The composition of
art song
An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such songs ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and English-speaking countries has a long history, beginning with
lute song
The term lute song is given to a music style from the late 16th century to early 17th century, late Renaissance to early Baroque, that was predominantly in England and France. Lute songs were generally in strophic form or verse repeating with a h ...
in the late 16th century and continuing today.
English Art song in the 17th Century
![Henry Purcell 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Henry_Purcell_001.jpg)
The composition of
polyphonic music
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
was at its peak in the late 16th century. By that time, however, the
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
started to gain popularity, and was very common among educated people by 1600. The Italians were trying to recapture a simpler vocal style, to mimic Greek models.
Giulio Caccini
Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre ...
and the
Florentine Camerata
The Florentine Camerata, also known as the Camerata de' Bardi, were a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in t ...
developed the
monody
In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italian song of ...
, for solo voice with lute accompaniment, around 1600. Caccini traveled around Europe, other countries begin developing their own solo songs with lute, especially the English composers.
John Dowland
John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...
(1563–1626) and
Thomas Campion
Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, studied law in Gray's inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masques for ...
(1567–1620) emerged as the best-known and most respected of the composers of lute song. Later in the 17th century,
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
(1659–95) composed many solo songs for his semi-operas, and his songs are also generally considered among the best early English Art songs.
[See "British Song" in Carol Kimball, ''Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature'', p. 351]
Other English Art song composers in the 17th century
*
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...
(1543–1623), composed "consort songs" with
viol
The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
consort accompaniment, 1588 collection of ''Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs''
*
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Englis ...
(1557–1603), his songs may have been used in Shakespeare's plays, well-known song "It was a Lover and his Lass" from his ''First Book of Ayres'', 1607
*
Michael Cavendish
Michael Cavendish (c. 1565 – 1628) was an English composer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
A grandson of the writer George Cavendish and second cousin to Arabella Stuart, he spent much time at court and was for a time composer t ...
(c.1565-1628), published one volume of madrigals and lute songs in 1598
*
Francis Pilkington
Francis Pilkington (ca. 1565 – 1638) was an English classical composer, lutenist and singer, of the Renaissance and Baroque period. Pilkington received a B.Mus. degree from Oxford in 1595. In 1602 he became a ''singing man'' at Chester Cathed ...
(1582–1638), lute song composer
*
Robert Jones (
fl. 1597-1615); 5 books of ayres, 1600–1610
*
Tobias Hume
Tobias Hume (possibly 1579 – 16 April 1645) was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.
Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1579 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a prerequisit ...
(d. 1648), serious and comic songs
*
Philip Rosseter
Philip Rosseter (1568 – 5 May 1623) was an English composer and musician, as well as a theatrical manager. His family seems to have been from Somerset or Lincolnshire, he may have been employed with the Countess of Sussex by 1596, and he was l ...
(c.1567-1623), prolific song composer and friend of Campion, a few of his lute songs are still performed
*
Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes.
Life
Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Musi ...
(1595–1662); prolific song composer, set texts by court poets (Herring, Suckling, and Carew) for his vocal works
*
John Playford
John Playford (1623–1686/7) was a London bookseller, publisher, minor composer, and member of the Stationers' Company, who published books on music theory, instruction books for several instruments, and psalters with tunes for singing in churche ...
(1623–1686), London bookseller, publisher, and minor composer
*
Thomas d'Urfey
Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera.
Life
D'Urfey was born in Devonshi ...
(1653–1723), prolific song composer, playwright, and poet
English Art song in the 18th Century
As Italian opera composition developed in the later 17th century,
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...
and
aria
In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...
began to split apart as separate parts of solo vocal music. Four types of vocal music began to blossom in the 18th century: church music, early oratorio (esp. with Carissimi in Italy), opera, and the secular (or "chamber") cantata. In the early 18th century,
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
(1685–1759) made Italian opera very popular in London, but The Beggar's Opera in 1729, a parody of Handel's Italian operas, created a new fad for English popular opera, and Italian opera in London faded by 1740. Thus, the two important types of English solo vocal music in the mid 18th century are oratorios by Handel, and "pastiche operas" or "ballad operas" from Arne, Boyce and other English composers. The publication of solo vocal music (songs often called "canzonets" or canzonettas") with English texts at the end of the 18th century helped to establish the art song genre in subsequent years.
