Charles Dickens and Music | Page 7

1849) he gives an amusing parody of

Lesbia hath a beaming eye,
beginning
Lemon is a little hipped.
In a letter to Maclise he says:
My foot is in the house,
My bath is on the sea,
And before I take a
souse,
Here's a single note to thee.
These lines are a reminiscence of Byron's ode to Tom Moore, written
from Venice on July 10, 1817:
My boat is on the shore,
And my bark is on the sea,
But before I go,
Tom Moore,
Here's a double health to thee!
The words were set to music by Bishop. This first verse had a special
attraction for Dickens, and he gives us two or three variations of it,
including a very apt one from Dick Swiveller (see p. 126).
Henry F. Chorley, the musical critic, was an intimate friend of Dickens.
On one occasion he went to hear Chorley lecture on 'The National
Music of the World,' and subsequently wrote him a very friendly letter
criticizing his delivery, but speaking in high terms of the way he treated
his subject.
In one of his letters he makes special reference to the
singing of the
Hutchinson family.[5] Writing to the Countess of Blessington, he says:
I must have some talk with you about these American
singers. They
must never go back to their own country
without your having heard
them sing Hood's 'Bridge
of Sighs.'
Amongst the distinguished visitors at Gad's Hill was Joachim, who was
always a welcome guest, and of whom Dickens once said 'he is a noble
fellow.' His daughter writes in reference to this visit:

I never remember seeing him so wrapt and absorbed as
he was then,
on hearing him play; and the wonderful
simplicity and
un-self-consciousness of the genius
went straight to my father's heart,
and made a fast
bond of sympathy between those two great men.
In Music Drama
Much has been written about Dickens' undoubted powers as
an actor,
as well as his ability as a stage manager, and
it is well known that it
was little more than an accident
that kept him from adopting the
dramatic profession. He ever took a keen interest in all that pertained to
the stage, and when he was superintending the production of a play he
was
always particular about the musical arrangements. There is in
existence a play-bill of 1833 showing that he superintended a private
performance of Clari. This was an opera by Bishop, and contains the
first appearance of the celebrated 'Home, Sweet Home,' a melody
which, as we have already said, he reproduced on the accordion some
years after. He took the part of Rolano, but had no opportunity of
showing off his singing abilities, unless he took a part in the famous
glee 'Sleep, gentle lady,' which appears in the work as a quartet for alto,
two tenors, and bass, though it is now arranged in other forms.
In his dealings with the drama Dickens was frequently his
own
bandmaster and director of the music. For instance, in
No
Thoroughfare we find this direction: 'Boys enter and
sing "God Save
the Queen" (or any school devotional hymn).' At Obenreizer's entrance
a 'mysterious theme is directed
to be played,' that gentleman being
'well informed, clever, and a good musician.'
Dickens was concerned in the production of one operetta--_The Village
Coquettes_--for which he wrote the words, and John
Hullah
composed the music. It consists of songs, duets, and concerted pieces,
and was first produced at St. James's Theatre, London, on December 6,
1836. The following year it was being performed at Edinburgh when a
fire broke out in the theatre, and the instrumental scores together with
the music of the
concerted pieces were destroyed. No fresh copy was

ever made, but the songs are still to be obtained. Mr. Kitton, in his

biography of the novelist, says, 'The play was well received, and duly
praised by prominent musical journals.'
The same writer gives us to understand that Hullah originally
composed the music for an opera called The Gondolier, but used the
material for The Village Coquettes. Braham, the
celebrated tenor, had
a part in it. Dickens says in a letter to Hullah that he had had some
conversation with Braham about the work. The singer thought very
highly of it, and Dickens adds:
His only remaining suggestion is that Miss
Rainforth[6] will want
another song when the piece is
in rehearsal--'a bravura--something in
"The soldier
tired" way.'
We have here a reference to a song which had a long run of

popularity. It is one of the airs in Arne's Artaxerxes,
an opera which
was produced in 1761, and which held the
stage for many years.
There is a reference to this song in
Sketches by Boz, when Miss Evans
and her friends visited
the Eagle. During the concert 'Miss Somebody
in white satin' sang this air, much to the satisfaction of her audience.
Dickens wrote a few songs and ballads, and in most cases he fell in
with