Henry Hugo Pierson (1815-1873) - orchestral, choral and dramatic works

[albion]

According to early editions of Grove, Pierson (originally Pearson) "left a vast number of works in manuscript", and it is more than likely that much has been lost since his death (including, apparently, the operas listed below).

1844-45 - Der Elfensieg, opera (Brno, 7th May 1845)
1847-48 - Leila, overture [first version]
            Leila, opera (Stadt-Theater, Hamburg 22nd February 1848)
c.1848 - Romantische Ouverture in D, for orchestra
           Hamlet, funeral march for orchestra
1850 - Salve eternum, a Roman dirge for soprano, bass, chorus and orchestra, Op.30 [32 on MS]
1852 - Jerusalem, oratorio (Norwich Festival, 23rd September 1852)
1853 - Paradise, oratorio [unfinished]
1854 - Faust, incidental music (Stadt-Theater, Hamburg, 25th March 1854)
1859 - Macbeth, symphonic poem, Op.54 (Crystal Palace, London, 23rd October 1875)
1860 - Grisetten-Polka, for orchestra
c.1862 - Mein Herz ist schwer, concert aria for voice and orchestra, Op.66
            Zu Ross, zu Ross (Sturmritt), for voice and orchestra, Op.69
c.1865 - Romeo and Juliet, overture, Op.86 (Crystal Palace, London, 7th November 1874)
1867 - The Maid of Orleans, overture, Op.101
1869 - Hezekiah, oratorio (Norwich Festival, 1st September 1869) [unfinished, a 'selection' performed]
c.1870 - As You Like It, overture (Crystal Palace, London, 17th January 1874)
1853-72 - Contarini, oder Die Verschwörung zu Padua, opera (Stadt-Theater, Hamburg, 16th April 1872)

also

Julius Caesar, overture

Commercial recordings –

Macbeth, symphonic poem, Op.54 (Lyrita SRCD.318)
Romeo and Juliet, overture, Op.86 (Hyperion CDA66515/ Helios CDH55088)

Download –

Macbeth, symphonic poem, Op.54

[albion]

Beyond the two orchestral works already recorded, it would be difficult to revive Pierson's music. The only other full scores to achieve publication seems to have been the overture The Maid of Orleans and the funeral march Hamlet: his key works Faust and Jerusalem were only published in vocal score, and the operas remained unpublished apart from one or two separate numbers from Leila.



I can't find any trace of a reference to material for As You Like It, but have managed to track a set of manuscript orchestral parts for the Romantische Ouverture to the University Of Pennsylvania library (Ms. Coll. 217). These were acquired as part of a donation from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia and appear to be complete.



If anybody has access to further information regarding the whereabouts of Pierson's music, it would be very welcome.

[Jimfin]

Thank you so much for this. What you say about his works strikes me as nothing short of a tragedy. Based on the two recorded orchestral pieces, Pierson strikes me as one of the most original and engaging British composers of his time, if not the most. We clearly didn't deserve him, hence his move to Germany. I think the 'Romeo and Juliet' overture bears comparison with Tchaikovsky's.

[albion]

Thank you so much for this. What you say about his works strikes me as nothing short of a tragedy.

After his death, Pierson was brought back to England to be buried with his other family members at Sonning in Berkshire. Presumably the manuscripts were with the family at this time: the early Grove entry was written by his brother, also called Hugh (Pierson was christened Henry Hugh Pearson), but nothing of them appears to have survived (or else they are lying somewhere unrecognised).

Whilst certainly not a wholehearted enthusiast, Ernest Walker gave an interesting and largely sympathetic appraisal of Pierson in A History of Music in England (1907) -

Pierson is in very many ways a sort of early Richard Strauss, using unrevolutionary harmony but otherwise altogether 'emancipated' from classical leading-strings - far more so indeed than Strauss, as Pierson seems to have a sovereign contempt for structural technique of any kind. And yet this queer stuff has many signs of a dim but notable talent that might have blossomed into something really great had Pierson received from his countrymen a little sympathy and kindly discipline, instead of blank stares combined with objurgation. The sombrely expressive end of Romeo and Juliet, for example, shows, in its vague, uncertain way, glimmerings of something much deeper than Bennett, with his facile acceptance of things, ever reached; though there can be no doubt that Pierson's muddled amateurishness contrasts extremely badly with the other's polished skill. Nearly every one would much rather listen to Bennett's orchestral writings than to Pierson's; but to the student of artistic psychology the latter is on the whole the most interesting figure of mid-Victorian music.

The charge of amateurism came largely from English critics, not from those in Germany (a topic which Nicholas Temperley explored in two Musical Times articles, 1973-74) -

It is certainly strange that Germany, the country of the professional musician par excellence, should treat Pierson as an accomplished professional composer of 'solid abilities', while England, which has given more support to amateurism than any other nation on earth, has labelled him an amateur and cast him aside.

[albion]

One of the more substantial manuscripts which has survived is -

Salve eternum, a Roman dirge for soprano, bass, chorus and orchestra, published in vocal score as Op.30 (Ewer & Co., 1853) but designated Op.32 on the manuscript (dated Hamburg, November 1850) -

this is in the library of the Royal College of Music, London (RCM MS 502).

[Jimfin]

One presumes that his younger brother was Canon Hugh Pearson 1817-82, Canon of St. George's Windsor and Vicar of Sonning, though Wikipedia fails to note the connection.

[albion]

One presumes that his younger brother was Canon Hugh Pearson 1817-82, Canon of St. George's Windsor and Vicar of Sonning, though Wikipedia fails to note the connection.

Yes, Pierson had three brothers, all of whom entered the Church in some capacity -

Charles Buchanan Pearson (1807–1881), born at Elmdon, Warwickshire, graduated BA from Oriel College, Oxford, with a second class in literae humaniores in 1828. He took orders in 1830, and in November 1838 became rector of Knebworth, Hertfordshire, where he became friendly with the first Lord Lytton. Besides a paper entitled 'Hymns and hymn-writers', contributed to Oxford Essays for 1858, and Latin Translations of English Hymns (1862), he published Sequences from the Sarum Missal, with English Translations (1871), and A Lost Chapter in the History of Bath (1877). He was a competent hymnist. His wife was Harriet Elizabeth Pinkerton; they had two boys. He died at home, 2 Catharine Place, Bath, on 7 January 1881, survived by his wife. (ODNB)

William Henley Pearson-Jervis (1813–1883), ecclesiastical historian, second son of Hugh Nicholas Pearson (1776–1856), dean of Salisbury from 1823 to 1846, and his wife, Sarah Maria Elliott (1781–1858), was born on 29 June 1813 at Oxford. He was brother of Henry Hugo Pierson, Charles Buchanan Pearson [see under Pearson, Hugh Nicholas], and Hugh Pearson. In 1824 he was sent to a preparatory school at Mitcham, Surrey, whence he was removed two years later to Harrow School. He distinguished himself at Harrow, but, unfortunately, at the sacrifice of his health. In 1831 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, but a severe illness from a spinal complaint threw him back a year in his course of study. He spent his enforced leisure cultivating a strong natural taste for music and singing. In June 1835 he graduated BA (MA 1838); in July of the following year he was ordained deacon, and in 1837 was instituted to the rectory of St Nicholas, Guildford. He was appointed by his father, then dean of Salisbury, a prebendary of the collegiate church of Heytesbury, Wiltshire. In 1848 he married Martha Jervis (d. 1888), daughter of Osborne Markham and granddaughter of William Markham, archbishop of York. His wife's mother was a great-niece of John Jervis, the earl of St Vincent, and on her death in 1865 Pearson assumed the surname of Jervis.

Owing to the delicate state of his health, Jervis and his wife lived abroad for six years (November 1856 to July 1862), chiefly in the south of France and in Paris. Here he studied, in the archives of Pau, Bayonne, and other places, as well as in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, the memoirs and documents illustrating the ecclesiastical history of France. The fruit of these labours appeared in 1872 as A History of the Church of France from the Concordat of Bologna to the Revolution (2 vols.). Ten years later he published a sequel, The Gallican Church and the French Revolution. He also published The Student's History of France (1862) and other works. Jervis's books on church history were subsequently presented by his widow to the London Library. He never quite rallied from the loss of his brother, Hugh Pearson (1817–1882), vicar of Sonning, Berkshire, and canon of Windsor, and died on 27 January 1883 at his home, 28 Holland Park, London. He was buried in Sonning churchyard, near his brother. His widow died on 8 March 1888. (ODNB)

Hugh Pearson (1817–1882), was born on 25 June 1817, and graduated MA from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1841. He was in the same year appointed vicar of Sonning in Berkshire, a preferment which he held until his death. He was rural dean of Henley-on-Thames from 1864 to 1874, and of Sonning from 1874 to 1876; he was appointed chaplain to the bishop of Manchester in 1870, was created a canon of Windsor in 1876, and, on the death of his closest friend, A. P. Stanley, became deputy clerk of the closet to the queen.

