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Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) 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 ...
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...
, conductor,
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 Def ...
, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930.


Biography

A native of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, Pitt studied music in Europe at the
Leipzig conservatory The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...
, 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 ...
in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
with
Josef Rheinberger Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was a Liechtensteiner organist and composer, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. Life Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, whose father was the treasurer for Aloys II, Prince of Liech ...
, and for six months in Berlin. Returning home in 1893, he became associated with the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
which Robert Newman (an old family friend) had helped to build in 1893 and put on the first series of
Promenade Concerts The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
there in 1895. Pitt took over as accompanist at Queen's Hall in 1896 and accompanied the sung solo items at the first of
Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...
's Prom concerts in August 1897.BBC Proms archive search
Accessed 3 January 2016. He was appointed by Henry ('Harry') Higgins in late 1902 as Music Advisor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (where
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 ...
was Musical Director), also acting as musical coach and assistant stage conductor. He was assistant to Hans Richter in 1903, preparing the chorus and orchestra for a complete '' 'Ring''' cycle (given twice) under Richter's baton.The performances were "busting," according to Pitt in a letter to
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 ...
, "but I need not tell you how great Richter was..." .The very first complete 'Ring' in England was conducted by
Anton Seidl Anton Seidl (7 May 185028 March 1898) was a famous Hungarian Wagner conductor, best known for his association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the New York Philharmonic. Biography He was born in Pest, Austria-Hungary, where ...
at
Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...
, 5–9 May 1882
"Wagner's music in England"
''Musical Times'', Vol. 47, No. 763, 1 September 1906, p. 593), and
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
gave the first at Covent Garden in 1896: . Richter had given the very first complete ''Ring'' at the
Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...
in 1876. Richter conducted the Ring (in German) at Covent Garden in 1905, '06 and '07. Pitt became Director of Music at Covent Garden in 1907 after Messager's departure. In 1908, he was again Richter's assistant in a highly regarded production of
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Ring of the Nibelung (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelu ...
'' sung in English. He remained with the company until 1915, when he joined the
Beecham Opera Company The Beecham Opera Company was an opera company founded by Thomas Beecham which presented opera in English in London and on tour between 1916 and 1920.Jefferson, Alan (2004) "Beecham, Sir Thomas, second baronet (1879–1961)" ''Oxford Dictionary of ...
as conductor. There he remained until 1920, when he became director of the British National Opera Company; he stayed with that company until 1924, when he was again associated with the Beecham Opera company. From May 1923 he was Musical Director of the
British Broadcasting Company The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British General ...
(succeeding
L. Stanton Jefferies Leonard Stanton Jefferies LRAM (4 September 1896 – 22 October 1961) was a British musician, composer, and conductor. He was the first director of music at the British Broadcasting Company, and pioneered techniques for broadcasting live music ...
, who remained with the company in another role), becoming full-time Director of Music in November 1924, remaining there through its 1927 transition from the commercial to public sector, as the
British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and until he was succeeded by
Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in Londo ...
in 1930. Pitt died in London in 1932. His association with Richter gives special interest to his recordings of extracts from the ''Ring'' (1908 and 1921-2: all made for HMV). In his early years he enjoyed considerable repute as a composer of well-crafted light orchestral music.


Conducting skills

"His conducting methods were a trifle peculiar. He had a habit of burying his head in the score and waving his arms over his head like a gesticulating stag-beetle... This habit rather detracted from the personal magnetism which great conductors exercise, owing to the orphaned orchestra seeing nothing less abstract than a baton."


Composer

Pitt's reputation as a composer, strong in his early career, has been completely eclipsed, with no sign of any modern revival in interest.
Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...
gave the first performances of most of his major works after 1896, starting with the ''Coronation March'' and the miniature suite ''Fêtes galantes'' that year. Pitt wrote a Clarinet Concerto for Manuel Gomez in 1897 and a ''Ballade'' for violin and orchestra for
Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysa ...
in 1900. Pieces heard more than once at
The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
included the ''Air de Ballet'', Op. 1 for violin and piano (1899 and 27 performance up until 1925), and the orchestral works ''Dance Rhythms'' (1901 and 1903), ''Oriental Rhapsody'' (1902, 1905, 1918, 1920) and ''An English Rhapsody'' (1911 and 1929). His G minor Sinfonietta was written at the request of Hans Richter, who conducted it at the 1906
Birmingham Triennial Music Festival The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. It last took place in 1912. History The first music festival, over three days in September 1768 ...
. Pitt also wrote stage music, including the incidental music to
Stephen Phillips Stephen Phillips (28 July 1864 – 9 December 1915) was an English poet and dramatist, who enjoyed considerable popularity early in his career. Biography He was born at Somertown near Oxford, the son of the Rev. Stephen Phillips, precentor o ...
's play ''Paolo and Francesca'' (1902). There are many piano pieces and songs. One of his biggest successes as a composer came with the song ''Sérénade du passant'' (1913), performed by
Luisa Tetrazzini Luisa Tetrazzini (June 29, 1871 in Florence – April 28, 1940 in Milan) was an Italian dramatic coloratura soprano of great international fame. Tetrazzini "had a scintillating voice with a brilliant timbre and a range and agility well b ...
at her first Queen's Hall appearance in 1917.
Arthur Jacobs Arthur David Jacobs (14 June 1922 – 13 December 1996) was an English musicologist, music critic, teacher, librettist and translator. Among his many books, two of the best known are his ''Penguin Dictionary of Music'', which was reprinted in sev ...
. 'Pitt, Percy' in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

* (Edited from Pitt's unpublished MS autobiography) *David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1963. * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, Percy 1870 births 1932 deaths English classical organists British male organists English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Pupils of Salomon Jadassohn BBC people Male classical organists Classical musicians associated with the BBC