A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Smart, George
SMART, Sir George Thomas, Knight, born May 10, 1776, son of George Smart, music seller (first in Argyll Street and afterwards at 331 Oxford Street) and double-bass player, received his early musical education as a chorister of the Chapel Royal under Dr. Ayrton. He learned organ-paying from Dr. Dupuis and composition from Dr. Arnold. On quitting the choir in 1791 he obtained the appointment of organist of St. James's Chapel, Hampstead Road, and was also engaged as a violinist at Salomon's concerts. At a rehearsal of a symphony of Haydn's for one of those concerts the drummer was absent, and Haydn, who was at the harpsichord, inquired if any one present could play the drums. Young Smart volunteered, but from inexperience was not very successful, whereupon the great composer, ascending the orchestra, gave him a practical lesson in the art of drumming. About the same time he commenced practice as a teacher of the harpsichord and singing. He soon showed an aptitude for conducting musical performances. In 1811, having successfully conducted some concerts in Dublin, he was knighted by the Lord Lieutenant. In 1813 he was chosen one of the original members of the Philharmonic Society, and between that date and 1844 conducted 49 of its concerts. From 1813 to 1825 he conducted the Lenten oratorios at one or other of the patent theatres, at one of which in 1814 he introduced Beethoven's 'Mount of Olives' to the English public. In 1818 he directed the City concerts established by the late Baron (then Mr.) Heath. On April 1, 1822, he was appointed one of the organists of the Chapel Royal in the room of Charles Knyvett, deceased. In 1824 he accompanied Charles Kemble to Germany to engage Weber to compose an opera for Covent Garden, and when Weber came to England in 1826 to bring out his 'Oberon' he was the guest of Sir George Smart, in whose house he died on June 5. It was mainly by the exertions of Sir George Smart and Sir Julius Benedict that the statue of Weber at Dresden was erected, the greater part of the subscriptions having been collected in England. In 1836 Sir George introduced Mendelssohn's 'St. Paul' to England at the Liverpool Festival. On the death of Attwood in 1838 he was appointed one of the composers to the Chapel Royal. To a careful musicianship he added an administrative ability which eminently qualified him for the conductorship of musical festivals and other performances on a large scale, and his services were for many years in request on such occasions all over the country. He conducted festivals at Liverpool in 1823, 1827, 1830, 1833, and 1836; Norwich, 1824, 1827, 1830, and 1833; Bath, 1824; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1824 and 1842; Edinburgh, 1824; Bury St. Edmund's, 1828; Dublin and Derby, 1831; Cambridge, 1833 and 1835; Westminster Abbey, 1834; Hull, 1834 and 1840; and Exeter Hall and Manchester, 1836. He was long resorted to by singers desirous of acquiring the traditional manner of singing Handel's songs, which he had been taught by his father, who had seen Handel conduct his oratorios: among the many he so instructed were Sontag and Jenny Lind. He gave lessons in singing until he was past 80. He edited Orlando Gibbons's Madrigals for the Musical Antiquarian Society, and the 'Dettingen Te Deum' for the Handel Society. He took an active part in procuring the foundation of the Mendelssohn Scholarship. His compositions consist of anthems, chants, Kyries, psalm tunes, and glees. In 1863 he published a collection of his anthems and another of his glees and canons. Two of his glees, 'The Squirrel' and 'The Butterfly's Ball,' were very popular He died at his house in Bedford Square, Feb. 23, 1867.
