Charles Dibdin (4 March 1745? - 25 July 1814), British musician, dramatist, novelist, actor and songwriter, the son of a parish clerk, was born in Southampton on or before 4 March 1745,[1] and was the youngest of a family of 18. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 1745 ( MDCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler Year 1814 ( MDCCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both Southampton ( IPA /ˌsaʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England
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Life and career
Early life and early successes
His parents designing him for the church, he was sent to Winchester; but his love of music early diverted his thoughts from the clerical profession. After receiving some instruction from the organist of Winchester Cathedral, where he was a chorister from 1756 to 1759, he went to London at the age of fifteen. Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest Cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Here he was placed in a music warehouse in Cheapside, but he soon abandoned this employment to become a singing actor at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Cheapside is a street in Cheap ward of the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street Cornhill WikipediaWikiProject Opera --> The Royal Opera House is an Opera house and major performing On 21 May 1762 his first work, an operetta entitled The Shepherd's Artifice, with words and music by himself, was produced at this theatre. Events 878 - Syracuse Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily. Year 1762 ( MDCCLXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year He appeared successfully as Ralph in The Maid of the Mill, for which he wrote the music: for Isaac Bickerstaffe he wrote songs and music for Love in the City, Love in a Village, etc. This article is about the Irish playwright for the pseudonym used by Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, and Jonathan Swift, see Isaac Bickerstaff
Drury Lane with Garrick
Other works followed, his reputation being firmly established by the music to the play of The Padlock, produced at Drury Lane under Garrick's management in 1768, the composer himself taking the part of Mungo with conspicuous success. The Padlock is a Comic opera by Charles Dibdin. The text was by Isaac Bickerstaffe. Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. David Garrick (born 19 February 1717 in Hereford &ndash 20 January 1779) was an English Actor, Playwright, He continued for some years to be connected with Drury Lane, both as composer and as actor, and produced during this period two of his best known works, The Waterman (1774) and The Quaker (1775). A quarrel with Garrick led to the termination of his engagement. In The Comic Mirror he ridiculed prominent contemporary figures through the medium of a puppet show.
In 1782 he became joint manager of the Royal Circus, afterwards known as the Surrey Theatre. Year 1782 ( MDCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Surrey Theatre began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both In three years he lost this position owing to a quarrel with his partner. His opera Liberty Hall, containing the successful songs "Jock Ratlin", "The Highmettled Racer", and "The Bells of Aberdovey", was produced at the Drury Lane theatre on 8 February 1785. Aberdyfi (Mouth of the River Dyfi or Aberdovey (the Anglicised spelling is still in common use is a Village on the Estuary of the River The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. Events 421 - Constantius III becomes co- Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Year 1785 ( MDCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Dibdin also produced many entertainments at the Lyceum Theatre. The Lyceum Theatre is a 2000-seat West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street just off the Strand.
Monodramatic entertainments at King Street and Leicester Place
In 1788 he dissolved his connection with the existing theatres. Year 1788 ( MDCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap Having set sail for the East Indies, when the vessel put in to Torbay in stress of weather, he changed his mind and returned to London. The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term often used to refer to the islands of SE Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago Geography There are three main towns around the bay Torquay in the north Paignton in the centre and Brixham in the south which have become connected He then commenced a new kind of one-man-show, musical variety entertainments called The Oddities and The Whim of the Moment, at Fisher's Auction Room in King Street (Covent Garden). In these he introduced many songs of marked popularity, including "Poor Jack," "'Twas in the good ship 'Rover'," "Saturday Night at Sea," and "I sailed from the Downs in the 'Nancy. '" The immortal "Tom Bowling" was written on the death of his eldest brother, Captain Thomas Dibdin, at whose invitation he had planned his visit to India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country His monodramatic entertainments continued at a theatre which he built, the Sans Souci Theatre in Leicester Place. The Sans Souci Theatre was a 500-seat Theatre located on Leicester Place just off Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. For the British guitarist see Lester Square. Leicester Square (ˈlɛstɚ is a Pedestrianised square in the West End His songs, music and recitations here permanently established his fame as a lyric poet.
