Hatton, John Liptrot

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Hatton, John Liptrot

Hatton, John Liptrot, English composer; b. Liverpool, Oct. 12, 1808; d. Margate, Sept. 20, 1886. He acquired facility as a pianist and singer, and appeared on the vaudeville stage as a musical comedian. He publ, a great number of songs, among which “Anthea” and “Good-bye, sweetheart, good-bye” became extremely popular. In 1832 he went to London, where he composed the operetta, The Queen of the Thames, or The Anglers (Feb. 25, 1842). He then went to Vienna, where his opera Pascal Bruno was staged (March 2, 1844). For some of his numbers he used the punning pseudonym Czapek (genitive plural of the Hungarian word for “hat”). From 1848 to 1850 he made an extensive American tour. Returning to England, he was music director at the Princess’s Theatre (1853–59). He wrote music for several Shakespeare plays there, as well as a cantata, Robin Hood (Bradford Festival, Aug. 26, 1856), a grand opera, Rose, or Love’s Ransom (London, Nov. 26, 1864), and a sacred drama, Hezekiah (Dec. 15, 1877). He also ed. collections of old English songs.—

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire