"I'd be a butterfly": the ballads of Butterfly Bayly

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Thomas Haynes Bayly
Born	(1797-10-13)13 October 1797
Died	22 April 1839(1839-04-22) (aged 41)
Nationality	English
Occupation	poet, songwriter, dramatist and miscellaneous writer

 

 

Thomas Haynes Bayly (13 October 1797 – 22 April 1839) was an English poet, songwriter, dramatist, and miscellaneous writer.

 

The son of a wealthy lawyer in Bath, Thomas Haynes Bayly intends to become an attorney like his father.

 

He changes his mind and thought of entering the church.

 

He abandons this idea also and gives himself to writing for the stage and the periodical press.

 

"Butterfly" (as he was known) Bayly is chiefly known for his songs (of which he wrote hundreds) -- notably, "I'd be a butterfly" -- which, set to the music of Bishop and other eminent composers, found universal acceptance in the universe.

 

Some were set to his own music -- "and some were not", he would add.

 

Butterfly Bayly also writes several novels and a number of farces -- where 'farce' is hyperbolic.

 

Although making a large income from his writings, in addition to that of his wife, he encounters (if you can believe this) financial problems.

 

His best known songs include

 

Old House at Home

I'd be a Butterfly

Oh, no, we never mention him

She wore a Wreath of Roses

The Mistletoe Bough, and

Long, Long Ago.

 

Besides for Thomas Moore (1779-1852), who in any case is Irish, Bayly is regarded as the most popular song writer of his English time.

Songs

"Gaily the Troubadour touched his Guitar"

"I'd Be a Butterfly"

"I'll hang my Harp on a Willow Tree"

"The Mistletoe Bough"

"Oh, no! We Never Mention Her"

"Oh, Pilot! 'tis a Fearful Night"

"She wore a Wreath of Roses"

"We Met, 'twas in a Crowd"

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
Songs and Ballads, Grave and Gay

[edit] External links

• Short bio of the composer along with MIDI & lyrics for Long, Long Ago
• Free scores by Thomas Haynes Bayly at the International Music Score Library Project
• Sheet music for "The Mother of the Soldier Boy", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, 1864. From Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection.

Authority control VIAF: 27808896

Persondata
Name	Bayly, Thomas Haynes
Alternative names
Short description	English poet, songwriter, dramatist, and writer
Date of birth	13 October 1797
Place of birth
Date of death	22 April 1839
Place of death

   

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Categories:

• 1797 births
• 1839 deaths
• English songwriters
• English poets

Mackay/Russell, "There's a good time coming"

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There's a Good Time Coming is a popular poem written by Charles Mackay and set to music by Henry Russell.

It was one of that composer of popular music's best-known works in the middle of the nineteenth century.

there's a good time coming
boys
a good time coming:
we may not live to see the day
but earth shall glisten in the ray
of the good time coming
cannon balls may aid the truth
but thought's a weapon stronger
we'll win our battle with its aid
wait a little longer.

Independent testimony quoted by John Dodds indicates that the song was popular with new immigrants to the United States.

It is recorded as being sung on the emigrant ships as they approached New York Harbour.

the pen shall supersede the sword
& right not might shall be the lord
in the good time coming
worth not truth shall rule mankind
& be acknowledged stronger...

      

Categories:

• British poems

Russell's "A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE"

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"A Life on the Ocean Wave" is a poem-turned-song by Epes Sargent published in 1838 and set to music by Henry Russell.

One day, Epes Sargent and Henry Russell were walking on The Battery in New York City watching the ships enter the harbour.

This scene inspired Sargent to write a poem, which Henry Russell then put to music.

The song soon became popular in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

At an 1851 celebration in Salem, Massachusetts, the Boston Cadet Band gives the new clipper ship Witch of the Wave a lively sendoff by striking up "A Life on the Ocean Wave" as the USS R. B. Forbes towed the new clipper out to set sail for Boston.


In 1882, the Deputy Adjutant General Royal Marines requested that the Band Master of each Royal Marine Division (Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham) submit an arrangement for a new regimental march for the corps, if possible based on a naval song.

Kappey, the Bandmaster of the Chatham Division, submits an arrangement of "A Life on the Ocean Wave", with an eight bar trio from "The Sea" by Sigismund Neukomm, which was authorised for use as the regimental quick march of the Corps of Royal Marines in 1882.

In the United States, it is the official march of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

The tune, played by the Band of the Royal Marines, is played over the opening credits of the 1992 BBC television film An Ungentlemanly Act, about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.

 

^ Cleaveland, Nancy (2009). "Pioneer Girl, Fact and Fiction of Laura Ingalls Wilder, A to Z". http://www.pioneergirl.com/index.htm?songs_oceanwave.htm&Bot_Frame. Retrieved Sept. 13, 2010.

