Jérôme Paul Bonaventure Alday (c.1763 – 1835) was a French violinist, composer and music publisher who spent most of his active career in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. He was the only composer in early 19th-century Ireland known to have written

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

Life

Alday was born in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

as a member of a musical family that included his father (whose first name is unknown), his elder brother François (c.1761 – after 1835) and the latter's sons Francisque and Ferdinand, all of whom became composers resident in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. In musical reference works, there is considerable confusion regarding the ascription of compositions to either of these four musicians as their names mostly appear as "Alday" only. Paul Alday studied with

Giovanni Battista Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he participated as a violinist in the ''

Concerts spirituels The Concert Spirituel () was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts with the same name occurred in multiple places including Paris, Vienna ...

'' between 1783 and 1790. He also published four of his own violin concertos in Paris during these years. He next reappears in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1793 when he married the French harpist Adélaïde Rosalie Delatouche. In this city he published three of his string quartets. By 1804, he had moved to Edinburgh. Still in the same year he is recorded as having performed in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and

and then settled in the latter city for the rest of his life. He appeared both as a soloist in violin concertos and as leader of orchestras including the Anacreontic Society (1819–1828), of which he was secretary (1824–1830), and The Sons of Handel. In 1810, Alday took over the music shop of Francis Rhames, moving it to 10 Dame Street in 1815, which he continued until his death in Dublin in 1835. Here, he sold sheet music and musical instruments and also published music under his name.

Music

Alday made a name for himself as a violinist, composer, and successful business man in Irish musical life of the early 19th century. His two ''Grand Symphonies'', one in C major and one in D major, both written around 1819 and performed by the Anacreontic Society in February 1820, are today regarded as the only symphonies written in Ireland in the first half of the 19th century. The Andante movement of the Second Symphony was described as "a production of the first-rate order ... (which) must always be a desideratum to the selection of every lover of instrumental music".''Dublin Magazine'', March 1820, quoted after Boydell (2013).

Selected works

Orchestral music

* Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 2 (Paris, c.1785) * Violin Concerto in B flat major (Paris, c.1788) * Violin Concerto in A major (Paris, c.1788) * Violin Concerto in D minor (Paris, 1789; also Berlin, c. 1800) * Concertante Symphony in C major for two violins and orchestra (c.1788; Paris, c.1800) * Symphony No. 1 in C major (Dublin, c.1819) * Symphony No. 2 in D major (Dublin, c.1819)

Chamber music

* ''Airs variés pour le violon avec accompagnement de basse'', two volumes (Paris, 1786 and 1788) * ''Trois Duos'' (E flat major, G major, G minor), for violin and viola (Paris, not dated) * ''Mélanges'' for two violins (Paris, not dated) * ''"God Save the King", with Variations'', for two violins (London & Oxford, c.1795) * ''A Grand Pastoral Overture'', for piano with violin and cello ad lib (London?, c.1795) * Three string quartets (B flat major, A major, C minor) (London & Oxford, c.1795) * Horn Quintet (before 1805), unpublished * ''Perche ti lagni mio ...'', Polacca (London & Dublin, c.1807), for voice, violin and piano * ''A Pocket Volume of Airs, Duets, Songs, Marches etc.'', for one melodic instrument and piano (Dublin, c.1812)

Piano music

* ''The Blue Bells of Scotland, with Variations'' (Dublin, c.1805), for piano or harp * ''A Collection of Favourite Airs etc. with Variations'' (Dublin, c.1810) * ''The Favorite Air of Paddy O'Carrol'' (Dublin, c.1810) * ''The Celebrated Ballad of Sweet Robin'' (Dublin, c.1810) * ''His Excellency the Earl of Whitworth's Grand March and Welcome to Ireland'' (Dublin, c.1815) * ''Installation, Marches, ... Dedicated to ... the Knights of St Patrick'' (Dublin, c.1815) * ''P. Alday's Select Collection of Country Dances'' (Dublin, 1815, 1820, 1825) * ''Alday's Select Collection of Country Dances, Waltzes, Quadrilles etc.'' (Dublin, annually, 1815–1820) * ''Favorite Dances'' (Dublin, n.d.)

Bibliography

* Ita M. Hogan: ''Anglo-Irish Music, 1780–1830'' (Cork: Cork University Press, 1966). * entries in modern encyclopaedias: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition; ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (MGG), second edition; ''The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland''.

References

External links

BnF Data
* Free scores b
Paul Alday
at

IMSLP The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public domain, public-domain sheet music, music scores. The project use ...

* Alday's entry in th
Dublin Music Trade
database {{DEFAULTSORT:Alday, Paul 1760s births 1835 deaths 18th-century Irish classical composers French male classical violinists 19th-century Irish classical composers French Classical-period composers Composers for piano French emigrants to Ireland French music publishers (people) Irish male classical composers People from Perpignan Pupils of Giovanni Battista Viotti French string quartet composers Musicians from Dublin (city) 19th-century Irish male musicians 18th-century French violinists 18th-century French male musicians