SOME BRITISH INSTRUMENTALIST COMPOSERS
Many, indeed most, composers have been at least competent performers on at
least one instrument but this article is concerned with those who were and
are known primarily as instrumentalist, but who nevertheless composed to
a considerable extent. A few people in this category have been noticed in
other articles, for example, the violinist W H Reed and Charles Woodhouse,
violist H Waldo Warner, cellist W H Squire and pianist Thomas Johnson. And
as all organists, it seems, compose (and in any case we have written a piece
on Yorkshire organists) they will with one exception not be considered here.
Several of those who are to be considered appeared as performers in my home
town, Doncaster, and I hope it will be of interest to recall briefly what
they played on those occasions.
Let us begin with a group of harpists. John Balser Chatterton was born at
Portsmouth in 1805 and was thus unusually an English harpist (most of the
famous British ones have hailed from Wales or Ireland). He became Professor
of his instrument at the Royal Academy of Music in 1827, succeeding his teacher
Bochsa, and Harpist to Queen Victoria in 1842. He wrote much music for harp
especially arrangements of traditional airs of the British Isles - two of
his more ambitious pieces were the Fantasias, Chords of Harmony and
Peace or Recollections of the Crystal Palace and Bridal
Chimes. His brother Frederick was Harpist to HRH the Duchess of Gloucester
and played in Doncaster in January 1856 when he programmed several items
by "Chatterton" which was presumably himself but it could have been his brother,
viz Highland Ballads, Welsh Bardic Illustrations, Morceau
Fantastique and Partant Pour Le Syrie. John Chatterton died in
April 1871 and was succeeded as Harpist to the Queen by John Thomas.
Thomas was born in Bridgend on 1 March 1826, studied composition with Cipriani
Potter and piano and harp (under John Chatterton) at the RAM 1840-6. From
1851 he played for the opera at Her Majesty's Theatre and in 1852 played
one of his own concertos at the Philharmonic Society. He toured Europe widely
between 1852 and 1862. latterly he became involved with teaching - as professor
of the harp at the RAM (from 1871) and at both the RCM and GSM from the 1880s
- also adjudicating at various Welsh eisteddfodau and writing, including
an article on Welsh national music for the first edition of Grove. He organised
a concert of Welsh music at St James' Hall in 1862 (given by 400 voices and
twenty (!) harps and formed the Welsh Choral Union in London in 1871) in
which year he became Harpist to Queen Victoria. He by no means confined himself
to composing for harp as his works included two symphonies, two operas, various
overtures and string quartets and the two cantatas, Llewellyn, performed
at the Aberdare Eisteddfod in 1863 and later at the 1893 Chicago Fair and
The Bride of Neath Valley for Chester in 1866. His works for harp
included Scenes of Childhood (1863) and Cambria (1863) for
two harps, lovely period pieces, Romance and Rondo Piaccevole,
for harp with violin, and two concertos in E Flat and B Flat. He published
a large number of arrangements of Welsh Melodies, some for harp with
chorus others (often with variations) for harp solo, some 48 studies for
harp and many arrangements for harp of classical composers, like Beethoven,
Schubert (I have a recording of the Thomas setting of Ave Maria),
Mendelssohn and Gounod. His sets of variations on Welsh Airs can still
be heard in concert today. They are pleasant if slight; rather better are
the four characteristic pieces, The Seasons and the delicious little
tone poem, Echoes of a Waterfall. These have both been recorded in
the past decade as have the mazurka L'Esperance, the Grand Duo
in B Flat for two harps, the Fantasia, Pensive and Joyous, the impromptu
Le Apoit, The Tear, Adieu My Native Country and several
of the sets of variations. On his appearance in Doncaster on 25 November
1873 he played a Grand Study and various of the Welsh Melodies.
He died in London on 19 March 1913.
His younger brother Thomas Thomas (1829-1913) was also a touring harp virtuoso
(of Europe between 1851 and 1867 and of America in 1895) who adopted the
name Aptommas to avoid the possibility of confusion with his brother.
(Nevertheless at least one American Musical Dictionary does confuse them).
