Published as Uranus and the outer planets, ed. by HuntGarry (Cambridge, 1982).
2.
PorterRoy, “William Herschel, Bath, and the Philosophical Society”, ibid., 23–34.
3.
HerschelWilliam, “Memorandums from which an historical account of my life may be drawn”, Royal Astronomical Society MSS Herschel W.7/8 (hereafter: Memorandums): “1766 Aug 9. Letter from Mrs De Chair. …”.
4.
The chapel was built 1766–67 from a subscription organized by Rev. Dr John de Chair (1729–1810) and William Street, a banker, and remained in use until 1895 (TurnerA.J., Catalogue of “Science and music in eighteenth century Bath: An exhibition in the Holbourne of Menstrie Museum, Bath, 22 September 1977 – 29 December 1977” (hereafter: Turner, Catalogue; this publication — Unfortunately of its nature ephemeral — Contains a wealth of information unavailable elsewhere), 31). For details of the layout of the chapel, see ibid. How William came to be known in Bath is unclear. Turner, Catalogue, 25, documents contemporary musical links between Yorkshire and the West of England; for example, from 1772 members of the Ladies Chorus of the North of England assisted the trebles at Gloucester in the Three Choirs Festival. It is also curious that it was Mrs De Chair who conducted the correspondence, rather than her husband; LubbockConstance A., The Herschel chronicle (Cambridge, 1933; hereafter: Lubbock, Chronicle), 37, speculates that she might at some time have been a pupil of William's, although this is unlikely as he had never been in the West of England.
5.
He was formally naturalized as “William” on 30 April 1793 (Memorandums, 5), having used the name consistently since his arrival in England.
6.
When in the north of England, however, and forced to earn a living fee by fee, he was sufficiently depressed by the struggle to consider abandoning music. On 12 April 1761, in writing to his brother Jacob, who was a salaried musician in Hanover, he said; “You don't perhaps know that, I have already some time been thinking of leaving off professing Musick and the first opportunity that offers I shall really do so.” Cited by Turner, Catalogue, 24.
7.
For details of the Herschel family, see HoskinMichael, The Herschel partnership (Cambridge, 2003; hereafter: Hoskin, Partnership).
8.
An outline list of his compositions with their current locations is given by BrownFrank, William Herschel: Musician & composer (The William Herschel Society pamphlet, Bath, 1990), 22–24, and an extended discussion of William as a composer forms Chapter 5 of the same work. William's own list forms pp. 17–20 of RAS MSS Herschel W.7/11. A neglected discussion of William's concertos, illustrated by quotations from the music, is DuckiesVincent, “William F. Herschel's concertos for oboe, viol and violin”, Festschrift Otto Erich Deutsch zum achtzigsten Geburtstag (Kassel, 1963), 66–74. He concludes: “One cannot claim that the world lost a great composer when it gained a great astronomer. Yet his concertos are creditable and, in some ways, even remarkable achievements, well worthy of serious study and performance. They retain what many kindred and more sophisticated works of the period do not, the marks of a strong, individual, personal style.”.
9.
Memorandums: “1766 July … Organ every day by way of practice at Leeds.”.
10.
Memorandums, “1766 Nov 30. For the 13 Sundays of my being organist I was paid 13 Guineas.”.
11.
Memorandums, “1766 Aug 29. Letter from Mrs Dechair in which I was nominated as the intended Organist of an organ to be erected in the Octagon chapel at Bath.”.
12.
Memorandums, “1766 Aug 30. Another Canditate for the Organist's place played first after which I also played. The Messieurs Bates and principal Gentlemen of the Town were in the body of the church, and it was unanimously decided that I was to be their Organist.”.
13.
Memorandums, “1766 Sept. 2. Letter to Mrs Dechair.”.
14.
JamesKenneth E., “Concert life in 18th century Bath”, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1987 (hereafter: James, thesis), 698. This thesis — Unfortunately not published — Is a major souce for our knowledge of the Herschels' musical activities in Bath and in what follows I draw on it extensively. I am grateful to Dr James for supplying me with the relevant sections.
15.
Memorandums, entry for 1766 Oct 22.
16.
HaslewoodJ., The secret history of the Green Room, containing authentic and entertaining memoirs of the actors and actresses of the three Theatres Royal, 3rd edn (London, 1793), ii, Appendix, p. xv. This little episode in William's life was elucidated by James, thesis, 469–71. Elizabeth Harper may be the “Miss Hooper” who sang in William's very first concert in Bath on New Year's Day, 1767 (DerrickS., Letters written by Samuel Derrick (London, 1767), ii, 102). Her later career flourished: According to the Bath Chronicle of 20 August 1778, Elizabeth Harper was to be paid the princely sum of £1000 to sing the following season at the London Pantheon.
17.
Memorandums, “1767 Jan 1. A Benefit Concert at Rooms, the Music chiefly of my composition. I had but little company but it was select. I performed a solo concert on the violin, one on the Hautboy and a Sonata on the Harpsichord.”.
18.
Memorandums, 1767 Jan 23.
19.
Turner, Catalogue, 34.
20.
RackEdward, cited by Turner, Catalogue, 39.
21.
Hoskin, Partnership, 17; Lubbock, Chronicle, 12.
