View source for Henry Bishop (composer)

{{Short description|English composer (1787–1856)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{More footnotes|date=November 2010}}
[[File:Sir Henry Rowley Bishop by Isaac Pocock.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Sir Henry Rowley Bishop, by [[Isaac Pocock]]]]

'''Sir Henry Rowley Bishop''' (18 November 1787{{spaced ndash}}30 April 1856) was an English composer from the early [[Romantic period (music)|Romantic era]]. He is most famous for the songs "[[Home! Sweet Home!]]" and "Lo! Hear the Gentle Lark." He was the composer or arranger of some 120 dramatic works, including 80 operas, light operas, cantatas, and ballets. Bishop was [[Knight Bachelor|Knighted]] in 1842.  Bishop worked for all the major theatres of London in his era – including the [[Royal Opera House]] at Covent Garden, the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], [[Vauxhall Gardens]] and the [[Haymarket Theatre]], and was Professor of Music at the universities of [[Edinburgh University|Edinburgh]] and [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. His second wife was the noted soprano [[Anna Bishop]], who scandalised British society by leaving him and conducting an open liaison with the harpist [[Nicolas-Charles Bochsa]] until the latter's death in [[Sydney]].

==Life==
[[File:Henry Bishop grave.jpg|thumb|right|Bishop's grave at [[East Finchley Cemetery]]]]
Bishop was born in London, where his father was a watchmaker and haberdasher. At the age of 13, Bishop left full-time education and worked as a music-publisher with his cousin. After training as a [[jockey]] at [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]], he took some lessons in harmony from [[Francesco Bianchi (composer)|Francesco Bianchi]] in London.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} In 1804 he wrote the music to a piece called "Angelina", which was performed at [[Margate]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He wrote the music for a ballet, ''Tamerlan et Bajazet'', which opened in 1806 at the [[Theatre Royal Haymarket|King's Theatre, Haymarket]] and led to a permanent post. His first opera, ''The Circassian Bride'', was performed at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] on 23 February 1809, but on the following night the theatre burned down,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} forcing him to re-write the score from memory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/fa3a2c9d-97e5-39c2-9b3a-10bb593ecb60 |title=Papers of Sir Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=jisc.ac.uk |publisher=Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref> The [[prima donna]] of that production, a Miss Lyons, became Bishop's first wife.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lennox |first=William Pitt |author-link=Lord William Lennox |date=1863 |title=Fifty Years' Biographical Reminiscences, Volume I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3kqfKauwfQC&pg=PA76 |location=London |publisher=Hurst and Blackett |page=76 }}</ref>

After his second success on the stage with ''The Maniac'' (1810), Bishop became music director of [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] for the next 14 years.<ref>Geoffrey Brace: "Bishop, Henry Rowley", in: ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG)'', biographical part, vol. 2 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999), cc. 1686.</ref> In 1813, he was a founding member of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]]. In 1825 Bishop was induced by [[Robert William Elliston|Robert Elliston]] to transfer his services from Covent Garden to the rival house in [[Theatre Royal Drury Lane|Drury Lane]], for which he wrote, among others, the opera ''Aladdin'', based on [[Aladdin|the story from ''1001 Nights'']]. It was intended to compete with [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]]'s ''[[Oberon]]'', commissioned by the other house. ''Aladdin'' failed, and Bishop's career as an operatic composer came to an end.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He did, however, rework operas by other composers. An 1827 Covent Garden playbill records a performance of the ''Marriage of Figaro'' with "The Overture and Music selected chiefly from Mozart's operas – the new music by Mr Bishop". It included an aria called ''Follow, follow o'er the mountain'', sung by Miss Paton.

In 1841 he was appointed [[Reid Professor of Music]] in the [[University of Edinburgh]], but resigned the office in 1843.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In 1848 he became [[Heather Professor of Music]] at the [[University of Oxford]], succeeding [[William Crotch]], until 1853.

