DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

3 34 HARRISON HART & SONS
an octavo publication, consisting of operas and
pianoforte pieces, named The Pianoforte Magazine,
which ultimately extended to about thirty
volumes. This was issued at half- a- crown a
part ; and by an advertisement in the Times
of the year ijuoted we find purchasers were entitled,
after a number of payments, to a piano-
forte. This is perhaps the earliest record of a
kind of purchase now in some evidence. About
1798 the firm is styled ' Harrison, Cluse& Co.,'
and it is at 78 Fleet Street. In 1802 it is at 108
Newgate Street, and probably did not exist much
later than that date. Their publications are
always exceedingly well engraved, and comprise
many useful reprints of earlier standard works.
They commenced the issue of what promised to
be a very excellent dictionary of music, but it
did not reach beyond a few numbers. It was
printed in a rather unwieldy oblong folio. F. K.
HARRISON, Samuel, born at Helper, Derbyshire,
Sei't. 8, 1760. He received his musical
education from Burton, a well-known bass chorus
singer, probably the same whose nervous system
was so powerfully affected by the music on the
first day of the Commemoration of Handel, in
1784, as to occasion his death in the course of
a few hours. On the establisliment of the Con-
cert of Ancient Music in 1776, Harrison appeared
as a solo soprano singer, and continued
so for two years afterwards. But in 1778, being
engaged to sing at Gloucester, his voice suddenly
failed him. After an interval of six years,
during which he most assiduously cultivated his
voice and style, George III. heard him sing at
one of Queen Charlotte's musical parties, and
caused him to be engaged for the Commemoration
of Handel in 1784, at which he sang 'Rend' il
sereno al ciglio ' from ' Sosarme, ' and the opening
recitative and air in ' Messiah. ' He was next
engaged as principal tenor at the Concert of
Ancient Music, and from that time took his
place at the head of his profession as a concert
singer. Harrison's voice had a compass of two
octaves (A to a). It was remarkably sweet,
pure and even in tone, but deficient in power.
His taste and judgment were of a high order,
and in the cantabile style he had no equal.
Compelled by the exigencies of his engagements
to sing songs which demanded gi-eater physical
power than he possessed, he always sang them
reluctantly. On Dec. 6, 1790, Harrison married
Miss Cantelo, for some years principal second
soprano at all the best concerts, etc. In 1791
he and Knyvett established the Vocal Concerts,
which were carried on to the end of 1794, and
revived in 1801. Harrison's last appearance in
public was at his benefit concert, May 8, 1812,
when he sang Pepusch's ' Alexis, ' and Handel's
' Gentle airs. ' On
June 25 following, a sudden
inflammation carried him off. He was buried in
the graveyard of the old church of St. Pancras.
The inscription on his tombstone includes an extract
from an elegiac ode on Harrison, written by
the Rev. Thomas Beaumont, and set to music by
William Horsley, but the lines are so inaccurately
given as completely to mar the allusion to the
song, 'Gentle airs.' Mrs. Harrison survived her
husband nineteen years. w. H. H.
HARRISON, William, born in Marylebone
parish, June 15, 1813. Being gifted with a tenor
voice of remarkable purity and sweetness, he
appeared in public as an amateur concert singer
early in 1836. He then entered as a pupil
at the Royal Academy of Music, and in
1837 appeared as a professional singer at the
concerts of the Academy, and subsequently at
the Sacred Harmonic Society. On Thursday,
May 2, 1839, he made his first appearance on
the stage at
' Henrique. '
Covent Garden, in Rooke's opera,
A few years later he was engaged
at Drury Lane, where he sustained the principal
tenor parts in Balfe's ' Bohemian Girl,' Wallace's
' Maritana,' and Benedict's ' Brides of Venice,'
and 'Crusaders,' on their first production. In
1851 he performed at the Haymarket Theatre,
in Mendelssohn's 'Son and Stranger,' and other
operas. In 1856, in conjunction with Miss
Louisa Pyne, he established an English Opera
Company, and for several years gave performances
at the Lyceum, Drury Lane, and Covent
Garden Theatres. During their management the
foUomng new operas were produced :—Balfe's
' Rose of Castille '
(1857), ' Satanella '
(1858),
' Bianca, the Bravo's Bride' (1860), 'Puritan's
Daughter' (1861), and 'Armourer of Nantes'
(1863) ; Wallace's 'Lurlino' (1860), and ' Love's
Triumph' (1862); Benedict's 'Lily of KiUarney,'
1862; Mellon's 'Victorine' (1859) ; andHoward
Glover's ' Ruy Bias ' (1861). In the winter of
1864 Harrison opened Her Majesty's Theatre
for the performance of English operas. He
translated Masse's op)eretta, ' Les Noces de Jeannette,'
and produced it at Covent Garden Theatre
in Nov. 1860, under the title of 'Georgette's
Wedding.' Harrison, in addition to his vocal
qualifications, was an excellent actor. He died
at his residence in Kentish Town, Nov. 9,
1868. w. H. H.
HART, Andeo, an early Edinburgh printer
of note, who printed with musical notation some
editions of the Scottish Psalter as The CL.
Psalmes of David in Prose and Meeter . . .
Edinburgh, printed by Andro Hart, 1611, 8vo.
One by his 'heires' is dated 1635. F. K.
HART & SONS, an eminent firm of violin
makers and experts, was founded at 28 Wardour
Street, London (the present premises of the firm,
though the name of the street has been altered),
by John Hart about 1825. This John Hart,
grandfather of the present (1905) head of the
firm was an expert not only in all matters connected
with the violin, but with the shot-gun
also. He opened business with a collection of
guns and violins, and for a considerable time it
was doubtful which of these two would prove
the fitter, and survive. In the end violins