![Georg Friedrich Haendel 6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Georg_Friedrich_Haendel_6.jpg)
English Art song composers in the 18th century
*
William Croft
William Croft (baptised 30 December 1678 – 14 August 1727) was an English composer and organist.
Life
Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal under the instruction of John Blow ...
(c.1678-1727), sacred songs
*
Henry Carey Henry Carey may refer to:
*Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (1526–1596), politician, general, and potential illegitimate son of Henry VIII
*Henry Carey, 1st Earl of Dover (1580–1666), English peer
*Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth (1596–1661), ...
(c.1687-1743), writer and prolific song composer
*
Thomas Arne
Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of ''The Beggar's Opera'', whic ...
(1710-1778), prolific song composer
*
Carl Friedrich Abel
Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument.
Life
Abel was born in Köthen, ...
(1723–87), German born but moved to London, composed symphonies, quartets, and a few vocal pieces
*
Thomas Linley the elder
Thomas Linley (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795) was an English bass and musician active in Bath, Somerset. Born in Badminton, Gloucestershire, Linley began his musical career after he moved to Bath at age 11 and became apprentice to the o ...
(1733–95), composed English ballads and theater music
*
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...
(1735–82), J.S. Bach's youngest son, called "the London Bach," was a friend to the young Mozart, composed Italian operas in London like Handel 50 years earlier
*
William Jackson (1730–1803), lived in western England, his Op. 9 2-part canzonets were published in 1770
*
Samuel Arnold Samuel Arnold may refer to:
*Samuel Arnold (composer) (1740–1802), English composer and organist
* Samuel Arnold (Connecticut politician) (1806–1869), U.S. Representative from Connecticut
* Samuel Arnold (conspirator) (1834–1906), co-conspira ...
(1740–1802), primarily a theater composer, but published a book of solo songs, Op. 13, in 1778
*
Johann Peter Salomon
Johann Peter Salomon (20 February 1745 aptized– 28 November 1815) was a German violinist, composer, conductor and musical impresario. Although he was an accomplished violinist, he is best known for bringing Joseph Haydn to London and for c ...
(1745–1815), German-born violinist, composer and impresario, published two books of canzonets, in 1805 and 1807, brought
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
to London
*
James Hook James Hook may refer to:
* Captain Hook, the villain of J. M. Barrie's play and novel ''Peter Pan''
* James Hook (composer) (1746–1827), English composer and organist
* James Hook (priest) (1771–1828), English priest, Dean of Worcester
* Jame ...
(1746–1827), composed keyboard works and songs, as well as one oratorio
* Sir
John Andrew Stevenson
Sir John Andrew Stevenson (November 1761 – 14 September 1833) was an Irish composer. He is best known for his piano arrangements of ''Irish Melodies'' with poet Thomas Moore. He was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Dublin and ...
(1761-1833), a prolific Irish composer, known for his work with Thomas Moore
*
Stephen Storace
Stephen John Seymour Storace (4 April 1762 – 19 March 1796) was an English composer of the Classical era, known primarily for his operas. His sister was the famous opera singer Nancy Storace.
He was born in London in the Parish of St Marylebo ...
(1762–96), half Italian, knew Mozart, composed for the theater
*
George Frederick Pinto (1785–1806), a child prodigy, he composed piano works and songs, his canzonets were published in 1804
English Art song in the 19th Century
London was the largest city in Europe by 1800; many non-English composers traveled there, especially from Germany and Italy. English theater works ("ballad operas") continued to be popular into the 19th century. The harpsichord, fortepiano, harp, and guitar were all popular instruments at the time; all were used to accompany voices and as solo instruments; song composition began to flourish as home music making with these instrument increased. In the 19th century almost everyone sang, in choral societies, at church services, and at home (in the 'drawing room'). Popular songs, called ballads, became the standard for vocal music publishing later in the 19th century, creating a "low point" in British music composition. Famous singers performed these ballads in concerts, paid for by music publishers, so that the songs would gain popularity and sell copies. In contrast, serious British composers late in the 19th century look towards Germany for inspiration and support.
