A Wesleyan Musical Legacy · 2008. 10. 21. · 4. ff.8v-10r: ‘Overture in Otho Copied from an Old Mss.’ These first three of these overtures, all in Ms Glenn’s hand, are careful

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A Wesleyan Musical LegacyGraham Pont

For Arthur Searle, on his 70th Anniversary

During 1986-7 Novello and Company presented The British Library with fourteen volumesof musical manuscripts which were incorporated and catalogued as the ‘SupplementaryNovello Collection’ (Additional Manuscripts 69851-69864). The collection, formerly part ofthe firm’s business archive, was begun by Vincent Novello (1781-1861) and added to longafter his death. Volume IX of this collection (Add. MS. 69859) is an album of miscellaneouskeyboard music in various hands of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The oblongquarto of 77 folios1 was compiled by Rosalind Eleanor Esther Glenn (1834-1909),2 daughterof London organist Robert Glenn (1776-1844) and his wife, Rosalind Wesley.

The major part of the collection consists of copies in ink and pencil made by Ms Glennof original compositions and arrangements for keyboard by Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801)and Samuel Wesley (1766-1837); but it also includes some older copies of music by Corelli,Domenico Scarlatti, Porpora and Handel, as well as a few unidentified movements – allcomposed or arranged for harpsichord or organ. The earlier part of the collection waspresumably inherited from Robert Glenn, one of Battishill’s last professional pupils. Someof the oldest leaves probably came to Glenn from Battishill himself.

Battishill also presented his pupil with a volume of Handel’s overtures for harpsichord ororgan, with the title page calligraphically inscribed ‘Robt. Glenn April 19th 1795’. Thisextraordinary document was purchased in London during the 1890s by FriedrichChrysander and is now held by the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Hamburg (MB/1657). It is a copy of Handel’s Overtures from all his Operas and Oratorios Set for theHarpsicord or Organ… (London: Wright, c.1785), with no fewer than 93 pages of elaborateprofessional annotations and alterations in ink to some or all movements of 26 overtures. Tothis someone (Robert Glenn? or, possibly, his executor William Bawtree) has added amanuscript index, at the head of which is inscribed a revelatory memorandum by Ms Glenn:

From the library of R Glenn Esqr – one of the most talented pupils of J. Battishill Esqr

NB – The additional notes & alterations to many in this Collection of Overturesare by the pen of Jonn Battishill, intending thereby to instruct his pupils howHandel (whom he had many time’s heard) rendered the playing of them – .

This is unquestionably the most important eye-witness record of Handel’s mature styleof keyboard playing.3 The annotations were made by Battishill himself and his pupil –apparently working together – and they were copied, in part at least, from older annotated

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1 There is a preliminary description of the contents of this album by Arthur Searle in Music and Music-relatedManuscripts Acquired and Incorporated 1956-1998, Vol. 3: Descriptions 1986-1990 (Additional MSS 63650-70633),pp. 243-4. This refers to ‘a modern list of contents (ff. iii-iv)’ which is now missing.

2 I thank Charles Farthing for locating and supplying a copy of Ms Glenn’s death certificate. She was a grand-daughter of Samuel Wesley and shared the tastes, talents and religious leanings of a great musical family whichincluded several professional and amateur organists.

3 G. Pont, ‘French Overtures at the Keyboard: “How Handel Rendered the Playing of Them”’, Musicology, vi(1980), pp. 29-50.

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A Weslyan Musical Legacy

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pages. One of these copy-texts, with annotations by Battishill, has been preserved in theHamburg volume: it is the first movement of the overture to Faramondo, in a much worncopy from an earlier edition of Walsh’s seventh collection of Handel’s keyboard overtures(first published c. 1749 and reprinted for the last time in this format c. 1770).

Ms Glenn was only eight years old when her father died in 1844 and the Hamburgvolume presumably passed to the care her guardian, William Bawtree (whose bookplate itonce bore). Bawtree eventually passed on to his ward a collection of manuscripts by Charles,Samuel and Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the transfer being recorded in an undated notewritten by both parties.4 Whether or not the Hamburg volume was similarly transferred toMs Glenn is not known but it was certainly part of her cherished musical legacy: it was hercare in conserving this legacy and the traditions of its provenance that made it possible toidentify the critical associations of the Hamburg volume with the playing and teaching ofone of the last and most gifted of Handel’s direct disciples.5

Like her father, Ms Glenn was an admirer of Battishill and she made careful copies of hismusic for her personal use – she was also an organist but it is not known if she practisedprofessionally.6 Add. MS. 69859 preserves a significant remnant of Battishill’s productionfor the keyboard – a collection of original compositions and Handel arrangements, allunpublished and most of them otherwise unknown. Near the end of the volume are ninepieces preserved in Battishill’s own hand, two of them fragmentary. The only other attestedBattishill autograph in a publicly accessible collection is a brief chant held by St Paul’sCathedral Library7 – too brief (and apparently too early) to be of any use in verifyingBattishill’s mature hand.

