The second half of the century still offers poor results so far as national music is concerned.  We have spoken of Handel and Scarlatti; but, after them, music in England again fell under foreign rule.  In the very year of Handel’s death, John Christian Bach arrived in London, which he made his home until his death in 1782.  During that period the sonatas of Mozart and Haydn became known; and the two visits of the latter to England in 1791-92 and 1794-95 gave greater lustre to his name, and rendered his style still more popular.  And all this foreign influence (strong inasmuch as Haydn and Mozart belonged to a school with which J.C.  Bach was in sympathy) is reflected in the English music of the period.  John Burton published, in 1766, “Ten Sonatas for the Harpsichord,” which are of interest.  Some of the writing recalls Scarlatti, but there are also many touches of harmony and melody which tell of later times.  The introduction of the Alberti bass is one clear sign of a post-Scarlatti period.  Burton paid a visit to Germany in 1752, and was, we presume, acquainted with Emanuel Bach’s compositions.  We may also name six sonatas by I. Worgan, M.B., published in 1769.  At the head of No. 5, the composer remarks:  “Lest the consecutive fifths at the beginning of the theme of this movement should escape the critic, the author here apprizes him of them.”  They are as follows:—­

[Music illustration]

The critic of those days must have been very dull if he required such assistance, and his ear very sensitive if offended by such consecutives as these.  Lastly, we may give the name of a lady, Miss Barthelemon,[111] whose interesting Sonata in G (Op. 3) was dedicated to Haydn.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, John Field, whose nocturnes are still played and admired, wrote three sonatas (Op. 1), and dedicated them to Muzio Clementi, his teacher.  No. 1 is in E flat; No. 2, in A; and No. 3, in C minor.  They all consist of only two movements (No. 1, Allegro and Rondo; No. 2, Allegro and Allegro Vivace; No. 3, Allegro and Allegretto).  In the first two sonatas the two movements are in the same key; in the last, the first movement is in C minor, the second, in C major.  The Rondo of No. 1 contains foreshadowings of Chopin.  Field’s music, generally, is old-fashioned, and not worth revival; none, indeed, of his sonatas have ever been played at the Monday Popular Concerts.

Samuel Wesley[112] wrote three sonatas (Op. 3), likewise eight, dedicated to the Hon. Daynes Barrington, yet we fear that not one of them would prove acceptable at the present day.  One looks in vain for the name of Wesley in the Popular Concert Catalogue.  Cipriani Potter (1792-1871) deserves a word of mention.  Beethoven, writing to Ries, in London, in 1818, says:  “Potter has visited me several times; he seems to be a good man, and has talent for composition.”  His Sonata in C (Op. 1, dedicated to Mrs. Brymer Belcher) consists of three movements:  an Allegro non troppo with a Haydnish theme—­