![Joseph Haydn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Joseph_Haydn.jpg)
Primary English Art song composers in the early 19th century
*
William Shield
William Shield (5 March 1748 – 25 January 1829) was an English composer, violinist and viola, violist. His music earned the respect of Haydn and Beethoven.
Life and musical career
Shield was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, County Durham, th ...
(1748–1829), made famous the song "Auld Lang Syne"
* Sir
Henry Bishop (1786–1855), composed the famous song "Home Sweet Home"
*
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
(1732–1809), late in his life he found a new fame in London, esp. in symphony and oratorio; published 2 sets of English Canzonets in 1794 and 1795 written by
Anne Hunter
Anne Hunter (''née'' Home) (1742 – 1821) was a salonnière and poet in Georgian London. She is remembered mostly for the texts to at least nine of Joseph Haydn's 14 songs in English. She was the wife of surgeon and anatomist John Hunter, wh ...
Primary English Art song composers in the mid- to late 19th century
*
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...
(1842–1900), composed a few art songs, "
The Lost Chord
"The Lost Chord" is a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later. The lyric was written as a poem by Adel ...
" was an extremely popular ballad in its day
*
Charles Hubert Parry (1848–1918), his twelve sets of songs, settings of Shakespeare and other important English poets, called "English Lyrics" are an important contribution to the song genre; influenced by German Lieder
*
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
(1857–1934), known for his important orchestral and choral works, but he wrote a few songs as well; his 1899
song cycle
A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online''
The songs are either for solo voice ...
''
Sea Pictures
''Sea Pictures, Op. 37'' is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar. Many mezzo-sopranos have su ...
'' for voice and orchestra set a high standard for English song
*
Frederick Delius
Delius, photographed in 1907
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...
(1862–1934)
![SomervellEx1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/SomervellEx1.jpg)
Other English Art song composers in the mid- to late 19th century
*
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...
(1852–1924), Irish born, his many songs show a German influence
*
Maude Valérie White
Maude Valérie White (1855 – 1937) was a French-born English composer who became one of the most successful songwriters (in the English serious style) of the Victorian period.
Early years
Although born near Dieppe in Normandy to upper middl ...
(1855–1937), perhaps the first important female composer in England, she composed chiefly songs
* Dame
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas.
Smyth tended t ...
(1858–1944), a few of her songs are published
*
Liza Lehmann
Liza Lehmann (11 July 1862 – 19 September 1918) was an English soprano and composer, known for her vocal compositions.Banfield, Stephen. Grove Music Online'
After vocal studies with Alberto Randegger and Jenny Lind, and composition studies ...
(1862–1918), was German born, but settled in England, she is best known for her cycle "In a Persian Garden" for four voices and piano
*
Edward German
Sir Edward German (17 February 1862 – 11 November 1936) was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of ...
(1862–1936), wrote operettas like Gilbert & Sullivan, a few of his songs are still in the repertoire from publication in anthologies
*
Arthur Somervell
Sir Arthur Somervell (5 June 18632 May 1937) was an English composer and art song writer. After Hubert Parry, he was one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s–1900s. One of his ...
(1863–1937), used some folksong elements in his compositions, he is best known for his "Maud" and "A Shropshire Lad" cycles
*
Charles Wood (1866–1926), Irish-born composer and church musician, wrote many songs including a setting of Walt Whitman's "Ethiopia Saluting the Colours"
*
Granville Bantock
Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 186816 October 1946) was a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon.Hadden, J. Cuthbert, 1913, ''Modern Music ...
(1868–1946), published six volumes of "Songs of the East" on verses of Asian poets, mostly forgotten today
*
Henry Walford Davies
Sir Henry Walford Davies (6 September 1869 – 11 March 1941) was an English composer, organist, and educator who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. He served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War, dur ...
