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Scan 792
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1928
35 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 722. See the scan on archive.org.
1afterwards, as his plans broadened out, he was made director-general of music in the municipal schools of Paris. He threw himself into this cause with an enthusiasm which soon produced striking results. Besides the school teaching, he had classes which gave instruction to thousands of pupils, mainly working people; and out of this presently grew the establishment of the ORPHÉON (q.v.), the vast organisation which has since covered France with singing-societies.
3The speciality of Wilhem's system turned on the point of school organisation. The plan of 'Mutual Instruction,' as it was called, was then much in vogue in France as a way of economising teaching power, and the point of the Wilhem System was the application of this idea to the teaching of singing. His principal class-book, the Manuel musical à l'usage des Collèges, des Institutions, des Écoles, et des Cours de Chant, is an explanation of the ordinary written language of music, clefs, staves, signatures, time-symbols, etc., interspersed with a number of solfeggio exercises for class practice; the explanations are of the kind usually found in musical instruction books. His special way of arranging the classes is explained in his Guide de la méthode (4th edition, dated 1839).
5R. B. L.
7WILIS, LES, see GISELLE, OU LES WILIS; NIGHT DANCERS, THE; VILLI, LE.
9WILKINSON (WYLKYNSON), ROBERT (15th and early 16th cent.), English composer of church music. All that remains to us of his work is in an early 16th-century MS. in the Eton College Library. The index to this MS. shows that it originally contained 97 compositions, and of the 43 which remain, 4 are by Wilkinson. These are 2 'settings of Salve Regina,' for 9 and 5 v., a 13-part 'Jesus autem transiens,' and an imperfect 'O virgo prudentissima.' The 13-part composition is in canon and is a setting of the Apostles' Creed prefixed by the words, 'Jesus autem transiens.' A part is assigned to each apostle, and their names are placed at the beginning of that part of the Creed which each is traditionally said to have written. A note in Latin gives the key to the Canon. A copy of this is in John BALDWIN'S (q.v.) Commonplace Book. The 9-part 'Salve Regina' is similarly prefixed by a set of initials, each representing one of the 9 angelic hierarchies. As before, a voice is assigned to each. W. Barclay Squire (Archæologia, vol. lxi., from which most of these details are taken) refers to a man of this name who was a demy of Magdalen in 1502 and who took his bachelor's degree, Feb. 12, 1508; but there is a note in the Eton MS. ('Robert Wylkynson cu aieppiciet Dè') which seems to indicate that he was dead before the MS. was written, probably some time during the first few years of the century.
11J. MK.
13WILKINSON, SARAH 1 (b. circa 1768; d. Hammersmith, July 3, 1841), singer and actress, who in 1787 married the violinist, Joseph MOUNTAIN (q.v.). Her parents were circus performers engaged at Sadler's Wells. As a young girl she was handed over to Charles Dibdin who trained her as a singer, and employed her in a little burletta named 'Mount Parnassus' acted at his Royal Circus, where she made some success. Shortly afterwards, in 1782, she appeared at the Haymarket Theatre, and in 1784 went to Hull where she sought an engagement from Tate Wilkinson, who at first refused her. She obtained a public hearing at the benefit of one of his actors, and he then gave her a part in 'The Maid of the Mill.' She rapidly rose as a vocalist, and in 1786 was engaged at Covent Garden Theatre. Though her reception by the public while at Covent Garden was enthusiastic, yet for some reason the managers kept her considerably in the background, and she left the theatre to go to Dublin. In 1790 she again returned to the Haymarket Theatre, and Vauxhall. At this latter place she was a great acquisition, and her name figures as singer there from 1793-99. She again returned to Covent Garden, but left it in 1798, ultimately singing at the Haymarket and Drury Lane. In 1802, having had a monologue entertainment written for her, she went on tour.
15F. K.
17WILKINSON, THOMAS (late 16th and early 17th cent.), English composer, chiefly of church music. As most of what remains of his work is in MS. (Durh.; and B.M. Add. MSS. 30,478-9, which contains the tenor cantoris volume of a set of partbooks made at Durham in 1664) it is possible that he was a singing man there. There is no record of him either as organist or choirmaster. B.M. Add. MSS. 29,366-8, which also contains a good deal of his music, is an early 17th-century MS. in the hand of Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder. Only the cantus, bassus and quintus partbooks of this set remain. The MS. also contains a madrigal, 'O Lovely, loveless sweet,' by him. Another 3-part one, 'Say, Galatea, since our comminge hither,' is in B.M. Add. MSS. 18,936-9 and 34,800. The cantus, altus and tenor parts of three 5-part Pavans by him are in B.M. Add. MSS. 30,826-8.
19SERVICES, Etc.
20Morning Service (T.D.; B.). Durh. C. 12, 13. Incomp.
21Evening Service (M.; N.D.). Durh. A. 2, 6. Organ score.
22Kyrie. (2) PH. 36/05. Incomp.
24ANTHEMS
25Behold, O Lord. PH.; Durh.; B.M. Add. MSS. 30,478-9.
26Deliver me, O God. Durh.; B.M. Add. MSS. 30,478-9 and 29,366-8.
27*Hear my prayer, O God. PH.; B.M. Add. MSS. 29,372-7; Ch. Ch. 56-60. Bass part wanting.
28Hear me, Lord. B.M. Add. MSS. 30,478-9.
29Helpe, Lord. PH.; Durh.; B.M. Add. MSS. 30,478-9 and 29,366-8.
30I am the resurrection (verse anthem with 6-part chorus). Harl. 7340/36b. Score; B.M. Add. MSS. 293,66-8.
31In Thee, O Lord. Tenb. O. B/373.
32* Contributed to Thomas Myriell's Collection, 'Tristitiae remedium,' 1616.
341 The Christian name is given variously in contemporary biographical notices as Sarah, Sophia and Rosoman.
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