William Herschel's “Eccho Catch”

“Sei sonate per il cembalo”, by Herschel Federico [sic] (Bath, 1 October 1769).

In his autobiographical “Memorandums”, Herschel says that in Bath the Catch “had [a] great run” (RAS MS Herschel W.7/8, 33), and the published edition has the title, “The favorite Eccho Catch, sung at Vauxhall Gardens with universal applause” ( Brown Frank , William Herschel musician and composer (Bath, 1990), 20).

A copy is in the British Library.

Thomas Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia (London, 1609).

The new Grove dictionary of music & musicians, ed. by Sadie Stanley (London, 1995), v, 6–7, article by Jack Westrup.

Brown (loc. cit.) comments: “For open-air performance it needed more instrumental support, and a manuscript version in William's hand is extant which includes two horns, two oboes, and four string parts. It is a frivolous but sublime piece of nonsense in which the horns are especially effective.” The Catch is no. 14 of a manuscript of 17 glees, catches, etc., Cambridge University Library, MS. Add. 9044(1).

The John Marsh journals: The life and times of a gentleman composer (1752–1828), ed. by Robins Brian (Stuyvesant, NY, 1998), quotation from the review by Nicholas Spice in London review of books, 18 May 2000.