William Reeve
Encyclopedia
William Reeve was an English
theatre
composer
and organist
.
with a Mr Richardson of St James's, Westminster
. He became an organist in Totnes
, Devon
in 1781. In 1783 he returned to London to work for John Astley
's equestrian
theatre where he composed all-sung burlettas. He also composed stage works of various kinds for John Palmer's short-lived Royalty Theatre. All of his works were entirely sung as none of these non-patent houses were permitted to perform works with any spoken drama. Some of Reeve's pieces were revived at the patent theatres after the Royalty closed in 1788. Most notably, his ballet-pantomime Don Juan (1787) was incredibly popular and both Drury Lane
and Covent Garden
adopted it for their repertories.
In 1787 Reeve was elected to the Royal Society of Musicians
and eventually served as the Governor of the organization in both 1794 and 1804. Reeve occasionally worked as an actor at the Haymarket
company during the late 1780s and early 1790s. He also appeared in productions at Covent Garden for two seasons (1789–91), playing minor roles for £2 a week. In the autumn of 1791, Covent Garden's house composer, William Shield
, left abruptly and Reeve took over the position for £4 a week. While there he completed Shield's score for the ballet-pantomime, Oscar and Malvina (1791) in addition to composing some of his own theater works. After Shield's return in 1792 Reeve became organist of St Martin Ludgate but continued as a freelance composer for London's patent and minor theatres. He also provided much rather facile music for the topical spectacles and pantomimes at Sadler's Wells. During Lent
of 1794 he was engaged at the Lyceum Theatre for four nights a week, producing Mirth's Museum, a variety entertainment. He served a second term as Covent Garden's house composer during 1797–8 and began collaborating with other composers.
From 1803 until his death Reeve also served as co-proprietor, director of music, and shareholder of Sadler's Wells Aquatic Theatre, where he set about 80 librettos, many written by co-proprietor Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin. Because of the success at Drury Lane of Reeve's comic opera The Caravan (1803), which featured an on-stage water tank into which Carlos the wonder dog leaped to rescue a drowning child, Sadler's Wells installed an irregularly shaped 8000-gallon tank, three feet deep, beneath the stage. Reeve wrote music for the new specialty, ‘aquadrama’: all-sung musicals featuring pirates, waterfalls, nautical battles, ocean fiends and other watery terrors.
Reeve wrote largely to support and highlight the talents of specific performers, such as the clown Joseph Grimaldi
at Sadler's Wells, and to provide easy listening. He could rapidly compose strophic comic songs in the popular Scottish style and compile scores based on genuine ballads and folksongs. Reviewers found his music entertaining. Some of his other popular later works included a melodrama
, The Purse (1794), a Robin Hood
pantomime
, Merry Sherwood (1795) (especially the drinking song I am a friar of orders grey) and a comic opera
, The Cabinet (1803). At the time of his death in London, Reeve owned seven of Sadler's Wells's 40 shares, which he bequeathed to his daughter, Charlotte. His family pursued theatrical careers as well: Mrs Reeve sang at Astley's and in Mirth's Museum, Charlotte was an actress and his son George composed for Sadler's Wells and played the trumpet
. A portrait of Reeve engraved by J. Hopwood (after E. Smith) appears in the libretto to The Cabinet.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
.
Biography
Reeve was born in London. He initially studied to be a law stationer but abandoned his studies in order to study the organPipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
with a Mr Richardson of St James's, Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
. He became an organist in Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
in 1781. In 1783 he returned to London to work for John Astley
John Astley
John Astley may refer to:* John Astley , MP for Cricklade 1559, and for Boroughbridge 1563* Sir John Astley, 2nd Baronet, of Pateshull , Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury 1727–1734 and Shropshire 1734–1772...
's equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
theatre where he composed all-sung burlettas. He also composed stage works of various kinds for John Palmer's short-lived Royalty Theatre. All of his works were entirely sung as none of these non-patent houses were permitted to perform works with any spoken drama. Some of Reeve's pieces were revived at the patent theatres after the Royalty closed in 1788. Most notably, his ballet-pantomime Don Juan (1787) was incredibly popular and both Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
and Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
adopted it for their repertories.