The problem was complicated by clear evidence that the annotations of the Hamburgvolume were made not by one but two hands – so similar as to be virtually indistinguishable.The resemblances are so close that the German Handel authority Dr Hans-Dieter Clausenonce suggested that they could be two ‘chronologically different stages of the same hand’.My profound debt to him and several other experts I consulted has been dulyacknowledged; but it is only with the knowledge of hindsight that the immense difficultiesof the task put to them can be fully appreciated. One of the subtle differences noticed by DrClausen is the slope of the ‘tr’ sign: Robert Glenn’s notation of the ornament usuallyinclines to the right, whereas Battishill’s is generally more upright, inclining sometimes tothe left.

Another distinction is the form of the bass clef, which Battishill writes inconsistently,with the stroke sometimes moving clockwise and sometimes anti-clockwise. Glenn’s bassclefs are penned consistently in an anti-clockwise movement and the tails usually cross overthe bar-line and brace, whereas Battishill’s bass clefs generally stay to the right of the brace.An exception is Glenn’s copy of the Scarlatti ‘Lesson’ at ff. 55r-56v (No 55, below): Glenn’shand here forms an uncanny resemblance to Battishill’s, even in the formation of the bassclefs, which stay within the brace.

But the surest way of distinguishing these two hands is the form of the crotchet rest:Battishill’s notation is a ‘barbless hook’ or inverted ‘L’, whereas Glenn’s is a ‘barbed hook’.

4 Add. MS. Ms 35039, f. 1. I remember with pleasure how Arthur Searle first recognized the significance of thisnote in November 1984, while standing over my shoulder in the old Music Reference Area of the former BritishLibrary. All in a day’s work for a busy librarian!

5 G. Pont, ‘Battishill’s Arrangements of Handel’s Keyboard Overtures’, Göttinger Händel-Beiträge, iii (1987 [1989]),pp. 139-53.

6 Robert Glenn, but not his daughter, is listed in Donovan Dawe, Organists of the City of London 1666-1850 (theauthor, 1983). Glenn served as organist at St Margaret Pattens (see Dawe, p. 50) and as deputy to Robert Hudsonand R .J .S. Stevens at Christ’s Hospital before being appointed Music Master there in 1810 (see Dawe, pp. 70-1).

7 St Paul’s Cathedral Library, MS Tenor 1, p. 264 [Chant in E].

8 Despite the very rough writing, Ms Glenn’s hand is easily recognized in the formation of ‘J. Battishill’ and‘NB’, both of which resemble her note on the manuscript index added to Hamburg M B/1657.


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This latter form appears in his copy of Battishill’s changes to the first movement of theOverture in Scipio (fig. 1) and the second movement of the Overture in Theseus.

Such small but significant differences of notation suggest that some of the ‘Old Mss.’copied by Ms Glenn were actually Battishill’s autographs, while others were more likely tohave been copies made by her father. Though the handwriting of Battishill and Glenn cannow be reliably distinguished by their respective crotchet rests, the similarities are such thatMs Glenn could easily have misjudged the scribe: her identification of Battishill’sautographs must, therefore, be treated with care. See notes to Nos 9, 25, 38 and 42, below.

The positive identification of Battishill’s hand remained an intractable problem until theBritish Library acquired Add. MS. 69859 and its contents were collated with Hamburg MB/1657. The survival of Ms Glenn’s album was both fortunate and fortuitous: on the insideof the front cover is affixed a note in ink (f. 1), ‘Found outside/ No 1 Berners St/ by R.Neale,/ March 30th 1893’. Since this was then the address of Novello’s, one might infer thatthe volume was tossed out in an office clean-up and then restored to the firm’s archivethrough the timely intervention of R. Neale. It is not known how and when the volumepassed from Ms Glenn to Novello’s; but it appears that Ms Glenn disposed of some or allof her music collection c. 1890 (see n. 14). By then she may have been suffering from healthproblems for, according to her death certificate, dated 21 December 1909, she had beenaffected by ‘senile decay’ for the previous two years.

That senile decay is starkly evident on the front endpaper of Add. MS. 69859 (f. 1r) whereMs Glenn has added a crudely pencilled, garbled and partly illegible memorandum – apoignant contrast to her earlier neat and lucid writing:8

In this Vol[ume] are Various Overtures and Chorusses by Handel, Copiedfrom the/ rare MSS of J. Battishill, as Lessons, in order to convey to them[?Battishill’s students] the style &/ full rendering of them by Handel when heperformed them. Battishill/ [?] by the introduction of the Double Shakes,turns &c ?has/ the/ combined effect of which gives such a grandeur to hisperformances that/ he seems to have formed his Style upon the same Model/NB, There was not one pedal Organ in this Country/ during Handel’sResidence here, & therefore he made up/ that deficiency by the above Shakes& turns to produce/ in order to give a full effect./It is recorded that to hear Battishill perform/ his works, was to hear Handelhimself

The collection begins with four keyboard arrangements of Handel’s overtures,

1. ff.2r-4r: ‘Overture to Rhadamistus – Handel. Copied from an Old Mss.’ 2. ff.5r-6v: ‘Overture to Tamerlane, Copied from an Old Mss.’ 3. ff.7v-8r: ‘Overture to Faramond’ – Copied f[ro]m an old. Mss’ 4. ff.8v-10r: ‘Overture in Otho Copied from an Old Mss.’

These first three of these overtures, all in Ms Glenn’s hand, are careful copies of Battishill’sown arrangements as preserved in Hamburg M B/1657 – but she claims that her copieswere taken from manuscripts. This is certainly the case with her copy of the Overture in Otho(Ottone), which has no annotations in the Hamburg volume (pp. 82-5). Ms Glenn’s fine copyis the only known source of Battishill’s arrangement of this very popular overture, the firstof Handel’s to enter the permanent repertoire of keyboard players. Her copy-text was




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most probably Battishill’s autograph. In the overtures to Radamisto and Faramondo, MsGlenn uses her father’s form of the crotchet rest, the ‘barbed hook’; whereas, in theovertures to Tamerlano and Ottone, her crotchet rest resembles that of Battishill, the‘barbless hook’ or inverted ‘L’.

Here Ms Glenn appears to imitate Battishill’s inconsistent notation of the bass clef. In thefirst movement of the overture to Ottone (f. 8v; see fig.2 ), the curl of the bass clef has beenmade with an anti-clockwise stroke; whereas, in the first two lines of the second movement,the bass clef has been made with a clockwise stroke. Battishill has a similar inconsistency inhis autograph transcription of ‘Wretched lovers’ (Acis and Galatea, No. 42, below) (see fig.7, page 17).

5. f. 10v: ‘Introduction/ Full Organ’ A movement of twelve bars in d minor, copied in pencil by Ms Glenn. She gives no sourcefor this grave prelude in the ‘ancient’ style; but the form of her crotchet rest and bass clefssuggests that she made her copy from an autograph of Battishill, most probably thecomposer of this movement. Battishill left at least three other specimens of suchimprovisation,10 imitating Handel’s own practice.

When he gave a Concerto, his method in general was, to introduce it with avoluntary movement on the Diapasons, which stole on the ear in a slow andsolemn progression; the harmony close wrought, and as full as could possibly beexpressed; the passages concatenated with stupendous art; the whole, at the sametime, being perfectly intelligible, and carrying the appearance of great simplicity.This kind of prelude was succeeded by the Concerto itself, which he executedwith a degree of spirit and firmness that no one even pretended to equal.11

The ‘Introduction’ in d minor was evidently intended as a prelude to the next piece, whichis in D major.

6. ff. 11v-12v: ‘Fix’d in his everlasting Seat. – f[ro]m Handel Chorusses/ Copied from anOld Mss.’ In the collection of the present writer there is a reprint of The Celebrated Chorusses fromHandel’s Oratorios, Arranged for the Organ or Piano Forte by Dr Callcott, Mr Hook, and otherEsteemed Authors. In four Volumes (London, ?1814) with manuscript annotations by MsGlenn. She was probably alluding to this volume at f. 11v, when she indicated the source of‘Fix’d in his everlasting seat’ as ‘Handel Chorusses’ (see the Celebrated Chorusses, vol. 1, pp.48-50). Her actual source, however, was an earlier and more difficult manuscriptarrangement, probably in Battishill’s autograph. His virtuoso style is evident throughoutthis transcription. There is another transcription of this chorus by Battishill at ff. 52r-53v(No. 33 below).