According to William Denslow, Bishop was a [[Freemasonry|freemason]]. Bishop was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1842, the first composer ever to receive that honour.{{sfn|Starkey|Greening|2013|p=317}}

Bishop's later years were clouded by scandal. He had married his second wife, the singer Ann Rivière, daughter of [[Daniel Riviere]] and sister of [[Robert Riviere]], in 1831. She was twenty-three years younger than he, and they had three children.<ref name=Gilliland>Norman Gilliland, ''Grace Notes for a Year: Stories of Hope, Humor and Hubris From the World of Classical Music'' (Madison, Wisconsin: NEMO Productions, 2002), p. 9.</ref> In 1839, [[Anna Bishop]] (as she was now known) abandoned her husband and three children to run off with her lover and accompanist, the harpist and composer [[Nicolas-Charles Bochsa]]. They left England to give concert tours abroad until Bochsa died in Sydney, Australia, in 1856.<ref name="Gilliland"/> Anna Bishop sang on every continent and was the most widely travelled opera singer of the 19th century.

Sir Henry Bishop died in poverty in London, although he had a substantial income during his lifetime. He is buried in [[East Finchley Cemetery]] in north London.<ref>{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Peter |date=2017 |title=Who's Buried Where in London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHi9DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |location=Oxford |publisher=Shire Publications |pages=139–140 |isbn=978-0747812968}}</ref> Bishop is commemorated on the south side of the [[Albert Memorial]] in [[Kensington Gardens]] by a [[relief sculpture]] on the [[Frieze of Parnassus]], which depicts influential composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gblo102 |title=London - The Albert Memorial |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=vanderkrogt.net |publisher=René & Peter van der Krogt |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref> he is the only 19th century British composer represented.{{sfn|Starkey|Greening|2013|p=305}}

==Music==
[[File:Sir Henry Rowley Bishop by George Henry Harlow.jpg|thumb|Sir Henry Rowley Bishop by [[George Henry Harlow]] (died 1819)]]
Bishop's "operas" were written in a style and format that satisfied the audiences of his day. They have more in common with the earlier, native English [[ballad opera]] genre, or with modern musicals, than the classical opera of continental Europe with full recitatives. His first opera, ''The Circassian's Bride'' (1809), had one performance at Drury Lane before the theatre burned down and the score was lost. Bishop reconstructed it from memory.<ref>Brace, in ''MGG'' (1999), as above.</ref>

Between 1816 and 1828, Bishop composed the music for a series of [[Shakespeare]]an operas staged by [[Frederic Reynolds]]. But these, and the numerous works, operas, [[burletta]]s, [[cantata]]s, [[incidental music]] etc. which he wrote are mostly forgotten. Even his limited partnerships with various composers – including [[Joseph Edwards Carpenter]], [[Thomas Simpson Cooke]] and [[Stephen Glover (composer)|Stephen Glover]] – are often overlooked. The year 1816 also saw the composition of a [[string quartet]] in C minor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jun02/holes.htm|title=Holes Held Together by String|last=Foreman|first=Lewis|date=June 2002|access-date=6 November 2010}} This work is also mentioned in Corder.</ref>

His most successful operas were ''The Virgin of the Sun'' (1812), ''The Miller and his Men'' (1813), ''Guy Mannering'' (1816), and ''Clari, or the Maid of Milan'' (1823).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} ''Clari'', with a libretto by the American [[John Howard Payne]], included the song ''[[Home! Sweet Home!]]'', which became enormously popular. In 1852 Bishop 'relaunched' the song as a parlour ballad. It was popular in the United States throughout the [[American Civil War]] and after.

According to music historian [[Anne Gilchrist (collector)|Anne Gilchrist]]:

'If a postscript by another hand may follow Mr. Frank Kidson's* most illuminating true story of the origin of Home, Sweet Home,' in the November number of THE CHOIR, musical readers may perhaps be interested to learn that the melody was vastly improved by compression in Sir Henry Bishop's later edition of it (the one now familiar). The original so-called 'Sicilian Air,' which Bishop - as Mr. Kidson has told - confessed to having written himself for lack of the required specimen of Sicilian melody, is a tedious affair, with much repetition. The first two bars (now counted as four) of the melody are sung, with the variation of a single note, four times, and after two bars of something a little different, a fifth time. It is as if one sang the strain,
‘ 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it never so humble, there's no place like home,’
twice over, then two bars of variation, then the music of the above two lines once more. There is as yet no refrain of 'Home, sweet home,' but instead, the strain belonging to 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home' is sung (except for one note) twice over, as a conclusion.
The truth as it appears to me is that Bishop's notion of Sicilian music was exclusively derived from the hymn-tune 'Sicilian Mariners,' whose character he imitated as closely as prudence would allow.'<ref>Traditional Song Forum. 'HOME, SWEET HOME' AND 'SICILIAN MARINERS' [By Anne G Gilchrist][https://tradsong.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Home-Sweet-Home-Gilchrist.pdf]</ref>

