Vincent Novello (1781-1861)

Media credit University of Leeds

Vincent Novello was born on 6 September 1781 at 240 Oxford Street, London. He was the second son of the Italian confectioner Giuseppe Novello, who had emigrated to London in 1771 and married Joan ‘Giovana’ Wins the following year. The family had taken a 14 year lease on 240 Oxford Street in London in 1776 and took lodgers to support the cost. Vincent Novello’s connection with his Italian heritage remained important throughout his life and his name was sometimes Italianised to Vincenzo, although he was not completely fluent in Italian. His English mother provided a sense of social legitimacy not always afforded to Italian émigrés, whose Roman Catholic faith also separated them from British religious beliefs and practices at that time. Until the Emancipation Act of 1829 Catholics could usually only worship at embassy chapels, because they were considered to operate on foreign territory. These chapels developed their own musical traditions and were more connected with the music of continental Europe, which informed Vincent Novello’s approach for the rest of his career.

Limited information survives of his early education, other than his musical studies with Signor Quellici and his time at a school in Huitmille, Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1790, where he learnt French and remained until France declared war on Britain in 1793. After his return to Britain he became a chorister at the Sardinian Embassy Chapel, where he began to learn the organ under Samuel Webbe senior. At 16 he became a professional organist for the Portuguese Embassy Chapel, which he continued until 1824. He went on to become one of the most well known organists of his generation and an authority on their design and construction, having often taken the opportunity to play different organs around Europe. He was consulted on the installation of new organs, demonstrated the expressive potential of the instrument and was involved in the selection of organists for other positions.

He became familiar with historic sacred music and worked to circulate it more widely, publishing his first edited collection in 1811. He continued to publish music that was otherwise unavailable and became a significant figure in music publishing. He also published his own compositions, with a style influenced by Mozart and Mendelssohn. His compositions were accessible to amateurs and, as with his arrangements of the work of others, his own compositions were appreciated for their support of the vocalist. He appropriated sacred texts to set to secular music and sometimes used words from his friend Leigh Hunt and his wife Mary.

Vincent Novello’s father died in 1808, which caused a dispute between him and his brother Francis over the lease to the family home at 240 Oxford Street. It was settled in Vincent’s favour because he had paid for the lease and contributed to the family income while his father was still alive.

He was a founder member of the Philharmonic Society in 1813 and continued his membership until 1846. His daughter Clara regularly performed in the context, but her father rarely did so and was not considered an influential member of the society, despite having been Director in 1818. He was also a founder of the Classical Harmonists’ Society and the Choral Harmonists Society.

He believed that good quality sheet music should be affordable and saw this provision as a social good with a strong emphasis on education. He continued to teach music throughout his career, which provided a small but consistent income.

He married Mary Sabilla Hehl on 17 August 1808 and they had 11 children (7 girls and 4 boys) and 7 survived into adulthood (5 daughters and 2 sons). The deaths of four of their children in infancy profoundly affected Vincent after 1820 and he suffered from depressive episodes for the rest of his life. His wife Mary Sabilla came from a middle-class intellectual background and her family was of German-Irish descent. She was a sociable person who kept notebooks and journals detailing her thoughts and activities, teaching their children to do the same. She published stories anonymously and wrote about her views on politics and religion.

Vincent had become friends with the poet Leigh Hunt by 1816. They shared interests in extending access to and understanding of the arts, particularly their love of Mozart. Hunt became a close friend of the family and both augmented and diminished their social circle, because he was considered to be a divisive character. He introduced Vincent to the writer Mary Shelley.

The family moved to Shacklewell Green in 1823 and took on two lodgers: Charles Cowden Clarke brought literary figures into their social circle and introduced them to their second lodger, Edward Holmes, who became Vincent’s pupil as an organist and later became a music critic. Vincent and Mary prioritised the education of their children, particularly in reading, theatre and music and Charles taught their children English literature. Some were sent to Mr Bonneyfoy’s School in Boulogne to learn French, which was common in Catholic families.

Vincent and Mary travelled to Europe in the summer of 1829. They intended to uncover unpublished music, conduct research for biography of Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart (which remained unrealised) and further the musical career of their daughter Clara Anastasia Novello, who became a noted singer with the most successful public profile of the family. They made visits to Mozart’s widow and sister, presenting the latter with 60 guineas raised by subscription. Both Vincent and Mary kept diaries of this trip, which were later published. Mary also travelled to Germany, Italy and Russia with Clara during the 1830s. Group singing was important to the whole family and Vincent collated and composed volumes of music for this purpose.

Their son Joseph Alfred Novello—named after his grandfather but known as ‘Alfred’ or ‘Alf’—continued and expanded his father’s music publishing business and opened premises at 67 Frith Street in Soho, London, in 1830. By the following year, the family lived above the shop.

In the summer of 1834 Vincent was organist at the Handel Commemoration at Westminster Abbey and continued his involvement in the Handel Festival there, to raise funds for Westminster Hospital.

Vincent was close to the Italian double bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti, known as ‘Il Drago’. Dragonetti had a successful musical career in Britain from 1794 and often played music with the Novellos. Their friendship caused Vincent Novello to come to the defence of Dragonetti in what became known as the ‘Dragonetti Havoc Affair’, which played out through the Musical World periodical in 1839, when Dragonetti was in his mid-70s and still very active as a performer in London. Novello defended Dragonetti against accusations that his age and health had diminished his ability and was in turn repeatedly mocked in the Musical World. Novello was publicly defended by his son Alfred, the former owner of the Musical World, and his friend Leigh Hunt. The episode led to greater interest in Dragonetti and his career, but Vincent was widely thought to have overreacted to the criticism of his friend and his own reputation and judgement was called into question.

Vincent and Mary sold their interest in the family business for £2050 on 11 June 1840. Vincent continued to be active in music and publishing and Mary remained concerned about the business her son’s behalf. Between 1840 and 1843 Vincent was the organist at St Mary’s Catholic Chapel, Moorfields. He continued to perform at other chapels, sometimes with his daughter Clara as vocalist.

His wife and their children extended his network to encompass composers, artists, poets, actors and other significant cultural figures of the day, including Mendelssohn, Rossini, Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb and Mary Shelley. Their connection with Mendelssohn resulted in publication and performance opportunities for his children Alfred and Clara. Mendelssohn was also interested in Edward Petre Novello’s artistic talent. The relationship deteriorated in 1841 after Alfred published a letter from Mendelssohn praising performances by Clara without his permission.

Vincent began to give public lectures in the 1840s, with limited success. Charles Cowden Clarke delivered some of his lectures at the London Institution, which focused on Italian vocal music and also functioned to advertise his own publications.

He retired to Villa Quaglia in Nice in 1849. By 1851 Vincent was in ill health and financial difficulty and wanted to retire to Italy, which was prevented by financial difficulties. He was joined in Nice by his daughter and son-in-law Mary and Charles Cowden Clarke and his son Alfred in 1856. He died in Nice on 9 August 1861.

Vincent Novello’s collection of books is held between the British Library and the Royal College of Music Library. He began to donate material to the former 20 years before he died following an unsuccessful attempt to become curator of music at the British Museum. Part of his collection, about 800 items, was auctioned by Puttock and Simpson on 25 June 1852.