Oliveria Louisa Prescott (3 September 1842 – 9 September 1919) was an English writer and composer.

Biography

Oliveria Prescott was born in London, the daughter of Frederick Joseph Prescott and Elizabeth Oliveria Russell. She studied with Lindsay Sloper and then at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

under

George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, w ...

. She became Macfarren's

amenuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenb ...

. She lectured in harmony and composition for Newnham College, Cambridge, and also taught harmony at the High School for Girls in

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

, London. She died in London.

Works

Prescott composed several overtures, a piano concerto, shorter orchestral pieces, vocal and choral works and two symphonies. Selected works include:

Stage

*''Carrigraphuga, The Castle of the Fairies'', musical comedy in three acts (1914), words by S. Phillips

Keyboard

*''Concert Finale'', pianoforte duet (1878)

Choral

*"A Border Ballad", four-part song (1844), words by Francis William Bourdillon *''Lord Ullin's Daughter'', choral ballad (1869), after ''Lord Ullin's Daughter'' by

Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet * Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor * Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...

*"Song of Waterspirits" four-part song (1874), words by E. Evans *''The Righteous Life for Evermore'', anthem for four voices (1876) *"The Ballad of Young John and his True Sweetheart", part song (1878) *"The Douglas Raid", four-part song (1883), words by J. Stewart *"The Huntsman", four-part song (1883), words by J. Stewart *"Equestrian Courtship", part song (1885), words by T. Hood *"Say Not, the Struggle Nought Availeth", part song (1885), words by A. H. Clough

Song

*"There Is for Every Day a Bliss" (1873), words by J. W. H. *"Ask Me No More", with violincello obbligato (1874), after '' The Princess'' by

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

*"Cheero!", marching song for whistlers and singing (1915), words by S. Phillips

References

Sophie Fuller, "Women musicians and professionalism in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries." In ''The Music Profession in Britain, 1780–1920'', ed. Rosemary Golding (London and New York: Routledge, 2018), 149–69. 1842 births 1917 deaths 19th-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers British music educators Women classical composers English classical composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Musicians from London 20th-century English composers 19th-century English musicians 20th-century English women musicians 19th-century British composers Women music educators 20th-century women composers 19th-century women composers {{UK-composer-stub