(Joseph) Alfred Novello (1810-96)

Media credit University of Leeds

Joseph Alfred Novello was born to Vincent and Mary Sabilla Novello on 12 August 1810, the eldest son of the family. Named after his grandfather Giuseppe ‘Joseph’ Novello, he was known as ‘Alfred’ or ‘Alf’.

He was apprenticed to the organist and music seller John Robinson in York aged 13 in 1824 for a period of five years. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was set up in business in London in 1830 to continue his father’s work as a music publisher. He established the periodical the Musical World in 1836 and maintained his involvement until 1863.

Like his father, he concentrated on the democratisation of sheet music through mass production and the reduction of cost and supported the mass singing movement. In 1847 he set up a printing company to support the business, but faced objections from the printing unions in London. During this period he supported protests agains ‘taxes on knowledge’ and contributed to their successful overturning.

He advertised his father’s knowledge and experience with organs and encouraged people to make their orders through him to benefit from his knowledge in planning and building, at no extra cost. His father’s relationship with him deteriorated in the 1840s and he became less important to the family business and sometimes published his own work elsewhere.

Alfred retired to Nice in France in 1856 to join his widowed father at Villa Quaglia, along with his sister Mary and her husband Charles Cowden Clarke, before they moved to Villa Novello in Genoa in 1861. The Novello business passed to Henry Littleton in 1866, after he had become a partner in 1861.

He had been more interested in science and mechanics and made successful investments in rail and steel, which allowed him to leave a legacy of £63,386 to his sisters Mary Cowden Clarke and (Mary) Sabilla Novello on his death in 1896. Named after his grandfather Giuseppe ‘Joseph’ Novello, he was known as ‘Alfred’ or ‘Alf’.

He was apprenticed to the organist and music seller John Robinson in York aged 13 in 1824 for a period of five years. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was set up in business in London in 1830 to continue his father’s work as a music publisher. He established the periodical the Musical World in 1836 and maintained his involvement until 1863.

Like his father, he concentrated on the democratisation of sheet music through mass production and the reduction of cost and supported the mass singing movement. In 1847 he set up a printing company to support the business, but faced objections from the printing unions in London. During this period he supported protests agains ‘taxes on knowledge’ and contributed to their successful overturning.

He advertised his father’s knowledge and experience with organs and encouraged people to make their orders through him to benefit from his knowledge in planning and building, at no extra cost. His father’s relationship with him deteriorated in the 1840s and he became less important to the family business and sometimes published his own work elsewhere.

Alfred retired to Nice in France in 1856 to join his widowed father at Villa Quaglia, along with his sister Mary and her husband Charles Cowden Clarke, before they moved to Villa Novello in Genoa in 1861. The Novello business passed to Henry Littleton in 1866, after he had become a partner in 1861.

He had been more interested in science and mechanics and made successful investments in rail and steel, which allowed him to leave a legacy of £63,386 to his sisters Mary Cowden Clarke and (Mary) Sabilla Novello on his death in 1896.