Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life

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On February 19th, 1859, I gave the first evening concert in the new St. James's Hall. I had engaged Mr. Sims Reeves to sing at it and composed a song specially for him to sing, entitled, "When thou wilt be my Bride," dedicated to my fiancee. He rehearsed it with me and liked it very much; but, to my great disappointment, his daughter came to me a few days before the concert to say that her father could not sing for me, as he had caught cold. This was indeed a blow, as a great many people had bought tickets on purpose to hear him. I had, however, taken the precaution to send my song to a young tenor, Mr. George Perren, who was then fulfilling a concert engagement at Birmingham, and he at once returned to London and took Reeves's place, and sang it with fine effect. It is only fair to say, in justice to Sims Reeves, that his constant failures to appear were not due to any caprice of his own. He had a delicate throat, and did not like to risk his reputation by singing when he was not in good voice. At this concert Miss Louisa Vinning, who, when she sang as a child, used to be called "the Infant Sappho," sang a song of mine called "Sing, Birdie, Sing," which was encored, and Miss Stabbach sang another song composed by me called "The Murmuring Sea."

excerpt from 'Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life' pp. 81 (240 words)

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