Archive of the Month – January 2022

John Parry (Denbigh, 18 February 1776 – London, 8 April 1851, Member A264) 

Circle of Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830); ca 1835. 

John Parry, a Welsh musician who settled in London from 1807, joined the RSM in 1813.  His initial application in 1810 was rejected as it seems that his recommender, Samuel Thomas Lyon (1776-1850, Member A176), had suggested that Parry was prodigious at playing many instruments.  Parry was fluent on the clarinet, flageolet and flute and proficient in many others (he was in charge of the Denbighshire militia, just two years after joining it, and therefore had to fill many a role when a player was missing).  Sainsbury in his dictionary noted that: 

“During the period that Parry was in the army, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with every wind instrument, so that he could take any part, in case of emergency; he also cultivated singing, and studied the harp, piano, and violin, but his principal instrument was the clarionet, on which he used to perform concertos”

A Dictionary of Musicians, from the earliest ages to the present time … London, Sainsbury and Co., 1824, vol.II, p.266. 

It seems that Lyon had suggested that he was professional in the many other instruments and Parry’s election to Membership was therefore declined.  Fortunately Parry did not take too great an offence and another application, three years later, stated what his strengths and professionalisms were and he was then elected a Member; he later took an active role in the Society being a Governor and, from 1830-1849, the Treasurer. 

He wrote a short history, published in 1851, entitled A brief historical account of the rise and progress of the Society drawn up by John Parry, many years honorary treasurer.  At the time of the Royal Musical Festival in Westminster Abbey in 1834, of which the RSM was one of four charities which received funds from the proceeds of the festival, Parry wrote An account of the Royal Musical Festival held in Westminster Abbey, drawn up from official documents by John Parry, honorary assistant secretary to the directors.  George Smart, the director, noted in his financial accounts of the festival that Parry was awarded £80 3 shillings and 3 pence in addition to his payments (Leaves from the journals of Sir George Smart, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1907, p.279).  Aside of the RSM he was a critic who wrote for The Morning Post during the period 1834-1848. 

Parry was also a composer and one of his published pieces is a most rare example of flageolet music from the nineteenth century. 

The Nightingale, a favorite Military Air, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte, with an Accompaniment for the Flute or Flageolet by John Parry, Performed with the greatest applause at the Bath Concerts, By the celebrated Miss Randles & the Author (London: J. Power, [1807?]). 
Kindly donated by John Turner (Member), November 2021. 

This volume appears to be a unique copy of this publication – one other copy from the same period is known to survive, preserved in the library of Bristol University, but which has a different title and refers to a Miss Wright as the co-performer.  The title of the Bristol copy reads identically except for the substitution of “Miss Wright” for “Miss Randles”.  Elizabeth Randles (1800-1829) was the daughter of a church organist in Wrexham and apparently gave her debut before she was two years old.  She was taken under the patronage of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1772-1840).  Hugely successful concerts were given in Wrexham and in London, the latter raising money for her education: 

“… a public breakfast was given at Cumberland gardens, for the benefit of Miss Randles: tickets (one guinea each) were to be had at Sir W.W. Wynn’s house, in St. James’s-square.  The morning was very fine, and no less than five hundred persons attended, and the child’s performance was the admiration of every one.  The profits of the breakfast, together with the various sums of money presented to Miss Randles, were vested in the funds, in the names of trustees, for her sole benefit … it was recommended that she should perform at the principal provincial towns in the kingdom”

A Dictionary of Musicians, vol.II, p.335. 

She toured those towns with her father, and John Parry, and they were known as the “Wandering Cambrians”.  The ‘Nightingale Rondo’ would have been one of their “party pieces”. 

Further reading: 

John Parry, The Nightingale Rondo, for descant recorder (originally octave flageolet) and piano (Hebden Bridge: Peacock Press, 2005), in the series A Recorder Miscellany, editor John Turner.