Scan 32
British Musical Biography: A Dictionary of Musical Artists, Authors and …, 1897
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1AYRTON.
3Ayrton, William, author and composer, son of Edmund Ayrton, born London, Feb. 24, 1777. He married a daughter of Dr. Samuel Arnold, and in 1801 unsuccessfully competed for the Gresham professorship of music. He was successively editor of the Morning Chronicle, 1813-26; Harmonicon, 1823-33; and Examiner, 1837-51. Member of Royal Society, Antiquarian Society, Athenaeum Club, Philharmonic Society, etc. He died London, May 8, 1858.
5Works.—Sacred Minstrels: a collection of sacred music by the great masters of all ages and nations . . . with biographies. London, 1835, 2 vols. Knight's Musical Library (edited), 1884, etc., 8 vols. Duets: Fair and fair; Oh! oh! memory. Songs, etc., etc.
7Ayton, Fanny, soprano vocalist, born Macclesfield, 1806. She studied under Manielli at Florence, and first appeared at Venice in opera, 1825, in Coccia's "Clotilda." In February, 1827, she appeared in London as Ninetta in Rossini's "La Gazza Ladra," at the King's Theatre. She afterwards sang in London, Birmingham, and elsewhere, both in opera and oratorio. The date of her death remains in doubt, but was subsequent to 1832 as she appeared in February of that year in a version of Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable."
9Babell, William, violinist and composer, born 1690. He studied under Dr. Pepusch, and became a member of the Royal Band. He was also organist of All Hallows Church, Bread Street, London. He died London, September 23, 1723.
11Works.—XII. solos for a violin or hautboy, with a bass figur'd for the harpsichord. London [1720]. XII. solos for a violin, hoboy, or German flute, with a bass figur'd for the harpsichord. London [1723]. Twelve solos for the flute or hoboy, Op. 2. Six concertos for the piccolo, flute, and violins. Suits of harpsichord and spinnet lessons collected from the most celebrated masters' works. London [1712]. Book of the lady's entertainment, or banquet of musick, being a choice collection of aires and duets curiously set and fitted to the harpsichord or spinnet (four books with varying titles). London [1710-25].
13Baber, Miss Colbourne (Mrs. Harrison White); soprano vocalist of present time, born at Hobart, Tasmania. Pupil of Madame Lucy Chambers. Appeared at Melbourne Opera House; toured through India, China, and Japan. Now settled in Sydney, N.S.W.
15Bache, Constance, pianist and writer, born at Edgbaston, Birmingham, the youngest child of the Rev. Samuel Bache (1804-1876), Minister of the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham. Her musical talent was fostered by her brother, Walter Bache, and she studied at the Conservatorium, Munich, becoming, later on, a pupil of Klindworth and Fritz Hartvigson. An accident to her right hand put a stop to the public career open to her, but she played occasionally at concerts in Birmingham, up to the year 1883, when she settled in London as a teacher, devoting, however, much of her time to musical literature and translations, of which the following are the most important:—Liszt: Oratorio, St. Elizabeth (see BACHE, WALTER); Letters, 2 vols. (Grevel, 1894); words of many of his songs. H. von Bulow—Letters and literary remains (Unwin, 1896), Wagner:—Descriptive sketch of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (for Richter concert programmes). Heintz: Analyses of Wagner's "Tristan" (1891); Meistersinger (1891); "Parsifal" (1892). Schumann: "The Rose's Pilgrimage;" Scenes from Goethe's "Faust." Mozart: Libretto of "Bastian and Bastienne" (1894). Humperdinck: Libretto of "Hänsel and Gretel;" Lobe's Catechism of Music, and Von Bulow's annotated editions of Cramer, Chopin, etc. Constance Bache is the composer of the songs, "To my Love" and "The rain is falling."
17Bache, Francis Edward, composer and pianist, eldest son of the Rev. Samuel Bache, born at Edgbaston, Birmingham, September 14, 1833. In early childhood he showed extraordinary aptitude for music, studying the pianoforte, organ, and violin, making such progress in the last, under Alfred Mellon, that he was given a place in the Festival Orchestra in 1846, when Mendelssohn produced "Elijah." Upon leaving school in 1849, he took lessons from Mr. James Stimpson, but soon left for London, where he studied with Sterndale Bennett. In 1853 he went to Leipzig, studying under Hauptmann and Plaidy, and took organ lessons from J. G. Schneider at Dresden, in 1854. He gave his first concert in Birmingham, at the beginning of December, 1855, but his health was already failing, and he spent the winter in Algiers. Here he gave a concert, in March, 1856, and his playing created a marked impression. From Algiers he went to Leipzig, and thence to Rome, where he spent the next winter. In 1857 he returned home, wintering in Torquay; back in Birmingham, April, 1858, he gradually sank, and expired August 24, before he had completed his 25th year. His capacity for work knew no bounds; he was always composing; and only a few weeks before his death he gave a concert, chiefly of his own works, but he was unable, though present, to take his part in the performance. He was a thinker, and in a series of letters, written in 1856, advocated the establishment of a permanent orchestra in Birmingham, pointing out the great artistic results that should follow. The letters were not considered suitable for the pages of the journal to which they
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