I've bumped into Joseph de Pinna, musician, a number of time over the years, but I'd never considered it worthwhile pursuing him and his career. He was just one of those innumerable 'professors of music' who, fairly anonymously, inhabited the Victorian scene, teaching little girls their necessary notes and putting out the occasional pianoforte arrangements of, mostly, other folk's music.
But today has been an indifferent day on e-bay. Mostly vendors churning over, for the umpteenth time, stock which has failed to attract a bid during the past year. But if you search long and hard enough through all this miscataloguings and search engine failures and false descriptions, there is usually something of interest lurking. And, before long, I came upon the shop of 'scarvelli321' in London. And, amongst the goodies in stock there, were two morceaux by ... Mr de Pinna. OK. I give in ...
Joseph de PINNA was born in London, circa 1798, a son of one Jacob de Pinna, a Jewish immigrant from, seemingly, Portugal (there were other London de Pinnas from Holland), and his Gibraltar-born wife, Luna. Mrs de Pinna was a musician, and I imagine it was she who taught her young son to the early level which enabled him, aged twelve, to appear on a 'Grand Music Festival' programme at the Pantheon (24 June 1811), headed by Braham and Catalani.
The experience, however, doesn't seem to have had any follow-up, and I next spot Joseph a decade later, teaching the 6 and7 year olds who are on display at Mrs Williams's Juvenile Concert at the Argyll Rooms, resulting in the publication of a harp-piano duet (self-published).
However, he seems to have made the odd influential friend. It is a bit of a chicken-egg situation, here. Did Joseph get an 'in' at Drury Lane via his most successful singing pupil, or did that pupil get a place at Drury Lane because Joseph was already known to manager Polhill and his mistress, singer Lydia Pearson? Well, I think it may have been the latter, for, as early as 1823 (6 October), the teenaged Miss Pearson can be sighted singing, in her home town of Derby, a setting by de Pinna of the Rev Logan's 'Ode to the Cuckoo' ('Hail beauteous stranger').
The National Library of Scotland holds a piano waltz, dated c1820 and published by the composer, but in the mid-1820s, he had a number of 'rondos and variations on British and foreign melodies' and opera such as Il Crociato published by the firm of Clementi. He tried his hand at a 'The Fall of Paris with brilliant variations', 'La Gracieuse' divertissement for pianoforte'. and others such, while continuing to earn a living teaching piano and singing. But when he placed a song, he seemingly placed it well. Sapio introduced his 'Stanzas to the Greek Patriot, Marco Botzius', Miss Love patronised 'Tell me, dearest Jamie' ...and the result was that Mr de Pinna advertised as a publisher
I am not sure under what circumstances and precisely when he came to set the lyric of the rather consequent poetess Mrs Cornwall Baron Wilson (née Margaret Harries) 'What fairylike music [steals over the sea]' nor in which show it was performed, if it were. It clearly was born after this advertisement of 1 January 1827. But for years afterwards de Pinna would advertise himself as 'composer of' this 'gondola duet'. For it was indeed successful. Advertised as sung 'by Braham and Miss Love' it went into multiple editions and to most lands where English was sung. It was arranged, choralised, ripped-off and, when all was said and done, remains Joseph's most successful opus. I wonder why it was published by Keith, Prowse...
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| one of de Pinna's 'Scottish' songs |
Surprisingly, this success doesn't seem to have been followed up. I spot Miss Paton giving an unamed song (possibly the ersatz Scottish 'Tis the Scottish Drum'), Handel Gear singing a 'Love to the Lass' ... but nothing else. But Mr de Pinna perhaps had other things on his mind. Scottish things. On the one hand, he teamed up with the Aberdeen lyricist, John Imlah, 'bard of Bon Accord', on the other he took on a not-so-young Scots tenor as a pupil. Now, several other known teachers -- the usual ones -- also laid claim to Templeton's musical education, but I think de Pinna (given their subsequent collaborations) probably deserves what credit is due.