7. ff. 13v-14r: ‘Fuga by Handel’ – Overture to Amadis –/ Copied from an Old Mss.’ This copy of the second movement of the overture to Amadigi also closely resembles the

9 To the Gavot from the Overture to Ottone Ms Glenn has added her own fingering where the right hand isnumbered in the modern style but the left hand in the reverse manner, counting from the little finger as 1 to thethumb as 5.

10 Two more of Battishill’s ‘Introductory Movements’ were published by John Page in Select Pieces for the Organ orPiano Forte (London, ?1805), pp. 22, 24.

11 John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1776), vol. v, p. 413.




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annotated version of Hamburg M B/1657. At the top of f. 13r, Ms Glenn wrote in pencil‘Introduction to Overture’ but copied nothing of the first movement. Since she again adoptedBattishill’s form of the crotchet rest in the fugue, she probably took her copy from an autograph.

8. ff. 15r-16r: ‘Fuga. – Copied from an Old. Mss. –’ The ascription in ink to S. Wesley has been deleted and the composer is now named inpencil as Porpora. Ms Glenn’s copy-text might have been a manuscript of Battishill, as sheadopts the form of his crotchet rest and, perhaps, that of his bass clef.

9. ff. 16v-17r: ‘Fuga Them they shall know’ (Samson) From an Autograph MSS. of JBattishill’This adaptation is certainly the work of Jonathan Battishill but the form of the crotchet restsgenerally suggests that Ms Glenn’s copy-text was a manuscript of Robert Glenn. Only therest at the beginning of the movement is written in Battishill’s style. The slope of MsGlenn’s ‘tr’ inclines consistently to the right, in the manner of her father.

10. ff. 17v-18v: ‘Hallelujah Chorus: Arrang[e]d by J Battishill/ Copied f[ro]m an old. MSS’ This virtuoso setting by Battishill12 possibly reflects Handel’s own practice in performinghis oratorio choruses at the keyboard (see No. 28, below): note the elaborate ornamentation,the thickened chords and, particularly, the varied treatment of the imitative entriescorresponding to the words ‘And He shall reign’ etc (fig. 3).

Battishill was renowned for his powerful memory and perfect imitation of Handel’splaying13 – but did the composer also extend the final cadence of the ‘Hallelujah’ Choruswith a fanfare of two bars (fig. 4)?

11. ff. 19v-20r: ‘Hallelujah Chorus, from ye Coronation Anthems by Handel./ Copied from.an old. Mss’ This is the final chorus of the second Coronation Anthem, ‘The King shall rejoice’, HWV 260:the adaptation, by Battishill, is possibly the earliest known version for solo keyboard (fig. 5).

The second quarter of Add. MS. 69859 (ff. 21r-33r) consists mainly of Ms Glenn’scopies of compositions for the organ by Samuel Wesley (a friend of Robert Glenn who usedto lend him money from time to time).

12. ff. 21r-22r: ‘Full Organ. A Voluntary & Fuga – S. Wesley’ These two movements in d minor were published as ‘Voluntary VII’ by John Bennett in his TenVoluntaries for the Organ or Harpsichord (London, ?1758), p. 27. Ms Glenn has added her ownfingering to ff. 21v-22r.

13. ff. 22v-24r: ‘Voluntary 12th’. S. Wesley. Nov. 5. 1817./ Full’ Evidently copied from Wesley’s autograph, Add. MS. 34089, ff. 4r-5v, which has two forms ofthe crotchet rest: these changes are carefully reproduced by Ms Glenn (e.g., f. 23v, bars 8-9). SeeMichael Kassler and Philip Olleson, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837): A Source Book (Aldershot,2001), No. 644.


12 Battishill has left another, much simpler, transcription of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in his copy of Eight GrandChorusses ... Adapted for the Organ or Harpsichord (London, 1778), pp. 22-4. Of this rare edition COPAC recordsonly the British Library’s copy, H.299.jj.(6.): it includes possibly the earliest published transcriptions of Handeloratorio choruses for solo keyboard. Battishill’s copy of this edition, in the collection of the present writer, hasnumerous autograph annotations in ink, pencil and crayon, as well as some manuscript changes pasted over theprinted text.