By nature excessively retiring, and undogmatic to the extreme limits of latitudinarianism, Pearson was a notable figure within the church; while, outside it, his character endeared him to people of every rank in life. He was an excellent preacher, but would not allow his sermons to be printed; and though he had an extraordinary knowledge of literature, he never dreamed for a moment of becoming an author. Much of his emotional life centred on A. P. Stanley. He frequently accompanied Stanley abroad, and was with him in Italy just before Stanley's marriage and his decision to accept the deanery of Westminster in 1863; he was present at Stanley's deathbed on 18 July 1881. He declined an invitation to succeed Stanley in the deanery at Westminster, on the ground that he wished to remain what he had always been—a private person. He died at Sonning, unmarried, on 13 April 1882, and was buried in Sonning churchyard, on 18 April. There is a memorial to him in that church. (ODNB)


It is probable that one of the brothers took charge of Henry's manuscripts, but there doesn't seem to be any further documentation regarding what subsequently happened to them.

[Jimfin]

Thank you again for that. So nice to fill in some knowledge about him.

[Balapoel]

Chamber

    La Dame de vos pensées, grande nocturne, vc, pf (c1870)

Opera/Incidental Music

   Musik zu Goethe's Faust, zweiter Theil (incid music), 1854, Hamburg, Stadt, 25 March 1854 (Mainz, 1858)
   Der Elfensieg, oder Die Macht des Glaubens (Feenoper, 3, C. Pierson), Brno, 7 May 1845, unpubd
   Lelia (romantische Oper, 3, C. Pierson, after her Schneewittchen), Hamburg, 22 Feb 1848, unpubd
   Contarini, oder Die Verschwörung zu Padua (grosse Oper, 5, M.E. Lindau), 1853, Hamburg, 16 April 1872, unpubd; revived as Fenice, Dessau, 1883

Orchestral

   Romantische Ouvertüre, D, orch (Vienna, c1850)
   Die Jungfrau von Orleans, ov., orch, op.101, 1867 (1872)
86   Romeo and Juliet, ov., orch, op.86 (1874)
   As you Like it, ov., orch, London, Crystal Palace, 17 Jan 1874
54   Macbeth, sym. poem, op.54, orch (1859)

Piano

   Musical Meditations, 3 romances, pf (London, 1844); ed. in LPS, xvi (1985)
   Hamlet, marche funèbre, pf (1850)

Vocal (choral)

9   6 Gesänge, chorus, pf ad lib (Dresden, c1843): Grablied, Die Heimath, An den Tod, Das Vaterland, Lied des Trostes, Nacht
   Now the bright morning star (J. Milton), ode, chorus, pf (London, c1850)
30   O Deutschland hoch in Ehren (Beharrlich!) (L. Bauer), Volkshymne, male vv (c1860)
31   2 Männerchöre (c1860): Kein schön'rer Tod, Der Liedertafeln Ständchen
32   3 Gesänge (c1860): Die Stimme der Zeit, Wie schlummert sanft, Sag' mir, du vielgeliebtes Herz
35   2 Männerchöre (1862): Reiterlied vor der Schlacht (Bauer), Des Helden Braut (C. Pierson, after V. Alfieri)
37   Der deutsche Männergesang (c1862)
   Germania (Bauer), male vv (1862)
42   Zu den Waffen, male vv, pf (c1864)
43   Einladung in den Wald, male vv (1864)
   Des Waldes Wiegenlied (Vienna, c1864)
   4 Männerchöre (in Tauwitz's Deutsches Liederbuch, Prague, 1865): Erklang dein traulich Wiegenlied, Liedergruss, Ein deutscher Kaufherr, An die Todten
73   2 Männerchöre (c1869): Süss und leis (Der Fischerin Wiegenlied) (after A. Tennyson), Vertraue nur der reichen Gnade (Beruhigung) (F. Dahn)
   Communion Service, F, chorus, org (London, 1870)
   Te Deum, Benedictus, F, chorus, org (London, 1870)
   60 hymn tunes (London, 1870–72)
   Te Deum, Bb, 3 vv, org (London, 1872)
   Hurrah for Merry England (B. Cornwall), 1v, chorus, pf (London, 1880)

Vocal (songs)

