Samuel Lover


Samuel Lover, also known as "Ben Trovato", was an Irish songwriter, composer and novelist, and a portrait painter, chiefly in miniatures. He was the grandfather of Victor Herbert.

Life

Lover was born at No. 60 Grafton Street, Dublin and went to school at Samuel Whyte's at No. 79, which now houses Bewley's Café. By 1830 he was Secretary of the Royal Hibernian Academy 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, he contributed libretto and music, for others just a few songs. Before committing himself to a literary career, he enjoyed considerable success as a miniature painter.
Lover produced many Irish songs, of which several, such as The Angel's Whisper, Molly Bawn, and The Four-leaved Shamrock, gained popularity. He also wrote novels, of which Rory O'Moore 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 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 Victor Herbert, 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, Jersey. A memorial in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin 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", 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
  • Legends and Stories of Ireland
  • Rory O'More: A National Romance. Novel
  • Songs and Ballads
  • Handy Andy. A Tale of Irish Life
  • ''Treasure Trove/He Would Be a Gentleman''

    Selected compositions

Stage
  • Rory O'More, comic opera
  • The White Horse of the Peppers, dramatic romance
  • Snap Apple Night, or A Kick-up in Kerry, musical drama
  • The Greek Boy, musical drama
  • Il Paddy Whack in Italia, 1-act-operetta
  • The Irish Tourist's Ticket

    Interpretations

  • performed by Sydney Children's Choir; arranged by Jessica Wells
  • and available on YouTube. Original melody and arrangement by Andy Webster.
Category:1797 births
Category:1868 deaths
Category:19th-century Irish classical composers
Category:19th-century Irish novelists
Category:19th-century Irish painters
Category:19th-century Irish male artists
Category:19th-century Irish male musicians
Category:19th-century Irish male writers
Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
Category:Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Irish folklorists
Category:Irish librettists
Category:Irish male novelists
Category:Irish male painters
Category:Irish male songwriters
Category:Irish opera composers
Category:Irish male opera composers
Category:Musicians from Dublin
Category:Painters from Dublin
Category:Writers from Dublin
Category:19th-century Irish songwriters
Category:Irish historical novelists
Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers