Henry R. Bishop

Sir Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855) was born in London, son of a watchmaker and haberdasher. He left full-time education at age 13 to work as a music-publisher with his cousin. He trained as a jockey and took lessons in harmony. He composed, arranged, and conducted dramatic musical productions at Covent Garden Theatre, King’s Theatre, Haymarket, Drury Lane, and Vauxhall Gardens. He was also one of the original directors of the Philharmonic Society. He was Professor of Music in the University of Edinburgh and at the University of Oxford. He composed or arranged about 120 dramatic works, including 80 operas, light operas, cantatas, and ballets, as well as composing incidental music for plays and arranged operas by well-known composers. His comic opera “Clari” featured a libretto by the American John Howard Payne, a musical version of Payne’s play “Clari, or The Maid of Milan.” The theme song “Home! Sweet Home!” became very popular. It was popular in the United States throughout the American Civil War. His other compositions include oratorios, part-songs, and glees. His second wife, singer Ann Rivière, sang in every continent and was the most widely travelled opera singer of the century. He had a plentiful income during his lifetime but died in poverty in London.

All are SATB and unaccompanied unless noted in VOICING column. A noting of “div” indicates some incidental divisi within a part or parts, but not a true independent part throughout the entire work. Solos and accompaniment are also noted.

 

TITLE	VOICING	TEXT	LISTEN
Believe me, tears may ofttimes start	SSATB/piano	William Dimond	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Blow, blow, thou winter wind		Shakespeare	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Blow, gentle gales	w/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Bright lady, sweet mistress	w/piano, B solo	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Daughter of error!	w/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Far away from every pleasure	w/piano	Edward Fitzball	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Good night, good rest	w/piano	Shakespeare	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Hark! the mid-watch bells	w/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Joy, joy, raise the shout	w/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Now by day’s retiring lamp	SATTB/piano	Frederick Reynolds	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Now tramp o’er moss and fell	SATB, S solo/piano	Thomas Morton	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
O, by rivers, by whose falls		- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Ronilda!		William Shenstone	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Sleep, gentle lady	w/piano	James Robinson Planché	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Stay, pry’thee, stay	SSATTB/piano	Pocock	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
The Chough & Crow to roost are gone	SSATB/SSB solos	Joanna Baillie	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
The Fisherman’s “Good Night”		- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
The Fox jump’d over the Parson’s gate	SSTTB/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
The Savoyard, from clime to clime	w/piano	- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
The silver queen	w/piano	Thomas Dibdin	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
To harmony, seraphic maid!		- - - -	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Up! Quit thy bower		Joanna Baillie	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
When wearied wretches sink to sleep		Thomas Moore	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
Where art thou, beam of light?		Ossian	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing