Nelson & His World

In view of Tony’s salutary comment on the pitfalls of collecting on the Nelson’s bowl thread, I thought I’d throw another piece of meat to the sceptics!

I’d appreciate comments, no matter how negative, on this purchase I made some time ago. It’s 3 pages of engraved Georgian music entitled ‘The Mother’s Blessing’, by Michael Kelly. (See the images below)

It is bound, with a sheaf of blank pages, into a morocco and cloth bound volume which a book specialist friend has dated to c 1800-1810. The spine has five bands, one contains the words ‘The Mother’s Blessing, one the composer’s name, Michael Kelly, and a third ‘Lady Hamilton’s Copy’.

The music itself has an inscription ‘Lady Hamilton’s’ in what appears to be an 18th century hand.

I bought it from a very reputable New York bookdealer who said he had acquired it together with two other pieces of music signed by Lady Hamilton, but in his opinion, the inscription on this piece was not in Lady Hamilton’s hand.

So: did I buy a pup?

The provenance is very thin – non-existent, actually, but I want to believe it was Emma’s music, naturally. I wonder if it was acquired by an admirer who had the piece bound as a keepsake. The music also bears the monogram MK which appears to have been applied afterwards. It was not part of the engraving process. Was this Michael Kelly, the composer? Michael Kelly was a friend of Emma’s and visited Merton. He mentions in his memoirs that Nelson teased him, saying that he had heard that when he was young and living in Italy ‘he was as wild as a colt’ (Very true!) Perhaps he gave her the monogrammed copy? Another point: Other pieces of music belonging to Emma are signed variously, Emma Hamilton, Merton’ or 'Lady Hamilton'. If someone wanted to pass this off as a piece of Emma’s music, surely he/she would have faked Emma’s signature? An admirer, however, who knew whence the piece had come, would simply have noted that it was ‘Lady Hamilton’s.’

All very inconclusive, I agree. However, I think Emma was familiar with this music. One of the lines of the song says, ‘Long may my fostering arm be spared to shield you from all harm.’ I got quite a frisson when I was reading Winifred Gérin’s biography of Horatia, and there on page 251 was a letter written by Emma to Horatia during the fraught period when they were living ‘within the rules’ and their relationship was strained. Emma wrote, ‘When you shall no longer have my fostering arm to shield you, woe betide you!’ {Actually, she wrote ‘sheild’ and ‘whoe’ – this is Emma, after all.) So she was almost certainly thinking of this song when she wrote this distraught letter.

The music was registered at Stationers Hall in 1805, so I like to think that she played and sang it in happier circumstances while Nelson dandled Horatia on his knee during the ‘twenty five days’ before he sailed for Trafalgar.

Anna

On the negative side (what else from me??!!) I guess there would have been more than one Lady Hamilton in this era.

i.e. there were the Dukes of Hamilton and presumably one or more of the females of that family would have been styled Lady Hamilton.

Just a thought from the arch-sceptic - but I might be talking complete rubbish!!.

Mark

There definitely were other Lady Hamiltons.

This from a newspaper of 1805.

"Two marriages will take place in the ABERCORN family in September next, namely Lady Catherine Hamilton to the Earl of Aberdeen and Lady Maria Hamilton to Lord Henry Petty."

I am sure there were more besides.

Quite likely this is a complete red herring as regards Anna's music - but it just shows what a minefield it all is.

MB

Mark:

your caution is wise and not unexpected!

Re: the various Lady Hamiltons. The two you mention are peers' daughters and therefore neither would have been known as Lady Hamilton but as Lady Mary Hamilton and Lady Catherine Hamilton. Peers' daughters use their first names in their titles - e.g. Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Peers' and knights' wives, however, use the title Lady plus their husband's last name e.g. Lady Nelson, Lady Hamilton. If there arer several ladies with the same title in a family, one is distinguished from another by placing the Christian name before the title e.g. Emma, Lady Hamilton.

If a peer's daughter marries a commoner she keeps her title but changes her surname e.g. Lady Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of the Duke of Devonshire, married Mr Harold Macmillan and became Lady Dorothy Macmillan.

