Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/207

 Braham by the collector showed that he had brought together 13,000 examples of pipes. China, Japan, Thibet, Van Diemen's Land, North and South America, Greenland, the Gold Coast, and the Falkland Islands, all furnished specimens. ‘There were also samples of some hundreds of kinds of tobacco, of every conceivable form of snuff-box, including the rare Chinese snuff-bottles, and also of all known means of procuring fire, from the rude Indian fire-drill down to the latest invention of Paris or Vienna.’ This collection was broken up and dispersed. Bragge also made a notable collection of manuscripts, which realised 12,500l. He was always ready to place his treasures at the disposal of public bodies for exhibition.

Bragge was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Anthropological Society, of the Royal Geographical Society, and of many foreign societies.

Bragge, who married a sister of the Rev. George Beddow, died at Handsworth, Birmingham, on 6 June 1884. For some time before his death he was almost totally blind.

 BRAHAM, FRANCES, afterwards. [See Waldegrave, Frances Elizabeth Anne (DNB00).]  BRAHAM, JOHN (1774?–1856), tenor singer, was born in London about the year 1774. His parents were German Jews, who died when Braham was quite young, leaving him to what one of his biographers describes as 'the seasonable and affectionate attention of a near relation.' Whether it was at this time, or at an earlier age, that the future singer gained his living by selling pencils in the streets is not chronicled, Braham's first contact with music took place at the synagogue in Duke's Place. There he met with a chorister, a musician of his own race named Leoni, who discovered the germs of his talent. Leoni adopted the orphan, and gave him thorough instruction in music and singing, with such good results that on 21 April 1787 he appeared at Covent Garden on the occasion of a benefit performance for his master, and sang Arne's bravura air, 'The Soldier Tired,' between the acts of the 'Duenna.' About this time John Palmer had started the Royalty Theatre in Wellclose Square, but, not being able to obtain a license for dramatic performances, he opened the house on 30 June 1787 with a mixed entertainment of recitations, glees, songs, &c. Here Braham sang for about two years, until his voice broke. Even at this early period of his career his bravura singing must have been remarkable. His voice had a compass of two octaves, and some of his most successful parts were Cupid in Carter's 'The Birthday,' and Hymen in Reeves's 'Hero and Leander.' He sang again at Covent Garden as Joe in 'Poor Vulcan' on 3 June 1788. About this time Braham's master, Leoni, became bankrupt, and the future tenor was once more thrown upon his own resources. After his voice broke he continued to sing under a feigned name, appearing, it is said, at Norwich, and even at Ranelagh, but his main occupation consisted in teaching the pianoforte. He met with a wealthy patron, a member of the Goldsmid family, and when the change in his voice was settled, on the advice of the flute-player Ashe, went to Bath, where he sang under Rauzzini in 1794. Braham remained at Bath until 1796, when Salomon, having heard him, induced Storace to procure him an engagement at Drury Lane, for which house Storace was just then engaged upon an opera. This work was 'Mahmoud,' but before it was finished the composer died, and the work was completed as a pasticcio by his sister, Nancy Storace, who, with Charles Kemble, Mrs. Bland, and Braham, sang in it on its production, 30 April 1796. Braham's success was signal, and in the following season he appeared in Italian opera, singing Azor in Grétry's 'Azor et Zémire ' on 26 Nov. 1796, and afterwards singing with Banti in Sacchini's 'Evelina,' as well as in the annual oratorios, and at the Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester. In the following year, on the advice of the fencer M. St. George, Braham decided to go to Italy to study singing. Accordingly, he left England with Nancy Storace, with whom he lived for several years, and arrived in Paris on 17 Fructidor. Here the two singers gave a series of concerts, under the patronage of Josephine Beauharnais. These were so successful, that they remained eight months in Paris, and did not reach Italy until 1798. At Florence, which they first visited, Braham sang at the Pergola as Ulysses in an opera by Basili, and as Orestes in Moneta's 'Le Furie d'Oreste.' At Milan he met [q. v.], with whom he was forced into rivalry by the jealousy of her husband (Felissent). It is said that, owing to Felissent's machinations, a scena of Braham's was suppressed in Nasolini's 'Trionfo di Clelia,' in which both the