   Thoughts of Melody: 10 Canzonetts (London, 1839, 2/1852): There be none of beauty's daughters (Byron); Beware of the black friar (Byron); Maid of Athens, ere we part (Byron); The isles of Greece (Byron); When we two parted (Byron); Under the greenwood tree (W. Shakespeare); Go, you may call it madness (S. Rogers); Had I a cave on some far distant shore (R. Burns); Maiden, weep, thy mantle round thee (H. Kirke White); When lovely woman stoops to folly, cavatina (O. Goldsmith)
   [5] Characteristic Songs of Shelley (London, 1840): The odour from the flower is gone (On a Faded Violet); Arethusa arose; Swiftly walk over the western wave (Invocation to Night); Sacred goddess, mother earth (Hymn to Proserpine); False friend, wilt thou smile or weep? (Song of Beatrice Cenci)
   Rheinlied (N. Becker), Leipzig, 2 Dec 1840
   2 Lieder (Wahl, after Shelley) (1841): Dein Bild im Traum erweckt (Indisches Ständchen); Windsbraut, du Klägerin (Herbstgrablied); Eng. trans. as Serenade, An Autumn Dirge (London, 1852)
7   6 Lieder (F. Freiligrath, after Burns) (1842): Die finstre Nacht (Die Ayren-Ufer); Nun holt mir eine Kanne Wein (Soldatenlied); Mein Herz ist im Hochland (Des Jägers Heimweh), later pubd with hn obbl; John Anderson, mein Lieb, B; O säh' ich auf der Heide (Liebe), P; Die süsse Dirn (Die Maid von Inverness)
12   2 Lieder (Dresden, c1843): Wohl glücklich ist (Sängers Glück); Die alten bösen Lieder (Romanze) (? H. Heine)
   All my heart's thine own (London, 1844), later pubd as All mein Herz, op.22 no.2, P, B
   O fairy child (Wilson), cavatina (London, 1844)
   O listen while I sing to thee (M. Shelley), canzonet (London, 1844)
22.1   Verrathene Liebe (A. von Chamisso) (c1845)
   Durch alle Auen ist's gedrungen (Elegie, den Manen F. Mendelssohn Bartholdys) (C. Pierson) (Hamburg, 1847)
   Ein Blick (Schlönbach), dramatic romance (Hamburg, c1847)
   Erscheinung (Schlönbach) (Hamburg, c1847)
   Liebesübermuth (L. Tieck) (Dresden, c1847)
   Mondlied (J.W. von Goethe) (Dresden, c1847)
   Der Heimat fern mit nassem Blick (Heimweh) (C. Beck) (Vienna, c1848), later pubd as op.41, P
   Es war dein erster Kuss (Marie) (E. Janinski) (Hamburg, c1848)
   O meine schönste Hoffnung (An Madonna Consolatrice) (Vienna, c1848)
   Wenn der kalte Schnee zergangen (Der Schnee) (J. Eichendorff) (Vienna, c1848)
   Wenn in Lenz die Berge grünen (Weinlied) (C. Pierson) (Vienna, c1848)
   Schlachtgetös' ist meine Lust (Vor der Schlacht) (Vienna, c1850)
23   4 Lieder (c1851): Es schlafen rings die Haine (Ruhe), P; Wiegenlied; Nähe der Geliebten; Ach, wenn du wär'st mein Eigen (An die Geliebte), P
26   4 Lieder (c1852), P: Kehrt nie die Lieblichkeit (Erste Liebe); Sie schwuren sich kein Liebeseide (Die Liebenden) (Beck); Bleibt, o bleibt ihr Lippen ferne (Lieb und Leid) (after Shakespeare), B; Willst kommen zur Laube?
27   2 Lieder (1853), P: O weine nicht, du holdes Kind (An Henriette); Tief wohnt in mir (Treue Liebe) (after Byron)
28   2 Lieder (c1854); P: O Abendglocken, Abendhall (C. Pierson, after T. Moore), B; Wo die Myrthen ewig blüh'n (Sehnsucht nach Italien)
   Viribus unitis (Oestreichs Wahlspruch) (Vienna, c1855)
29   2 Lieder (1859), P: Ich hatt' einen Cameraden (Der gute Camerad) (L. Uhland); Nun schmückt die Rosse (Der Malteser Ritter) (Freiligrath)
33   6 Concert-Lieder (c1861): Sie gleicht der wundervollen Nacht (Das Portrait) (after Byron), P; Wo Claribel tief lieget (Claribel) (C. Pierson, after Tennyson), P; Du tratest in mein dunkles Leben (Mein Glück) (after Lamartine), P; Wenn durch die Piazzetta (Ninetta) (Freiligrath, after Moore), P; Der Eichwald brauset (Thekla's Klage) (F. von Schiller), P; Die Zauberin
34   2 Lieder (c1861): Ständchen; Elegie
   Der beste Schütz (H. Marggraf), ballad (c1862)
40   2 Gesänge für tiefe Stimme (1863), P: Lass die Rose schlummern (An der Nachtwind) (R. Hamerling); Es war die Zeit der Rosen (C. Held)
44   4 Lieder (c1864): In Venedig, barcarolle; O komm zu mir (E. Geibel, after Moore), serenade, P; Roland der Held! (Freiligrath, after T. Campbell), ballade, P; Mein Lieb ist eine rothe Ros' (Freiligrath, after Burns), P
   Geh, wo Ruhm dir zuwinkt (Vienna, c1864)
   Holkisches Reiterlied (Vienna, c1864)
60   2 Gesänge (c1865): Rastlos Herz will Ruhm erjagen (F. Seebach, after Cornwall); Sängers Vorüberziehen (Uhland)
61   Über fremde Gräber (Der Friedhof) (F. Dingelstedt), aria, B solo, pf (c1865)
62   Der Burgwall glänzt (Das Hifthorn) (Bauer, after Tennyson), romance (c1865)
63   3 Gedichte von Shakespeare (c1865): Sagt, woher stammt Liebeslust?; Wer ist Sylvia?; Fürchte nicht meine Sonnengluth, B
64   O du, mein alles auf der Welt (F. Oser) (c1865)
65   2 religiöse Gesänge (c1865): Birg mich unter deinen Flügeln (Gebet) (Oser); Der Himmel bringt die Ruhe nur (Freiligrath, after Moore)
   4 songs in Tauwitz's Deutsches Liederbuch (Prague, 1865): Gebet für das Reich; Von der Koppe; Die Dorfglocke; Beim Friedhof
89   2 zweistimmige Lieder, 2vv, pf (c1867): Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh' (Goethe); Frühling im Herbst (Bauer)
95   3 Gesänge (1868): Hörst du nicht die Quellen gehen (Nachtzauber) (Eichendorff); Das macht das dunkelgrüne Laub' (Herbst); Wenn's Kätzchen heimkehrt (Die weisse Eul') (C. Pierson, after Tennyson), P, B
81   O lieb', so lang' du lieben kannst (Freiligrath) (c1869)
90   2 Lieder (after I. Hill) (c1870): Wie gern ich doch (Liebesträumen); Im hellen, klaren Mondenschein (Ständchen), P
   Die Rose wendet ihr (Traum und Liebe) (A. Bube), 1871, OO. Neighbour's private collection, London
   Das schlafende Kind (c1875)