(1869–1941), most of his songs are rarely heard today
English Art song in the 20th Century
The great success of European Romantic composers encouraged a "Renaissance" of English music, especially vocal music. Interest in British folk music was expanded through the work of
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...
,
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
and others; it gradually becomes incorporated into British "classical" music. The highest point of the English musical "Renaissance" began around 1900, and many great art songs were composed in England before the First World War. A second great era for song composition occurred between the wars, in the years 1920-1938.
[See "British Song" in Carol Kimball, ''Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature'', p. 352]
![Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Benjamin_Britten%2C_London_Records_1968_publicity_photo_for_Wikipedia.jpg)
Primary English Art song composers in the 20th century
*
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
(1872–1958)
*
Roger Quilter
Roger Cuthbert Quilter (1 November 1877 – 21 September 1953) was a British composer, known particularly for his art songs. His songs, which number over a hundred, often set music to text by William Shakespeare and are a mainstay of the En ...
(1877–1953)
*
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor.
Life
Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...
(1879–1941)
*
John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
(1879–1962)
*
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...
(1883–1953)
*
George Butterworth
George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) was an English composer who was best known for the orchestral idyll ''The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from '' A Shropshire Lad''.
Early ...
(1885–1916)
*
Ivor Gurney
Ivor Bertie Gurney (28 August 1890 – 26 December 1937) was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from bipolar disorder through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in ps ...
(1890–1937)
*
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.
Life
Background and early education
Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...
(1892–1983)
*
Peter Warlock
Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occultism, occult practices, was used for all his ...
(1894–1930)
*
Michael Head (1900–1976)
*
Eric Thiman
Eric Harding Thiman (12 September 1900 – 13 February 1975) was an English composer, conductor and organist. The surname is pronounced 'tea-man'. By 1939 he was considered one of the leading non-conformist organists in England. His choral an ...
(1900–1975)
*
Gerald Finzi
Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...
(1901–56)
*
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
(1913–1976)
*
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
(1902–83)
Other English Art song composers in the 20th century
*
Cyril Rootham
Cyril Bradley Rootham (5 October 1875 – 18 March 1938) was an English composer, educator and organist. His work at Cambridge University made him an influential figure in English music life. A Fellow of St John's College, where he was also or ...
(1875–1938), teacher to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs and Arthur Bliss; composed over 60 songs, also sacred pieces, chamber music, choral and orchestral works
*
Thomas Dunhill
Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1 February 187713 March 1946) was a prolific English composer in many genres, though he is best known today for his light music and educational piano works. His compositions include much chamber music, a song cycle, '' ...
(1877-1946), in 1902 composed the earliest known song setting of poetry by
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
, included in his cycle ''The Wind Among the Reeds'' (1904)
*
Ernest Farrar
Ernest Bristow Farrar (7 July 1885 – 18 September 1918) was an English composer, pianist and organist.
Life
Ernest Farrar was born in Lewisham, London, but moved in 1887 to Micklefield in Yorkshire, where his father was a clergyman. The rest ...
(1885–1918), killed in World War I; Gerald Finzi's teacher, composed 15 songs
*
Bernard van Dieren
Bernard Hélène Joseph van Dieren (27 December 188724 April 1936) was a Dutch composer, critic, author, and writer on music, much of whose working life was spent in England.
Biography
Van Dieren was the last of five children of a Dutch Rotterda ...
(1887–1936), his music moved towards 20th century serialism; composed about 35 songs in English
*
William Denis Browne
William Charles Denis Browne (3 November 1888 – 4 June 1915), primarily known as Billy to family and as Denis to his friends, was a British composer, pianist, organist and music critic of the early 20th century. He and his close friend, poet Ru ...
(1888–1915), schoolteacher, music critic, and composer; killed in World War I, completed 11 songs
*
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (10 August 1889 – 12 May 1960) was a prolific and versatile English composer. Though best known for his choral music and, in particular, songs, Gibbs also devoted much of his career to the amateur choral and festival mov ...
(1889–1960); composed about 160 songs, many settings of texts by his friend
Walter de la Mare
Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...
*
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor.
Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...
