Jonathan Battishill
Jonathan Battishill (May 1738 – 10 December 1801) was an English composer,
Biography
Battishill was born in London. Beginning at the age of nine, he sang as a chorister at
During the mid-1750s he began appearing as a tenor soloist in London concerts. One of his earliest engagements was on 16 March 1756 in a concert of
In 1764 Battishill was appointed organist of
While working at Covent Garden, Battishill met singing actress Elizabeth Davies who had originated the role of Margery in Thomas Arne's Love in a Village. The two became romantically involved and on 19 December 1765 they married. However the marriage was unsuccessful, and Elizabeth had a publicly known affair with actor Anthony Webster, with whom she eventually moved to Ireland in 1776. Elizabeth died in Cork in October 1777. Battishill also had an affair with a woman who called herself Ann Battishill at the time of his death. They apparently lived together from about 1775 until the end of Battishill's life. Although Battishill was involved with another woman, his wife's desertion caused a deep depression from which he never recovered. He declined into alcoholism and his compositional output became minimal for the rest of his life. His alcoholism also resulted in his not being appointed organist of St Paul's on the death of John Jones in 1796.[1]
From 1777 on Battishill devoted himself mainly to his book collection.[2] From the time he was a boy he was an avid reader, and throughout his life he had collected some 6000 to 7000 volumes in his personal library. He was mostly interested in theological works and the works of classical authors. In 1801 Battishill was buried in St Paul's near the grave of William Boyce in keeping with his own wishes.[1]
Works
Most of Battishill's compositions date from the period 1760–1775, and reflect his diverse employments during this time. He began his career primarily as a composer of theatre music; writing mostly incidental music for plays. He composed the music for one
Upon taking his first organist post in 1764, Battishill composed chiefly church music,
References
- ^ a b c d e f Peter Ward Jones: "Jonathan Battishill", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 17 December 2008), (subscription access) Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Jonathan Battishill at Encyclopædia Britannica Online (subscription access)
- ^ Johnson, James (1787). "Scots Musical Museum". Edinburgh: Johnson & Co. p. 36. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
- ^ "Choral Evensong 3 August 2005, From Guildford Cathedral". BBC programme detail pages. BBC. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
"Choral Evensong Live from Bristol Cathedral". BBC programme detail pages. BBC. 11 March 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
Sources
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Maitland, John Alexander Fuller (1885). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- J. A. F. Maitland, rev. David J. Golby (2004). "Battishill, Jonathan (1738–1801)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1717. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
- Free scores by Jonathan Battishill at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Free scores by Jonathan Battishill in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)