22.
Memorandums, “1767 Jan 23. Letter from Mr Derrick, the master of the Ceremonies, offering me a Situation in the established Band of Musicians that played at the public Subscription concerts, the Pumproom, the Balls, the Play House, &c &c. This I at first refused but some time after accepted when I found that Mr Lindley the first Musician in the place was one of this band and that like him I might be allowed to send a deputy when not convenient to attend personally.” On the Linleys, see James, thesis, passim, and Turner, Catalogue, 35–37.
23.
Bath Chronicle, 8 January 1767, cited by James, thesis, 699.
24.
James, thesis, 699. As we shall see, when the actor John Bernard took lessons from William, there was a cello in the room; and the oboe was the instrument that William had played as a teenager in the band of the Hanoverian Guards. On the other hand, Brown, William Herschel (ref. 8), 10, maintains: “It is unlikely that he taught the oboe, for in an age of rigid social conventions it was not considered a suitable instrument for ladies and gentlemen.”.
25.
Memorandums, 1767 March 28, April 16.
26.
Turner, Catalogue, 31–33, gives full details of the organ and its maker.
27.
“Dr Dechair intending to introduce Cathedral Service, I had prepared a Choir of Singers and composed the required Music for the purpose, which on account of its simplicity was generally approved of”, note added on p. 27 of Memorandums. Ozias Linley, son of Thomas and a pupil of William, spoke of “their intrinsic merit as devotional compositions”, and one of William's psalm settings was published in Bath as late as 1825, Turner, Catalogue, 33.
28.
Memorandums, “1767 June 29. The organ began to be put up.”.
29.
Memorandums, “1767 July 25. Letters to Mssrs Norris, Price and Mathews to engage them for the oratorios to be performed at the opening of the Octagon Chapel.” The chapel was opened on 4 October, ibid. In the spring of 1766, William had been leader of the orchestra in a performance of Messiah to inaugurate the new organ at Halifax parish church, Memorandums, 20.
30.
From Neues Hannöverisches Magazin for 1804, cited by Lubbock, Chronicle, 41.
31.
Memorandums, “1767 Octr 28. Oratorio in the morning; Concert at Rooms in the evening.”.
32.
Memorandums, “1773 Nov 15. Attended 46 private Scholars; nearly 8 per day.”.
33.
The actor John Bernard, however, tells us that William refused any payment from him. BernardJohn, Retrospections of the stage, ed. by BernardW. B. (2 vols, London, 1830), ii, 63.
34.
Memorandums, 31.
35.
Memorandums.
36.
Bath Chronicle, 13 June 1768. I owe this reference to Kenneth James. In his Memorandums for this month, William notes: “Spring Garden Concerts twice a week.”.
37.
In 1769 Herschel earned £316 (Memorandums, 28) and two years later this had risen to nearly £400 (29). The Astronomer Royal's salary was £300.
38.
WoodfieldIan, The celebrated quarrel between Thomas Linley (senior) and William Herschel: An episode in the musical life of 18th century Bath (typescript pamphlet, University of Bath, 1977).
HoskinMichael, “Alexander Herschel: The forgotten partner”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxiv (2003), in press.
48.
“He is an eminent Musician, and well known as a scientific member of several Academies”, Memorandums, 5. In the summer of 1777 Dietrich fled the family home in Hanover and ended up in Bath with William (Hoskin, Partnership, 41; Caroline's autobiographies, 56–57, 131–2), and it may well have been he who inspired William to introduce the methods of the natural historian into astronomy.
At the beginning of RAS MSS Herschel W.5/12.1, he states the book to have been James Ferguson's Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's principles.
In November 1778, for example, he directed a Musical Meeting at Trowbridge with “most approved performers” from Bath, though the prices were only half the five shillings normal in Bath (Bath Chronicle, 8 Nov. 1778, information from Kenneth James).
Caroline says that the house was near Walcot Turnpike, and this has been accepted as correct. However, Professor Thomas Hornsby of Oxford in December 1774 addressed a letter to William “near Walcot Parade” (RAS MSS Herschel W. 1/H.23), and William himself later wrote from Hanover to Caroline at “Walcot Parade” (letter of 22 August 1777, in private possession). On the other hand, RAS MSS Herschel W.7/1 lists “Observations by the Regulator on the Wall from Dec. 7. 1774 to Aprl 12.1778 at Walcot turn pike house”, so he lived near enough to the turnpike to be able to visit it regularly. The Parade was much closer to the centre of the town than was the turnpike.
67.
Caroline's autobiographies, 55.
68.
Turner, Catalogue, 33.
69.
James, thesis, 210–13, 705.
70.
James, thesis, 214, 705.
71.
Bernard, Retrospections (ref. 33), ii, 58, cited in part by James, thesis, 700.
72.
Ibid., 60–61.
73.
Bernard, Retrospections (ref. 33), 59.
74.
Memorandums, 34, entry for 1782 Jan/Feb.
75.
Ibid., 60. The Green Room is the actors' changing room in a theatre.
Reprinted in vol. i of DreyerJ. L. E. (ed.), The scientific papers of Sir William Herschel (2 vols, London, 1912). On the Society, see Porter, op. cit. (ref. 2).
