Samuel Lover (24 February 1797 – 6 July 1868), also known as "Ben Trovato" ("well invented"), was an Irish songwriter, composer and novelist, and a portrait painter, chiefly in miniatures. He was the grandfather of

Victor Herbert Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is bes ...

Life

Lover was born at No. 60 Grafton Street,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and went to school at Samuel Whyte's at No. 79, which now houses

Bewley's Bewley's is an Irish hot beverage company, located in Dublin and founded in 1840, which operates internationally. Its primary business operations are the production of tea and coffee, and the operations of cafés. Bewley's has operations in Ire ...

Café. By 1830 he was Secretary of the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

and living at No. 9 D'Olier Street. In 1835 he moved to London and began composing music for a series of comic stage works. For some, like the operetta ''Il Paddy Whack in Italia'' (1841), he contributed libretto and music, for others just a few songs. Lover produced many Irish songs, of which several, such as ''The Angel's Whisper'', ''Molly Bawn (song), Molly Bawn'', and ''The Four-leaved Shamrock'', gained popularity. He also wrote novels, of which '' Rory O'Moore'' (in its first form a ballad), and ''Handy Andy'' are best known, and short Irish sketches, which with his songs he combined into a popular entertainment called ''Irish Nights'' or ''Irish Evenings'', with which he toured North America in 1846–1848. He joined

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

in founding ''Bentley's Magazine''.

"When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen." – Samuel Lover

Lover's daughter Fanny was mother to

, a composer remembered for many musicals and operettas premièred on Broadway. As a child he lived with the Lovers in a musical environment after the divorce of his mother.

Death and legacy

Lover died on 6 July 1868 in

Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

. A memorial in

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland cat ...

marks his achievements: "Poet, painter, novelist and composer, who, in the exercise of a genius as distinguished in its versatility as in its power, by his pen and pencil illustrated so happily the characteristics of the peasantry of his country that his name will ever be honourably identified with Ireland."

In popular culture

In the 2013 computer game "BioShock Infinite", the Lover piece "Saddle The Pony" (from ''Rory O'More''), is heard in Battleship Bay, where Elizabeth is seen dancing to it. It is performed by an accordion player, a violinist and a pianist.

Selected writings

*''Songs and Legends of the Irish People'' (1831) *''Legends and Stories of Ireland'' (London: Richard Edward King, n.d.

834 __NOTOC__ Year 834 ( DCCCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March 1 – Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Fr ...

*''Rory O'More: A National Romance''. Novel (London: R. Bentley, 1837; repr. London: F. Warne & Co., 1879) *''Songs and Ballads'' (London: Chapman and Hall, 1839) *''Handy Andy. A Tale of Irish Life'' (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1841) *''Treasure Trove/He Would Be a Gentleman''

Selected compositions

Stage (to his own librettos) *''Rory O'More'', comic opera (1837) *''The White Horse of the Peppers'', dramatic romance (1838) *''Snap Apple Night, or A Kick-up in Kerry'', musical drama (1839) *''The Greek Boy'', musical drama (1840) *''Il Paddy Whack in Italia'', 1-act-operetta (1841) *''The Irish Tourist's Ticket'' usic only, text by P.H. Hatch(1853)

Bibliography

*William Bayle Bernard: ''Life of Samuel Lover'' (London: H.S. King & Co. and New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1874) *Andrew James Symington: ''Samuel Lover: A Biographical Sketch'' (London: Blackie & Son, 1880)

References

External links

* * * *

Interpretations

* performed by Sydney Children's Choir; arranged by Jessica Wells {{DEFAULTSORT:Lover, Samuel 1797 births 1868 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Irish novelists 19th-century Irish painters 19th-century Irish male artists 19th-century male musicians 19th-century male writers Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Irish classical composers Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish folklorists Irish librettists Irish male novelists Irish male painters Irish opera composers Irish songwriters Male opera composers Musicians from Dublin (city)