He too composed: a cantata Pilgrim's Progress and much for harp especially
the usual arrangements of national airs. In Doncaster on 18 February 1869,
when he was billed as "The Paganini of the Harp", he played some of the latter
and at the town's Corn Exchange on 3 November 1880 he also performed among
other things his Tarantella for harp with piano. He wrote a short
History of the Harp, published in 1859 and died in Canada.
Another Welsh harpist to visit Doncaster at that period was Ellis Roberts,
Harpist to the Prince of Wales who appeared there twice in 1857, performing
his own Air with Variations and arrangements - perhaps his own - of
a medley from Weber's Der Freischutz and of Rule Britannia!
A more recent harp virtuoso Marie Goossens (1894-1991), from a remarkable
musical family, composed Harp Music for Beginners and more famously
the theme music for the long running radio serial Mrs Dale's Diary
and arranged Fourteen Tunes for the Celtic Harp.
Reginald Kell, born in York in 1906, was one of the finest clarinettists
of his generation. He studied with Haydn Draper at the RAM and joined Beecham's
legendary LPO in 1932 moving to the LSO in 1937. He taught at the RAM 1935-48
and much to our loss emigrated to the USA in 1948. He published a Clarinet
Method and two books of studies, also - mostly early on in his career
- a few short concert pieces, An Autumn Tune, A Graceful Tune,
A Humorous Fantasy and Moods.
Among string players we consider first the case of Arnold Trowell, born in
New Zealand in 1887 but properly regarded as British for our purpose as he
made his career as a virtuoso cellist while based in this country. He trained
in Frankfurt and Brussels and first appeared in England in 1907. As a cello
virtuoso he appeared in Doncaster in February 1909 playing works by Boccherini,
Cui, Davidoff, Popper and Victor Herbert. but nothing by himself although
he wrote prolifically for cello. His compositions were in demand as examination
tests as well as for concert use and included: Menuet, Gavotte
and Petit Marche Opus 4, various dances published as Opus 11, Six
Pieces in Ancient Style Opus 15, Nocturne Opus 16, a
Caprice Opus 20, three folk arrangements (The Foggy Dew,
Londonderry Air and Irish Lullaby) Opus 49, the Caprice
Ancien Op 52 and Old-Time Measure Opus 59. His largest scale
composition was a Cello Concerto Opus 33 (1909). By no means all has music
was purely for cello however. There was a Violin Sonata in G, Opus 24, a
Piano Quintet in F Minor (the same key as Brahms'), Opus 45, a String Quartet
in G, Opus 25, often played by the Brodsky Quartet and a Trio on Ancient
Irish Folk Tunes in D Major Opus 32 for piano, violin and cello. I heard
this some years ago in Doncaster and found it a charming compilation if hardly
an important work.
Another cellist was Cedric Sharpe, born in 1891, the son of pianist/composer
Herbert Francis Sharpe. Cedric studied at the RCM with W H Squire and later
became prominent as a chamber music and orchestral player in London especially
with the Philharmonic Quartet and as a principal cellist with the Royal Albert
Hall Orchestra, His compositions written manly between the wars, were principally
for cello and included The Angelus, Chansonette, Gavotte
in G Minor, Humoresque Rumbaesque, An Old-Time Dance, An
Old World Love Song, Romance in A, Le Soir, Valse
Capricieuse, Pavane, The Vesper Bell (an old Breton folk tune)
and sundry arrangements of Bach, Arne and English and Irish traditional airs,
also Scots folk tunes originally arranged for piano solo by his father. His
cello compositions showed a knowledge for what the instrument could do in
the lighter forms and a pleasing lyricism if Midsummer Song, which
I have heard in a recording by the composer, is anything to go by. He also
composed pieces for light orchestra, like the Holyrood Suite and the
Pompadour Suite, both in the "ancient pastiche" style so beloved of
British light music composers. The movements of Holyrood are entitled
Ruffs and Laces (Gavotte), M. Le Marquis
(Sarabande), Lute Song (Ariette) and Kitchen Boys'
Dance (Gigue) - the instrumentation is single woodwind with a
second clarinet, trumpet, percussion and strings. And Sharpe also composed
a number of songs in ballad style, like The Fairy Fiddler, In Praise
of Ale, It was the Time of Roses and The Year's at the
Spring. (W.H. Squire, incidentally, I deal with in my (first) Garland
of British Light Music Composers.)