Vocal (voices and orchestra)

   Salve eternum (B. Lytton), int, S, B, chorus, orch, 1850, vs (London, 1853), GB-Lcm
   Ave Maria (Offertorium), 1v, orch/pf (Vienna, c1850)
   Jerusalem, orat, solo, vv, chorus, orch (London, 1852), as op.100 (c1877)
66   Mein Herz ist schwer (F. Kohlhauer, after Burns), concert aria, 1v, orch (c1865)
   Hezekiah, orat, solo vv, chorus, orch, unfinished, perf. Norwich Festival, 1869
69   Zu Ross, zu Ross (Sturmritt) (F. Löwe), 1v, pf/orch (c1870)

[albion]

In the Landesbibliothek, Coburg, and written under another of Pierson's pseudonyms, Edgar Mannsfeldt Pierson is

Leila, overture to the opera, first version (Ms Mus 369)

This is clearly a substantial overture in G minor and is dedicated to Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Queen Victoria's consort). It is scored for 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, bass trombone, bombardon, timpani, triangle and strings.

I've also tracked the manuscript parts (covering the orchestra and chorus) for Leila to the University Library (Carl von Ossietzky Music Department) in Hamburg. These contain a different overture, this time in C minor.



This, however, raises the problem of whether or not there is also material for the vocal soloists.

[Jimfin]

You people are amazing! You give me hope in a year when the Diamond Jubilee is being marked by a "pop" concert.

[albion]

I have contacted Nicholas Temperley at the University of Illinois, one of the few musicologists to give any attention to Pierson and the contributor of the article in Grove which states that Pierson's operas have not been located.

Hopefully, further investigation may lead (in the absence of a vocal score) to the possible performance of any orchestral music from Leila, including the overture(s), that might be extractable.