Templeton made his debut at Drury Lane in 1831, and soon introduced his teacher's songs ('When rosy daylight flies', 'Wing, wing, ye moments', 'Ellen May') the most effective of which was 'There lives a young lassie' (ly: Imlah) which he slipped into Ron Roy or Guy Mannering ad libitum. With Miss Pearson popping 'O 'tis sweet at merry morn' into The Tyrolese Peasant and songs such as 'Gaily chaunt the summer birds', 'Tis vain to deck thy brow with pearls', 'Far o'er the dark green seas', and Mrs Wilson's 'Still, still be mine' also getting a hearing, de Pinna was, in his early thirties, seemingly doing well. But he had attached his chariot to the wrong horses ... and he was writing an opera for Drury Lane. Composing, that is, for the text, based on Washington Irving, was uncredited. And with reason. The Rose of the Alhambra or, The Enchanted Lute was the work of no less a personage than the theatre's supremo, Captain Polhill. And certain members of the press loathed Polhill.
I guess they found out. Although the press reported a happy first night (12 May 1836), the reviews were deadly. Book lousy, music dreary, only the scenery and the singers got any nice words ..
The piece was played thrice, and withdrawn. But Polhill wasn't giving up. He had the piece re-star-cast with Wilson and Miss Shirreff, and put it on at the English Opera House (16 July), paying the expenses of the theatre nightly in the biggest piece of 'vanity producing' imaginable.... He stuck on doggedly for several weeks before throwing in the towel.
As for Mr de Pinna, he went back to 164 Albany Street, Regent's Park, advertising for pupils -- beginners, aspiring teachers, would-be performers for stage or platform ...
Then it was 15 Tavistock Square, where he can be seen with his widowed mother, and letting rooms, in 1841. Now he was writing a voice manual The Vocalist's Preceptor (10s6d) .. and offering classes in part singing .. and advertising lavishly as the teacher of Templeton, Sapio, Frazer, Mrs Crouch (ex-Pearson), Mr Crouch et al ... 'Improved edition of the psalmody, of celebrated glees, of Handel's songs' (1s6d each) .. Cramer's inimitable system of piano-playing ...
Luna died in 1845 and, in 1848, Joseph took a wife (Maria Louisa Cooke) and removed to 22 Harley Street. In the rest of his years, he 'removed' more times than is credible. He seems to have swiftly lost his wife ... then, a decade on, gained another, from Tipperary, and he relocated, at some stage, to the Emerald isle.
Dublin, of course, was a smaller pool that London and its Drury Lanes, and in Dublin, in good Vicar of Bray fahion, the Jewish de Pinna became a Catholic and 'Signor de Pinna'. I see him, in 1866, premiering his new version of the Hallelujah Chorus at the Carmelite Church, York Street. And announcing thet he had son many pupils he was taking on an assistant: the church's organist, Miss Rose O'Toole. Miss O'Toole can't have stayed long: the next year she was off to Paris, and a career as 'Rosa d'Erina'.
The freshly-minted Signor ventured (while promising a 'new mass' and 'a new opera') into the occasional concert, and there we meet, first, Master de Pinna (allegedly b London c 1854, when father was living at 9 Westbourne Park Road) and then Master Francis de Pinna (allegedly b 1860). Presumably both born in Dublin, and the second, at least, by his Irish wife, Catherine née Keefe, whom he married 29 July 1859, after his official change of faith.
Perhaps there was a wife in between to account for Joseph jr. Or not. All the other England ones seem to be the Dutch lot.
Joseph sr carried on his teaching practice up to his death, without venturing into opera again, after which Francis carried on the business at 36 Arnott Street, then 17 Rathgar Road, 24 Upper Connell Street 'particular attention paid to beginners' ... back to where father was in the 1820s ... 'teaching little fingers to play'. 'Accelerated system'. 'Taught to play in three months'. To play WHAT ... sounds a bit desperate.
And that was it. Francis ('Frank') ended up in Australia, where he died in 1914, Joseph jr in Lancashire where he died in 1924....
But Joseph sr left a few tunes behind him. I see the odd one adopted as 'trad' tunes, 'folk' tunes ... but what was my amazement when I came upon this
I don't do spotify or any of those things, so I can't listen to it, but how on earth did Miss Ólafsdóttir come upon it? And ... with a guitar?!??!
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