Eliza Flower

{{Short description|British musician and composer (1803–1846)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox classical composer | name = | image = Elisa Flower.jpg | caption =  | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth year|1803}} | birth_place = Harlow, Essex | death_date = {{Death date and age|1846|12|12|1803|||df=y}} | death_place = Hurstpierpoint | era = Romantic | list_of_works =  | notable_works = "Nearer, My God, to Thee" | father = Benjamin Flower | mother = Eliza Gould | relatives = Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (sister) }} '''Eliza Flower''' (1803 – 12 December 1846) was a British musician and composer. In addition to her own work, Flower became known for her friendships including those with William Johnson Fox, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor.

==Biography== Flower was born at Harlow, Essex in 1803 to radical journalist Benjamin Flower and philanthropist Eliza Gould.<ref name="RSK">{{cite book | last1 = Kennedy | first1 = Richard S. | last2 = Hair | first2 = Donald S. | title = The Dramatic Imagination of Robert Browning | publisher = University of Missouri Press | date = 2007 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/dramaticimaginat00kenn_0/page/n37 18] | url = https://archive.org/details/dramaticimaginat00kenn_0 | url-access = registration | isbn =978-0-8262-1691-5 }} </ref><ref name="HD1">{{cite book | last = Taylor & Francis Group | title = A Historical Dictionary of British Women | publisher = Routledge | date = 2003 | pages = 171 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pDtEe4FKolUC | isbn =1-85743-228-2 }}</ref> Her younger sister was the poet Sarah Fuller Flower Adams.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hale | first = Sarah Josepha Buell | author-link = Sarah Josepha Hale | title = Woman's Record; Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from "the Beginning ... | publisher = Harper & brothers | date = 1853 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/womansrecordors00halegoog/page/n912 874] | url = https://archive.org/details/womansrecordors00halegoog }} </ref> From the age of four, Eliza Flower showed a promising aptitude for music and composition.<ref name="HD2">{{cite book | last = Taylor & Francis Group | title = A Historical Dictionary of British Women | publisher = Routledge | date = 2003 | pages = 190 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pDtEe4FKolUC | isbn =1-85743-228-2 }}</ref> Flower, her father and her sister were all regular contributors to Unitarian minister William Johnson Fox's periodical the ''Monthly Repository''.<ref name="JD">{{cite book | last = Duran | first = Jane | author-link = Jane Duran | title = Eight Women Philosophers | publisher = University of Illinois Press | date = 2006 | pages = 150 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aIzVEF6J6SYC | isbn =0-252-03022-2 }} </ref> Following Benjamin Flower's death, Eliza and Sarah lived with Fox as his wards until Sarah's marriage in 1834 to William Bridges Adams, and Eliza's death in 1846. Fox was married (and separated) and his friendship with Eliza Flower, and their living arrangements, though platonic, brought rumour and social ostracism towards her.<ref name="HD2" /><ref>{{cite book | last = Conway | first = Moncure Daniel | author-link = Moncure D. Conway | title = Autobiography Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway | publisher = Adamant Media Corporation | date = 2001 | pages = 27 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YDdBZXAfkSgC | isbn =1-4021-6692-3 }} </ref> Flower and Fox were friends with unmarried couple, politician and philosopher John Stuart Mill and women's rights advocate Harriet Taylor.<ref name="JD" />

Flower's first published musical work was ''Four Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels'' in 1831, setting to music several of Sir Walter Scott's romantic songs.<ref name="HD2" /> She later wrote music for works by her sister, including her hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee", which formed part of a collection by Fox called ''Hymns and Anthems''.<ref name="HD2" /> Her chorus ''Now pray we for our Country'' achieved some popularity.<ref name=percy>Scholes, Percy. ''The Mirror of Music'' (1947), p. 733</ref> She wrote music sung at the funeral of Hindu reformist Ram Mohan Roy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|title=Flower, Eliza (1803–1846), radical and composer|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-9762|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/9762}}</ref> During her lifetime, reviewers considered her the greatest female composer.<ref name=":0" /> The ''Musical Times'' of January 1846 says – "The selection of Sacred Music from the works of Miss Eliza Flower was repeated to a very full audience on the 10th at Crosby Hall, and highly delighted a very crowded audience".<ref name=percy/>

Flower died on 12 December 1846 from consumption while at Hurstpierpoint, near Brighton.<ref name=":0" />

==Friendship with Robert Browning== Flower and her sister Sarah became acquainted with the young poet Robert Browning.<ref name="RSK" /> Flower was shown a manuscript of Browning's ''Incondita'', a collection of poems written at the age of 12, by his mother.<ref name="RSK" /><ref name="TRL">{{cite book | last = Lounsbury | first = Thomas Raynesford | author-link = Thomas Lounsbury | title = The Early Literary Career of Robert Browning: Four Lectures | publisher = BiblioBazaar, LLC | date = 2008 | pages = 8–9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NjiCvSkGTUcC | isbn =978-0-559-21522-3 }} </ref> Impressed, Flower showed them to W. J. Fox.<ref name="RSK" /> Fox also liked the poems but convinced Browning that they were not good enough for publication. The poems were eventually destroyed by Browning, with much of his other work, in 1884.<ref name="RSK" /> Browning developed a boyish love for Flower, nine years his senior, and remained fond of her until her death.<ref name="RSK" /><ref name="TRL" /> She was the inspiration for his poem "Pauline".<ref name="HD2" />

==Works== *1831: ''Four Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels'' *1832: "The Gathering of the Unions" *1834: ''Songs of the Seasons'' *1841: ''Hymns and Anthems'' (including "Nearer, My God, to Thee")

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flower, Eliza}} Category:1803 births Category:1846 deaths Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:19th-century English classical composers Category:19th-century English women composers Category:English Romantic composers Category:English women classical composers Category:People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society Category:People from Harlow Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England