Still another cellist was William Edward Whitehouse (1859-1935), who studied
at the RAM where he was later taken on to the staff before becoming a professor
at Cambridge and at the RCM. He played in the Classical Monday Pops, and
under Wagner at the Royal Albert Hall. He performed with Joachim and between
1889 and 1904 in the London Trio with whom he toured widely. His pupils included
Felix Salmond and Beatrice Harrison, both of whom were associated with the
Elgar Cello Concerto in its early days. He wrote textbooks for the cello
and in 1930 Recollections of a Violoncellist. His compositions were
primarily for his own instrument, having titles like Introduction and
Allegro Perpetuo, Remembrance, Ballade in G (1916),
Gedanken, Melody in D, Serenade and Caprice. In addition
he edited works for cello by baroque composers.
Two famous viola players of the early 20th Century were Lionel
Tertis, crusader extraordinary for viola music, who inspired much, arranged
plenty (including the Elgar Cello Concerto for viola) and composed a bit,
pieces like the miniature, Sunset. Bernard Shore of the BBC Symphony
Orchestra who continued playing as I can vouch, into the mid-1970s, published
a Scherzo but for violin(!) and piano.
Violinist, Albert Sammons was born in London on 23 February 1886 and is
remembered with affection today for his performances of the Elgar and Delius
violin concertos both of which he recorded. Taught by his father, he was
heard playing in a London hotel by Beecham and was engaged to lead the Beecham
Orchestra on the strength of it. He also led the orchestra of the Philharmonic
Society, played for the Russian Ballet and the Dieppe Symphony Orchestra
and was a member of the King's private band.
Between 1910 and 1919 he was first violin of the New, later the London, String
Quartet in which Waldo Warner was the viola player and later of the Chamber
Music Players, who played together for 22 years. Sammons toured widely and
his sonata recitals with William Murdoch attempted with less success than
he would have wished to champion modern music. He was Professor of the violin
at the RCM and published a book, Secret of Technique. He also composed.
Many of his works were, as we would expect, for violin and piano.
Berceuse, Opus 6, Bouree, Opus 12, Dance Caprice, Opus
15, Gypsy Dance, Lullaby, Plantation Dance, Op 24, A
Rumanian Air, a Fantasia on Irish Airs, many studies, Six Scottish
Tunes and the Welsh air, The Faithful Bird. Both his visits to
Doncaster on 9 November 1920 and 27 November 1930 featured his Hungarian
Dance; on the latter occasion the Rumanian Air figured also, along
with Beethoven, Mozart and sundry "lollipops". Sammons' published work also
included a few for small orchestra like the entr'acte Little Columbine
and An Angel's Song. His Phantasy Quartet for strings in B Minor Opus
8, is described by Cobbett as of marked originality and it was well received
in a 1915 performance. Sammons died at his Sussex home in 1957, aged 71.
Another fine English violinist from roughly the same period, but one whose
basic achievements were as orchestral leader and chamber musician rather
than as soloist, was George Stratton, born in London on 18 July 1897 who
led the LSO from 1933 to 1953 and also the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra
from its inception in 1934. The Stratton String Quartet which he formed in
1925 (it lasted until 1942) gave many fine performances and its recording
of the Elgar Piano Quintet with Harriet Cohen made in 1933, has passed into
legend. He also led the Reginald Paul Piano Quintet. Stratton also composed
and won a prize for composition as a student at the GSM; his most ambitious
works were the 15 minute long Pastorale Concerto for viola and piano,
published in the year of his death, 1954 and an Oboe Concerto, lightly
accompanied by an orchestra of strings, two clarinets and bassoon. In 1935
he published with Alan Frank, a book on The Playing of Chamber Music.
It was reprinted in 1951. He also contributed an article "On Leading the
LSO" to Hubert Foss' London Symphony. He taught at the RCM from 1942
and was awarded an OBE in 1953. The distinguished violinist John Dunn was
born in Hull in 1866 and died in Harrogate in 1940. He studied in Leipzig
from the age of 12 making his London debut in 1882. He wrote a Manual
on Violin Playing and also composed considerably: a Violin Concerto,
violin and piano solos in some profusion, like the Soliloquy and
Berceuse, also a Sonatina for piano solo.
We come now to pianists. Musical history can point to many pianist composers.
