Songs from the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens

Once-lost musical delights were recently discovered and recorded at Air-Edel to bring you Songs from the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens.

Since the Marylebone Gardens fell silent in 1777, it’s a wonderful historical moment to have recorded these songs at Air-Edel, especially so during their own 50 year anniversary as a top studio for music and film.

ABOUT

The Marylebone Pleasure Gardens opened in 1737 by Daniel Gough, who was the landlord of the Rose Tavern, situated at the north end of what is now Marylebone High Street. He was extremely well connected in the musical world, inviting the finest musicians of the time, including composers such as James Hook, Thomas Arne and George Frideric Handel, all of whom visited the gardens and had their compositions performed there. The importance of high quality music was established from the very beginning of the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens.

Unlike other Pleasure Gardens, Marylebone boasted its own orchestra. Despite this, there is very little that exists in the way of notated music from the gardens. The recent discovery of manuscripts of some of the songs sung at the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens, however, has led to these recordings.

It’s uncertain as to who the composers were for these songs, but we do know the singers: Mrs Chambers and Miss Faulkner. Mrs Chambers was a Marylebone regular and performed ‘Polly of the Plain’, which was printed in 1754. Miss Faulkner (Dublin-born) was a renowned singer, was engaged at the Marylebone Gardens for the 1747 season, and was to be a Marylebone favourite for the next five years.

Composer Thomas Arne’s son, Micheal Arne, also preformed regularly at the Marylebone Gardens from 1750 onwards. As a boy singer, he performed alongside Miss Faulkner, and this might suggest that Thomas Arne wrote one or two of these songs; for her, or indeed for Michael, as he is also known for his song compositions for the pleasure gardens.

Another composer who wrote many songs specifically for the Marylebone gardens was William Defesch (composer and violinist). When Defesch was in charge of the music at the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens in 1748, he published six ‘New Songs’, two of which were sung by Miss Faulkner.

The Marylebone Pleasure Gardens attracted many different patrons, and the most notable attendees include HRH Frederick Prince of Wales with several ‘persons of distinction’, as well as famous highwayman Dick Turpin.

In 1777 The Marylebone Pleasure Gardens eventually closed after 40 glorious years, and since then the musicality of the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens was passed onto the next generation. Elizabeth Trusler, daughter of John Trusler, who was the second landlord of the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens went on to have two Musical children. Her son Stephen (born April 4th 1762) and Anna Selina (‘Nancy’) (born 27th October 1786). Stephen was a very gifted composer, who became a friend and possibly pupil of Mozart in Vienna, and Nancy was Mozart’s first Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (Vienna, 1786).

Meghan Cassidy
Founder & Artistic Director, Marylebone Music Festival

”As Air-Edel celebrates its 50th Anniversary we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to record these songs celebrating Marylebone Pleasure Gardens showing that music continues to be at the heart of Marylebone!”

Maggie Rodford
Managing Director, Air-Edel

Sources

The Eighteenth-Century Pleasure Gardens of Marylebone by Mollie Sands
Westminster Libraries

Song Titles

Polly
A New Song
Fye, Shepherd, Fye
Polly of the Plain

Recording credits

Record and Mix Engineer - Nick Taylor
Video - David Meyer
Artwork - Patrick McMenamin
Song Arrangement - Simon Nathan

Performers - Marylebone Music Festival Artists

Mezzo Soprano - Clare Presland
Violin - Simon Blendis
Violin - Natalie Klouda
Viola - Meghan Cassidy
Cello - Gemma Rosefield