Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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484 SMALL OCTAVE SMAET
in a letter to G. A. Maofarren ' strongly objects
to the engravers of his edition of ' Israel in
Egypt' placing the slur over two quavers or
semiquavers which are to be sung to one word.
When the slur is used in combination with a
series of dots, thus J • il , it indicates the effect
called mezzo staccato, in which the notes are
made of longer duration than if marked with
the staccato-sign only, being sustained for nearly
their full value, and separated by a very brief
interval of silence. [See also Staccato.] f. t.
SMALL OCTAVE. See C, vol. i. p. 433.
SMART, George, a London music-publisher
who had some skill as a, performer on the
double bass. He was one of a musical family,
and his son. Sir George Smart, and other relatives
attained distinction. Before entering business,
he was an assistant to Robert Bremner, and
had been possibly also employed by William
Napier. He began in the music trade about
1770, his shop being at the comer of Argyll
Street, and numbered 331 Oxford Street. He
issued many minor publications, such as country
dances and sheet music, and remained at 331
Oxford Street until one of the earliest years of
the 19th century, the period of his death.
George Smart was one of the founders of a
benevolent society for musicians. F. K.
SMART, Sir George Thomas, Knight, bom
May 10, 1776, son of the above George Smart,
rnceived his early musical education as a chorister
of the Chapel Royal under Dr. Ayrton. He
learned organ - playing 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
forty-nine 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 Baron
Heath. On April 1,. 1822, he was appointed
1 Goethe and Mendelstohn, 2nd ed. p. 77.
one of the organist's of the Chapel Royal in the
room of Charles Knyvett, deceased. In 1825
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. [See Musical Times, 1902,
p. 533.] 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 his duties
in connection with the coronation of Queen
Victoria, see the Musical Times, 1902, p. 18.]
On the death of Attwood in 1838 he was appointed
one of the composers to the Chapel
Royal. To 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, 1833andl835 ; 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 eighty. 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. [A volume
entitled Leaves from t}te Journal of Sir George
Smart, by H. B. Cox and C. L. E. Cox, was
published in 1907.] A younger son of George
Smart, senior, was Charles Frederick, who
was a chorister of the Chapel Royal, and afterwards
a double-bass player in the principal
orchestras. Older than Charles, but younger
than George, was another brother,
Henry, born in London in 1778 [was for a
time in his father's business, and subsequently
(about 1803) in that of a brewer. This latter
trade being unsuccessful, he returned to the