Anne Lister's Musical Education

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

To say that Anne Lister had an inquiring mind is an understatement. The title ‘polymath’ is justly assigned to her but, at a time when education for girls and young women was usually limited to subjects that could be drawn upon in polite conversation or occupations that would be useful or entertaining like sewing or music, it is interesting to see how Anne acquired her vast knowledge of subjects as diverse as Ancient Greek and Mechanics. Having closely studied Anne’s music collection, my particular interest is discovering how she developed a passion for, and an intellectual engagement with, a topic that was mostly considered to be a female ‘accomplishment’ in contemporary society as outlined in great detail by Jane Austen through the voice of Caroline Bingley:

A musical child

Archival material seems to suggest that Anne had natural talent and was a musical child. Being a bit of a handful and describing herself often as ‘a pickle’ she tells us how her father, ‘sent me early to school’ (Lister - 30th October 1818). From this first experience of education at the school of Mrs Hague and Mrs Chettles in Ripon, it is not surprising to hear how she wins a silver pen as a prize for writing, but it is perhaps a little more unexpected to hear that at just eight years of age, Anne is quite an exceptional dancer. This seems at odds with the popular description of her being a ‘tomboy’. In a letter to Aunt Martha at Shibden Hall from Market Weighton, Rebecca Lister describes both the award and how,

There is clear evidence that Anne’s love for music is already being formed into quite a skill as, by 1803, aged just twelve, we discover she is an accomplished keyboard player. At the end of another letter Anne sends to her Aunt Anne, Rebecca Lister adds the following postscript: 

Further confirmation of Anne’s contact with Camidge can be seen in her music collection, which contains a number of his keyboard works, and one is even hand signed by him. We don’t know the form that music lessons would have taken, but most likely there would have been elements of music theory and practical tuition on, most probably, the piano. Incidentally, Anne meets Dr. Camidge’s brother during her trip to Russia in 1839, where he is preaching to a congregation of around 70 in Moscow.  

With a teacher of the calibre of Camidge, Anne would have had a first-class grounding in keyboard technique but, as we know, Anne’s time at The Manor School was short. Short, but very sweet, since it led to her first taste of love and intimacy in the form of Eliza Raine. I believe that it is Anne’s separation from Eliza Raine that prompts the explosion of music making represented by her two remaining music books of 1806 and 1807, in the same way that Eliza’s departure after a visit to the Listers seems to have prompted the commencement of the early informal journal, although we cannot be entirely sure that Anne’s journaling did not start earlier. 

It is easy to see how music could have been an intellectual distraction and emotional outlet at this time of passion and loss. After a period of intense closeness, sharing a room and never being out of each other’s company in their attic refuge, separate from the other parlour boarders, the only way they could communicate beyond meeting during the holidays, was through letters but also through music. In her journal, Anne often talks of sending and receiving pieces of music in the manner of love tokens, and titles such as ‘Absence’ clearly sum up her feelings.

Independent study

Once no longer in formal education, Anne sets into motion a system of self-education. This includes music and, in typical Anne style, she surrounds herself with the best that Halifax has to offer. It is easy to think that, in a provincial, industrial town such as this, Anne would struggle to find the quality she needed, but the contrary is true.

For general studies, we hear of Rev. Samuel Knight M.A., with whom she learned arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, rhetoric, Latin and Greek. Knight was a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Minister of Halifax Parish Church after previously preaching at Holy Trinity, Halifax. There is also mention of the Miss Mellins’ School. Established in 1788, by sisters Hannah and Grace Mellin, it boasted Dorothy Wordsworth as one of its pupils but doesn’t sound the sort of establishment that Anne would have relished if this extract from an advertisement dated 17th December 1788, is anything to go by: 

In fact, her opinion on such education is made clear in this journal entry: 

It was one-on-one learning of an exceptional standard that Anne managed to find whilst living at Shibden Hall, in both music and art. The standard of the keyboard and vocal music in Anne’s collection, and the plethora of intelligently worked out pencil annotations, clearly show us that music was far more than a mere ‘accomplishment’ for her and that she required serious tutoring. Anne found this with Mr. Stopford, organist of Halifax Parish Church. He had taught the spinet to Anne’s Aunts Martha and Anne in their youth, showing us a strong thread of music running through the Lister family (Lister 19th May 1772).