Also of note is Bishop's 1819 musical comedy adaptation of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]'', which included the popular [[coloratura soprano]] aria "Lo! Here the Gentle Lark."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/Henry_Bishop/24553.htm |title=Naxos.com |access-date=25 August 2008 |archive-date=30 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430062632/http://www.naxos.com/composerinfo/Henry_Bishop/24553.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Bishop's last work was the commissioned music for the ode at the installation of [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]] as chancellor of the [[University of Oxford]] in 1853.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Principal works==
{{listen
 | filename     = Home! Sweet Home!.ogg
 | title        = Home! Sweet Home!
 | description  = A synthesized piano transcription
 | format       = [[Ogg]]
 | filename2    =Henry_Rowley_Bishop_(1786-1855)_-_Foresters,_sound_-_Atelier_Vocal_des_Herbiers_(petit_ensemble_Amarante)_-_1993.ogg
 | title2       = Foresters sound the cheerful horn
 | description2 = Performed by Atelier Vocal des Herbiers (petit ensemble Amarante)
 | format2      = [[ogg]]
}}
'''Stage works'''
*''The Maniac, or The Swiss Banditti'' (1810), opera
*''The Brazen Bust'' (1813), melodrama
*''The Miller and His Men'' (1813), melodrama
*''[[Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion|Sadak]] and Kalasrade, or The Waters of Oblivion'' (1814), opera
*''Brother and Sister'' (1815), entertainment
*''Guy Mannering'' (1816), musical play
*''December and May'' (1818), operetta
*''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' (1819), musical drama
*''The Comedy of Errors'' (1819), musical comedy
*''The Battle of Bothwell Brigg'' (1820), musical romance
*''Henri Quatre, or, Paris in the olden time'' (1820), musical romance
*''Clari, or the Maid of Milan'' (1823), opera
*''As You Like It'' (1824), musical comedy
*''Alladin'' (1826), opera
*''Yelva, or The Orphan of Russia'' (1829), musical drama

'''Cantatas/Oratorios'''
*''The Jolly Beggars'' (Robert Burns) (1817), cantata
*''Waterloo'' (1826), cantata
*''The Seventh Day'' (John Milton) (1833), sacred cantata
*''The Departure from Paradise'' (Milton) (1836), sacred cantata
*''The Fallen Angel'' (1839), oratorio

'''Instrumental music'''
*''Grand Sinfonia'' in C major (1805) for orchestra
*''Concertante'' (1807) for flute, oboe, bassoon, violin and double bass
*String Quartet in C minor (1816)
*''Overture (alla Irlandese)'' (1823) for piano
*''A Lament'' (1829) for piano

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley|volume=4|page=1}}
*F. Corder: "The Works of Sir Henry Bishop", in: ''The Musical Quarterly'', vol. iv no. 1 (1918), pp.&nbsp;78–97.
*M. Faul: "[http://bochsa.site.voila.fr Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, harpiste, compositeur, escroc"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124151831/http://bochsa.site.voila.fr/ |date=24 November 2005 }} (editions Delatour, France 2003)
*[[Grove Music Online]], ''Bishop, Sir Henry R(owley)''.
*Kidson, F. 1900, ''British Music Publishers, Printers and Engravers from Queen Elizabeth’s Reign to George the Fourth’s'', Hill & Sons, London.
*{{cite book |last1=Starkey |first1=David |author-link1=David Starkey |last2=Greening |first2=Katie |date=2013 |title=Music and Monarchy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H9kviUWYN-sC |location=London |publisher=BBC Books |isbn=978-1849905862}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Henry Rowley Bishop}}
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00636 Musical Manuscripts Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* {{IMSLP|id=Bishop, Henry Rowley}}
* {{ChoralWiki|Henry Rowley Bishop}}
*{{MutopiaComposer|BishopHR}}
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102951 Henry R. Bishop recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
{{ReidSchoolofMusic}}
{{Heather Professors of Music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Henry}}
[[Category:1787 births]]
[[Category:1856 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century English musicians]]
[[Category:19th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Burials at East Finchley Cemetery]]
[[Category:Glee composers]]
[[Category:Composers awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:English male classical composers]]
[[Category:English opera composers]]
[[Category:English Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Heather Professors of Music]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:English male opera composers]]
[[Category:Composers from London]]