Editing Richard Leveridge

{{Short description|English singer and composer (1670–1758)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Richard Leveridge
| image               = Leveridge composer.jpg
| caption             = ''Portrait of Richard Leveridge'', Engraved by J. Saunders, After [[Thomas Frye]] (circa 1710–1762)  
| image_size          =
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1670|07|19}}
| birth_place         = [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]], [[London]], United Kingdom
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1758|03|22|1670|07|19}}
| death_place         = [[Holborn]], London, United Kingdom
| origin              = 
| alias               = Richard Leueridge
| instrument          = [[Bass (voice type)|bass]]
| genre               = [[baroque music]]
| occupation          = Singer, composer
| years_active        = 1695–1753
| label               =
| associated_acts     =  
| website             =
| current_members     =
| past_members        =
}}
'''Richard Leveridge''' (or '''Leueridge''') (19 July 1670 – 22 March 1758) was an English [[Bass (voice type)|bass]] singer of the London stage and a composer of [[baroque music]], including many popular songs.

==Life==
Richard Leveridge was born in the parish of [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]], London, in 1670, and in 1695 became the leading bass singer in the [[United Company]] managed by [[Christopher Rich (theatre manager)|Christopher Rich]] at Drury Lane, after the defection of several leading singers from Rich's company.<ref>O. Baldwin and T. Wilson, 'Richard Leveridge, 1670–1758. 1: Purcell and the Dramatic Operas', ''Musical Times'' Vol. 111, No. 1528 (June 1970), pp. 592–594.</ref> His first important role of which anything is known was as the magician Ismeron in [[Henry Purcell]]'s opera ''[[The Indian Queen (opera)|The Indian Queen]]'', which included the aria "Ye twice ten hundred deities".<ref>[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O007827?q=Leveridge&hbutton_search.x=0&hbutton_search.y=0&hbutton_search=search&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1 ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'': "Leveridge, Richard"]</ref><ref>See also 'An account of Richard Leveridge (with a portrait)', ''The European Magazine and London Review'' October 1793, pp. 243–44, and November 1793, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iMMPAAAAQAAJ&dq=Leveridge&pg=PA363 pp. 363–64].</ref> Purcell himself remained loyal to the company, and for several months Leveridge worked closely with him. It is likely that "Arise, ye subterranean winds" in the music (attributed to Purcell) for ''The Tempest'' was written for him. After Purcell's death he continued to work with composers [[Daniel Purcell]] and [[Jeremiah Clarke]], and took a leading part in Clarke's Ode upon the death of Mr Purcell at Drury Lane.<ref>Baldwin and Wilson, June 1970, p. 523.</ref> Leveridge also composed, and in February 1699 all three provided music for [[Peter Anthony Motteux|Motteux]]'s adaptation of [[John Fletcher (playwright)|Fletcher]]'s ''[[The Island Princess]]'', in which Leveridge's performance, particularly his 'Enthusiastick Song',<ref>L.M. Middleton, [[s:Leveridge, Richard (DNB00)|Old D.N.B., 'Leveridge, Richard']].</ref> engendered great enthusiasm among its hearers.<ref>K. Lowerre, ''Music and Musicians on the London Stage, 1695-1705'' (Ashgate/Routledge, London and New York 2009/2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Dy8rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 pp. 231-32] (Google).</ref>

At various times between 1697 and 1728 Leveridge published volumes of his own songs, and numerous single items including his popular theatre songs appeared as separate printed sheets throughout his career. After a spell in [[Dublin]] he returned to London in 1702 for a revival of ''The Island Princess'' and a new production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' billed as "with music Vocal and Instrumental, all new Composed by Mr Leveridge". He sang the role of [[Hecate]] in this work for nearly 50 years, and the music remained popular for more than a century after his death.<ref>R. E. Moore, 'The Music to Macbeth', ''Musical Quarterly'' xlvii (1961), pp. 22–40; R. Fiske: 'The Macbeth Music', ''Music and Letters'' xlv (1964), pp. 114–25.</ref>

