Born in Sheffield,
April 13, 1810, where his father, Robert Bennett, was organist. He is
conspicuous in the musical history of the present period, as having, by his
unswerving fidelity to the loftiest principles of his art, and still more by
his natural and highly refined ability to embody these in his works, been
effectively instrumental in raising the standard of music in this country, and
in gaining consideration for the earnest pretensions of English music abroad.
We may suppose that the occupation of his father tended to the immediate
development of his organization; but, becoming an orphan at three years old, he
derived nothing from his parent's musical pursuits, save the inestimable
advantage of this early impression. At his father's death, he was removed to
the care of his grandfather at Cambridge, where in 1824 he entered the choir of
King's College Chapel. Already he gave proof of an uncommon aptitude for music;
so strong, that two years afterwards he was taken from this institution to be
placed in the Royal Academy of Music in London. Passing through the classes of Mr
Lucas and Dr. Crotch for composition, and of Mr W. H. Holmes for the
pianoforte, he became the pupil of Mr Potter in both these departments, whose
entire merit it is to have fully developed the remarkable talent they had
prepared for his care,—fully developed, because it was while yet under his
direction, that Bennett produced some of the works which most honour his name,
no less admirable for maturity of style than freshness of invention; and while
yet under his direction, he attained the excellence as a pianist which won him
the esteem he still maintains. Among his academical productions which have not
appeared in print, an overture to the Tempest
and two symphonies must be named as possessing great interest. Prior even to
these he wrote his Concerto in D minor, in 1832, the rare merit of which
attracted general attention to the young composer. He played it at the prize
concert of the academy at midsummer, 1833, when Mendelssohn was present, who,
quick to appreciate the indications in the music and its performance of approaching
excellence, gave Bennett such warm encouragement as true genius only can
extend.
The academy committee
paid the cost of publishing this first concerto for the author's advantage, and
thus conferred an equal benefit on their institution in the credit the scholar
reflected on the school. The Concerto in E flat, a production of the ensuing autumn,
shows no longer the immediate effect upon the composer's mind of the classic
masterpieces which, with him as with every genuine artist, were the seeds of
his originality ; but the decided style manifest in this work shows the now indirect
influence of the great models, from a perfect knowledge of which alone can
result a mastery of the principles of construction which have been unfolded
through successive generations, and a freedom in the employment of resources,
which, being accumulated from all, are common to all that have the power to appropriate
them.
His overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor, still
unpublished, is a work of charming freshness, which preceded the composition in 1834 of that
to Parisina ; the depth of feeling,
the flow of ideas, and their skilful arrangement that distinguished this last named,
associate it with the highest productions of its class.
The Concerto in C minor,
another fruit of this fertile year, has all the characteristics of classicality;
the stately breadth of the first movement, the dreamy mystery of the andante,
and the fire of the finale, are throughout entirely individual to the author; but
the merit of the whole is common to this and to the best extant works of its
kind. At one of the early concerts of the then promising society of British
musicians in this same year, Bennett played his second concerto, and he thus
gained such general acknowledgment, that the Philharmonic directors engaged him
to repeat the performance at the first concert of their following season, when
his success was most triumphant. The next year was occupied with productions of
less importance, though, perhaps, of more extensive popularity; but in 1836 an unprinted
concerto in F minor, and the fanciful and graceful overture, The Naiades (the work of his which is
most played in public), brought him again before the highest musical tribunals.
It was now at the suggestion of Mr Attwood that the munificent firm of
Broadwood, who have done more for the advancement
of music through the encouragement of musicians in this country, than any other
individual or institution has effected, offered to defray Bennett's expenses for
a year's residence in Leipzig, where, by constant intercourse with Mendelssohn,
by constant opportunity of enlarging his experience, and by constant occasion
for exercising his powers, he might improve himself and extend his reputation.
He accordingly quitted the academy of which he was still an inmate, and went to
establish his and his country's character in the city which then, from a
combination of circumstances, possessed more advantages for a musician than at
this time any place in the world affords.
Returning in the autumn
of 1837, he left a name of which, perhaps, the highest acknowledgment is the
attempt on the part of some shallow critics to traduce it. Repeated successes
as a pianist, and the production of some of his best chamber works, fill up his
history till 1840. He then wrote another concerto in F minor (that which is
published), and so created such a rival to its predecessor in C minor, as few
writers could have produced. He now spent another twelvemonth in Leipzig, confirming
the impression of his former visit. Here he wrote his Caprice in E for
pianoforte and orchestra, and his overture The
Wood Nymphs which fully sustain the high character of his best productions.
In 1843 be gave his
first series of chamber concerts, which were continued annually till 1856, and brought
his merit as a player periodically under public notice. In 1844, he competed for
the musical professorship in the University of Edinburgh against several
candidates, of whom Mr Hugh Pierson was
elected. In 1849, Bennett founded the Bach Society, for the study and
performance of the music of the master after whom it is named, and is still the
chairman and conductor of this institution. Nothing that may be cited within
the present limits marks the career of this musician until 1856, when he was
engaged as permanent conductor of the concerts of the Philharmonic Society. In
this same year he was elected by an overwhelming majority to the musical chair
in the University of Cambridge, to which locality his early associations, and
his fulfilment of the highest hopes that can have been entertained of him,
strongly endear him: subsequently to that, he was created doctor of music by
this seminary of learning.
As an executant,
Bennett is characterized by beautiful mechanism, exquisite grace, and that
singing style, which is the strongest link of sympathy between a player and his
audience. As a composer, it is fashionable with some to accuse him of imitating
Mendelssohn, by which they prove their utter ignorance of his music. He has
fancy, he has feeling, he has fire, and, most of all, he has a peculiar grace which
distinguishes no less his phraseology than the turning of his ornamental passages,
and all these are manifested in a manner as individual to himself, as is that
of any artist possessing the traits which constitute a style. This
individuality is as obvious in his ‘Fountain’, in his ‘Genevieve’, in his rondo
‘Piacevole’, in his song, ‘To Chloe in sickness’, as in any of his larger
works; it consists, first, in his original train of thought ; second, in his command
of resources, which enables him to mould his ideas at will. They who appreciate
him the highest blame him the most, that during the last fifteen years be has almost entirely ceased to
compose ; and candour must admit the scanty productions of this long period
want the merit, when they even have the pretensions, of those admirable earlier
works, of which he and his country have just reason to be proud. The lesser interest
of these later productions may, perhaps, be ascribed to his having lost the
spontaneous vigour of youthful impulse, without replacing it with the fluency
which results from habit and the intensity that is given by concentration; and
his deficiency in both these is extenuatingly referred to his excessive occupation
in teaching.
George Alexander
Macfarren THE IMPERIAL DICTIONARY OF UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY: A SERIES OF ORIGINAL
MEMOIRS [minor edits]
