Books › Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927 › scan 80
Scan 80
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
22 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 36. See the scan on archive.org.
1He was the son of a village mechanic, at an early age displayed a taste for music, and learned to play upon several instruments. Having, about 1793, married Miss Willems, a niece of Reinhold, the bass singer, a lady possessed of a fine voice and considerable taste, he conceived the idea of pursuing music as a profession. Soon after her marriage Mrs. Addison made a successful appearance at Vauxhall Gardens. Addison then went with his wife to Liverpool, where he entered on his professional career as a performer on the violoncello (which he played at Vauxhall Gardens), and subsequently on the double bass, an instrument to which, as an orchestral player, he afterwards confined himself. From Liverpool they went to Dublin, where Addison soon became director of the amateur orchestra of the private theatre, and, from having to arrange the music, improved himself in composition. After fulfilling other engagements in Liverpool and Dublin, Mr. and Mrs. Addison came to London, where, on Sept. 17, 1796, the latter appeared at Covent Garden Theatre as Rosetta in 'Love in a Village,' and afterwards performed other characters. In 1797 they went to Bath, where Mrs. Addison studied under Rauzzini. After a three years' engagement in Dublin, they proceeded to Manchester, where Addison was induced to abandon the musical profession and embark in cotton manufacture. In this, however, he was unsuccessful, and soon resumed his profession. After a brief sojourn in the provinces he returned to London, and engaged with Michael Kelly as manager of his music business. He was also engaged at the Italian Opera and the Ancient and Vocal Concerts as a double-bass player. In 1805 he made himself known as a composer, by the music to Skeffington's 'Sleeping Beauty.' He afterwards composed several pieces for the Lyceum and Covent Garden Theatres. On Mar. 3, 1815, a short sacred musical drama entitled 'Elijah raising the Widow's Son,' adapted by Addison to music by Winter, was produced at Drury Lane Theatre in the series of Lenten oratorios, under the direction of Sir George Smart. His principal dramatic compositions are:
3'The Sleeping Beauty,' 1805; 'The Russian Impostor,' 1809; Music for the Burlesque Operatic Tragedy, 1812 (July); 'My Aunt,' 1813; 'Two Words,' 1816; 'Free and Easy,' 1816; 'My Uncle,' 1817; 'Bobinet the Bandit,' 'Rose d'Amour,' an adaptation of Boieldieu's opera of that name, 1818.
5He was one of the six composers who contributed the music to Charles Dibdin the younger's opera, 'The Farmer's Wife,' in 1814. He published, in 1772, 'Six Sonatas or Duets for two violins or two German flutes—Opera prima.'
7W. H. H., with addns.
9ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENTS. The term refers to a practice very prevalent in the last century, of revising the scores of 17th and 18th century composers, so as to make their instrumentation more consonant with the fashion of a later time. Strictly speaking, the term implies no alteration of what the composer wrote but only the addition of extra instrumental parts to increase the fullness of the harmony or to extend the variety of tone. In practice, however, the writer of additional accompaniments has frequently succumbed to the temptation to alter as well as to add.
11Two pleas in justification have been advanced:
12(1) That these composers did not complete their scores.
13(2) That conditions of performance are now so unlike those for which the works were originally written that a different treatment of details is essential if anything like the effect intended by the composers is to be produced on modern ears.
15Modern criticism, however, for the most part considers the first of these pleas inadmissible. It is generally realised now that when Bach or Handel wrote the accompaniment to a song by means of a figured bass with or without obbligato instruments (see ACCOMPANIMENT and THOROUGH-BASS) they did so to secure a particular type of effect, and that to their executants, trained in the method, the score represented their intentions as practically as the scores of to-day represent a composer's intentions to the eye of a conductor.
17The second plea, however, may be accepted as sufficient justification in itself for minor additions and even occasional alterations. Differences in the size of the buildings in which the works are given and in the numbers of the choral singers employed compel the use of larger orchestras. Modern instruments have sometimes to be substituted for obsolete ones; an organ may or may not be obtainable, a harpsichord usually is not. The wind instruments differ in tone and construction from those of the 18th century; oboes and bassoons have been refined in quality, the trumpet no longer has its old high compass. Innumerable considerations, therefore, may combine to make a conductor modify the score to suit the needs of a given performance and a given audience. (See ORCHESTRATION.)
19But the term 'additional accompaniments' has been associated not so much with editorial emendations made for a particular occasion as with the definite practice of rescoring oratorios and cantatas by Handel and Bach and publishing the revised scores and parts (often without clear indication of what is the composer's and what the arranger's work), a practice advanced by such eminent musicians as Mozart, Mendelssohn and Robert Franz.
21In the earlier editions of this Dictionary the late Professor Ebenezer Prout made a detailed analysis of the methods adopted in some of these scores and drew deductions from them as to the limits of legitimacy in the procedure. It
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.