John Baptist Grano
Encyclopedia
John Baptist Grano was a trumpeter, flutist, and composer based in London, England, who worked with George Frederick Handel at the opera house in the city's Haymarket
.
From May 30, 1728 until September 23, 1729, Grano was imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea
prison in Southwark, owing 99 pounds to "Andrew Turner et al." He kept a diary of his 480 days there, the 510-page manuscript of which is now in the Bodleian Library
's Rawlinson collection, as "Rawlinson D34." It was published in 1998 as Handel's trumpeter: the diary of John Grano, with a foreword by Crispian Steele-Perkins, who writes that things have not changed much in the last two centuries for musicians, most of whom still subsist on irregular freelance payments.
Grano was imprisoned in the so-called "Master's side" of the prison, which catered for wealthier prisoners able to pay both the prison fees and an additional fee that allowed them to leave the prison during the day. These privileges existed in contrast to the squalid "Commons side," where prisoners routinely starved to death. His diary details his friendships, love affairs, and adventures as he struggles to earn enough money to buy his freedom from the Marshalsea.
Grano has an entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. A book of his flute sonatas was published in 1728.
returns in 1698 places them in Angel Court, Charing Cross. John Ginger writes that the father had possibly been a regimental trumpeter in the Dutch Guards, who had travelled to England during the Glorious Revolution
of 1688, when James II of England
was overthrown by William III of Orange-Nassau
.
The family later moved to Pall Mall
, an aristocratic street near Buckingham Palace
, where they ran a haberdashery
business. Their first son, John Baptist, died in 1691, so their second son, the John Baptist of this article, was also given the paternal first names, a common practice at the time. Other children were Jane, born in 1697, a brother Lewis, and another sister, Mary. John Baptist and Lewis were both given a musical education.
John Baptist married Mary Thurman at St James Piccadilly on July 30, 1713; the marriage licence application states that bride and groom were both over 21, though the bride was, in fact, just 15 years old at the time. The marriage produced one child and ended in or around 1719.
. In or around 1709, he joined the orchestra in the Haymarket for 10 shillings a performance, twice a week, playing the rest of the time at salons in Lincoln's Inn Fields
or St James's Square, where he earned between two and four guineas an evening.
Grano joined the Horse Guards, receiving a regular salary of 17s.6d., but in 1719 he departed suddenly for The Hague
without leave. A reward of three guineas was offered for his return, a reward notice in a newspaper describing him as a "short black man in a light tye wig," reported by John Ginger as a malicious joke on the part of the Marquess of Winchester
, who commanded the fourth troop of the House Guards from which Grano had absconded. He returned to England in or around March 1720, playing his own trumpet and flute compositions in several salons, including in Drury Lane
. In the same year, his name was added as a member of the orchestra of the proposed Royal Academy of Music
, with George Frederick Handel as master of the orchestra and John James Heidegger
as manager. He set up home in Oxford Street
—between Holles Street and Cavendish Street, the less fashionable part of the area—with John Jones, a second violinist at the opera house. By 1728, there is a record of John Jones's wife living with them.
caused by speculators' actions regarding the South Sea Company. Ginger writes that it was a bad time for anyone who relied for their living on the moneyed classes, as Grano did. A smallpox epidemic did not help to attract audiences to the opera.
Haymarket
-United Kingdom:* Haymarket , street in Westminster, London* Newcastle Haymarket, section of Newcastle upon Tyne city centre, England** Haymarket bus station, bus station in Newcastle upon Tyne, above* Haymarket, Edinburgh, area of Edinburgh, Scotland...
.
From May 30, 1728 until September 23, 1729, Grano was imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...
prison in Southwark, owing 99 pounds to "Andrew Turner et al." He kept a diary of his 480 days there, the 510-page manuscript of which is now in the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
's Rawlinson collection, as "Rawlinson D34." It was published in 1998 as Handel's trumpeter: the diary of John Grano, with a foreword by Crispian Steele-Perkins, who writes that things have not changed much in the last two centuries for musicians, most of whom still subsist on irregular freelance payments.
Grano was imprisoned in the so-called "Master's side" of the prison, which catered for wealthier prisoners able to pay both the prison fees and an additional fee that allowed them to leave the prison during the day. These privileges existed in contrast to the squalid "Commons side," where prisoners routinely starved to death. His diary details his friendships, love affairs, and adventures as he struggles to earn enough money to buy his freedom from the Marshalsea.