In 1787 Reeve was elected to the Royal Society of Musicians
Royal Society of Musicians
The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain is a charity in the United Kingdom that supports musicians. It is the oldest music-related charity in Great Britain, founded in 1738 as the "Fund for Decay'd Musicians" by a declaration of trust signed by 228 musicians, including Edward Purcell ,...
and eventually served as the Governor of the organization in both 1794 and 1804. Reeve occasionally worked as an actor at the Haymarket
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
company during the late 1780s and early 1790s. He also appeared in productions at Covent Garden for two seasons (1789–91), playing minor roles for £2 a week. In the autumn of 1791, Covent Garden's house composer, William Shield
William Shield
William Shield was an English composer, violinist and violist who was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, the son of William Shield and his wife, Mary, née Cash.-Life and musical career:...
, left abruptly and Reeve took over the position for £4 a week. While there he completed Shield's score for the ballet-pantomime, Oscar and Malvina (1791) in addition to composing some of his own theater works. After Shield's return in 1792 Reeve became organist of St Martin Ludgate but continued as a freelance composer for London's patent and minor theatres. He also provided much rather facile music for the topical spectacles and pantomimes at Sadler's Wells. During Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
of 1794 he was engaged at the Lyceum Theatre for four nights a week, producing Mirth's Museum, a variety entertainment. He served a second term as Covent Garden's house composer during 1797–8 and began collaborating with other composers.
From 1803 until his death Reeve also served as co-proprietor, director of music, and shareholder of Sadler's Wells Aquatic Theatre, where he set about 80 librettos, many written by co-proprietor Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin. Because of the success at Drury Lane of Reeve's comic opera The Caravan (1803), which featured an on-stage water tank into which Carlos the wonder dog leaped to rescue a drowning child, Sadler's Wells installed an irregularly shaped 8000-gallon tank, three feet deep, beneath the stage. Reeve wrote music for the new specialty, ‘aquadrama’: all-sung musicals featuring pirates, waterfalls, nautical battles, ocean fiends and other watery terrors.
Reeve wrote largely to support and highlight the talents of specific performers, such as the clown Joseph Grimaldi
Joseph Grimaldi
Joseph Grimaldi , was an English actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for his invention of the modern day whiteface clown. He chiefly appeared at Drury Lane in pantomime where his greatest success was appearing in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg and followed with a successful...
at Sadler's Wells, and to provide easy listening. He could rapidly compose strophic comic songs in the popular Scottish style and compile scores based on genuine ballads and folksongs. Reviewers found his music entertaining. Some of his other popular later works included a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, The Purse (1794), a Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, Merry Sherwood (1795) (especially the drinking song I am a friar of orders grey) and a comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
, The Cabinet (1803). At the time of his death in London, Reeve owned seven of Sadler's Wells's 40 shares, which he bequeathed to his daughter, Charlotte. His family pursued theatrical careers as well: Mrs Reeve sang at Astley's and in Mirth's Museum, Charlotte was an actress and his son George composed for Sadler's Wells and played the trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
. A portrait of Reeve engraved by J. Hopwood (after E. Smith) appears in the libretto to The Cabinet.
Selected stage works
- The Purse (1794)
- British Fortitude (1794)
- The Apparition (1794)
- The Charity Boy (1796)
- Bantry Bay (1797)
- The Raft (1798)
- Harlequin's Return (1798)
- Ramah Droog (1798)
- The Embarkation (1799)
- The Turnpike Gate (1799)
- Paul and Virginia (1800)
- The Blind Girl (1801)
- The Chains of the Heart (1801)
- Jamie and Anna (c.1801)
- The Cabinet (1802)
- Family Quarrels (1802)
- The Caravan (1803)
- Out of Place (1805)
- Thirty Thousand, or Who's the Richest? (1804)
- Kais (1808)
- The White Witch (1808)
- The Magic Minstrel (1808)
- The Red Reaver (1811)
- The Council of Ten (1811)
- Rokeby Castle (1813)
- Who's to have her? (1813)
- Narensky, or The Road to Yaroslaf (1814)
- The Farmer's Wife (1814)
- The Corsairv (1814)
- Brother and Sister (1815)
Sources
- Linda Troost: "William Reeve", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed September 20, 2008), (subscription access)
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), ISBN 0-19-869164-5