13 Thomas Busby, Concert Room and Orchestra Anecdotes … (London, 1825),vol. iii, pp. 7, 75-6.



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14. f. 24v: untitled work [with instructions:] ‘Full. Swell (Metronome N –’. A Larghetto movement in D major for organ, copied from Samuel Wesley’s autograph, Add.MS. 34089, f. 3r, which is signed and dated ‘Octr. 1st.1817’. Not in Kassler & Olleson.

14a. f. 25r: ‘Coda. Full. Organ’ In the same key and presumably written as a second movement to No.14. Copied from Add.MS. 34089, f. 3v, including Wesley’s style of dating (Oct. 20-21. 1817) and signature ‘Inf SWesley.’ (cf. Add. MS. 35038, f. 62v, ‘SW Inf ’’). This movement is wrongly described byKassler & Olleson, No. 641, as the second movement of No. 20, below.

15. ff. 25v-26r: ‘a Soft Voluntary – [addition in pencil:] (the old Perfection) [original ink:] J.Battishill/ Swell’. A voluntary in A major by Battishill, probably copied from the composer’s autograph. Thecrotchet rests are notated in Battishill’s style and, at the end of the second and third lines off. 26r, there are directs as used by Battishill (see No. 42, ff. 63v-65r).

16. f. 26v: ‘Soft Organ’ [addition in ink:] ‘Metronome’, A short movement in B flat major copied from Wesley’s autograph, Add. MS. 34089, f. 6r,which also includes the word ‘Metronome’ after the title without any specific measure. Thecomposer’s signature and date, ‘S Wesley Nov. 6. 1817’, are followed by a note ‘perd & ex.’[? ‘performed and extemporized’]. Not in Kassler & Olleson.

17. f. 27r: ‘Maestoso’ A movement in ‘French Overture’ style, possibly by Battishill, notated in a distinctive butunknown hand which reappears in f. 34 (No. 23).

18. f. 28r: ‘a Slow Movement for the Diapasons – Battishill –’ Ms Glenn may have copied this piece in A major from Battishill’s autograph, as she employsthe composer’s form of the crotchet rest in bars 1-3, and, in line 5, notations somewhatresembling his treble and bass clefs.

The Wesley section of the album resumes with:

19. ff. 28v-30r: ‘God save the Queen, with 8 Variations’. Copied from Wesley’s autograph, Add. MS. 34089, ff. 7r-8v: his signature and date at theend ‘S Wesley Dec. 1. 1817’ are followed by a curious note ‘Sink. P.O’ (as Ms Glenntranscribes it) or, possibly, ‘S in R.P.O’ (an autobiographical memorandum?). Kassler &Olleson, No. 678.

20. ff. 30v-32r: ‘Introduction & Fuga –/ Very Slow. Diapasons’ A voluntary in D major copied from Add. MS. 34089, ff. 1r-2v, including the word‘Metronome’ without any specific measure indicated. Ms Glenn’s added title ‘Introduction &Fuga’ confirms that these two movements form a single work: cf. Kassler and Olleson, p. 650.Their entry for No. 640 correctly describes the ‘Introduction’ (there is no title in the autograph)but their entry for No. 641 mistakenly refers to another movement in D major, dated October20-21, 1817 (see No. 14, above). Kassler & Olleson, No. 641 should read: ‘Fugue, BL Add. MS.34089, ff. 1v-2v, dated 8/10/1817, Add. MS. 69058, f. 31r-32r (undated)’. At the bottom of f.30v and at the top of f. 31r Ms Glenn has added ‘S Wesley’ in pencil.

21. ff. 32v-33r: ‘Voluntary. For the Organ’ [in pencil:] ‘in the handwriting’ (deleted) ‘f[ro]ma Mss of S Wesley’.



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Kassler & Olleson, No. 638. Ms Glenn is evidently referring here to Add. MS. 34089, f. 9rv.This manuscript contains the composer’s autographs of all the movements in her album thatshe ascribes to Samuel Wesley (except No.12) – and no others. It was certainly her copy-text for these pieces.14 This last voluntary of two movements in C major completes the morestrictly ‘Wesleyan’ part of the collection. The rest of the volume is mostly devoted to the‘ancient’ music, from Handel and his contemporaries to Battishill.