[[File:Richard Leveridge from NPG.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The youthful portrait of Rick Leveridge, c. 1710–1720]]
Leveridge continued to sing Purcell's operas and masques in the revivals, at Drury Lane in 1703–08, of ''[[The Fairy-Queen]]'', ''Timon of Athens'', ''Amphitrion'', ''Libertine Destroyed'', ''Tempest'', ''[[King Arthur (opera)|King Arthur]]'', ''Indian Queen'', and ''Œdipus''.<ref>L.M. Middleton, 'Leveridge, Richard', Old D.N.B.</ref> He also participated in the introduction of opera in the Italian style from 1705, appearing in ''[[Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus|Arsinoë]]'' (1705), ''[[Camilla (Bononcini)|Camilla]]'' (1706), ''[[Rosamond (Clayton)|Rosamond]]'' (1707), ''[[Thomyris, Queen of Scythia|Thomyris]]'' (1707), and ''Love's Triumph'' (1708). Some of these productions had mixed English and Italian singers (bilingual performances),<ref>W.S. Rockstro, ''The Life of George Frederick Handel'' (Cambridge University Press, 1883), [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJZHnyPX_LYC&pg=PA58 pp. 58-60] (Google).</ref> but when the fashion became entirely Italian Leveridge was replaced in the bass roles by the Italian basso [[Giuseppe Maria Boschi]].<ref>''European Magazine and London Review'' October 1793, p. 243.</ref> He then began a short association with [[Handel]], in 1713 to 1714, and acted in the first performances of ''[[Il pastor fido]]'' and ''[[Teseo]]'' and played Argantes in a revival of ''[[Rinaldo (opera)|Rinaldo]]''. In this period he sang with [[Nicolo Grimaldi|Nicolini]],<ref>So stated by Sir John Hawkins, 1776, V, pp. 182–83 (see below).</ref> who was in London from 1708 to 1712 and in the seasons of 1714–17.<ref>E. Dannreuther, 'Nicolini, Nicolino Grimaldi, detto', in ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' ed. Fuller Maitland, III (Macmillan & Co. 1922), p. 373.</ref> Later in his career, in 1731, he is known to have taken the role of Polypheme (who has the aria ''O ruddier than the cherry'') in a performance of ''[[Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea]]''.<ref>Presumably this was the London revival performance of the original work which just preceded [[Acis and Galatea (Handel)#Performance history|Handel's reworking of the opera]].</ref>

In 1714, he moved to work at the new theatre at [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]], managed by entrepreneur [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]]. Remaining there for most of his career, he returned to his English repertoire and a new form, the [[Afterpiece|musical Afterpiece]]. These lightweight works were often comic, and in 1716 Leveridge produced his own afterpiece, ''[[Pyramus and Thisbe]]''. For this comic parody of Italian opera, he wrote the music, adapting the words from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', and sang the role of Pyramus.<ref>Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson, "Leveridge, Richard (1670–1758)", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16536, accessed 12 July 2008] See also, O. Baldwin and T. Wilson: ‘Richard Leveridge, 1670–1758’, Musical Times, cxi (1970), 592–4, 891–3, 988–90.</ref> He was apparently absent from the stage around 1720–24, during which time he was occupied with the coffee house in Tavistock Street near Covent Garden, at the sign of 'The Harlequin and Pierot', which he held by lease from 1714 to 1736.<ref>'Southampton Street and Tavistock Street Area: Tavistock Street', in ''Survey of London: Volume 36, Covent Garden,'' ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1970), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol36/pp218-222 pp. 218–222 (accessed 29 June 2015)] See Also Appendix III, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol36/pp294-321 pp. 294–321]. See also 'Richard Leveridge' in ''The European Magazine'' November 1793, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iMMPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA363 at p. 363], citing ''Mist's Journal'', 11 August 1722.</ref> However Rich drew him back, and Leveridge scored a success in 1726 in ''Apollo and Daphne'' with [[Silenus]]'s song ''Tho' envious old age seems in part to impair me'', composed by [[Johann Ernst Galliard]]. From that time forth he became the leading bass at Lincoln's Inn Fields<ref>O. Baldwin and T. Wilson, 'Singers and John Rich's Pantomimes at Lincoln's Inn Fields', in B. Joncus and J. Barlow (Eds), ''The Stage's Glory: John Rich (1692–1761)'' (University of Delaware 2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lS1NdCZJFRIC&dq=Leveridge+Rich+Theatre&pg=PA159 pp. 156–69]. See also O. Baldwin and T. Wilson, 'The Music for Durfey's Cinthia and Endimion', ''Theatre Notebook'' xli (1987), pp. 70–74.</ref> and later transferred to [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