(1891–1975), composed about 60 songs, much great orchestral and chamber music
*
Benjamin Burrows
Dr Benjamin Burrows (20 October 1891 – 28 January 1966 in Leicester, England) was an English organist, pianist, music teacher, inventor, composer of art songs and instrumental music.Unknown author, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' online ...
(1891–1966), teacher, composer, and music typographer; composed over 100 songs, 93 for his soprano friend Jane Vowles; settings of Housman, Rossetti, Herrick, de la Mare, Afro-American Spirituals,
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...
, and
Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
*
Alec Rowley
Alec Rowley (13 March 1892 – 12 January 1958) was an English composer, organist, pianist, lecturer and writer on music. He composed a large number of works, mainly on a small scale and often of an educational nature though with some larger-scale ...
(1892–1958), composer, pianist, and organist
*
Charles Wilfred Orr
Charles Wilfred Leslie Orr, generally known as C. W. Orr (31 July 1893 – 24 February 1976), was an English composer. He is particularly noted for his songs, though his output was small. He wrote only 35 songs in 82 years, 24 of them settin ...
(1893–1976); 35 songs, mostly settings of Housman
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Arthur Benjamin
Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893, in Sydney – 10 April 1960, in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of '' Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the ''Storm Clouds Cantata'', f ...
(1893–1960), raised in Australia but moved to London
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Eugene Goossens (1893–1962), a conductor and composer, wrote a few art songs
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Ernest John Moeran
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Ernest John Smeed Moeran (31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer of part-Irish extraction, whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes or ...
(1894–1950), studied with
John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...
, Irish influences are in his songs
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Patrick Hadley
Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (5 March 1899 – 17 December 1973) was a British composer.
Biography
Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke Co ...
(1899–1973), composed 10 songs and chamber vocal works
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Alan Bush
Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...
(1900–95), composed 30 art songs
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Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...
(1901–1986), composed both art songs and vocal works with orchestra
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Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the ''Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely ...
(1901–47), composed quite a few songs, but most are rarely performed
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Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer.
Biography
Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Char ...
(1903–1989), composed many songs
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Constant Lambert
Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...
(1905–1951), composed only a few art songs
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William Alwyn
William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.
Life and music
William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...
(1905–85), composed several song cycles in the 1970s
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Alan Rawsthorne
Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex.
Early years
Alan Rawsthorne was born in Deardengate House, Haslingden, Lancashire, to Hu ...
(1905–1971), composed 11 published songs
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Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...
(1905–1998), well known as an opera composer, but only wrote a few songs and vocal works with orchestra
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John Raynor (1909–1970) more than 680 works, mostly songs for soprano or tenor; also sacred pieces, including carols and a Mass setting; 19 of his works have been published.
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John Sykes
John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums.
Following a stint in ...
(1909–1962), wrote about 30 songs, especially settings of
Blake
Blake is a surname which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin. Another theory, presuma ...
and
Swingler
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Mervyn Horder (1910–1997), composed about 90 songs, neoromantic, great variety of texts
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Robert Still
Robert Still (10 June 1910 – 13 January 1971) was a wide-ranging English composer of tonal music, who made strong use of dissonance.Still, Elizabeth. Biographical note toIsmeron CD JMSCD 8(2006) He produced four symphonies and four string qua ...
(1910–1971), composed about 20 songs, setting texts by a variety of famous poets
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Geoffrey Bush
Geoffrey Bush (23 March 1920 – 24 February 1998) was a British composer, teacher and music scholar. Largely without formal training in composition, he produced a wide range of compositions across different genres, including many songs and wor ...
(1920–1998), song settings from Shakespeare to contemporary poetry
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Madeleine Dring
Madeleine Winefride Isabelle Dring (7 September 1923 – 26 March 1977) was an English composer, pianist, singer and actress.
Life
Madeleine Dring spent the first four years of her life at Raleigh Road, Harringay, before the family moved to Stre ...
(1923–1977), over 60 songs, eclectic music style
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Trevor Hold
Trevor Hold (21 September 1939 – 28 January 2004) was an English composer, poet and author, best known for his song cycles, many of them setting his own poetry.
