JOHN

See also:

• JOHN BARNETT (1802–1890)
• BARNETT, SAMUEL AUGUSTUS (1844– )

BARNETT (1802–1890)  , English musical composer, son of a Prussian named Bernhard Beer, who changed his name on settling in England as a jeweller, was born at Bedford, and at the age of eleven sang on the Lyceum stage in London . His good voice led to his being given a musical education, and he soon began writing songs and lighter pieces for the stage . In 1834 he published a collection of Lyrical Illustrations of the Modern Poets, His Mountain Sylph—with which his name is chiefly connected—received a warm welcome when produced at the Lyceum on August 25, 1834, as the first modern English opera: and it was followed by another opera Fair Rosamund in 1837, and by Farinelli in 1839 . He had a large connexion as a singing-master at Cheltenham, and published Systems and Singing-masters (1842) and School for the Voice (1844) . He died on the 16th of April 189o . His nephew, JOHN FRANCIS BARNETT (1837— ), son of John's brother, Joseph Alfred, also a professor of music, carried on the traditions of the family as a composer and teacher . He obtained a queen's scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, and developed into an accomplished pianist, visiting Germany to study in 1857 and playing at a Gewandhaus concert at Leipzig in 186o . He came into notice as a composer with his symphonyin A minor (1864), and followed this with a number of compositions for orchestra, strings or pianoforte . His cantata The Ancient Mariner was brought out at Birmingham in 1867, and another, Paradise and the Peri, in 187o, both with great success . In 1873 his most important work, the oratorio The Raising of Lazarus, was written, and in 1876 produced at Hereford . Many other cantatas, pianoforte pieces, &c. were composed by him, and successfully brought out; and he took an active part as a professor in the work of the Guildhall School of Music and Royal College of Music .