. In 1832 he appeared as Raimbaut in the first British performance of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. In 1833 he appeared at Covent Garden at five days' notice, taking the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Covent Garden at five days' notice.
In 1833 Maria Malibran chose him as her tenor for Bellini's La sonnambula, at Covent Garden, and he continued as her leading tenor until her death in 1836. Other appearances with Malibran included the Devil's Bridge, Marriage of Figaro, The Students of Jena, Fidelio and Maid of Artois. Templeton played the leading tenor roles in the first performances in English of Rossini's Le siege de Corinthe (1836), Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (1838), and Donizetti's La favorite (1843).
He visited Paris in 1842, with Balfe, before embarking on provincial tours, giving lecture recitals on Scottish, English, and Irish folk-songs. In 1845–6 he went on a tour of America with his ‘Templeton Entertainment’.
Templeton had a repertoire of thirty-five operas, in many of which he created the chief parts. His voice was of very fine quality and exceptional compass ranging over two octaves. He could sustain A and B[flat] in alt with ease. His weakness was an occasional tendency to sing flat.
Templeton retired to New Hampton, near London, in 1852, and died at his home on 2 July 1886.
Links with Ayrshire:
It is known that Templeton appeared at the Theatre Royal in Ayr.
John Orlando Parry by (George) Herbert Watkins
John Orlando Parry, by Daniel Maclise
John Orlando Parry, actor and singer, the only son of the instrumentalist and composer John Parry (1776–1851) and his wife, Maria, was born in London. His father taught him singing, the harp and piano at an early age. He also studied the harp under Robert Bochsa, and appeared as a harpist under the name ‘Master Parry’ in May 1825.
His first appearance as a singer was in 1830 at a concert given by Franz Cramer, at the Hanover Square Rooms, London, when he performed Handel's ‘Arm, arm, ye brave!’ with great success. His voice was described as a baritone of fine and rich, though not powerful, quality.
After receiving lessons from Sir George Smart, in sacred and classical music, he was a regular performer at the Ancient and Philharmonic concerts. Sigismund Neukomm composed ‘Napoleon's Midnight Review’ for him, and several other songs, but his voice was best suited to simple ballads.
By 1833 Parry was in Italy for teaching from Luigi Lablache in Naples. At Posilippo he gave a concert in a theatre owned by the impresario Domenico Barbaja, the second part of which consisted of a burlesque on Othello; Lablache sustained the part of Brabantio, Calvarola took the Moor, and Parry was Desdemona, dressed in the style of Madame Vestris, and sang ‘Cherry Ripe’.
By now fluent in Italian, Parry returned to England in 1834. In July 1836 he gave his first benefit concert at the Hanover Square Rooms, when Malibran sang for him, and, demonstrating his comic talent, he joined her in Mazzinghi's duet ‘When a Little Farm we Keep’.
Having been persuaded to try the stage, he appeared at the St James's Theatre (which had just been built by his father's old friend, John Braham) in a burletta called The Sham Prince, written and composed by his father. He was well received, and later in 1836 he appeared in John Poole's Delicate Attentions and in a burletta, The Village Coquettes, written by Charles Dickens with music by John Hullah.
In 1837 he performed his ‘Buffo trio italiano’, accompanying himself on the piano, in which he successfully imitated Giuliz Grisi Ivanov, and Lablache. He accompanied his father on the harp at the latter's farewell concert in June of the same year, and in 1840 introduced his song ‘Wanted, a Governess’, with words by George Dubourg.
In 1842 Parry abandoned the stage for the concert room, and began singing, with Anna Thillon and Joseph Staudigl, in pieces by Albert Smith. He then accompanied Camillo Sivori, Liszt, Sigiomend Thalberg, and others in a concert tour around the United Kingdom, showing his powers as a pianist and as a buffo singer.
Between 1850 and 1853 Parry undertook numerous of solo performances, but the strain of his schedule left him with fits of nervous hysteria, leaving him with no option but to retire from public performance. Having partially recovered, he later became organist of St Jude's, Southsea, and gave lessons in singing.
