BISHOP, SIR HENRY ROWLEY

born Nov. 18, 1786, London, Eng. died April 30, 1855, London English composer and conductor remembered for his songs Home, Sweet Home and Lo, Here the Gentle Lark. Bishop conducted at Covent Garden Theatre (1810), King's Theatre, Haymarket (181617), Drury Lane (from 1825), and Vauxhall Gardens (1830). He became professor of music successively at the Universities of Edinburgh (1841) and Oxford (1848) and was knighted in 1842. Bishop composed light operas and incidental music for plays and arranged operas by well-known composers. He wrote one opera with sung dialogue, Aladdin (1826). He also wrote oratorios, part-songs, and glees. His Home, Sweet Home, with lyrics by John Howard Payne, was the theme song from his comic opera, a musical version of Payne's play Clari, or The Maid of Milan.