War songs and later years
Dibdin's patriotic sea-songs (painting the simple loyalty and manly courage of the British sailor) and their melodious refrains powerfully influenced the national spirit and were officially appropriated to the use of the British navy during the war with France. In 1803 he was induced by Pitt's government, with a pension of £200 a year, to abandon provincial engagements in order to compose and sing 'War Songs' in order to keep up the ferment of popular feeling against France. 1803 ( MDCCCIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a This was withdrawn for a time under the administration of Lord Grenville, but afterwards partly restored.
During this period he opened a music shop in the Strand (opposite the Lyceum), but the venture was a failure. He retired from public life in 1805, disposing of his stock (including the copyright of 360 songs) to a firm in Oxford Street for £1,800, with £100 a year for the next three years in consideration of whatever songs he might write. He took up residence in Camden Town, where he suffered a paralytic stroke. In 1810 a subscription dinner and concert was held for his benefit. This raised £640, of which £560 was invested in Long Annuities for himself and his family. He died on 25 July 1814 in comparative poverty, and was buried in St Martin's churchyard there. His widow placed a stone over his grave inscribed with a quatrain from Tom Bowling.
Dibdin's families and other writings
Dibdin had married early in life, but deserted his first wife and left her destitute. He then formed an illicit connection with Mrs Davenet (nee Pitt), a chorus-singer at Covent Garden Theatre, and had some children by her. In time he deserted Mrs Davenet also in favour of Miss Wyld, with whom he remained and had several further children during his wife's lifetime, and finally married Miss Wyld when his first wife died. She and one daughter only (of that union) survived him. His two sons Charles and Thomas John Dibdin, whose works are often confused with those of their father, were also popular dramatists in their day. Thomas John Dibdin ( March 21, 1771 &ndash September 16, 1841) was an English Dramatist and song-writer
Besides his Musical Tour through England (1788), his Professional Life, an autobiography published in 1803, a History of the Stage (1795), and several smaller works, he wrote upwards of 1400 songs and about thirty dramatic pieces. He also wrote the following novels: The Devil (1785); Hannah Hewitt (1792); The Younger Brother (1793). An edition of his songs by G Hogarth (1843) contains a memoir of his life.
Allusions in music and literature
The tune of "Tom Bowling" forms part of the medley of English sea-songs customarily played on the Last Night of the Proms. The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily Orchestral
Mr Verdant Green, eponymous hero of the novel by Cuthbert Bede, learns to row and 'feathers his oars with skill and dexterity' (Part II Chapter VI), borrowing a line from Dibdin's song "The Jolly Young Waterman. Edward Bradley (1827–1889 was an English Novelist and Clergyman. "
The great Victorian baritone Sir Charles Santley made his farewell performance at Covent Garden in 1911 in the role of Tom Tug in Dibdin's opera The Waterman. Sir Charles Santley ( February 28, 1834 - September 22, 1922) was an English Vocalist, who in his long career in opera
Two public memorials
Seven years after his death a subscription to raise a monument to Dibdin was set in train under the patronage of the Duke of Clarence and Admiral Sir George York. At a public dinner and concert a large sum was raised, but insufficient to complete the project. A second grand musical entertainment, The Feast of Neptune, raised a further £400 and the monument was eventually raised in the Veterans' Library at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich. Greenwich ( ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ GREN-itch /ˈɡrɛnɪdʒ/ GREN-idge or /ˈɡrɪnɪdʒ/ GRIN-idge is a district in south-east London,
British policitian Michael Heseltine is a distant descendant of Dibdin, having 'Dibdin' as one of his middle names. Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (born 21 March 1933 is a Welsh -born British businessman and Conservative He is a fan of Dibdin's works, and was responsible for the government's erection of a statue of Dibdin in Greenwich.
References
- ^ In the memoir cited in References below, his birthdate is given as 15 March 1745.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
- Anon (Ed. ), Memoir, in C. Dibdin, Sea Songs: A New Edition (London, H G Clarke & Hayward and Adam 1846), v-xi.
- Profile of Dibdin
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