Smart, Sir George Thomas

1776-1867

 

English composer; born in London, the son of a music-seller and a chorister in the Chapel Royal under Ayrton; then an organ pupil of Dubois and a student in composition under Arnold. He published collections of glees and canons, all very popular, in 1863; two volumes of sacred music; two piano sonatines; anthems; and edited Orlando Gibbons' madrigals and Handel's Te Deum. Smart gave lessons in singing until he was past eighty. He was knighted in 1811 in Dublin, and afterward conducted a series of concerts. He was an original member of the Philharmonic Society and conductor of its concerts from 1813 until 1844, introducing the works of Beethoven and Schumann. He also conducted the Lenten Oratorios and the music at the coronation of William IV. and Victoria. He also introduced Beethoven's Mount of Olives to the English public. It was in his house in London that Weber died, and it was mainly through Smart and Sir Julius Benedict's exertions that the Weber statue was erected in Dresden.