William Christian Sellé facts for kids
William Christian Sellé (1813–1898) was a talented musician and composer from the Victorian era. He was a "doctor of music," which means he had a special advanced degree in music. For 40 years, he was the official musician to Queen Victoria, playing for the royal family.
Quick facts for kids
Dr William Christian Sellé
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William Christian Sellé circa 1890
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| Background information | |
| Born | 9 July 1813 Benhall, Suffolk, England |
| Died | 8 November 1898 (aged 85) Richmond, Surrey, England |
| Genres | Classical, Romanticism |
| Occupation(s) | Musician in Ordinary, Professor of Music |
| Instruments | Organ, Piano, Violin |
| Years active | c. 1828 – 1886 |
Contents
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
William Christian Sellé was born in 1813 in a place called Benhall in Suffolk, England. His mother, Elizabeth Underwood, came from a farming family. His father, Christian Sellé, was also a musician. Christian Sellé had moved from Hanover (a city in Germany) with a famous violinist named Viotti. They joined the private band of the 15th Light Dragoons, a military group led by Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland. The Duke lived at the royal residence in Kew and was creating a band mostly of German musicians. Because of his father, William learned to speak both English and German from a young age.
William started his music lessons very early. He was taught by Mr. Platt, another musician from the Duke of Cumberland's band. When he was 15, William became a student of Cipriani Potter. Potter was the head of the Royal Academy of Music, a very important music school. William focused on playing the pianoforte, an early type of piano. Even as a student, William was a great teacher. Potter trusted him to teach other students at the academy. After about two years there, William began a long career as a teacher that lasted 70 years! He mainly taught piano and organ, but he was also a skilled violinist.
A Royal Friendship
In 1878, William Sellé wrote a letter to The Times newspaper. He remembered becoming friends with Prince George of Cumberland, the Duke's young son, in 1828. Prince George (who later became George V of Hanover, a king) had a serious accident that made him temporarily lose his eyesight. William said he was always there to support Prince George during his illness. Prince George became William's very first royal student. William even wrote a piece of music for the young prince, which was probably his first published work. It was called The Favorite Gallopade, with variations for the Piano Forte, and you can still find a copy at The British Library.
Life in Richmond and Royal Appointments
In 1835, William Sellé married Selina Daniel in Southwark. They made their home in Richmond on Thames, a town where he lived for the rest of his life. He spent the next few years raising his family and growing his teaching career. Many members of the royal household became his students.
In 1845, William received a very important job: Organist of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. This was a highly respected position, and he held it for about 40 years. In 1853, he asked for a permanent choir to be formed at Hampton Court. That same year, he helped organize a concert at Hampton Court to raise money for the Crimean War Relief Fund. This concert was special because it was held in the Great Hall, which was opened to the public for the very first time.
A Doctor of Music and Composer
William Sellé earned a special music degree called a Lambeth Music Doctorate in 1857. This was given to him by Archbishop Sumner. The years between the 1850s and 1860s were when he wrote most of his music. The British Library has about 40 of his published pieces, and Cambridge University Library has 11. Most of these are short pieces for piano and organ. His piano music was light and easy to listen to, often played in people's homes. His work showed his love for the composers of the First Viennese School (like Mozart and Beethoven) and placed him within the romantic style of English music.
In 1886, The Shelley Society asked him to write music for Hellas, a play by the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. This play was performed in October 1894, with the actress Alma Murray in the main role. While some critics had different opinions about the music, it remains Sellé's most famous work and is still available today.
William Sellé loved the composer Beethoven, whom he called 'his dear master'. He preferred traditional classical music and wasn't a fan of what he called 'modern music'. Throughout his teaching career, he stayed close to many of his students. He even played the organ at the wedding of his former student, Princess Mary of Cambridge. People who knew him said he was a friendly, talkative man with many interesting stories, making him great company. Later in life, he became well-known in his community for wearing a unique hat that people described as a 'sombrero'. William Sellé retired as organist at the Chapel Royal in 1886, when he was 73 years old.
Community Involvement and Later Years
William Sellé was a supporter of the Liberal political party and its leader, Gladstone. He was very active in his community. From 1853 until his death, he was a member of the Richmond Select Vestry, which was like the local town council. He also tried to become a Liberal candidate when Richmond officially became a town, but he wasn't successful. He also tried to help open the Richmond Public Library, where he was a committee member, but that effort didn't succeed either.
When he passed away, William Sellé left behind his wife and two adult daughters. One of his daughters was married to Harry Buxton Forman, who was a leading expert on rare books and a scholar of everything related to Percy Bysshe Shelley. William's only adult son, Guarnerius (named after the famous Italian violin makers Guarneri), had died nine years before him, as had two other daughters. William Christian Sellé died from a heart attack on November 8, 1898, while at The Greyhound Hotel in Richmond.
Images for kids
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Harry Buxton Forman
