Richard Leveridge | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Richard Leveridge, Engraved by J. Saunders, AfterThomas Frye (circa 1710–1762) | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Richard Leueridge |
| Born | (1670-07-19)19 July 1670 St Martin-in-the-Fields,London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 22 March 1758(1758-03-22) (aged 87) Holborn, London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | baroque music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, composer |
| Instrument | bass |
| Years active | 1695–1753 |
Richard Leveridge (orLeueridge) (19 July 1670 – 22 March 1758) was an Englishbass singer of the London stage and a composer ofbaroque music, including many popular songs.
Richard Leveridge was born in the parish ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in 1670, and in 1695 became the leading bass singer in theUnited Company managed byChristopher Rich at Drury Lane, after the defection of several leading singers from Rich's company.[1] His first important role of which anything is known was as the magician Ismeron inHenry Purcell's operaThe Indian Queen, which included the aria "Ye twice ten hundred deities".[2][3] Purcell himself remained loyal to the company, and for several months Leveridge worked closely with him. It is likely that "Arise, ye subterranean winds" in the music (attributed to Purcell) forThe Tempest was written for him. After Purcell's death he continued to work with composersDaniel Purcell andJeremiah Clarke, and took a leading part in Clarke's Ode upon the death of Mr Purcell at Drury Lane.[4] Leveridge also composed, and in February 1699 all three provided music forMotteux's adaptation ofFletcher'sThe Island Princess, in which Leveridge's performance, particularly his 'Enthusiastick Song',[5] engendered great enthusiasm among its hearers.[6]
At various times between 1697 and 1728 Leveridge published volumes of his own songs, and numerous single items including his popular theatre songs appeared as separate printed sheets throughout his career. After a spell inDublin he returned to London in 1702 for a revival ofThe Island Princess and a new production ofMacbeth billed as "with music Vocal and Instrumental, all new Composed by Mr Leveridge". He sang the role ofHecate in this work for nearly 50 years, and the music remained popular for more than a century after his death.[7]
Leveridge continued to sing Purcell's operas and masques in the revivals, at Drury Lane in 1703–08, ofThe Fairy-Queen,Timon of Athens,Amphitrion,Libertine Destroyed,Tempest,King Arthur,Indian Queen, andŒdipus.[8] He also participated in the introduction of opera in the Italian style from 1705, appearing inArsinoë (1705),Camilla (1706),Rosamond (1707),Thomyris (1707), andLove's Triumph (1708). Some of these productions had mixed English and Italian singers (bilingual performances),[9] but when the fashion became entirely Italian Leveridge was replaced in the bass roles by the Italian bassoGiuseppe Maria Boschi.[10] He then began a short association withHandel, in 1713 to 1714, and acted in the first performances ofIl pastor fido andTeseo and played Argantes in a revival ofRinaldo. In this period he sang withNicolini,[11] who was in London from 1708 to 1712 and in the seasons of 1714–17.[12] Later in his career, in 1731, he is known to have taken the role of Polypheme (who has the ariaO ruddier than the cherry) in a performance ofAcis and Galatea.[13]
In 1714, he moved to work at the new theatre atLincoln's Inn Fields, managed by entrepreneurJohn Rich. Remaining there for most of his career, he returned to his English repertoire and a new form, themusical Afterpiece. These lightweight works were often comic, and in 1716 Leveridge produced his own afterpiece,Pyramus and Thisbe. For this comic parody of Italian opera, he wrote the music, adapting the words fromShakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream, and sang the role of Pyramus.[14] He was apparently absent from the stage around 1720–24, during which time he was occupied with the coffee house in Tavistock Street near Covent Garden, at the sign of 'The Harlequin and Pierot', which he held by lease from 1714 to 1736.[15] However Rich drew him back, and Leveridge scored a success in 1726 inApollo and Daphne withSilenus's songTho' envious old age seems in part to impair me, composed byJohann Ernst Galliard. From that time forth he became the leading bass at Lincoln's Inn Fields[16] and later transferred toCovent Garden.[citation needed]
His repertoire exploited his firm and powerfulvoice, and several of his songs became popular favourites. Although most renowned for his comic-patriotic balladThe Roast Beef of Old England, and above all for his setting ofJohn Gay's lyric ofBlack Eyed Susan, others are lover's complaints or addresses, anacreontics, hunting songs (notablyThe sweet rosy morning peeps over the hills), fairy songs, dramatic pieces, and the like, to the number of more than 150. In addition toA New Book of Songs 1697[17] andA Second Book of Songs 1699,[18] andA New Book of Songs 1711,[19] further volumes were printed in 1727[20] (with a frontispiece byWilliam Hogarth[21]), and 1728.[22] A number of the 1727 songs are settings of words byAbraham Cowley. Some songs written no doubt for his own performance containroulades and word-painting, giving an impression of his vocal range and flexibility, and some have recitatives or short sections of part-writing, introducing dramatic structure into the context of concise set-pieces.[23]
Leveridge enjoyed good health and reduced his performances only in the last few seasons before retiring in 1751. He died aged 87 at his lodgings inHigh Holborn, London, in 1758.[24]
Sir John Hawkins (1776) remarked, "Though he had been a performer in the opera at the same time with Nicolino and Valentini" (possibly meaningRoberto Valentini) "he had no notion of grace or elegance in singing; it was all strength and compass..." Hawkins's opinion of Leveridge was coloured by social perceptions: "Being a man of rather coarse manners, and able to drink a great deal, he was by some thought a good companion. The humour of his songs, and indeed of his conversation, consisted in exhortations to despise riches and the means of attaining them; to drown care by drinking; to enjoy the present hour, and to set reflection and death at defiance. With such a disposition as this, Leveridge could not fail to be a welcome visitor at all clubs and assemblies, where the avowed purpose of meeting was an oblivion of care; and being ever ready to contribute to the promotion of social mirth, he made himself many friends, from whose bounty he derived all the comforts that in an extreme old age he was capable of enjoying."[25]
In 1789Charles Burney wrote of him: "I remember his singingGhosts of every occupation, and several of Purcell'sbase songs, occasionally, in a style which forty years ago seemed antediluvian: but as he generally was the representative of Pluto, Neptune, or some ancient divinity, it corresponded perfectly with his figure and character. He was not only a celebrated singer of convivial songs, but the writer and composer of many that were in great favour with singers and hearers of a certain class, who more piously performed the rites of Comus and Bacchus, than those of Minerva and Apollo."[26]
TheNational Portrait Gallery, London has an oil portrait of the young Richard Leveridge, c. 1710–20, by an unknown artist, which is on display at theHandel House Museum, London.[27] It also has copies of two other likenesses, one a mezzotint byWilliam Pether after the oil portrait byThomas Frye,[28] and the other a mezzotint by Andreas van der Mijn after the portrait byFrans van der Mijn.[29] Both show Leveridge in advanced old age. There are more versions than one of the original oil portrait by Thomas Frye, including that in the collections ofWarwickTown council,[30] and the better-known example in the Gerald Coke Handel Collection at theFoundling Museum.[31]
Recordings of works by Richard Leveridge include the songs "Black and gloomy as the grave",[32] "When daisies pied and violets blue",[33] and "The Roast Beef of Old England".[34]