Stopford was one of the cornerstones of a town that was described by Charles Dibdin³ as, ‘The most musical spot for its size in the kingdom’, as he passed through on his musical tour of the north in March 1788. He did rather spoil the picture by going on to describe the place as a ‘black, dismal town (with) very few people of any consequence’⁴. Dibdin couldn’t be further from the truth though since not only had Stopford’s predecessor been William Herschel of astronomy fame, but the ‘people of consequence’ in the town were making it a thriving musical environment. The burgeoning merchant classes formed from the prosperous textile industry, had the money and leisure time to form significant musical societies in the district. Familiar figures such as the Priestleys, Joseph Edwards of Pye Nest, William Walker of Crow Nest, and Samuel Rawson were all members of The Halifax Harmonic Society founded in 1792 to promote, ‘the discussion of and appreciation of music and musical performance by playing and non-playing members’. At the inaugural meeting of this Society, at The Old Cock Inn on 31st January 1792, Thomas Stopford was appointed President. It seems that Stopford was true to the values of the Society in promoting various talks and meetings, some of which we know Anne attended.  

Anne’s music collection contains almost exclusively keyboard music and songs, so it is possible that Mr. Stopford is probably the key musical educator in her life. Anne’s lessons with him are regular and he attends her at Shibden Hall to teach on the harpsichord there, an instrument he was also engaged to tune. An instrument that would have been considered rather old fashioned by then, having been superseded in many homes by the very affordable square piano. If the collection is anything to go by, during the years 1806 and 1807, Anne learned pieces of great difficulty, but we shouldn’t necessarily consider them all to be ‘Classical,’ despite being written in the 19th Century. These pieces cover numerous genres, from popular to folk, dance, ballads, love songs and military. Just as Anne turns to the spoken word in the form of her journals, so she does in music and 2/3rds of the second book is made up of songs, many of which speak directly to her relationship with Eliza Raine, such as The Friend of my heart, and Ma chere amie. Others have wonderfully prophetic titles from productions such as The Mountaineers and The Heiress.

Anne Lister’s self-study continues beyond her paid lessons and her journals show her more ‘scientific’ approach to music, something usually encouraged in men to avoid the more feminine connotations of the art⁶. On 25th May 1818, for example, she records reading two instructional manuals on keyboard playing; Clementi’s Introduction to playing the piano, ‘a mine of musical wealth’, and Millers Institutes of music, which recommends teaching the theory in classes. Even more academic though is a volume she refers to as ‘Dibden’s ‘Music Epitomized’’ (Lister 3rd June 1818). This is a class text book with the full title, ‘Music Epitomized: a School Book; in Which the Whole Science of Music is Completely Explained, from the Simplest Rudiments to the most Complex Principles of Harmony, even to Composition and the Writing down of Ideas’. I managed to track down a copy and it is a superb primer in music theory that could serve well today. I particularly like the families of notes depicted as leaves on little trees! 

It is a system that divided the teaching community, but Stopford was heavily in favour and decided to go into partnership with a Mr. Houldsworth who had returned from London after instruction, and together they opened an Academy at Ward’s End in Halifax (Lister 28th May 1818)⁷. It is certainly an entrepreneurial thing to do considering that this was a time when the development of the square piano meant the instrument was affordable to a much wider demographic with the rise of the Merchant Class who wanted to show off their wealth. 

With the seeds of the Industrial Revolution taking root, makers could produce these instruments cheaply and quickly but even some of the biggest manufacturers could not keep up with demand for pianos. Broadwood is reported to have written to his wholesaler, “Would to God that we could make them like muffins”⁸. Halifax could also boast having one of less than a handful of makers of these instruments in England that were based outside of London, Pohlman. Pohlman is even influential enough to play a part in encouraging the world-famous violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini to perform at The Harrison Lane Assembly Rooms on 9th February 1832. In typical Anne style, she arms herself with the facts about Logier before deciding whether his concept is a good idea and, beginning around May of 1818, she reads and discusses the subject extensively, weighing up the claims made by the inventor in his pamphlet, ‘An Exposition of the musical system of Mr. Logier with strictures on his chiroplast’. Anne seems to come out in favour and buys tickets to watch Mr. Stopford’s pupils being examined by Logier himself (Lister 30th December 1818). I’m sure that the thought of taking a piano exam in public would fill many of us with horror but it appeared to be the norm here. 

“…then Mr. Sugden came – went upstairs for 5 minutes and heard him play a couple of airs without book – He said he was a very bad player without book that his flute was very dry, he had not touched it of 3 weeks – I complimented him highly and as far as I could judge, he deserved it – his tone and taste both good, particularly the former – I asked his terms of teaching – A guinea a quarter for 1 lesson a week and a guinea and ½ per quarter for 2 lessons per week – He is quite self-taught – He was a fustian cutter by trade, but this grew so bad, he gave it up, and, being a single man, supports himself by teaching, singing, the flute, or French horn, and writing out music for anyone – I rather think his living is but spare -…”

15th May 1817 (SH:7/ML/E/1/0009)