His repertoire exploited his firm and powerful [[Voice instrumental music|voice]], and several of his songs became popular favourites. Although most renowned for his comic-patriotic ballad ''[[The Roast Beef of Old England]]'', and above all for his setting of [[John Gay]]'s lyric of ''Black Eyed Susan'', others are lover's complaints or addresses, anacreontics, hunting songs (notably ''The sweet rosy morning peeps over the hills''), fairy songs, dramatic pieces, and the like, to the number of more than 150. In addition to ''A New Book of Songs'' 1697<ref>''A New Book of Songs with a Through Bass to Each Song Compos'd by Mr. R. Leveridge. (1697)''</ref> and ''A Second Book of Songs'' 1699,<ref>''A Second Book of Songs with a Through Bass to Each Song Compos'd by Mr. R. Leveridge. (1699)'', 34pp., available as Early English Books Online paperback edition (EEBO, Proquest, 2011).</ref> and ''A New Book of Songs'' 1711,<ref>''A New Book of Songs, Engraven, Printed and Published for R. Leveridge''. (1711)</ref> further volumes were printed in 1727<ref>''A Collection of Songs, with the Musick, by Mr Leveridge'' 2 Vols, (for the Author, in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, 1727), [http://imslp.org/wiki/A_Collection_of_Songs_(Leveridge,_Richard) IMSLP source here].</ref> (with a frontispiece by [[William Hogarth]]<ref>J. Trusler (ed.), ''The Works of William Hogarth... with a comment on their moral tendency'', 2 vols, Revised edition (J. Sharpe, London 1821), II, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOfVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP225 p. 225].</ref>), and 1728.<ref>''A Collection of Songs''.</ref> A number of the 1727 songs are settings of words by [[Abraham Cowley]]. Some songs written no doubt for his own performance contain [[roulade (music)|roulades]] and word-painting, giving an impression of his vocal range and flexibility, and some have recitatives or short sections of part-writing, introducing dramatic structure into the context of concise set-pieces.<ref>A facsimile edition of Leveridge's songbooks and of miscellaneous printed scores of his songs and other music, with an introduction by Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson, is available as ''Richard Leveridge: Complete Songs (with the music in Macbeth)'', Music for London Entertainment 1660–1800. Series A. Music for plays 1660–1714; vol. 6. (Stainer and Bell, London 1997), {{ISBN|0852498411}}: reviewed by R. Shay, ''Notes'', Vol 59 no. 2, December 2002.</ref>

[[File:Mr. Richard Leveridge MET DP860205.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Leveridge in old age, by Frans van der Mijn]]
Leveridge enjoyed good health and reduced his performances only in the last few seasons before retiring in 1751. He died aged 87 at his lodgings in [[High Holborn]], London, in 1758.<ref>(Editor), 'An Account of Richard Leveridge (with a portrait)', ''The European Magazine and London Review'', October 1793 [https://books.google.com/books?id=iMMPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA245 pp. 242-44], at p. 244 (Google).</ref>

==Descriptions==

[[John Hawkins (author)|Sir John Hawkins]] (1776) remarked, "Though he had been a performer in the opera at the same time with Nicolino and Valentini" (possibly meaning [[Roberto Valentini]]) "he had no notion of grace or elegance in singing; it was all strength and compass..." Hawkins's opinion of Leveridge was coloured by social perceptions: "Being a man of rather coarse manners, and able to drink a great deal, he was by some thought a good companion. The humour of his songs, and indeed of his conversation, consisted in exhortations to despise riches and the means of attaining them; to drown care by drinking; to enjoy the present hour, and to set reflection and death at defiance. With such a disposition as this, Leveridge could not fail to be a welcome visitor at all clubs and assemblies, where the avowed purpose of meeting was an oblivion of care; and being ever ready to contribute to the promotion of social mirth, he made himself many friends, from whose bounty he derived all the comforts that in an extreme old age he was capable of enjoying."<ref>Sir John Hawkins, ''A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, in Five Volumes'' (T. Payne and Son, London 1776), Vol. 5, Chapter 9, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2wbbTCYkHLQC&dq=Leveridge+New+Book+of+Songs+1730&pg=PA183 pp. 182–83].</ref>

