Edward Maurice Besly (28 January 1888 - 12 April (?), 1945) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor,

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

best known for his popular

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, ''The Second Minuet'' and ''Time, You Old Gipsy Man''. More ambitious vocal pieces were the ''Four Poems'' Op 24, ''Charivaria'' (5 songs) and his setting of

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...

's ''The shepherds had an angel'' for soprano solo and chorus. Besly was born in Normanby, Yorkshire, and was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

. After a short stage career he studied music at the Leipzig Conservatorium under Teichmüller,

Schreck Schreck may refer to: People * David Schreck, Canadian politician and political pundit * Gustav Schreck (1849-1918), German composer *Julius Schreck (1898-1936), early Nazi Party member *Johann Schreck (1576-1630), German Jesuit, missionary to Chi ...

and Krehl. From 1912-1914 he was music-master at Tonbridge School, returning there after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as Assistant Music Master. In 1919 he became director of music and organist of

Queen’s College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

(1919–1926), and subsequently took over the Oxford Orchestral Society from Sir Hugh Allen. He gave his first concert in London with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

in 1923, and conducted the

Royal Albert Hall Orchestra Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, and the

Scottish Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the O ...

for a portion of the season 1924. He was sometime Director of the

Performing Rights Society PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

. In his latter years he worked in legal practice as a solicitor and notary public. Besly's compositions include orchestral works, songs and ballads, short choral works, piano pieces, and works for violin. He also composed the musical plays ''For Ever After'', ''Luana'' and ''Khan Zala'' and edited the ''Queen’s College Hymn Book''. His transcriptions for orchestra include works by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

, and for piano / organ works by

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

(''Firebird suite''), Falla (''El amor brujo'') and

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

(''Carmen''). His motet "O Lord, support us," a setting of a prayer by St. John Henry Newman, is still frequently sung in Anglican Cathedrals.

References

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

(1952 Edition)
Some British conductor-composers by Philip L. Scowcroft. Part 4 - at Music Web International
1888 births 1945 deaths People educated at Tonbridge School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English classical organists British male organists English composers 20th-century organists 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians Male classical organists {{organist-stub