Shield, WILLIAM

Shield, WILLIAM, composer, was born 5th March 1748, at Swalwell in Durham, and was apprenticed to a boat-builder; but he studied music with zeal by help of Avison, and composed anthems that were sung in the cathedral of Durham; and ere long he was a conductor of concerts at Scarborough. He published a comic opera, The Flitch of Bacon, in 1778, and, now composer to Covent Garden (1778-97), produced several other dramatic works, including Rosina (1783), The Poor Soldier (1784), The Woodman (1792), Two Faces under a Hood (1807). But he is best known by his songs, amongst which are 'The Heaving of the Lead,' 'The Arethusa,' 'The Thorn,' 'The Ploughboy,' and 'The Wolf.' The tune of 'Auld Lang Syne,' as now sung (based apparently on an old Scotch tune), was introduced into his Rosina; the authorship both of it and of 'Comin' through the Rye' have even been claimed for Shield. In 1807 he published An Introduction to Harmony (2 vols.), in 1817 Rudiments of Thorough Bass, and several collections of glees, ballads, trios, &c. In 1792 he travelled and studied in France and Italy. At his death, 25th January 1829, he was Master of the King's Musicians. See a 'Memorial' published in 1891 in connection with the erection of a tombstone in his native parish.