If a peer's daughter marries another peer, she takes his title e.g Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married the Duke of York and became Duchess of York.

Even The Times, a newspaper of record, regularly confuses the protocol regarding titles. They always refer to widow of the Prime Minister Lord Wilson, formerly Harold Wilson, as Lady Mary Wilson. The correct form is, of course, Lady Wilson.

Perhaps Michael Kelly wrote her name on it for her.

I have a piece of music bearing Michael Kelly's signature. He had a much looser, more florid hand than the inscription on the 'Emma' music, so I don't think he wrote it. Also, had it been a present from him, I'm sure he would have written a flattering and fulsome dedication - he was a charming Irishman with a lively turn of phrase - his memoirs are very entertaining indeed.

Whoever the 'Lady Hamilton' in question was, my feeling is that the inscription was made by a companion or music teacher (maybe Miss Wheatley, Horatia's music teacher?) I don't think 'Lady Hamilton' had it bound - there would surely have been other pieces of music bound with it. My hunch is that someone acquired the loose score after her death or when her possessions were scattered in her penurious years - either an admirer who knew her well and knew the music was hers, or someone who assumed the inscription 'Lady Hamilton's' referred to Emma - and had it bound as a keepsake.

I do think, though, that the reference to the line from the song in Emma's letter is a strong indication that she knew it well - she was very prone to appropriating the phrases of others in her writing - and that this piece might therefore very possibly have been hers.

Her song book is in the NMM but it has been rebound so there is no original binding to compare with the one on my copy. Disbound sheets of music bearing Emma's signature occasionally come up for sale and make £1000 +. The dealer was very honest with me and made no claims whatsoever for this piece - indeed, as I said, he was certain the inscription was not in Lady Hamilton's hand, though he bought it together with two disbound pieces bearing her signature and has given me a letter confirming this. I was very happy with the price I paid - much, much less than £1000! It is a very attractive piece in its own right, a pleasing addition to my collection of Georgian sheet music, and it does have a tenuous connection with Emma in that quote she made from the song, so I'm happy to own it. I keep thinking I'll pop over to Bonham's auction house in Bath to see if they have any comments.

A further thought: could the inscription have been written by the bookinder as a reminder of the name he was to put on the spine when he came to bind the music?

I don't have any useful suggestions about the music but I just reckon it probably was Emma's - most likely sold off or given away before she left England. I wish we knew just how good she was at singing and piano playing. Lady Holland described her singing as 'vile, discordant screaming' but other contemporary sources are fulsome in their praise. Also, I have read accounts of her playing 'concertos' at the piano, dazzling the audience with her skills. I suppose it's possible, although 'adult learners' tend not to reach these heights at the keyboard usually. Michael Kelly was a friend of Mozart - didn't he take a part in one production of Figaro? - or have I imagined that. If so, it would be a link between two of my favourite 18th century people - it makes me wonder how much of Mozart's music would have been known to Nelson, especially since they were (apparently) both Freemasons.

Caitlin

I'm comforted that you think the music might have been Emma's, Caitlin.

Yes, Kelly did indeed take part in 'Figaro' - the very first production, if fact, on May Day 1786. He describes Mozart at the first rehearsal: 'on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra' and the applause from all, 'Bravo! Bravo! Maestro! Viva, viva, grande Mozart!'

Kelly's reminiscences, which I have in a lovely Folio Edition entitled 'Solo Recital', are highly entertaining. He mentions dining at Merton with 'my dear and late lamented friend, Lady Hamilton'.

There are, as you say, conflicting comments about Emma's musical talents. She was, at one point, offered a professional contract, which she didn't take up, so she must have had a considerable competence, I think. I am sure many of the negative comments about Emma stemmed from jealousy about her lowly origins. She entered the aristocracy not simply as a beauty but as a woman of high intelligence, artistic accomplishment and diplomatic skill. It must have seemed incredible to some members of 'the quality' that such a low-born woman should have such innate gifts, nurtured, to his credit, by Sir William. He was himself an accomplished musician and would not have attempted to nurture a non-existent talent, I feel. Emma developed a flair for languages too and became fluent in French and Italian. An ear for music and languages is often linked.