On 15 July 1869 a complimentary benefit was given for Parry by a distinguished party of amateurs at the Lyceum Theatre, and on 7 February 1877 he took a farewell benefit at the Gaiety Theatre, which included the appearance of all three members of the Reed family and raised £1300.
Links with Ayrshire:
It is known that Parry appeared in Kilmarnock at Simpson's theatre under the railway arches.
Niccolo Paganini
1782 - 1840
Portrait drawing of Niccolo Paganini by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, c. 1819.
Niccolò Paganini (27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, leaving his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His caprice in A minor, Op. 1 No. 24 is among his best known of compositions, and serves as inspiration for many prominent artists.
Born in Genoa, Italy, the third of the six children of Antonio and Teresa Paganini. Paganini's father was an unsuccessful trader, but he managed to supplement his income through playing music on the mandolin. At the age of five, Paganini started learning the mandolin with his father, moving on to the violin by the age of seven. His musical talents were quickly recognized and he gained numerous scholarships for violin lessons.
The young Paganini studied under various teachers, including Giovanni Servetto and Giacomo Costa, but he soon outpaced their abilities. Paganini and his father then traveled to Parma to seek further guidance from Alessandro Rolla. But upon listening to Paganini's playing, Rolla immediately referred him to his own teacher, Ferdinando Paër and, later, Paër's own teacher, Gasparo Ghiretti. Though Paganini did not stay long with Paër or Ghiretti, the two had considerable influence on his composition style.
When the French invaded Genoa in March 1796 the Paganinis fled to their country property in Ramairone. By 1800, Paganini had reached Livorno, where he played in concerts. In 1801, Paganini, aged 18 at the time, was appointed first violin of the Republic of Lucca, but most of his income was from freelance work.
In 1805, Lucca was annexed by Napoleonic France, and the region was ceded to Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi. Paganini became a violinist for the Baciocchi court, while giving private lessons for her husband, Felice. In 1807, Baciocchi became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and her court was transferred to Florence. Paganini was part of the entourage, but, towards the end of 1809, he left Baciocchi to resume his freelance career.
Paganini returned to touring in the areas surrounding Parma and Genoa. Though he was very popular with the local audience, he was still not very well known in other parts of Europe. In 1813 he played a concert at La Scala in Milan. The venture was a success, and Paganini attracted the attention of other prominent musicians across Europe. However, his concert activities were limited to Italy for the next few years.
His fame spread across Europe when he embarked on a tour that started in Vienna in August, 1828, stopping in every major European city in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia, finishing in February, 1831 in Strasburg. This was followed by tours in Paris ,Britain and Ireland. His technical ability and his willingness to display it received much critical acclaim. In addition to his own compositions, theme and variations being the most popular, Paganini also performed modified versions of works (primarily concertos) written by his early contemporaries, such as Rodolphe Kreutzer and Giovanni Battista Viotti.
For much of his life, Paganini was in poor health. He was diagnosed with syphilis as early as 1822, and his remedy, which included mercury and opium, resulted in serious health and psychological problems. In 1834, while still in Paris, he was treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. Though his recovery was reasonably quick, his future career was marred with frequent cancellations due to various health problems, from the common cold to depression, which lasted from days to months.
In September 1834, Paganini put an end to his concert career and returned to Genoa, devoting his time to the publication of his compositions and violin methods. He accepted students, of which two enjoyed moderate success: violinist Camillo Sivori and cellist Gaetano Ciandelli. In 1835, Paganini returned to Parma, this time under the employ of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon's second wife. He was in charge of reorganizing her court orchestra but had little success in this venture.
On May 27, 1840, Paganini died from internal haemorrhaging before a priest could be summoned.
It was on these grounds, and his widely rumoured association with the devil, that his body was denied a Catholic burial in Genoa. It took four years, and an appeal to the Pope, before the body was allowed to be transported to Genoa, but was still not buried. His remains were finally put to rest in 1876 in a cemetery in Parma.
Links with Ayrshire:
It is known that Paganini appeared at the Theatre Royal in Ayr and in Kilmarnock in 1834.