JOHN LIPTROT

See also:

• JOHN LIPTROT HATTON (1809-1886)
• HATTON, SIR CHRISTOPHER (1540–1591)

HATTON (1809-1886)  , English musical composer, was horn at Liverpool on the 12th of October 1809 . He was virtually a self-taught musician, and besides holding several appointments as organist in Liverpool, appeared as an actor on the Liverpool stage, subsequently finding his way to London as a member of Macready's company at Drury Lane in 1332 . Ten years after this he was appointed conductor at t he s inne i hrutre for a series of English operas, and in 1843 his own first ooeretta,Queen of the i /hones, wasgiven with success . Staudigl. the eminent German bass, was a member of the company, and at his suggestion Hatton wrote a more ambitious work, Pascal Bruno, which, in a German translation, was presented at Vienna, with Staudigl in the principal part; the opera contained a song, " Revenge," which the basso made very popular in England, though the piece as a whole was not successful enough to be produced here . Hatton's excellent pianoforte playing attracted much attention in Vienna; he took the opportunity of studying counterpoint under Sechter, and wrote a number of songs, obviously modelled on the style of German classics . In 1846 he appeared at the Hereford festival as a singer, and also played a pianoforte concerto of Mozart . He undertook concert tours about this time with Sivori, Vieuxtemps and others . From 1848 to 185o he was in America; on his return he became conductor of the Glee and Madrigal Union, and from about 1853 was engaged at the Princess's theatre to provide and con-duct the music for Charles Kean's Shakespearean revivals . He seems to have kept this apppointment for about five years . In 1856 a cantata, Robin Hood, was given at the Bradford festival, and a third opera, Rose, or Love's Ransom, at Covent Garden in 1864, without much success . In 1866 he went again to America, and from this year Hatton held the post of accompanist at the Ballad Concerts, St James's Hall, for nine seasons . In 1875 he went to Stuttgart, and wrote an oratorio, Hezekiah, given at the Cyrstal Palace in 1877; like all his larger works it met with very moderate success .

Hatton excelled in the lyrical forms of music, and, in spite of his distinct skill in the severer styles of the madrigal, &c., he won popularity by such songs as " To Anthea," "

Good-bye, Sweetheart," and " Simon the Cellarer," the first of which may be called a classic in its own way . His glees and part-songs, such as " When Evening's Twilight," are still reckoned among the best of their class; and he might have gained a place of higher distinction among English composers had it not been for his irresistible animal spirits and a want of artistic reverence, which made it uncertain in his younger days whether, when he appeared at a concert, he would play a fugue of Bach or sing a comic song . He died at Margate on the loth of September 1886 .