His brother, Henry, born in 1778, began his musical education at an early age, and studied the violin under Wilhelm Cramer, in which he made such progress that when only 14 he was engaged at the Opera, the Concert of Ancient Music, and the Academy of Ancient Music. He was engaged as leader of the band at the Lyceum on its being opened as an English Opera House in 1809, and continued so fur several seasons. He was leader at the present Drury Lane Theatre from its opening in 1812 until 1821. On June 12, 1819, the band presented him with a silver cup as a token of their regard. He was leader of the Lenten oratorios from the time they came under the management of his brother, Sir George, in 1813, and a member of the Philharmonic Society's orchestra, which he occasionally led. In 1820 he established a manufactory of pianofortes of a peculiar construction, and on July 22, 1823, obtained a patent for improvements in the construction of pianofortes. He went to Dublin to superintend the debut of his pupil, Miss Goward (now Mrs. Keeley), where he was attacked by typhus fever, and died, Nov. 23 [App. p.794 "Nov. 27"], 1823. His son
Henry Smart, a prominent member of the modern English School, was born in London Oct. 26, 1813, and after declining a commission in the Indian army, was articled to a solicitor, but quitted law for music, for which he had extraordinary natural faculties, and which he studied principally under W. H. Kearns, though to a great extent self-taught. In 1831 he became organist of the parish church of Blackburn, Lancashire, which he resigned in 1836. While at Blackburn he composed his first important work, an anthem for the tercentenary of the Reformation, in 1835. In 1836 he settled in London as organist to St. Philip's Church. In 1844 he was appointed to the organ of St. Luke's, Old Street, where he remained until 1864, when he was chosen organist of St. Pancras. He was an excellent organ-player, specially happy as an accompanist in the service, a splendid extemporiser, and a voluminous and admirable composer for the instrument. But his compositions were by no means confined to the organ. In 1855 an opera from his pen, 'Bertha, or, The Gnome of the Hartzburg,' was successfully produced at the Haymarket. In 1864 he composed his cantata, 'The Bride of Dunkerron' (his best work), expressly for the Birmingham Festival. He produced two cantatas, 'King Rene's Daughter' (words by Enoch), 1871, and 'The Fishermaidens,' both for female voices. An opera on the subject of 'The Surrender of Calais,' the libretto by Planché, originally intended for Mendelssohn, was put into his hands by Messrs. Chappell, about 1852, but though considerable progress was made with it, it was never completed. A sacred cantata, 'Jacob'—words compiled by Mr. McCaul—was written for the Glasgow Festival, produced Nov. 10, 1873, and repeated Nov. 7, 1874; and two large anthems for solos, chorus, and organ were written for the Festivals of the London Choral Choirs Association at St. Paul's in 1876 and 1878—'Sing to the Lord,' and 'Lord thou hast been our refuge.' For many years past Mr. Smart's sight had been failing, and soon after 1864 he became too blind to write. All his compositions after that date therefore were committed to paper—like those of another great ornament of the English School, Mr. Macfarren—through the truly disheartening process of dictation.
It is as a composer of part-songs and a writer for the organ that Henry Smart will be known to the future. His earlier part-songs, 'The Shepherd's Farewell,' 'The Waves' Reproof' (worthy of Mendelssohn), 'Ave Maria,' are lovely, and will long be sung; and his organ pieces (many of them published in the Organist's Quarterly Journal) are full of charming melody and effective combinations. As was his music so was the man—not original, but highly interesting, and always full of life and vigour. He was a very accomplished mechanic, and had he taken up engineering instead of music, would no doubt have been successful. As a designer of organs he was often employed, and those at Leeds and Glasgow may be named as specimens of his powers in this line. He edited Handel's 13 Italian duets and 2 trios for the Handel Society.
His health had for several years been very bad, and cancer on the liver gave him excruciating agony. In June 1879 the Government granted him a pension of £100 a year in acknowledgment of his services in the cause of music, but he did not live to enjoy it, dying July 6, 1879. His last composition was a Postlude in E♭ for the organ, finished very shortly before the end. His life has been written by his friend Dr. Spark (Reeves, 1881), and the book will always be interesting, though it might perhaps have been more usefully arranged, and more accurately printed.
Charles Frederick, a younger brother of Sir George Smart, was brought up as a chorister at the Chapel Royal,and afterwards became a double-bass player in all the principal orchestras.