Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/171

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Hatton
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Hatton

suing an elephant, he was killed by the accidental discharge of his rifle, which caught in the thick jungle. His work, so far as it had gone, and his diaries give evidence of high promise as a scientific explorer. He had the true explorer's temperament, power of command, fertility of resource in presence of danger, cool courage and self-control, and was a bright and engaging companion.

Hatton contributed to the ‘Biograph’ about twenty sketches of living men of science; to ‘Bradstreets’ (an American journal) several articles on technical chemistry; to the ‘Whitehall Review’ an article on ‘The Adventures of a Drop of Thames Water;’ and to the ‘Transactions’ of the Chemical Society (1881) two papers ‘On the Action of Bacteria on Various Gases,’ and ‘On the Influence of Intermittent Filtration through Sand and Spongy Iron on Animal and Vegetable Matters dissolved in Water, and the Reduction of Nitrates by savage and other agents.’

[Biographical Sketch, with letters and diaries from North Borneo, by Joseph Hatton, 1886.]

G. T. B.

HATTON, JOHN LIPTROT (1809–1886), musical composer, born in Concert Street, Liverpool, 12 Oct. 1809, was the son and grandson of professional violinists. With the exception of some musical tuition received at the academy of a Mr. Molyneux, he was virtually self-taught; yet by the time he was sixteen years old he was already organist at three churches, viz. at Woolton and Childwall Churches, Lancashire, and at the Roman catholic church in Liverpool, for the last of which he wrote a mass, still existing in manuscript. Later on he was organist at the Old Church (St. Nicholas) in Chapel Street, Liverpool. It is characteristic of the irrepressible animal spirits which in after years made him universally popular that he should have ventured to play ‘All round my hat’ (a street-song of the time), of course carefully disguised, when competing for one of these appointments. In his youth he also acquired some experience as an actor, playing with success the part of Blueskin in ‘Jack Sheppard’ at the Little Liver Theatre in Church Street. It was as an actor that he first appeared in London. A playbill was preserved by him, containing his name as playing Marco (sic) in ‘Othello’ with Macready and Charles Kean at Drury Lane, 20 Dec. 1832. In the following year he wrote some pianoforte pieces, among them six impromptus which attained considerable success.

At Drury Lane Theatre Hatton obtained his first musical engagement of importance, directing the choruses in the season of English operas given from 1 Oct. 1842 to 3 April 1843. On 25 Feb. in the latter year his own operetta, ‘Queen of the Thames’ (words by E. Fitzball), was given successfully six times. It contains some pretty numbers, and the madrigal, ‘The merry bridal bells,’ is a good deal better than most modern attempts to reproduce the ancient form. This shows that Hatton must have studied music in earnest, and that he thoroughly appreciated the finest English music. Among the company engaged for the operatic performances was Staudigl, who encouraged Hatton to write another opera, ‘Pascal Bruno,’ to a libretto by W. Fitzball. This was translated, mainly by Staudigl himself, into German, and was brought out at Vienna on 2 March 1844 for the benefit of Staudigl, who sang the principal part. The first act was very successful, but the other two were less favourably received, owing in great part to the failure of one of the singers, a Mlle. Dichl. No part of the opera was published, with the single exception of a song, ‘Revenge,’ sung by Staudigl, which became very popular in England. The manuscript score of the second act, the only other portion extant, shows much originality and dramatic power, as well as knowledge of stage effect. While staying in Vienna to supervise the production of the opera, Hatton was the guest of Staudigl, who introduced him to the Concordia Society. His pianoforte playing, more especially of Bach's fugues, which he played from memory, attracted much attention. Meanwhile he took advantage of the opportunities for advanced study of music, taking counterpoint lessons from Sechter, one of the most learned theorists of the time. On his return to England Hatton published several vocal trios and a set of eighteen songs to words by T. Oliphant. They were furnished with German translations, and published under the pseudonym of ‘Czapek,’ the genitive plural of a Hungarian word for ‘hat.’ These and some other songs published about the same time have been considered by some critics to be not unworthy of Schubert himself. The great German models obviously influenced their structure. Hatton perhaps never attained a second time the beauty and sincerity of expression revealed in ‘To Anthea.’

The popularity of his songs (their number is computed at nearly three hundred in all) was partly due to the fact that Hatton had acquired practical experience both as a singer and a pianist. At the Hereford festival of 1846 he appeared as a vocalist, and played a concerto by Mozart. In the same year he began a series of tours with Sivori, Vieuxtemps, and other celebrated performers. In