(b London, c1728; d London, ?Jan 1776). English music seller and publisher, brother of John Randall. He was a son or more probably a grandson of Peter Randall, a London music publisher associated with john Walsh (i), and was presumably the Randall found among the Children of the Chapel Royal from 1736 to 1745. At the death of his cousin john Walsh (ii) in 1766, he and John Abell inherited the extensive Walsh business, where they had doubtless been employed. They published for the first time the complete full scores of a number of Handel oratorios, starting with Messiah (1767). After Abell's death on 29 July 1768, Randall remained in business alone. Besides reprinting Walsh publications, sometimes with the original imprint in addition to his own, he published many interesting works, including a reissue in 1771 of Morley's A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. Collections of country dances and pleasure-garden songs also came from his press. At his death, his widow Elizabeth carried on the business until 1783, when it was taken over by Wright & Wilkinson.
Humphries-SmithMP
KidsonBMP
W.C. Smith: A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published by John Walsh during the Years 1695–1720 (London, 1948, 2/1968)
W.C. Smith: ‘John Walsh and his Successors’, The Library, 5th ser., iii (1948–9), 291–6
W.C. Smith: Handel: a Descriptive Catalogue of the Early Editions (London, 1960, 2/1970)
W.C. Smith and C. Humphries: A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published by the Firm of John Walsh during the Years 1721–1766 (London, 1968)
FRANK KIDSON/WILLIAM C. SMITH/PETER WARD JONES