A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Busby, Thomas

by Edward Francis Rimbault

BUSBY, Thomas, Mus. Doc., born in Westminster, 1755 [App. p.571 "December"]. At the age of fourteen he was articled to Battishill; he also studied languages, became a good classical scholar, and for several years was connected with the press as reporter. [App. p.571 "In the summer of 1769 he sang at Vauxhall at a salary of ten guineas a week, and about 1786 was elected organist of St. Mary's, Newington."] He was successively organist at St. Mary's, Newington, and St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street. In 1799 he produced an oratorio called 'The Prophecy,' which met with considerable success. [App. p.571 "The oratorio called 'The Prophecy' had been written much earlier than 1799; it was a setting of Pope's 'Messiah.'"] Encouraged by this he wrote an 'Ode to British Genius'; an 'Ode to St. Cecilia's Day' (by Pope); 'Comala' (from Ossian); and the oratorio of 'Britannia.' In 1801 he took his degree as Mus. Doc. at Cambridge, having previously enjoyed that of LL.D. He next [App. p.571 "had previously. 'Joanna' was produced at Covent Garden in January 1800"] composed the music to 'Joanna,' a five-act romance by Cumberland, and subsequently gained fame by his music to 'A Tale of Mystery,' and 'Rugantino, or the Bravo of Venice'—the first melodramatic music heard in this country. He died in April [App. p.571 "on May 28"], 1838. Busby was a man of great industry, and, besides the works enumerated, wrote and published the following:—'The Day [App. p.571 "Age"] of Genius,' a satire, 1786; 'A Dictionary of Music,' 1786—a work which went through many editions, and is still in print; 'The Divine Harmonist,' 1788; 'Melodia Britannica,' 1790; 'The Monthly Musical Journal' (4 numbers), 1801; 'Lucretiua,' translated from the Latin, 2 vols. 4to., 1813; 'A Grammar of Music,' 1818; 'A History of Music' (compiled from Burney and Hawkins), 2 vols. 8vo., 1819; 'Concert-Room and Orchestra Anecdotes,' 3 vols. 12mo., 1825; 'A Musical Manual, or Technical Directory,' 1828. (Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Busby, Hist. of Music; Private Sources.)

[ E. F. R. ]