22. ff. 33v-35r: ‘Fuga Chandos Anthem No 5 (vide) Overture/ (Handel)’. This is the second movement of the Sonata to the Chandos Anthem VIII (HWV 253:1).Most of the movement (f. 34) is in the unknown hand which appeared earlier in f. 27 (No.18). The opening (f. 33v) and closing bars (f. 35r) have been added in another, rougher hand.

23. ff. 35v-36r: ‘Copied from an Old Ms.s. [sic] Porpora/ Full Organ’. An untitled movement in B flat major presumably copied from a manuscript of Robert Glenn.This last item appears on the nineteenth-century paper that Ms Glenn has so far used throughthe album. The remainder of the collection consists of various papers, some going back to thesecond half of the eighteenth century. The two layers of the collection are separated by:

24: ff. 37r- 38r: untitled work. An Andante movement in E flat for organ. The top of the page, which might have given thetitle and/or name of the composer, is missing. The handwriting appears to be Ms Glenn’simitation of a Battishill autograph, especially in the shape of the clefs and the brace. Thecropping has caused some loss of musical text to the first lines of ff. 37v and 38r.

25. f. 40r: ‘From an Old Mss. [different ink:] autograph/ of Battishill’. An untitled movement in D major. That Ms Glenn’s copy-text was a Battishill autograph isconfirmed by the inconsistent bass clefs (four scripted anti-clockwise, one clockwise). Themusical text of f. 40v, which might be the second movement of this work, cannot be read inits present state with the folio glued to f. 39r.

26. ff 41v-42r: ‘Anthem’/ [pencilled addition:] ‘Battishill’.A movement in a minor for keyboard. Unknown hand, which resembles that of RobertGlenn in some respects. Illegible watermark, f. 42.

27. ff. 43r-44r: ‘Overture in the Messiah/ Copied f[ro]m an Old Mss.’ The principal source of this arrangement is John Walsh’s Eighth Collection of Six Overtures fitted to the Harpsicord or Spinnet, first published in1743. The edition preservesthe original dotted crotchets of the introductory movement; but in this manuscript versionthe first crotchet in the bass part of bar 8 has been double-dotted and the following quaver‘assimilated’ to match the semiquavers of the right hand.15 The crotchet rests are in the style


14 According to a note on the front endpaper of Add. 34089, this manuscript was ‘Purch[ase]d of WilliamReeves, 17 Aug., 1891.’ It seems likely, then, that Add. MS. 34089 was part of the music collection dispersedby Ms Glenn c.1890. That collection also included Add. MS. 35038 (the index, f. 3r, and a song by SamuelWesley, ff. 59-61 are in her hand), as well as Add. MS. 35039 and her copy of Handel’s Celebrated Chorusses(see note on No. 6, in the above census), which was inscribed by the new owner in 1891.

15 Similar rhythmic alterations are found at the same point in other early arrangements of this movement. SeeG. Pont, ‘French Overtures at the Keyboard: The Handel Tradition’, Early Music, xxxv: 2 (May 2007), pp.271-88, especially n. 49.

16 Battishill did not annotate the overture to Messiah in Hamburg M B/1657 but this setting suggests that hewould not have fully overdotted the first movement in the manner widely used today.


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of Battishill, most probably the adaptor of the Walsh transcription.16

28. ff. 44v-45r: ‘Fuga. - He trusted in God’. Copy by Ms Glenn, apparently imitating Battishill’s crotchet rests. According to CharlesBurney, Handel himself frequently performed this chorus at the keyboard;17 and Battishillmight have heard such a performance. His transcription of the chorus is an independentarrangement which probably antedated the first published transcription in Six GrandChorusses From Mr. Handel’s Oratorios Adapted for the Organ or Harpsichord By J. W. Callcott(London, c. 1795), pp. 22-23.