In 1789 [[Charles Burney]] wrote of him: "I remember his singing ''Ghosts of every occupation'', and several of Purcell's [[bass (voice type)|base]] songs, occasionally, in a style which forty years ago seemed antediluvian: but as he generally was the representative of Pluto, Neptune, or some ancient divinity, it corresponded perfectly with his figure and character. He was not only a celebrated singer of convivial songs, but the writer and composer of many that were in great favour with singers and hearers of a certain class, who more piously performed the rites of Comus and Bacchus, than those of Minerva and Apollo."<ref>Charles Burney, ''A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period'' Volume 4 (Author, London 1789), [https://books.google.com/books?id=M-9CAAAAcAAJ&dq=Ghosts+of+every+occupation&pg=PA215 p. 215]</ref>

==Portraits==
{{listen
|filename=Roast Beef of England.ogg
|title=The Roast Beef of Old England
|description=[[Henry Fielding]] wrote "The Roast Beef of England", which is used by both the [[Royal Navy]] and the [[United States Marine Corps]], in 1731.  Leveridge later arranged it. This version is performed by the [[United States Navy Band]].
}}
The [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], London has an oil portrait of the young Richard Leveridge, c. 1710–20, by an unknown artist, which is on display at the [[Handel House Museum]], London.<ref>See portrait Accession NPG 6596 at [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?mkey=mw57889 National Portrait Gallery website].</ref> It also has copies of two other likenesses, one a mezzotint by [[William Pether]] after the oil portrait by [[Thomas Frye]],<ref>See portrait Accession NPG D3577 at [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitZoom/mw37816/Richard-Leveridge?search=sp&sText=Leveridge&rNo=1 National Portrait Gallery website]. The 'Account of Richard Leveridge' in ''The European Magazine'' (cited above, p. 244), attributes the portrait to [[Nathaniel Hone the Younger]], but corrects itself on p. 364.</ref> and the other a mezzotint by Andreas van der Mijn after the portrait by [[Frans van der Mijn]].<ref>See portrait Accession NPG D5069 at [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitZoom/mw39366/Richard-Leveridge?search=sp&sText=Leveridge&rNo=2 National Portrait Gallery website].</ref> Both show Leveridge in advanced old age. There are more versions than one of the original oil portrait by Thomas Frye, including that in the collections of [[Warwick]] [[Town council]],<ref>See portrait at [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/richard-leveridge-16701758-55733 Art UK].</ref> and the better-known example in the Gerald Coke Handel Collection at the [[Foundling Museum]].<ref>See portrait at [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/richard-leveridge-16701758-191912/search/people:richard-leveridge/page/1/view_as/grid Art UK].</ref>

==Recorded works==

Recordings of works by Richard Leveridge include the songs "Black and gloomy as the grave",<ref>''Sound the Trumpets from Shore to Shore'', Musica Oscura.</ref> "When daisies pied and violets blue",<ref>''Orpheus with His Lute: Music for Shakespeare'', Hyperion.</ref> and "The Roast Beef of Old England".<ref>''English National Songs'', Saydisc.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Leveridge, Richard|cname=Richard Leveridge}}
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55704/richard-leveridge National Portrait Gallery: Portraits of Richard Leveridge]

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leveridge, Richard}}
[[Category:1670 births]]
[[Category:1758 deaths]]
[[Category:English Baroque composers]]
[[Category:English basses]]
[[Category:Operatic basses]]
[[Category:English opera singers]]
[[Category:18th-century English classical composers]]
[[Category:18th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:English male classical composers]]