Ann Valentine

For the American biochemist, see Ann M. Valentine.

Ann Valentine (11 January 1762 – 13 October 1842[1] or 13 October 1845[2][3]) was an English organist and composer, part of a talented family of Leicester musicians.

Life

Ann Valentine was born on 11 January 1762 in Leicester and christened on 15 March.[4] Her father John Valentine (1730–91) was a great-nephew of the composer Robert Valentine.[2] John Valentine was a composer, music teacher, and musician.[3] He played viola in the memorial concerts (the Handel Commemoration) held for George Frederic Handel in London in 1784; his son, Ann's brother Thomas Valentine (1759 – c. 1800) was a second violinist in the same concerts, and performed in London for at least the next decade.[5] Another uncle, Henry Valentine, was an oboist and ran a music shop in Leicester. Ann's younger sister Sarah (1771–1843) was an organist at St Martin's Church in Leicester from 1800,[3] and composed at least one work, The British March and Quickstep for the Pianoforte.[2] Ann made her concert debut on the harpsichord in a family concert in 1777, at the age of fifteen.[3] From c. 1785 to at least 1834 she was the organist at St Margaret's Church, Leicester. In 1790 she published a set of ten sonatas for harpsichord or piano with violin or flute accompaniment. She continued to publish music, although only some of it has survived; the ten sonatas and an arrangement of the strathspey Monny Musk are available in a modern edition.[6]

Works (partial list)

  • Ten Sonatas for the pianoforte or harpsichord and violin or flute (1790)
  • Monny Musk for keyboard (c. 1798)

References

  1. ^ Sadie, Julie Anne (1994). "Valentine, Ann". In Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (eds.). Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. London: Macmillan. p. 471. ISBN 0-333-51598-6.
  2. ^ a b c Drage, Sally (2004). "Valentine family (per. c. 1685 – 1845), musicians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69650. Retrieved 30 March 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
  3. ^ a b c d Kroeger, Karl (Summer 2008). "Leicester's Lady Organists, 1770–1800" (PDF). CHOMBEC News (5). Bristol: Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth: 9–10.
  4. ^ K. Kroger, “Valentine, John,” New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001).
  5. ^ Highfill, Philip (1993), A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, Southern Illinois University Press
  6. ^ Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, ed. S. Glickman and M. Schleifer (8 vols) (New York: G. K. Hall/Macmillan, 1996– ), vol. 3, pp. 148–56.
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