DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

178 GLEE GLEN
gives a name. It is simply the Anglo-Saxon
gligg— music. A glee is not therefore necessarily
of a cheerful character, as the name might seem
to imply. That music was in early times commonly
associated with cheerfulness is possibly
true. The 'Gliggman,' according to Warton,
was identical with the 'Jooulator.' But the
words of a glee may be mournful or sprightly,
and the music such as will express them becom-
ingly. The ' '
serious glee is no more a misnomer
than the ' cheerful.' Both terms have been used
by glee composers again and again.
The glee differs from the madrigal, as might
be e.xpected from the distance apart of their
epochs, in its tonnUltj, whichisuniformlyniodern.
Kot only so. Whereas the ' of subjects '
the
madrigal are generally few, always contrapuntally
treated, and this often at considerablelength,
those of the glee are generally many, and only
rarely developed at all. Masses of harmony,
rare in the madrigal, are common in the glee,
and indeed give it some of its best effects. The
characteristic figure of modern tonality, the
' perfect cadence,' rarely and timidly introduced
in the former, is of frequent occurrence in the
latter—sometimes indeed of such frequent occurrence
as to give to many of these compositions
a halting and discoimected character, as though
they were continually about to come to an end.
Indeed the short phrases, incessant cadences, frequent
changes of rhythm aud pace of the average
glee, contrast unfavourably with the ' long resounding'
phrases of the madrigal, never brought
to an end in one part till they are begun in
another, overlapping one another, bearing one
another up, and never allowing the hearer to
anticipate a close till everything that can be
done with every subject has been done, and the
movement comes to a natural eml.
In so far as the glee composer exhibits this
power of sustentation, this strength of wing
the highest and the rarest qualification for every
kind of polyphonic composition—his productions
will be lasting in their attraction. Every one of
the best glee writers, such as Webbe, Stevens,
Callcott, Horsley—has exhibited it frequently
and in very high perfection ; and this together
with a constructive power which we should seek
in vain in the musical compositions of the madrigalian
era. Stevens's glee, 'Ye spotted Snakes,
is a model of construction, and if not the earliest,
is one of the earliest specimens of pure vocal
music in the 'sonata form.'
The glee proper is wholly independent of instrumentalaccompaniment.
Thename, however,
is occasionally given to compositions like ' The
Chough and Crow, ' by Sir Henry Bishop. These
would be better entitled accompanied ti'ios, quartets,
or choruses. The principal glee composers,
over and above those already named—without
exception Englishmen—are Attwood, Battishill,
Cooke,Danby, Hindle, LordMornington,Paxton,
and Spofforth. [For the bibliography of the
early Glee and Catch Collections see Catch •
also Madrigal ; Part-sosg.] j. h.
GLEE CLUB, The. This club originated in
some meetings at the house of Mr. Robert Smith
in St. Paul's Churchyard, commenced in 1783,
at which motets, madrigals, glees, canons, and
catches were sung after dinner. The meetings
were subsequently held at Dr. Beever's and other
houses until, in 1787, it vas resolved to establish
a society to be called 'The Glee Club,' the first
public meeting of which took place at the Newcastle
Coffee House on Saturday, Deo. 22, 1787.
The original members were, R. Smith, Dr.
Arnold, Dr. Beever, Rev. J. Hinckes, T. S.
(afterwards Dr. )Dupuis, J. Roberts, J. Heseltine,
T. Aylward, C. Wright, T. Gregory, H. Desdier,
L. Atterbury, and T. Linley. The professional
members were, S. Webbe, J. Dyne, P. Hobler,
J. W. (afterwards Dr.) Callcott, J. Hindle, J.
Bartleman, S. Webbe, jun., and S. Harrison.
In 1788 the Club removed to the Freemasons'
Tavern, thence to the Crown and-Anehor until
Feb. 1790, when it returned to the Freemasons'
Tavern, but removed once more, on .July 6, 1791,
to the Crown and Anchor, and again returned
to the Freemasons' Tavern. In 1790 Samuel
Webbe composed for the Club his 'Glorious
Apollo,' which was ever after sung at the
meetings as the opening glee, while B^'rd's canon
'Non Noljis' was sung immediately after dinner,
often followed by Dr. Cooke's canon 'Amen.'
After ' Glorious Apollo ' (first sung with tliree
voices to a part and then full) the chairman,
vice-chairman, conductor, sub-conductor, and
secretary, each named a glee, and then the
members according to seniority. Among the
eminent visitors who have contributed to the
music of the meetings were Samuel Wesley
(who played Bach's fugues upon the pianoforte,
or an extemporaneous effusion on some consjiicuous
passage in a glee recently sung), Moscheles,
and Jlendelssohn. The Clubwasdissolvcd
in 1857 and the library sold. The Cluli must
be distinguished from another Glee Club formed
in 1793, the original members of which were
Shield, Johnstone, Charles Bannister, Incledon,
Dignum, C. Ashley, and W. T. Parke, the last
of w^hom (^Musiral Memoirs, ii. 175) states
that ' it was held on Sunday evenings at the
Garrick's Head Coffee House in Bow Street,
Covent Garden, once a fortnight, when we
amused ourselves by singing the works of the
old and modern masters, after which we sat down
to supper.' c. M.
GLEN. An eminent Scotch firm of musical
instrument makers. Thomas Macbean Glen,
the founder, was born at Inverkeithing, Fifeshire,
in May 1804 ; commenced business in
the Cowgate, Edinburgh, in 1827 ; in 1836
removed to North Bank Street, and died July
12, 1873. Amongst the instruments invented
by him was a wooden Ophicleide, of which a
large number were made, and known as ' Ser-