Not many of these were British; but there are a few for us to notice. Herbert
Francis Sharpe (1861-1925) we have already mentioned. A Professor at the
RCM and a regular recitalist, he composed prolifically (his opus numbers
reached at least the seventies), mainly for the piano and mainly miniatures,
plus one or two songs like The Mahogany Tree and, apparently his major
work, the Suite Opus 2 for flute and piano.
Frederick Lamond, born on 28 January 1868 in Glasgow, studied piano at the
Raff Conservatory, Frankfurt and had composition lessons with Liszt. His
debut as a pianist was in Berlin in 1885; he played at the St James' Hall
in 1886, his English debut. He was later Professor at the Hague Conservatory.
As a concert pianist he became famous for his interpretations of Beethoven,
about whose sonatas he published a booklet in 1944 (his memoirs appeared
posthumously in 1949), and of Liszt whose First Piano Concerto he played
with the BBC Scottish Orchestra on his 75th birthday. Lamond lived
in Germany until in 1938 the approach of the Second World War drove him back
to this country; he died in Stirling on 21 February 1948 having been a professor
at the Scottish National Academy for the previous nine years. He composed
and indeed originally wanted to be a composer rather than a performer. Obviously
his list of works included several for solo piano but they embrace also a
Piano Trio, a Cello Sonata and other chamber music, a Symphony in A Opus
3, scored for double woodwind, four horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings,
and overtures, of which From the Scottish Highlands Opus 4, a very
early work as its English premiere was in 1886 was more lavishly scored than
the Symphony with triple woodwinds and trombones, tuba and other percussion
added.
Harold Samuel (1879-1937) studied at the RCM (where he later taught) with
Dannreuther and Stanford and with Parry's influence also important, and made
his London debut as a pianist in 1894. This was followed by many recital
tours and concerto appearances here and abroad. He visited America in 1924
and subsequently. He became known especially after 1921 for his interpretations
of Bach and as a fine chamber music player. His earlier visits to Doncaster
in 1907, 1908 (twice) and 1912 were as accompanist but on 2 December 1926
he did indeed play Bach (three of the "Forty-Eight" and the Second
English Suite) among other things. Like Lamond he wrote music for piano
solo (his Two Sketches, entitled Campden Hollow and A
Carol, are attractive) and also in other musical mediums. He even penned
a musical comedy, Hon'ble Phil', short "operettas", incidental music
for plays and songs for Shakespeare's As You Like It and published
other songs like Diaphenia, Joggin' Along the Highway, The
Fairy Boat, The Top of the Hill, Goodbye Pierrette, The
Toy Band and Three Old-World Songs.
Herbert Fryer (1877-1957), educated at Merchant Taylors' School, the RAM
and RCM (at which latter establishment he became Professor of Piano, retiring
in 1947) was a festival adjudicator, examiner and recitalist, playing programmes
from 1898 onwards, not only in Britain, but all over Europe and in Canada,
the United States, Australia, South Africa and the Indian sub-continent.
His compositions included songs (The Virgin's Cradle Hymn became quite
popular) and naturally piano solos. Titles included the Etude Caprice,
Opus 9 No 1 (1910), a Morris Dance Opus 18 No 5, Three Preludes
Opus 16, a Suite for Piano, Opus 11 and sundry arrangements of
Bach and traditional Irish and English tunes.
Norman Fraser, born in 1904 in Valparaiso in Chile studied there and in Lausanne,
Switzerland and elsewhere on the Continent, at King's College, Wimbledon
and the RCM. As a pianist he toured Europe; he settled in London, working
for the BBC between 1936 and 1943 and again between 1954 and 1967. He kept
returning to South America, however, teaching at the University of Chile
1934-6 and acting as a British Council representative in Buenos Aires 1944-6.
