George Herbert Bunning (2 May 1863 – 26 November 1937) was an English composer and musical director active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He had one opera produced at Covent Garden, but was better known as a composer of lighter works and incidental music for stage productions.

Life and career

Bunning was born in London, and educated at Harrow School and Brasenose College, Oxford. On leaving the latter he was commissioned into the

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as a

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in the Queen's Own Hussars, serving from 1884 to 1886. He resigned his commission and studied music in France, with Jules Massenet,Rodmell, p. 228 and later in Italy (Milan) between 1886 and 1890. He was musical director of the

Lyric Theatre, London The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was built for the producer Henry Leslie, who financed it from the profits of the light opera hit, '' Dorothy'', which he transferred from its origina ...

(1892–1893), and the

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, (1895–1896)."Bunning, Herbert"
''Who's Who & Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 October 2018 In 1902 Bunning's opera ''La Princesse Osra'' was produced at Covent Garden. The libretto was an Anglicised version of a French text based on

Anthony Hope Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: '' T ...

's Ruritanian novel ''

The Heart of Princess Osra ''The Heart of Princess Osra'' is part of Anthony Hope's trilogy of books which spawned the genre of Ruritanian romance. This collection of linked short stories is a prequel: it was written immediately after the success of ''The Prisoner of Zen ...

'', and was ineffective. Despite a cast headed by

Mary Garden A Mary garden is a small sacred garden enclosing a statue or shrine of the Virgin Mary, who is known to many Christians as the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, or the Mother of God. In the New Testament, Mary is the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Mary ...

Adolphe Maréchal Adolphe (Alphonse) Maréchal (26 September 1867 – 1 February 1935) was a Belgian tenor whose career in the French and Italian repertoire took him to France and England.Steane JB. Adolphe Maréchal. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Ma ...

and Pol Plançon, conducted by

André Messager André Charles Prosper Messager (; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéra comique, opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage wo ...

, the piece was not a success. ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'' commented that Bunning's gifts were lyrical rather than dramatic. In a 2013 survey of opera in Britain between 1875 and 1918, Paul Rodmell cites Saint-Saëns and Massenet as influences on Bunning's musical style. In addition to ''La Princesse Osra'', Bunning published two orchestral suites, ''Shepherd's Call'', 1893, and ''Village Suite'', 1896; a scena, ''Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere'', 1905; incidental music for a 1906 stage play ''Robin Hood''; and a quantity of vocal and instrumental music. The

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lists 97 compositions by Bunning in its holdings, mostly songs. Bunning, who was half French, was married to Marguerite Wilhelmine, Marquise de Moligny. They had one child, who died in infancy. Bunning died at his home in

Thundersley Thundersley is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point borough, in southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, east of Charing Cross, London. In 1951 ...

, Essex on 26 November 1937, aged 74, five weeks after the death of his wife. He was cremated and buried at City of London Cemetery.

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunning, Herbert 1863 births 1937 deaths English composers