Account of life as a chorister in the nineteenth century

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

11-12

text excerpt

To write my life from the time I left Windsor is a task I dare not attempt, but I will add a few more lines, recording what my musical life has been since I left Windsor [early 1850s]. After I had been apprenticed two or three years at Amersham [railways] my voice developed into a tenor. I was apprenticed for 7 years but I think I barely served 6 years. I sang tenor in the services at the Parish Church the organist being Mr W H Birch who was a good musician & Choirmaster. I always received a hearty welcome at this House & assisted him in preparing two large Manuals of Psalms & Hymns & which he Edited as the Standard psalmist & which had a very large sale. I was always in request at all the Concerts in the neighbourhood principally singing Ballads such as “My Pretty Jane” ”Madoline” “The Mulberry Tree” “Pilgrim of Love” “Bay of Biscay” etc and occasionally serio-comic ones such as “The low backed car” “Barney O’Hea” “How to ask & have”. While at Amersham I also wrote & delivered a lecture on Music which tried me pretty much as the reading matter took over an hour & I also sang 13 songs to illustrate it. I belonged to the Choral Society there & we gave several good Concerts but never aspired to Oratorios. During my stay at Amersham I frequently sang at Egham Concerts which were held at the Egham Institute & I remember being encored three times in one night there in “My Pretty Jane”. It was at one of these Concerts that I first heard "The blind girl & her harp" sung, it having been composed just about that time.

excerpt from 'Account of life as a chorister in the nineteenth century' pp. 11-12 (295 words)

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1524231798364