His compositions were by no means confined to the piano. He produced a Rondo
Campesio for soprano voice and orchestra and Four Chilean Dances
for full orchestra. Chamber music included an early String Quartet (1923
possibly a composition exercise), Chanson d'Automne for soprano, flute
and string trio, Elegy for woodwinds and harp (1935), Orientale
for violin and piano, Cueca for two violins and piano and a Chilean
Dance for violin and piano, possibly one of the orchestral ones already
mentioned. Many of his songs were arrangements of South American melodies,
but he set German words in Drei Rilke Lieder of 1939, while his English
songs included the Six Songs of 1946, Lullaby (1939), The
Snowdrop in the Wind and Venice Twilight (both 1946), A Sea
Dirge and Chanson Triste (1935). A few partsongs - This Year
Next Year, Christmas Day, Two Polish Carols and A
Phantasy - were published. His piano works included sonatas, studies,
the "romantic prelude" Chandolin (1933), Medaillon Retrouve
(1936) and Study and Toccata (1936). Two of his Suite of Six Short
Pieces (1933) - Encanto and Prelude - were first performed, though
not by him, at a recital in Doncaster on 27 April 1933.
Sydney Rosenbloom, born in Edinburgh in 1886, studied at the Blackheath
Conservatory and the RAM (he taught at both places respectively in 1911-16
and 1907-10) and made his London debut as a pianist in 1920. He then went
to South Africa where he taught and toured extensively. His works are naturally
enough mainly for piano: Concert Studies of which the one in G Flat,
Op 5 No 1 became moderately popular, Waltzes, Six Preludes
Opus 7 (1910), the Scherzo in B Flat Minor Opus 12, which Moiseiwitsch
took up, the Valse Poem, Opus 15, the Prelude Impromptu Opus
29 (1937) and the substantial Variations and Fugue Opus 16 for two
pianos. In addition he had a Suite for two violins and strings Opus 18, played
in Johannesburg in 1922 and he published songs (e.g. Daffodil) and
violin pieces (e.g. the early Waltz Scherzo, Opus 4) also. Mantle
Childe, a pianist who was active especially after the Second World War, published
settings of traditional French and Welsh melodies: Lazy Sheep (1947)
and Suo Gan (1949).
On the lighter side Alberto Semprini, who died in 1990 and was of Anglo-Italian
parentage, produced a large number of arrangements and some original compositions
like Mediterranean Concerto used as the signature tune for his popular
radio feature Semprini Serenade, the piano solo Variations on a
Boogie, even songs like the Echo of a Melody. Dalhousie Young
(1866-1921), born in India, was a pianist who studied with Leschititzky and
enjoyed a notable career as such. He also composed. His orchestral Christmas
Hymn and Suite were both performed at Bournemouth under Dan Godfrey.
His stage music included the "gesture plays" Prince Pierrot, Pierrot
on Toast and Robe of Feathers and incidental music to Netta Syrett's
Six Fairy Plays. He wrote a cantata The Blessed Damozel, but
he was best known for smaller scale vocal items like Bredon Hill and
other Housman songs (which have understandably sunk without trace), the eight
piece In a Gondola cycle, the Six Oriental Epigrams and the
intriguing Dithering Ditties: Antigua, Kidderminster,
Calcutta, Spain and Powder and Paint. His published
piano output appears to be curiously sparse and I have traced only a
Rigaudon and a Sicilienne. Eric Gritton, born in 1889 and sometime
accompanist to the violinist Campoli, produced a Lullaby for violin
(or cello) and piano and songs like Daffodil Time, How Far Is It
To Bethlehem? and We saw Him Sleeping. The original compositions
of the distinguished scholar- pianist Denis Matthews apparently date from
before the last war as those I have found, a Rhapsody in D Minor and
a Scherzo in G, were published in 1938.
Adelina de Lara - or to give her her full name - Lottie Adelina de Lara
Shipwright - was born in Carlisle on 23 January 1872 and was thus 89 when
she died in Woking on 25 November 1961. Educated in Frankfurt she studied
the piano with Fanny Davies (1885) and Clara Schumann (1886-91). Her debut
took place at the St James Hall in 1891 and she played in public for over
sixty years thereafter. As an example she played the Schumann Concerto with
the Hallé Orchestra in 1897 and broadcast it in 1945. She played at
the National Gallery for Myra Hess during the Second War, organised War Fund
concerts in both wars and broadcast frequently, appearing on television on
her 82nd birthday. She recorded copiously, mainly Schumann, and
published her autobiography Finale in 1955. Her compositions included
many ballads, two song cycles, two suites for string orchestra, of which
In The Forest, is quite attractive, and of course much for piano including
two concertos.
