Queen's, Long Acre. C. J. Phipps, architect. Opened Oct. 24, 1867; first lessee, Alfred Wigan. Built on the site of St. Martin's Hall. About 1878 it ceased to exist as a theatre, and was sold to a Co-operative Association.
Savoy. C. J. Phipps, architect. Opened Oct. 10, 1881; proprietor, R. D'Oyley Carte.
Variety, Pittfield Street, Hoxton. C. J. Phipps, architect. Opened March 14, 1870; proprietor, Verrell Nunn.
VAUGHAN, Thomas, born in Norwich in 1782, was a chorister of the cathedral there under Dr. Beckwith. In June 1799 he was elected a lay-clerk of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. On May 28, 1803, he was admitted a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and about the same time obtained the appointments of vicar-choral of St. Paul's and lay-vicar of Westminster Abbey. In March 1806 he resigned his place at Windsor and in the same year married Miss Tennant, who had appeared as a soprano singer about 1797, and from 1800 had sung at the Concert of Ancient Music and the provincial festivals, and for some years occupied a good position. Becoming estranged from her husband she appeared on the stage at Drury Lane (as Mrs. Tennant) in secondary parts, and eventually subsided into a chorus-singer at minor theatres. In 1813 Vaughan was chosen to succeed Samuel Harrison as principal tenor at the Concert of Ancient Music and the provincial festivals, which position he occupied for more than a quarter of a century. His voice was a genuine tenor, the deficiency of natural power in which was concealed by purity of tone, great distinctness of pronunciation, and faultlessness of intonation. Harrison's style was chaste, refined, and unaffectedly sublime. He [App. p.808 "Vaughan"] sang the tenor part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on its production by the Philharmonic Society, London, March 21, 1826 [App. p.807 "1825"]. He died at Birmingham, Jan. 9, 1843, and was buried Jan. 17, in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey.
VAUXHALL GARDENS. In 1615 one Jane Vaux, widow of John Vaux, was tenant, as a copyholder of the manor of Kennington, of a tenement situate near to the Thames. About 1660 this house, with the grounds attached to it, was opened as a place of public entertainment. The earliest mention of it as such is in Evelyn's Diary, under date July 2, 1661: 'I went to see the New Spring Garden at Lambeth, a pretty contrived plantation.' Pepys at later dates frequently mentions it, and from him we learn that there was an older place of the same name and description in the neighbourhood. On May 29, 1662, he says, 'With my wife and the two maids and the boy took boat and to Fox-hall.… To the old Spring Garden.… Thence to the new one, where I never was before, which much exceeds the other.' The musical entertainment appears to have been of the most primitive description. Pepys (May 28, 1667) says, 'By water to Fox-hall and there walked in Spring Garden.… But to hear the nightingale and other birds, and here fiddles, and there a harp, and here a Jew's trump [Jew's Harp], and here laughing and there fine people walking, is mighty diverting.' Addison, in 'The Spectator,' mentions the place as much resorted to. In 1730 Jonathan Tyers obtained a lease of it and opened it June 7, 1732, with an entertainment termed a 'Ridotto al fresco,' then a novelty in England, which was attended by about 400 persons. This became very attractive and was frequently repeated in that and following seasons, and the success attending it induced Tyers to open the Gardens in 1736 every evening during the summer. He erected a large covered orchestra, closed at the back and sides, with the front open to the Gardens, and engaged a good band. Along the sides of the quadrangle in which the orchestra stood were placed covered boxes, open at the front, in which the company could sit and sup or take refreshments. These boxes were adorned with paintings by Hayman from designs by Hogarth. There was also a rotunda in which the concert was given in bad weather. In 1737 an organ was erected in the orchestra in the Gardens, and James Worgan appointed organist. An organ concerto formed, for a long series of years, a prominent feature in the concerts. On the opening of the Gardens on May 1, 1738, Roubiliac's statue of Handel (expressly commissioned by Tyers), was first exhibited.[1] In 1745 Arne was engaged as composer, and Mrs. Arne and Lowe as singers. In 1749 Tyers adroitly managed, by offering the loan of all his lanterns, lamps, etc., and the assistance of 30 of his servants at the display of fireworks in the Green Park on the rejoicings for the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, to obtain permission to have the music composed by Handel for that occasion publicly rehearsed at Vauxhall, prior to its performance in the Green Park. The rehearsal took place on Friday, April 21, by a band of 100 performers, before an audience of 12,000 persons admitted by 2s. 6d. tickets. The throng of carriages was so great that the traffic over London Bridge (then the only metropolitan road between Middlesex and Surrey) was stopped for nearly three hours. After Lowe quitted, Vernon was the principal tenor singer. On the death of Jonathan Tyers in 1767 he was succeeded in the management by his two sons, one of whom, Thomas, who had written the words of many songs for the Gardens, soon afterwards sold his interest in the place to his brother's family. In 1774 Hook was engaged as organist and composer, and held these appointments until 1820. [See Hook, James.] In his time the singers were Mrs. Martyr, Mrs. Wrighten, Mrs. Weichsell, Miss Poole (Mrs. Dickons), Miss Leary, Mrs. Mountain, Mrs. Bland (probably the most universally favourite female singer who ever appeared in the Gardens), Miss Tunstall, Miss Povey, Vernon,
- ↑ This statue remained in the Gardens, in various situations, sometimes in the open air and sometimes under cover, until 1818, when it was removed to the house of the Rev. Jonathan Tyers Barrett, D.D. to whom the property in the Gardens had devolved, and who then contemplated a sale of it), in Duke Street, Westminster, where it remained until his death. It was purchased at auction in 1833 by Mr. Brown, a statuary, who in 1854 sold it to the Sacred Harmonic Society. It now belongs to Mr. Henry Littleton.
