John Braham and "The Death of Nelson"

Abstract

John Braham and "The Death of Nelson" Susan Rutherford (bio) Mr. Braham gave "The Death of Nelson" amidst the cheers of the Company. Musical World, May 1, 1847 A top his column in trafalgar square, admiral lord horatio nelson gazes over London's cityscape. His stance is calm and self-possessed, the corners of his mouth tightened in a slight moue of concentration, his empty right sleeve pinned neatly to his chest whilst his remaining hand rests on the sword angled behind him; his right leg, slightly bent with its toes protruding from the very limit of his pedestal (as if he might step serenely into space), gives a casual elegance to his posture. Such is the view accessible mostly to the birds swooping around his figure, because Nelson is surprisingly small (5.5m) in relation to the column and its massive base (46.5m).1 From the pavement, we see only that nonchalant, easy shape: a look-out, or so it might seem, for the nation's future. This monument, erected in 1843 and one of London's most prominent landmarks,2 was the product of an industry that had assiduously constructed and sustained the Nelson myth since the admiral's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Its message of patriotic heroism had been vigorously disseminated through diverse channels: festivals, books, pamphlets, pictures, statues, china, memorabilia, objets d'art, and music. One such latter contribution (perhaps the most influential of all the musical manifestations) to this concretization of Nelson's image was John Braham's song, "The Death [End Page 525] of Nelson." Nelson's Column, a fixed structure in space suggesting a living being, was thus partly brought into being by Braham's conversely fluid, temporal evocation of the admiral's death. Indeed, in this article I ask whether the song might be heard as an aural monument: an edifice in rhythmic motion and tonal architecture that promoted shared reflection, facilitating the visitation of different aspects of the events at Trafalgar from the sailors' first sight of the French to the death of their hero and commander in the midst of an important victory. Above all, it gave repeated, insistent voice to those vital words that shaped Nelson's legend—"England expects that every man this day will do his duty"—words which would be similarly inscribed (in abbreviated form) on the bas-relief illustration of the stricken Nelson on the pedestal of the column.3 In so doing, the song invites consideration of the links between both its creator (Braham) and its subject (Nelson), and music's role in commemorative art both as offering a visceral experience of recall, and as shaping the metropolitan landscape. John Braham Nelson needs little introduction; not so the other protagonist here, John Braham (1774–1856).4 Yet he was once the best-known singer of his day, beginning his professional career as a boy treble at Covent Garden in 1787. Following adolescence, he re-emerged as a tenor under the tutelage of Venanzio Rauzzini, making his second London debut at the age of twenty-three in Stephen Storace's Mahmoud at Drury Lane in 1796. Something of his remarkable impact can be gleaned from his immediate employment at the King's Theatre, which staged Italian operas and hired, in the main, only Italian singers. Braham subsequently became among the earliest British singers to build a successful career in Italy from 1797, performing at various theaters including La Scala, Milan. In 1801 he returned to London, becoming the country's leading tenor for the next forty or so years. He made— and lost—a veritable fortune; appeared in some of the most historically significant musical works of the period, including the first British performances of Weber's Der Freischütz (1824) and Oberon (1826); combined singing with composition and impresarial activities; and was fêted and castigated in turns by the press. Unusually, he was both Britain's most accomplished elite singer and the one with the surest popular reach. [End Page 526] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. The Monument of Lord Nelson, Guildhall, London; sculptor James Smith; engraving published in Richard Clarke's The...