Grano has an entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. A book of his flute sonatas was published in 1728.
Personal life
Grano's father, John Baptist Grano (also written Granom), and his mother Jane Villeneuve, who was originally from France, lived in London from the end of the 17th century onward. An entry in the poor ratePoor rate
In England and Wales, under the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law the poor rate was a tax on property levied on the parish which was used to provide poor relief to the parish poor. The tax was collected by local magistrates or Overseers of the Poor, and later by Local Authorities....
returns in 1698 places them in Angel Court, Charing Cross. John Ginger writes that the father had possibly been a regimental trumpeter in the Dutch Guards, who had travelled to England during the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
of 1688, when James II of England
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
was overthrown by William III of Orange-Nassau
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
.
The family later moved to Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
, an aristocratic street near Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
, where they ran a haberdashery
Haberdasher
A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips, and other notions. In American English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter. A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.-Origin and use:The word appears in...
business. Their first son, John Baptist, died in 1691, so their second son, the John Baptist of this article, was also given the paternal first names, a common practice at the time. Other children were Jane, born in 1697, a brother Lewis, and another sister, Mary. John Baptist and Lewis were both given a musical education.
John Baptist married Mary Thurman at St James Piccadilly on July 30, 1713; the marriage licence application states that bride and groom were both over 21, though the bride was, in fact, just 15 years old at the time. The marriage produced one child and ended in or around 1719.
Career
The earlier record of John Baptist as a trumpeter is in or around 1711, when the Duchess of Shrewsbury hired him, as a teenager, to play during a reception in the Lord Chamberlain's apartment at Kensington PalaceKensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
. In or around 1709, he joined the orchestra in the Haymarket for 10 shillings a performance, twice a week, playing the rest of the time at salons in Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...
or St James's Square, where he earned between two and four guineas an evening.
Grano joined the Horse Guards, receiving a regular salary of 17s.6d., but in 1719 he departed suddenly for The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
without leave. A reward of three guineas was offered for his return, a reward notice in a newspaper describing him as a "short black man in a light tye wig," reported by John Ginger as a malicious joke on the part of the Marquess of Winchester
Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton
Lieutenant-General Charles Powlett , 3rd Duke of Bolton KG PC was a British nobleman and politician....
, who commanded the fourth troop of the House Guards from which Grano had absconded. He returned to England in or around March 1720, playing his own trumpet and flute compositions in several salons, including in Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
. In the same year, his name was added as a member of the orchestra of the proposed Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, with George Frederick Handel as master of the orchestra and John James Heidegger
John James Heidegger
John James Heidegger was a Swiss count and leading impresario of masquerades in the early part of the 18th century....
as manager. He set up home in Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
—between Holles Street and Cavendish Street, the less fashionable part of the area—with John Jones, a second violinist at the opera house. By 1728, there is a record of John Jones's wife living with them.
Financial problems
John Ginger writes that Grano's financial difficulties began with the so-called "South Sea bubble," an economic bubbleEconomic bubble
An economic bubble is "trade in high volumes at prices that are considerably at variance with intrinsic values"...
caused by speculators' actions regarding the South Sea Company. Ginger writes that it was a bad time for anyone who relied for their living on the moneyed classes, as Grano did. A smallpox epidemic did not help to attract audiences to the opera.
Other English diarists
- Alan Clark DiariesAlan Clark DiariesAlan Clark started keeping a regular diary in 1955 which lasted until August 1999, during his second spell as a Member of Parliament, when he was incapacitated due to the onset of the brain tumour which was to be the cause of his death a month later...
- John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
- Ralph JosselinRalph JosselinRalph Josselin was the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar...
- Narcissus LuttrellNarcissus LuttrellNarcissus Luttrell was an English historian, diarist, and bibliographer, and briefly Member of Parliament for two different Cornish towns...
- Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
- Sir John Reresby, 2nd Baronet
- Nehemiah WallingtonNehemiah WallingtonNehemiah Wallington was an English Puritan artisan and chronicler. from Eastcheap. He left over 2,500 pages and 50 volumes on himself, religion and politics.-Life:...