elder sister retired from public life on her marriage with Mr. Alfred Price of Gloucester, May 16, 1850, and is thus mentioned in the Athenæum of May 18, 'A more modestly valuable or more steadily improving artist was not among the company of native soprani.'
Martha, the contralto, married Mr. Lockey, May 24, 1853, and continued her career until 1865. She now resides with her husband at Hastings. [See Lockey.]
WILLING, Christopher Edwin, son of Christopher Willing, alto singer and assistant Gentleman of the Chapel Royal (born 1804, died May 12, 1840), was born Feb. 28, 1830. He was admitted a chorister of Westminster Abbey under James Turle in 1839, and continued such until 1845, during which time he also sang in the chorus at the Concert of Antient Music, the Sacred Harmonic Society, etc. Upon leaving the choir he was appointed organist of Blackheath Park Church, and assistant organist of Westminster Abbey. In 1847 he was engaged as organist at Her Majesty's Theatre, and held the post until the close of Lumley's management in 1858. In 1848 he was appointed organist to the Foundling Hospital, and shortly afterwards also director of the music. In 1857 he was invited to take the place of organist of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, which he held in conjunction with his appointment at the Foundling, but resigned it in 1860 to accept the post of organist and director of the music at All Saints, Margaret Street, which he held until 1868. In 1872 he was appointed organist, and afterwards also chorus master, to the Sacred Harmonic Society. In the same year he was re-engaged as organist in the company of Her Majesty's Theatre (then performing at Drury Lane), and in 1868 was made, in addition, maestro al piano. In 1879 he resigned his appointments at the Foundling Hospital. For several years past he has been conductor of the St. Alban's Choral Union, which holds a triennial festival in St. Alban's Abbey—now Cathedral. Mr. Willing is an able and highly esteemed professor.
WILLIS, Henry, one of the leading English organ-builders; born April 27, 1821; was articled in 1835 to John Gray; and in 1847 took the first step in his career by re-building the organ at Gloucester Cathedral, with the then unusual compass of 29 notes in the pedals. In the Great Exhibition of 1851 he exhibited a large organ, which was much noticed, and which led to his being selected to build that for St. George's Hall, Liverpool, which under the hands of Mr. Best has become so widely known. The organ which he exhibited in the Exhibition of 1862 also procured him much fame, and became the nucleus of that at the Alexandra Palace, destroyed by fire on June 9, 1873, shortly after its completion. His next feat was the organ for the Royal Albert Hall (opened 1871), which in size, and for the efficiency of its pneumatic, mechanical and acoustic qualities, shares its high reputation with the second Alexandra Palace organ, which was constructed for the restoration of that building, and was opened in May 1875.
Mr. Willis has supplied or renewed organs to nearly half the Cathedrals of England, viz. St. Paul's (1872), Canterbury (86), Carlisle (56), Durham (77), Hereford (79), Oxford (84), Salisbury (77), Wells (57), Winchester (53), Truro, St. David's, (81), Edinburgh (79), Glasgow (79), as well as many colleges, churches, halls, etc. The award of the Council Medal to Mr. Willis in 1851 specifies his application of an improved exhausting valve to the Pneumatic lever, the application of pneumatic levers in a compound form, and the invention of a movement for facilitating the drawing of stops singly or in combination. In 1862 the Prize Medal was awarded to him for further improvements. In 1885 the Gold Medal was given him for 'excellence of tone, ingenuity of design, and perfection of execution.' His only patent is dated March 9, 1868.
Mr. Willis has always been a scientific organ-builder, and his organs are distinguished for their excellent engineering, clever contrivances, and first-rate workmanship, as much as for their brilliancy, force of tone, and orchestral character.
WILLMAN,[1] Thomas Lindsay, the most celebrated of English clarinettists, was the son of a German who, in the latter half of the 18th century, came to England and became master of a military band. The time and place of the younger Willman's birth are unknown. After being a member of a military band and of various orchestras he became, about 1816, principal clarinet in the Opera and other chief orchestras, and also master of the Grenadier Guards' band. His tone and execution were remarkably beautiful, and his concerto-playing admirable. He died Nov. 28, 1840. His age was recorded in the register of deaths as 56, but, by comparison with his own statement made more than 8 years before, when he joined the Royal Society of Musicians, should have been 57. He is believed however to have been much older.
WILLMANN.[2] A musical family, interesting partly in themselves, but chiefly from their connection with Bonn and Beethoven. Maximilian, of Forchtenberg, near Würzburg, one of the distinguished violoncellists of his time, removed with his family to Vienna about 1780. There they became known to Max Franz, son of;he Empress Maria Theresa, who in 1784 became Elector of Cologne, with Bonn as his capital. When he, in 1788, reorganised the court music, he called Willmann and his family thither, the
- ↑ His name was always spelt in English with one 'n,' but doubtless it had two originally.
- ↑ The notices of the various Wlllmanns in the old musical periodicals and calendars are so confused and contradictory, as to render it exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible, to fully disentangle them. Baptismal names, dates of birth and death, and direct means of identification are largely wanting; and the German musical lexicons, copying each other, only add to the confusion. Most of the latter make of Max Willmann and his daughters, a brother, and sisters! Neefe, their music director in Bonn, writes in 1792, 'Herr Willmann with his two demoiselle daughters.' This is conclusive.