 

^ Clark, Arthur H. (1910). The Clipper Ship Era, An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews, 1843-1869. Camden, ME: G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 166–169. http://books.google.com/books?id=HVYuAAAAYAAJ&dq=clipper%20%22witch%20of%20the%20wave%22&pg=PA168#v=onepage&q=clipper%20%22witch%20of%20the%20wave%22&f=false.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: A Life on the Ocean Wave

[edit] External links

• United Kingdom Military March, A Life on the Ocean Wave, Video and music by a military band from the United Kingdom
• Thurl Ravenscroft-- Life On The Ocean Waves, Video with music and pictures
• A Life on the Ocean Wave, Sound clip and links to sheet music, as featured in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book By the Shores of Silver Lake

       

Categories:

• British patriotic songs
• Royal Marines
• Royal Marines Band Service
• Military marches

THE BALLADS OF THE GREAT HENRY RUSSELL

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Henry Russell

Henry Russell (24 December 1812 or 1813 – 8 December 1900) was an English pianist, tenor singer and composer.

 

In an eventful life on both sides of the Atlantic, Russell wrote the songs "A Life on the Ocean Wave" and the tune to George Pope Morris's poem Woodman, Spare that Tree while living in United States from 1835 to 1841, before settling in London to produce musical extravaganzas until he retired in 1857.

Many of his songs championed social causes like abolition, temperance, and reform of mental asylums.

Russell was born in Sheerness, Kent, a great-nephew of the British Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschel.

Henry Russell began his career as a child singer in Elliston’s Children’s Opera company -- he had studied singing in Italy with Vincenzo Bellini.

While playing the organ at the Presbyterian church in Rochester, New York Russell discovers that sacred music, played quickly, "makes the best kind of secular music".

Old Hundredth, played very fast, becomes the music for "Get Out of de Way, Ol' Dan Tucker".

Russell's song The Fine Old English Gentleman^[1] 1831 was made fun of ^[2] ten years later by Charles Dickens in his identically titled song.

In 1841, Russell returns to his native England and performs at the posh Hanover Square Rooms in London with instant success.

Many of his songs were written to lyrics by Charles Mackay, including "There's a Good Time Coming", "Cheer, Boys, Cheer", and "To The West".

The Hutchinson Family Singers were fans of Russell's work and performed several of his tunes, including "The Maniac" and "The Ship On Fire."

After retirement, Russell lived partly in France, partly in England.

His first wife was Christian.

His second wife was, like hisself (sic) Jewish and their family (including their sons, conductor Sir Landon Ronald and impresario Henry Russell) was raised in the Jewish religion.

Russell's portrait was painted by the British painter Walter Goodman and displayed in London at the Institute of Oil Painters in 1889 and at The Grafton Galleries in 1897.

The Jewish Chronicle of 21 May that year describes the painting as depicting Russell hale and hearty with flowing beard.

Henry Russell died in London, aged 86.

A detailed biography, A Life on the Ocean Wave: The Story of Henry Russell by Andrew Lamb, was published by Fullers Wood Press in 2007.

 

	Woodman! Spare that Tree!
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[edit] References

1. ^ [1] ingeb.org
2. ^ [2] C.Rumens, The Guardian online 2012

[edit] External links

• The Music of Henry Russell
• Derek B. Scott sings "Woodman, Spare That Tree!"
• Free scores by Henry Russell in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Henry Russell at the International Music Score Library Project
• "Russell, Henry". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.

Authority control VIAF: 19566001

Persondata
Name	Russell, Henry
Alternative names
Short description	English pianist, baritone singer and composer
Date of birth	24 December 1812/3
Place of birth	Sheerness, Kent, United Kingdom
Date of death	8 December 1900
Place of death	London

      

Categories:

• 1812 births
• 1900 deaths
• Jewish composers and songwriters
• English Jews
• English songwriters
• American songwriters

Hidden categories:

• Use dmy dates from May 2012
• Use British English from May 2012
• Articles needing additional references from November 2010
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THE ANGLO-ITALIAN connection: Henry Russell, student of BELLINI

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BUTTERFLY BOWER, Chessell, on the Southampton

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Bayly:

I'D BE A BUTTERFLY BORN IN A BOWER
where roses & lilies & violets meet
roving for ever from flower to flower &
KISSING ALL BUDS THAT ARE PRETTY & SWEET
I'd never languish for wealth or for power,
I'd never sigh to see slaves at my feet
I'D BE A BUTTERFLY BORN IN A BOWER
KISSING ALL BUDS THAT ARE PRETTY & SWEET


The lyrics were written on impulse as Bayly watchs a butterfly fluttering about in the summer-house of Lord Ashtown's villa at Chessell, on the Southampton River.

The summer-house was later re-decorated and named "Butterfly Bower" in honour of the magnificent and memorable occasion for the history of English music.

Boudoir Songs

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BAYLY, "Songs from the Boudoir"

boudoir (n.)

1777, a room where a lady may retire to be alone.

From French boudoir (18c.), lit. "pouting room"

From "bouder", "to pout, sulk," which, like pout, probably ultimately is imitative of puffing.