FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>  
hich appeared to have reference to the union between Church and State, inasmuch as they were compounded of the Evening Hymn and 'God Save the King.' Whatever music he had in him must have been of a sub-conscious nature, for shortly afterwards he affirms that the still small voice is a-singing comic songs within me, and all is happiness and joy. His sister Sally is not a songster, nor is Quilp, though he quotes 'Sally in our Alley' in reference to the former. All we know about his musical attainments is that he occasionally entertained himself with a melodious howl, intended for a song but bearing not the faintest resemblance to any scrap of any piece of music, vocal or instrumental, ever invented by man. Bass singers, and especially the Basso Profundos, will be glad to know that Dickens pays more attention to them than to the other voices, though it must be acknowledged that the references are of a humorous nature. 'Bass!' as the young gentleman in one of the _Sketches_ remarks to his companion about the little man in the chair, 'bass! I believe you. He can go down lower than any man; so low sometimes that you can't hear him.' And so he does. To hear him growling away, gradually lower and lower down, till he can't get back again, is the most delightful thing in the world. Of similar calibre is the voice of Captain Helves, already referred to on p. 62. Topper, who had his eye on one of Scrooge's niece's sisters (_C.C._), could growl away in the bass like a good one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead or get red in the face over it. Dickens must certainly have had much experience of basses, as he seems to know their habits and eccentricities so thoroughly. In fact it seems to suggest that at some unknown period of his career, hitherto unchronicled by his biographers, he must have been a choirmaster. He also shows a knowledge of the style of song the basses delighted in at the harmony meetings in which the collegians at the Marshalsea[18] used to indulge. Occasionally a vocal strain more sonorous than the generality informed the listener that some boastful bass was in blue water or the hunting field, or with the reindeer, or on the mountain, or among the heather, but the Marshal of the Marshalsea knew better, and had got him hard and fast. We are not told what the duet was that Dickens heard at
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>  



Top keywords:
Dickens
 

basses

 

reference

 
Marshalsea
 

nature

 

Scrooge

 

sisters

 

Helves

 

Captain

 

Topper


calibre

 
similar
 

referred

 
experience
 
forehead
 

period

 

hunting

 

reindeer

 

mountain

 

boastful


sonorous

 

strain

 

generality

 

informed

 

listener

 
heather
 

Marshal

 

Occasionally

 

indulge

 

delightful


unknown

 

career

 
hitherto
 

unchronicled

 

suggest

 

habits

 

eccentricities

 

biographers

 

choirmaster

 

meetings


collegians
 
harmony
 

delighted

 

knowledge

 

companion

 
happiness
 

sister

 
singing
 
songster
 

musical