Biography
Born in Northampton, Hold suffered an attack of polio at the age of seven, ...
(1939-2004), a series of song cycles, many setting his own texts
There have been two notable book length studies of English art song in the 20th Century.
Stephen Banfield
Stephen David Banfield (born 1951) is a musicologist, music historian and retired academic. He was Elgar Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham from 1992 to 2003, and then Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Br ...
's comprehensive, two volume study of early twentieth century English song, first published in 1985, is notable for its incorporation of both literary and musical scholarship alongside a performance perspective. Towards the end of his life composer
Trevor Hold
Trevor Hold (21 September 1939 – 28 January 2004) was an English composer, poet and author, best known for his song cycles, many of them setting his own poetry.
Biography
Born in Northampton, Hold suffered an attack of polio at the age of seven, ...
published his full length study of English Romantic song, ''Parry To Finzi: 20 English Song Composers'' (2002).
''Parry to Finzi, 20 English Song Composers'', Google Books
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English Art song in the 21st Century
Art song composition continues to thrive today, and many English composers are using the internet to show their pieces to the world. While the tradition continues, no current composers have yet achieved the highest level of success and acclaim, making modern British Art Song "a sleeping giant awaiting another resurgence."
English Art song composers Active in the 21st century
* Peter Dickinson
Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.
Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...
(b. 1934), settings of Auden, Alan Porter, Dylan Thomas, e. e. cummings
* Nicholas Maw
John Nicholas Maw (5 November 1935 – 19 May 2009) was a British composer. Among his works are the operas '' The Rising of the Moon'' (1970) and ''Sophie's Choice'' (2002).
Biography
Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence ...
(1936-2009), a neo-Romantic, he published several song cycles
* Robin Holloway
Robin Greville Holloway (born 19 October 1943) is an English composer, academic and writer.
Early life
Holloway was born in Leamington Spa. From 1953 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and was educated at King's College School, ...
(b. 1943), prolific song composer, nearly 100 songs
* Betty Roe
Betty Roe (born 30 July 1930) is an English composer, singer, vocal coach, and conductor.
Biography
Betty Roe was born in North Kensington, London, England. Her father was a fishmonger at the Shepherd's Bush Market, and her mother was a bookkee ...
(b. 1930), composer of over 300 songs including settings of Charles Causley
Charles Stanley Causley CBE FRSL (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a British poet, school teacher and writer. His work is often noted for its simplicity and directness as well as its associations with folklore, legends and magic, especi ...
, Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
and Marian Lines.
* Stephen Brown (b. 1948), three song cycles, ''Chinese Love Lyrics'' and ''Shadow of a Leaf'' are settings of Chinese poems, ''Where the Geese Go Barefoot'' sets Mother Goose tongue twisters
* Ian Venables
Ian Venables (born 1955) is a British composer of art songs and chamber music.
Biography
Ian Venables was born in Liverpool in 1955 and was educated at Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School. He studied music with Richard Arnell at the Trinity ...
(b. 1955), English composer, many songs and song cycles
* James MacMillan
Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Early life
MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...
(b. 1959), Scottish composers, many song cycles
See also
*Song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
*Art song
An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such songs ...
*American art song The composition of art song in America began slowly in the Colonial and Federal periods, expanded greatly in the 19th century, and has become a distinguished and highly regarded addition to the classical music repertoire in the 20th and 21st centuri ...
*Music of the United Kingdom
Throughout the history of the British Isles, the United Kingdom has been a major music producer, drawing inspiration from Church Music.
Traditional folk music, using instruments of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Each of the ...
Footnotes
References
*
* Banfield, Stephen (1985). ''Sensibility and English Song: Critical Studies of the Early 20th Century'', Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
.
*
*
* Hold, Trevor (2002): ''Parry to Finzi - Twenty English Song Composers'', Boydell Press.
*
External links
The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
The Association of English Singers & Speakers
*Free digital scores in th
English Art Song
section of the OpenScore Lieder Corpus (Public Domain)
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Art Song
British music history
English styles of music
Classical music in England
Classical music in the United Kingdom
Art songs