A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Novello, Vincent
NOVELLO, Vincent, son of an Italian father and English mother, was born at 240, Oxford Street, Sept. 6, 1781. He was a chorister at the Sardinian Chapel, Duke Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, under Samuel Webbe, the organist, and after the breaking of his voice officiated as deputy for Webbe, and also for Danby, organist of the Spanish Chapel, Manchester Square. At 16 years of age he became organist of the Portuguese Chapel in South Street, Grosvenor Square, which office he held until 1822. In 1812 he was pianist to the Italian Opera Company at the Pantheon. He was one of the original members of the Philharmonic Society, and occasionally directed its concerts. Having attained great eminence as an organist he was selected to take the organ in the 'Creation' at the Westminster Abbey Festival in 1834. From 1840 to 1843 he was organist of the Roman Catholic Chapel in Moorfields. He was one of the founders of the Classical Harmonists and Choral Harmonists Societies, of both which he was for some time conductor. In 1849 he quitted England for Nice, where he resided until his death, Aug. 9, 1861. Novello's compositions were numerous and varied, and if not remarkable for invention or originality, are marked by grace and solid musicianship. They include 'Rosalba,' a cantata composed for the Philharmonic Society; 'Old May Morning,' a 'cheerful glee,' which gained a prize at Manchester in 1832; and 'The Infant's Prayer,' a recitative and air which was long the favourite of every choir boy who was qualified for concert singing, and of which nearly 100,000 copies were sold. He also composed many masses, motets, and sacred pieces to Latin words, which, if not very original, were good sound music, and have helped to form the taste of many a living amateur in England. But it was as an editor and arranger that he principally deserves the gratitude of lovers of music. His first work was 'A Collection of Sacred Music' (masses and motets, including many by himself), 2 vols., 1811, 2nd edit., 1825; which was followed by 'Twelve Easy Masses,' 3 vols., 1816; 'The Evening Service,' including the Gregorian hymns, a vols., 1822; 'The Fitzwilliam Music,' a noble selection of sacred pieces by Italian composers from MSS. in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 5 vols., 1825; 'Purcell's Sacred Music,' 5 vols., 1829, containing many anthems, services, and other pieces never before printed, afterwards republished in 4 vols.; 18 Masses by Mozart, and 16 by Haydn, of which 10 of the former and 9 of the latter were printed for the first time; 'Convent Music,' a collection of pieces for treble voices, 2 vols., 1834; 'The Psalmist,' a collection of psalm tunes; 'The Congregational and Chorister's Psalm and Hymn Book;' Croft's Anthems, 2 vols.; Greene's Anthems, 2 vols.; Boyce's Anthems, 4 vols.; Organ part to Boyce's 'Cathedral Music'; the masses of Beethoven, Hummel, etc. He took a number of madrigals by Wilbye and others, originally written for 3 and 4 voices, and added 2, 3, and even 4 additional parts to them with great ingenuity. For the organ he published, amongst others, 'Select Organ Pieces,' 3 vols.; 'Cathedral Voluntaries,' 2 vols.; and 'Short Melodies,' 1 vol. But it is impossible to enumerate all the arrangements of this industrious musician, or the benefits which he thereby conferred on lovers of music at a time when it was difficult of access to a degree now hard to realise. Novello possessed well-cultivated literary taste, and numbered among his intimate friends Charles and Mary Lamb, Shelley, Keats, Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Edward Holmes, and Charles Cowden Clarke, the latter of whom married his eldest daughter. Lamb has mentioned him with affection in more than one passage. His family circle was greatly beloved by those who had access to it, amongst others by Mendelssohn, who was often there during his early visits to this country, and many of whose extraordinary improvisations took place in the Novellos' drawing-room.
Cecilia, his second daughter, studied singing under Mrs. Blane Hunt, and appeared upon the stage. She was a good musician, and an excellent and useful singer of secondary parts. She became the wife of Thomas James Serle, actor, dramatist and journalist. Their daughter, Emma Clara, a promising soprano singer, died at an early age, Oct. 4, 1877.
Clara Anastasia, his fourth daughter, born June 10, 1818, was at 9 years of age placed under Miss Hill and John Robinson, at York, to learn singing and pianoforte-playing. In 1829 she became a pupil of the Conservatoire at Paris, but returned to England in the following year on account of the Revolution. In 1833 she made her first public appearance at a concert at Windsor, with such success that she was immediately engaged at the Ancient and Philharmonic Concerts and Worcester Festival, and in the next year at the Westminster Abbey Festival. She sang at all the principal concerts and festivals until 1837, when, at the invitation of Mendelssohn, she went to Leipsic, and appeared at the Gewandhaus Concerts, whence she passed on to Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Dusseldorf. Writing to the Secretary of the Philharmonic Society in Jan. 1839, Mendelssohn speaks of her and Mrs. Shaw as 'the best concert singers we have heard in Germany for a long time,' and Schumann (Gesamm. Schriften, iii. 47) dwells on the extraordinary interest she excited, and the universal surprise at her noble simple style of interpreting Handel. In 1839 she went to Italy to study for the stage, and became a pupil of Micheroux at Milan, with whom she remained for a year. She made her first appearance in opera at Padua, July 6, 1841, in Rossini's 'Semiramide,' with great success. She afterwards sang at Rome, Milan, Bologna, Modena, and other places. She returned to England in March, 1843, and appeared in opera at Drury Lane, and in oratorio at the Sacred Harmonic Concerts, and the Birmingham Festival. On Oct. 22, 1843, she was married to Count Gigliucci, and withdrew from public life; but circumstances compelled her, a few years later, to return to the exercise of her profession, and in 1850 she sang in opera at Rome and Lisbon. In 1851 she returned to England and appeared in oratorio, in which she achieved her greatest successes, and at concerts. She also made one more appearance here on the stage, namely, in the Puritani at Drury Lane July 5, 1853. In 1854 she sang in opera at Milan. Her greatest triumphs were at the opening of the Crystal Palace, June 10, 1854, and at the Handel Festivals in 1857 and 1859, where her clear pure notes penetrated the vast space in a manner not to be easily forgotten. In Nov. 1860 she took leave of the public in a performance of 'Messiah' at the Crystal Palace, and at a benefit concert at St. James's Hall, and returned to Italy, where she now resides. Her voice was a high soprano, extending from C below the stave to D in alt, remarkable for purity of tone, brilliance and power. She excelled in oratorio, particularly in devotional songs, and she enjoys the distinction of having drawn praise from Charles Lamb, notwithstanding his insensibility to music. (See his poem 'To Clara N.')
Mary Sabilla, his sixth daughter, was also a soprano vocalist, but delicacy of throat and susceptibility to cold compelled her to relinquish singing. She has translated several theoretical works into English. Since 1849 she has resided in Italy, at first at Nice, and since at Genoa.
Joseph Alfred, his eldest son, born 1810, was a bass singer, and for many years sang in oratorios and concerts. He was for some time choir-master at lancoln's-Inn Chapel. He adapted the English text to the 'Lobgesang,' and several of the Psalms of Mendelssohn. He was actively engaged in obtaining the repeal of the advertisement duty, the paper duty, the stamp on newspapers, and other imposts generally known as the 'Taxes upon Knowledge.' He is however best known as a music publisher. [See Novello, Ewer & Company.] He retired in 1856, and went to reside at Nice, whence he removed to Genoa, where he is now living.[ W. H. H. ]