29. ff. 45v-46r: ‘Holy – Holy – From an Italian Copy. Handel –’ Ms Glenn has slightly abbreviated Domenico Corri’s ornamented version of ‘Dove Sei’(from Handel’s Rodelinda) and added the English words from Samuel Arnold’s pasticciooratorio, The Redemption (1786).18

30. f. 46r: ‘Introduction’ff. 47r-48 [pencil:] ‘From Overture in Chandos Anthem’s/ [ink:] ‘Allegro ma nonTroppo’

A transcription for organ of the third and fourth movements from Handel’s ConcertoGrosso in d minor, Opus III, No. 5 (HWV 316:3 & 4). The ‘Allegro ma non Troppo’movement was apparently copied from the transcription published as the fourth movementof ‘Concerto V’, in Handel’s Celebrated Oboe Concertos as Performed in Westminster Abbey atthe Commemoration adapted for the Organ Harpsichord or Piano forte (London, c.1795), pp.32-3. The preceding Adagio (p. 32), presumably taken from the same source, has been hasenriched with full harmonies and extra pedal notes. Ms Glenn has sometimes imitatedBattishill’s form of the bass clef and, consistently, his crotchet rest. At the top of f. 47r shehas added ‘See Introduction on other side –’ (fig. 6).

31. ff. 49r-50r: ‘No 5 Porpora –/ Moderato’ A movement in g minor copied by Ms Glenn, apparently imitating Battishill’s bass clef andcrotchet rest.

32. ff. 50v-51v: ‘Overture.’ Copy of a single movement in C major, with Battishill’s form of the crotchet rest.

33. ff. 52r-53v: ‘Allegro Moderato/ Met.112 = (crotchet)’. Another setting of Handel’s ‘Fix’d in his everlasting seat’ copied by Ms Glenn, at first partlyin pencil and subsequently throughout in ink, Apparently taken from a Battishillmanuscript. Cf. No. 6.

34. f. 54r: untitled fragment in G major. Copied in pencil by Ms Glenn, imitating Battishill’s clefs and crotchet rest.

35. f. 55r-56v: ‘Scarlatti Lessons Dom[en]ico– Scarlatti’ A copy by Robert Glenn of a Battishill autograph: the hand closely resembles Battishill’sown but the rests are more like Glenn’s. Watermarks: f. 55, ‘Neckinger Mills’; f. 56, fleur delys (cf. f. 62).


17 Charles Burney, An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey, and the Pantheon… inCommemoration of Handel (London, 1785), p. 80, note (a).

18 Cf. Domenico Corri, A Select Collection of the Most Admired Songs, Duetts, &c … (Edinburgh, n.d.), vol. i,pp. 64-5. Ms Glenn omits Corri’s cadenzas at the end of the middle section, p. 65, bar 12. The Redemption,compiled by Arnold from Handel’s works, was first performed and published in 1786.



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36. ff. 57r: ‘Continued from Page 4’The conclusion of No. 38 (f. 58v).

37. f. 57v-58r: [pencil:] ‘Dom¨ Scarlatti/ Scarlatti Lessons’ Watermarks: f. 57, a shield-form known as ‘Strasburg bend’, with unclear detail above; f. 58,‘1804’.

38. f. 58v: ‘Overture Handel’ [written over very faint pencil:] ‘27 Wesley from Handels [?]’.First page of an unidentified overture in D major, the conclusion of which appears on f. 57r(No. 36). At the bottom of ‘from (?) page 1’. Glenn’s handwriting here is almost indistinguishable from Battishill’s. So it is possible thatsome of Ms Glenn’s copies, which appear to be imitations of Battishill’s hand, might havebeen taken from similar early manuscripts written by Robert Glenn when his hand was stillclose to that of his teacher.

39. ff. 59r-60r : ‘The first Chorus in the 2nd Part of the Oratorio of Jephtha’. Robert Glenn’s copy of ‘Cherabim and Seraphim’ (HWV 70:14) transcribed for organ.Watermarks: f. 59, ‘1808’; f. 60, Strasburg bend with florid monogram above, ‘M E’.

40. f. 61rv: ‘Chorus in the first part of Belshazzar –’ Robert Glenn’s copy of ‘Sing, oh ye heav’ns’ (HWV 61:15), transcribed for organ. Watermark: ‘1804’.

41. f. 62rv: ‘And[an]te’

Robert Glenn’s copy of a movement in C major. In pencil at the top is added ‘Handel Perfect’. Watermark: fleur de lys. Cf. f. 56.

42. ff. 63r-65r: ‘Wretched Lovers From Acis & Gal[ate]a Aut[ograp]h J Battishill’Battishill’s autograph keyboard arrangement of the chorus HWV 49a:10. The title has beenadded in ink by Ms Glenn, partly over a paper repair (f. 63r) (fig. 7).

43. f. 65v: untitled movement in B flat major. This movement in Battishill’s autograph is marked ‘Poco Largo’ and ends with a cadenza onthe dominant: it was evidently intended to be a prelude to the preceding transcription of‘Wretched Lovers’ (No. 42).