Piano duet teams often have to arrange their own music. Ethel Bartlett
(1896-1978) and her husband Rae Robertson, whom I recall playing Martinu's
Concerto for two pianos in Sheffield in 1951, were doubtless an exception
but most of Ethel Bartlett's publications I have found were, unusually, violin
and piano arrangements: An Ancient Lullaby, Golden Slumbers
and My Love's An Arbutus. Joan Trimble, Enniskillen born in 1915 and
trained at Dublin and the RCM appeared both as a solo pianist and with her
sister Valerie as duettist. She published music for two pianos both original
and arrangements of Scots and Irish traditional airs, and additionally songs
like Green Rain, County Mayo and My Grief on the Sea
and the Three Diversions for wind quintet. Charles Spinks, a regular
broadcaster during the 1950s playing harpsichord, piano and organ, published,
inter alia, a Dance Suite Opus 12 and Five Greek Pictures Opus
8, both for solo piano, Variations on a Greek Folk Song Opus 6 for
two pianos and a Suite for flute and strings, Opus 14 (1958).
The race of British pianist composers is not quite dead. John Vallier, who
died only in 1991 was trained by the distinguished pianist Mathilde Verne
(his aunt) and was noted for his Chopin interpretations. He composed among
other things for piano solo, Five Cornish Sketches (1953), which end,
perhaps inevitably, with Helston Flora, a Toccatina (1950),
Witches' Ride (1956), Humming Bird, a miniature inspired by
a visit to South America, Variations on John Peel (1963) and, especially
commissioned, The Royal Suite and Royal Lullaby, both published
and first performed as recently as 1988. These latter are attractive pieces
in the English light music tradition, if a trifle obvious. His last work,
completed just before his death, was a Piano Concerto in A Minor.
Lionel Salter, born in 1914, is still alive. The New Grove lists adequately
his work, notably for the BBC, as harpsichordist, pianist, writer and critic,
arranger and editor of old music, administrator and even conductor, but says
little or nothing of his compositions, many of which have been for radio
productions (including quite popular shows like The Barnstormers,
a pantomime and the Coventry Nativity Play as well as relatively minor
incidental music), but which also include songs like The Shepherdess
and Counsel and for piano solo two sets each of Seven Miniatures
(1951-2), a suite of colourful Picture Postcards (Braemar,
Killarney, Havana, Naples and The Tyrol) (1960)
and Spooks. For piano duet he published A Grey Day and Out
in the Sun (1954) and for two pianos A Scottish Reel (1946). His
output includes many traditional arrangements for solo voice or chorus. Much
of it appears to date from the decade after the last war though he has remained
active up to the present (1994) as a music editor and composer of piano pieces
for the Associated Board.
Listening to an enjoyable recent recording of piano encores played by the
Cheshire born Stephen Hough, which includes his own inventive transcriptions
of songs by Roger Quilter, Amy Woodeford-Finden and Richard Rodgers, reminded
me that some years ago I heard in Doncaster his Quartet for three clarinets
and bass clarinet which to me sounded delightfully fresh and full of good
ideas; but as he was only 15 when he composed it he may well have disowned
it by now.
Finally although I have attempted to deal with some organist-composers elsewhere
I will mention Frederick William Holloway here briefly. Born in 1873, he
died on 20 January 1954, aged 80. A FRCO at 19 and Assistant Organist at
Crystal Palace at twenty, he was organist of St Paul's, Herne Hill 1892-1909
moving to All Saints, Dulwich where he remained for a remarkable 41 year
span up to 1950 combining this for part of the time (1932-49) with the
conductorship of the Crystal Palace Choral and Orchestral Society. He was
actually rehearsing the Choral Society when the Palace caught fire; everyone
escaped but Holloway's organ and all his music perished. His works were numerous
being mainly for voices, piano and organ. The organ music included two symphonies
in E Minor (Opus 40) and C Minor (Opus 47), the Cantilena, Concert
Toccata Opus 33 and the Suite Arabesque Opus 57 and many miniatures.
Many, probably most, instrumentalists of the past composed music for their
own use. Fewer do so now possibly because recital tours are more hectic nowadays.
It is relatively rare for others besides the performer-composer to play these
pieces however and probably this was, generally speaking, always the case.
Philip Scowcroft
Rev 1994
