May 14, 1805, upon the resignation of Dr. Ayrton, succeeded him as Master of the Children. In 1812 he produced his interesting work 'Musica Antiqua.' [See Musica Antiqua.] In June 1817 he resigned the Mastership of the Children of the Chapel Royal. Besides the before-named compositions he produced 'An Ode on the First of April,' for voices and instruments, which was never published. A MS. 'Introduction to the Art of composing Music,' by him is in the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society, which also contains his Musical Commonplace Book. He died Sept. 20, 1836. By his will, dated Jan. 21, 1834, he bequeathed all his property to his only surviving daughter, Gertrude Stafford Smith, and appointed her sole executrix. She proved the will Oct. 20, 1836 (personalty sworn under £12,000), and took possession of the property. A few years afterwards she became insane, and in 1844 the Commissioner in Lunacy ordered that her property should be realised and the proceeds invested for her benefit. Through ignorance or carelessness the contents of her house (which included her father's valuable library, remarkably rich in ancient English musical manuscripts), were entrusted for sale to an auctioneer who, however well qualified he might have been to catalogue the furniture, was utterly incompetent to deal with the library. It was sold April 24, 1844, such books as were described at all being catalogued from the backs and heaped together in lots, each containing a dozen or more works; 2191 volumes were thrown into lots described as 'Fifty books, various,' etc. The printed music was similarly dealt with; the MSS. were not even described as such, but were lumped in lots of twenties and fifties, and called so many 'volumes of music.' 578 volumes were so disposed of, and there were besides five lots each containing 'a quantity of music.' The sale took place at an out-of-the-way place in the Gray's Inn Road; Smith's name did not appear on the catalogue; nothing was done to attract the attention of the musical world, and two dealers, who had obtained information of the sale, purchased many of the lots at very low prices. These after a time were brought into the market, but it is feared the greater part of the MSS. are altogether lost.
SMITH, Robert Archibald, born at Reading Nov. 16, 1780. His father, a Paisley silk-weaver, finding his trade declining in Reading, removed back to Paisley in 1800. Robert soon showed a great aptitude for music, and at ten could play the violin. In 1807 he was appointed leader of the psalmody at the Abbey Church, Paisley, a situation which he filled for many years. While there he made the acquaintance of Robert Tannahill the poet, many of whose fine lyrics he set to music. One of these, 'Jessie, the Flow'r o' Dunblane,' published in 1808, at once made its mark, and was universally admired.
Smith possessed a fine vein of melody, and in vocal composition had at that time perhaps no equal in Scotland. In 1820 he began to publish 'The Scottish Minstrel' (6 vols. 8vo. 1820–24) containing several hundreds of the best Scottish songs, not a few of them his own, frequently without indication. It is still considered a good compilation. In Aug. 1823 he obtained the leadership of the psalmody at St. George's Church, Edinburgh, under the Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson, whose son John was destined in after years to become the first musical Reid professor in Edinburgh University. [See Thomson, John.] Besides anthems and other pieces (most of the former written for the boys of George Heriot's Hospital), Smith now found time to publish his 'Irish Minstrel,' followed in 1826 by an 'Introduction to Singing,' and in 1827 by 'Select Melodies of all Nations,' in one volume, one of his best works. In 1828 he brought out his 'Sacred Harmony of the Church of Scotland,' by which he is now best known. His health was at no time robust, and he suffered from dyspepsia, under which he finally sank, Jan. 3, 1829.
'Smith,' says the late George Hogarth, 'was a musician of sterling talent. … His compositions are tender, and tinged with melancholy; simple and unpretending, and always graceful and unaffectedly elegant. … He had the admirable good sense to know how far he could safely penetrate into the depths of counterpoint and modulation without losing his way; and accordingly his music is entirely free from scientific pedantry.' His most popular pieces are the songs 'Jessie, the Flow'r o' Dunblane'; 'London's bonnie woods and braes'; and 'Bonnie Mary Hay'; the duet 'Row weel, my boatie'; the trio 'Ave Sanctissima'; and the anthems 'Sing unto God,' and 'How beautiful upon the mountains'; although many more might be named which are yet frequently sung. Owing to the modern alterations in congregational singing, the introduction of German chorales and ancient ecclesiastical melodies, and the change from florid to syllabic tunes, Smith's 'Sacred Harmony' is to a great extent superseded. But it still has its value, even at a distance of fifty years from its publication.
SMITH, Sidney, born at Dorchester, July 14, 1839, received his first musical instruction from his parents, and at the age of 16 went to Leipzig, where he studied the piano under Moscheles and Plaidy; the violoncello under Grutzmacher; harmony and counterpoint under Hauptmann, Richter, and Papperitz; and composition under Rietz. He returned to England in 1858, and in the following year, on the advice of the late Mr. Henry Blagrove, he settled in London, where he has since resided, enjoying considerable reputation as a teacher. His compositions, which are confined to PF. pieces, are extremely popular with the numerous class of performers whose tastes are satisfied by a maximum of brilliancy combined with a minimum of difficulty. The most successful of his pieces are 'La Harpe Eolienne,' 'Le Jet d'Eau,' 'The Spinning Wheel,' and a 'Tarantella' in E minor, which (like most of his compositions) have been published and met with the same popularity on the Continent as in England. [App. p.794 "date of death, March 3, 1889."]