44. ff. 66rv: ‘Chorus “Joyful sounds” in the Oratorio of Joseph’Robert Glenn’s copy of HWV 59:8, transcribed for organ. Watermark: ‘1808’.

45. ff. 67rv: ‘Let us break their bonds asunder/ Chorus’ Robert Glenn’s copy of a transcription for keyboard of the chorus from Messiah, HWV56:37. Watermark: Strasburg bend with monogram ‘M E’ (same as f. 60).

46: f. 68v: music in the hand of Ms Glenn.In its present state the text is mostly illegible, because the folio is glued to f. 70v.

47: f. 69rv: untitled work for keyboard.A ‘Grave’ movement in d minor: Battishill’s autograph, with inconsistent bass clefs. Atpresent the verso is mostly illegible, being glued to f. 68v.

48. f. 71r: two lines (deleted in pencil) of an untitled and incomplete composition in E flat, Autograph of Jonathan Battishill.

49 f. 71r: two lines of music in keyboard score. Added in pencil ‘Bella (Copied) Corelli’Autograph of Battishill (possibly an exercise from his studies with William Savage).



16

50. ff. 71v-72r: [in pencil] ‘Handel Chandos Anthem/ 10th Overture’Autograph copy by Jonathan Battishill of the first movement of ‘Concerto V’ (the overtureto the second Chandos Anthem, HWV 247:1) in Handel’s Celebrated Oboe Concertos…, p. 29.

51. f. 72r: untitled work for keyboard. [Added in pencil:] ‘Bella good’.A Largo movement in D major. Autograph of Jonathan Battishill, with his inconsistent bassclefs. (Possibly an exercise from his studies with William Savage).

52. ff. 72r-73r: [in pencil:] ‘f[ro]m Chandos Anthems 2 Fuga Handel’ [in pencil, deleted:]‘f[ro]m Lessons’ Autograph copy by Jonathan Battishill of the second movement of ‘Concerto V’ (see No. 51,above), from Handel’s Celebrated Oboe Concertos..., pp. 30-1.

53. f. 73v: untitled work for keyboard,A movement in B flat major, headed ‘Largo Staccato’, in the Handelian ‘dotted style’.Autograph of Jonathan Battishill. [At end, in pencil:] ‘return to page 3 for end’. The pagesin Battishill’s hand (ff. 71r-73v) are numbered 1-6 in old pencilling, but the music at page 4(f. 72v) cannot be the conclusion of that on page 6 (f. 73v).

54. ff. 74r-7v: [in pencil:] ‘Blessed be the man’ (Joseph) Handel’ A keyboard transcription, in Robert Glenn’s hand, of the chorus ‘Blest be the man’ fromJoseph and his Brethren, HWV 59:18. Illegible watermark.

55. ff. 76r-77r: untitled work.An overture or voluntary in C major for organ in Robert Glenn’s hand. There are twomovements: an Adagio and an Allegro.

This completes the census of Ms Glenn’s collection, which is now in urgent need of repairand conservation. While her album adds little to our knowledge of Samuel Wesley’s oeuvre,19it throws new light on the transmission of his musical legacy and the cultural milieu of whathad been England’s greatest musical family. Jonathan Battishill, friend of the hymn-writerCharles Wesley and mentor of his gifted sons, Samuel and Charles, was a central figure in thatmilieu.20 Battishill’s Handel transcriptions in Add. MS. 69859 are a rare and importantrecord of the composer’s own style of playing, as observed and imitated by a leading virtuoso.The historical value of this delightful album is enhanced by several examples of Battishill’scontribution to the more conservative kind of keyboard music produced for church andchamber in London during the second half of the eighteenth century.


19 Geoffrey Atkinson has edited a complete edition of Samuel Wesley’s organ works in ten volumes (Banchory,c. 2002-3).

20 Battishill set Wesley’s hymns to music; Wesley admired Battishill’s large collection of books on theology. Thefamily’s admiration of and affection for Battishill were well remembered by Samuel Wesley in Add. MS.27593, ff. 50r, 75v and 84rv.



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A Wesleyan Musical Legacy · 2008. 10. 21. · 4. ff.8v-10r: ‘Overture in Otho Copied from an Old Mss.’ These first three of these overtures, all in Ms Glenn’s hand, are careful