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Writer's pictureLewis Jones

A List of Professors and Teachers of Music, in and near the Metropolis [of London] (1832)

Updated: Mar 17, 2019


The Apollonicon; or, Musical Album; An Interesting Harmonic Miscellany (London: sold by Clementi & Co., W. Hawes, and Keith & Co., 1832), title page (detail).

 

This list of professors and teachers of the harp, appended to The Apollonicon; or, Musical Album (London: sold by Clementi & Co., W. Hawes, and Keith & Co., 1832), is reproduced here with the aim of helping to identify and locate harpists and teachers whose names appear in concert announcements and reviews, harp makers’ ledgers, published tutors, and other sources. It is noteworthy that several taught both the harp and pianoforte; as each teacher appears only once, they are presumably listed according to their principal instrument.



Geographical scope


While the list of professional harp teachers encompasses fashionable suburbs such Kensington and Knightsbridge to the west and Regent’s Park Village and Islington to the north, that of pianoforte teachers reaches more widely, to more recently developed and mostly less affluent areas: Camden Town to the north; Hackney, Hoxton and Poplar to the east; and, to the south of the River Thames, Brixton Road, Kent Road, Camberwell, and Walworth. Of those in the piano list who also taught the harp, some are in less central areas than most in the harp list, such as St John's Wood and Edgware Road.



Gender and versatility


While acknowledging that the publishers' criteria for inclusion are unknown and that this single source will need to be compared with others, it is possible to make initial observations about gender, and professional specialism and versatility.


Note: the compiler of the list appears consistently to have given the title of women (Miss or Mrs), but did so only rarely for men (Mr or Dr). That this distinction might not be completely reliable is exemplified by the ‘Dulcken’ of Howland Street in the piano list; this might be either [Marie] Louise Dulcken (1811- 50), née David, who arrived in London soon after her marriage in 1828 and could already have been established as a teacher at 21 (she had performed a concerto by Herz at the Philharmonic Society on 1 March 1830, and was later in great demand as a teacher and taught Queen Victoria) or her husband. In accordance with the principle apparently intended, she is not counted here among the female teachers; this may be allowed for in considering the numbers and percentages of female piano teachers.



The harp list has 36 entries, of which one, for the Misses Miles, is plural. Counting the Misses Miles as two gives a total of 37 who primarily taught the harp; there were 9 female (24%), 8 'Miss' and 1 'Mrs', and 28 male (76%) teachers.


Of the male harp teachers: 4 also taught the piano, 2 singing, and 2 the violin. 

Of the female harp teachers: 2 also taught the piano, 2 singing, and none the violin.


Taking account of the versatility of Parry junior (the only person to offer harp, singing and piano), 4 women and 6 men advertised at least one additional skill. There is notable versatility among the women: the proportion of women listed primarily as harp teachers who also advertised a second instrument or taught singing (44%) is significantly higher than that of men (21%).



The pianoforte list has 130 entries, 19 female (14.6%) and 111 male (85.4%). Of these, 9 (6.9%) also taught the harp: 3 female (2 Miss, 1 Mrs) and 6 male. Again there is a correlation between gender and versatility: of those listed primarily as piano teachers who also taught the harp, a higher proportion were women (15.8%) than men (5.4%).


While several piano teachers, including two women (Miss Caney and Miss Furrian), also taught 'thorough bass' or 'theory', none of those also teaching the harp did so.



Summary totals, combining the harp and pianoforte lists:


Total of harp teachers: 46 (9 as their second instrument)

of whom 12 (26%) female

34 (74%) male


Total of piano teachers: 136 (6 as their second instrument)

of whom 21 (15%) female

115 (85%) male

Total of teachers of harp and/or piano: 167

of whom 17% female

83% male








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Mike Baldwin
Mike Baldwin
Mar 18, 2019

Binfield, Miss

8 May 1821, Making pedal for harp, -/7/-. Address: Charles St/.

2 July 1821, To a set of harp strings double from the middle, £1/7/-. Address: Charles St.

24 July 1821, To crimson japan'd string box with lock, £1/2/-. Address: Charles St.

12 March 1821, To a mahogany music desk with brass candlesticks, 3 gns. Address: Thurlow Place, Hackney Road.


Bissett, Mrs (not Miss)

21 Feb. 1821 – account balance, £2/9/9.


Challoner

21 Feb. 1821 – account balance, £170/-/6.

5 Oct. 1821, second-hand green single-action (no.1197) with swell and patent stops, burnished gilding, and Raphael’s arabesques, £34. Address: Regent Circus.

1 Feb. 1822, To sundry strings put to harp, -/8/-. Address: Regent Circus.

4 Sept. 1823, To repairing…


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Lewis Jones
Lewis Jones
Mar 17, 2019

I am grateful to Mike Baldwin for making so many connections between the 1832 List of Professors and Teachers and the Erat ledgers of the preceding decade. I aim to comment further on some of these but here, to start, is a brief note about Chipp.


28 March 2019: My initial brief, informal note here about Chipp (17 March 2019) is completely superseded by Published harp music by Thomas Paul Chipp (1793–1870): a provisional catalogue and the biographical note which accompanies it. I have deleted the initial note to avoid confusion.

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Mike Baldwin
Mike Baldwin
Mar 16, 2019

Below are some initial responses, take from my transcription of the Erat Ledger (1821-1824) to Lewis's post about teachers. These are extracts. The likes of John Weippert evidently have a longer association with the Erats and used them for repairs as well as instruments for their students. I'll prepare something more definitive and add information about harp/piano teachers at a later date.


Allen

On the opening of the Erat accounts ledger (21 February 1821) a Mr Allen had an account balance of £4/19/-; no address is given.


Carr

On 26 July 1821, a Mr Carr bought a crimson single-action (no.1343) with burnished gilding and Raphael's arabesques for £44/2/-. His given address, 404 Oxford Street, differs from the Apollonicon list.


Chipp


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