W. Hardman: A Collection of 3 Waltzes and 3 Country Dances (1819) – 3 Waltzes
A Collection of Three Waltzes, and Three Country Dances, Arranged for the Piano Forte, with their Proper Figures, as Danced at the York Winter Assemblies. Composed & Respectfully Dedicated to W. Hale, W. Walker & J.D. Tweedy, Esqrs Managers 1818._19 by William Hardman, Leader of the Band at the above Assemblies, 17 New Bridge Street, York (London: Chappell & Co., Goulding & Co.; York: Knapton’s Music Warehouse, [1819]), plate number 858.
[The York Winter Assemblies] – Waltz – [Newby Hall] – Waltz – [Woolley Park] - Waltz
Image courtesy of the British Library Board, Music Collections h.113.(10.), p. 3
To download mp3 files either click on the three dots or right-click on the player and choose the save/download option.
Recording Details:
Rikki Wolpowitz - flute
Wiebke Thormählen and Taisia Sandetcaia - violins
Joseph Crouch - cello
Henriette Poos - modern harp
Recorded at the Royal College of Music, London, 17 May 2021
SCORE: Hardman Collection of 3 Waltzes
PARTS: Hardman Collection of 3 Waltzes
On 13 December 1817, the York Herald announced that the forthcoming York Winter Assemblies were to be “conduced [sic] on an entire new plan, by three gentlemen of the city, under whose auspices they promise to be well attended”. Managers were appointed once a minimum of sixty subscribers had been obtained, with each paying £1 1s for at least six assemblies. The music for the Winter Assemblies was led by William Hardman, who played an important role in the musical life of York, directing the orchestra for the York Choral Society and the church of St-Martin-le-Grand in the 1830s. His dance band would perform for balls held by hunt clubs, races, military gatherings, music festivals and meetings, charitable events and private celebrations in Yorkshire across the next twenty to thirty years (Griffiths [1994?]; Peel 1986).
The publication of Hardman’s Collection of Three Waltzes, and Three Country Dances appeared to be a popular outgrowth of the 1818-19 Winter Assembly season. On 23 January 1819, an advertisement in the York Herald expressed the demand “for the Music used at these Assemblies”. It announced that Philip Knapton, a composer and music publisher who co-ran a series of subscription concerts at the York Assembly Rooms, was tasked by the managers to produce sets of quadrilles and country dances, which ultimately appeared about three months later (Baines 1823; Jones 2001). The score consists of alternating country dances and waltzes arranged for piano, with two of the former named after the country estates of Newby Hall and Woolley Hall. Little is known about the remainder of Hardman’s oeuvre, although he went on to publish quadrilles and waltzes and later took over Knapton’s business.
The York Herald offered a tantalising glimpse of Hardman’s band in its description of the first Winter Assembly of the season on 19 December 1818. It reported “A considerable addition has been made to the Band, which for sweetness and execution, may now be ranked as one of the first out of London” without elaborating further on what the “considerable addition” entailed. A depiction of the band playing as part of the birthday celebrations for Godfrey Wentworth at Woolley Hall just three months earlier may illustrate Hardman’s outfit. The arrangement for flute, two violins, harp and basso incorporates some of the instruments depicted and represents a modest size dance ensemble.
Further Reading:
Baines, Edward. 1823. History, Directory & Gazetteer of the County of York, vol. 2, East and North Ridings. Leeds: Edward Baines.
Griffiths, David. [1994?]. A Musical Place of the First Quality: A History of Institutional Music-Making in York c.1550-1990. York: The York Settlement Trust.
Jones, Peter Ward. 2001. “Knapton, Philip.” In Grove Music Online. Accessed March 23, 2021.
Peel, Barbara. 1986. Dancing and Social Assemblies in York in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Guildford: National Resource Centre for Dance, University of Surrey.
Newspaper References:
York Winter Assemblies: York Herald 24 October 1818 and 17 April 1819
Agostino Aglio, ‘Temporary Ballroom. Erected & decorated at Woolley Hall for the Festivities of the 13th Septr 1818, by A. Aglio’ in To Godfrey Wentworth Junr Esqre This Series of Sketches of the Interior & Temporary Decorations in Woolley-Hall, Yorkshire (London: Published by the Artist, 1821) © The British Library Board, General Reference Collection 37/648.b.27.