Richard Henry Walthew, often known as Richard H. Walthew (4 November 187214 November 1951) 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 ...
and
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
, and an important figure in English chamber music during the first half of the 20th century.
Life
Richard Henry Walthew was born in
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
in
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
, the only son of Richard Frederick Walthew (1833-1910) and his wife Emily Jeffreys (1842-1930), and was educated at Islington Proprietary School.
William Heath Robinson
William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives.
In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contr ...
was also at the school and he remained a lifelong friend. Walthew was a pupil of
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is b ...
for four years at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
(1890–1894). A contemporary at the RCM was
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 ...
. Recognition as a composer came early, with the success of his cantata ''The Pied Piper'' (performed by the Highbury Philharmonic Society on March 20, 1893, and published by Novello)
[''The Musical Times'' Vol. 34, No. 602 (1 April, 1893), p. 220]
/ref> and the Piano Concerto (first performed at Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in 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. From 1895 until 1941, it ...
on 3 May 1894 by the Strolling Players´ Amateur Orchestral Society with the composer as soloist).
From 1900 until 1904 Walthew was music director of Passmore Edwards Settlement
The Mary Ward Adult Education Centre is part of the Mary Ward Settlement, in Queen Square, London.
History
The centre was founded by Mary Augusta Ward, a Victorian novelist and founding president of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League, be ...
. He taught the opera class at the Guildhall School of Music
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
and was for a time conductor of the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
Musical Society. From 1907 he was Professor of Music at The Queen's College, Harley Street.
He had a natural affinity for chamber music and a long association with the South Place Sunday Concert series for which he wrote programme notes. He conducted the orchestra there and it was where much of his chamber music was played. He also gave a series of lectures on the history and development of chamber music, which were published by Boosey and Co in 1909. 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, '' ...
recorded his admiration for the refined, lyrical and unostentatious style of Walthew's writing, the suitability of his compositions for amateur performance, his special aptitude for writing for the piano and his energetic devotion to chamber music.
Walthew died, aged 79, in East Preston, Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, where he lived at 1 Clarence Drive. His son Richard Sidney Walthew also played the clarinet at many South Place concerts and went on to become principal clarinet of the City of Birmingham Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...
in the 1930s, as well as principal clarinet of the BBC Midland Orchestra. His grandson John Walthew (1940–2017) was also a clarinettist.
Music
Walthew's early works were larger scale choral and orchestral pieces such as the Clarinet and Piano Concertos and the ''Aladdin'' overture (1899). His "somewhat Gilbertian" one act operetta ''The Enchanted Island'', loosely based on ''The Tempest'', was composed in 1900 and received many performances, including a revival in the early 1930s with the BBC Theatre Orchestra conducted by John Ansell.
But it was with chamber music that he made the greatest impression. His String Quartet in E major, his ''Mosaic in Ten Pieces'' for clarinet and piano, and his Trio in C minor for clarinet, violin and piano were all played at a South Place concert on Sunday 25 November 1900. The Mosaic pieces were later taken up by Lionel Tertis
Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher.
Career
Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants ...
, swapping clarinet for viola, and in 1943 Walthew provided an orchestrated version for Tertis, intended for (but in the end not played at) the 1943 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 ...
. (This version was recorded by Dutton Epoch in 2016).
His most successful chamber work was the ''Phantasy Quintet'' for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass, commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Musicians
The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...
, dedicated to Walter Cobbett and published by Stainer and Bell in 1912. This was later revived by the composer at the marathon one thousandth South Place Sunday Concert in February 1927. Among his educational piano works, the short piece ''Sun and Shade'' was chosen as one of ten test pieces for the Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
national piano playing competition in 1928, and recorded as a demonstration by William Murdoch
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
. The ''Prelude and Fugue'' (1945), originally written for strings, later transcribed for two clarinets and bassoon, has been reissued in recent times and recorded by The Trio Pleyel.
Selected works
Stage
* ''The Enchanted Island'', operetta in one act (1900); libretto by R.H.U. Bloor
* ''The Gardeners'', operetta (1906)
Orchestral
* ''Aladdin'', overture and entr'actes (1899)
* ''Friend Fritz'', overture
* ''The Masqueraders'', orchestral suite
* ''Night Scenes''
* ''Table-Music'', suite in 4 movements for string orchestra
* ''Variations in B
Concertante
* ''Caprice Impromptu'' for violin and orchestra
* Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (1902)
* Concerto for piano and orchestra in E(1894)
* ''Fiammetta'', concert piece for piano and orchestra
* ''A Mosaic in Ten Pieces'' for viola and orchestra (1900, orchestrated 1943)
Chamber music
* ''Five Diversions'' for violin, viola and cello
* ''Five Lyrical Pieces'' for string quartet
* ''Four Bagatelles'' for clarinet and piano (1890s)
* ''Four Meditations'' for clarinet and piano (two sets, 1897 and 1903)
* ''Idyll'' for flute and piano
* ''Introduction and Allegro'' for bassoon and piano (1900)
* ''Miniature Quartet'' for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon
* ''A Mosaic in Ten Pieces (with Dedication)'' for clarinet (or viola) and piano (1900)
* ''Phantasy-Quintet'' in E minor and major for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano (1912)
* Piano Trio in G major
* ''Prelude and Fugue'' for two clarinets and bassoon
* Quartet for violin, viola, cello and piano
* Quintet for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano
* Quintet for 2 violins, viola, cello and piano
* ''Serenade-Sonata'' in F minor for viola or violin and piano (1925)
* ''Short Quintet'' for clarinet and string quartet in Eb (1917-18)
* ''Sonata in D'' for viola and piano (1938)
* Sonata for cello and piano
* Sonata for violin and piano
* String Quartet No. 1
* String Quartet No. 2
* String Quartet No. 3
* String Trio No. 1
* String Trio No. 2
* ''Suite in F'' for clarinet (or viola) and piano (1899)
* Trio for two clarinets and bassoon (or bass clarinet)
* Trio in D for clarinet (or violin), horn (or bassoon) and piano (published Rosewood, 2000)
* Trio in C minor for violin, clarinet (or viola) and piano (1897)
* ''Triolet in E'' for oboe, clarinet and bassoon
* Two Pieces: ''Regret'' and ''Conversation Galante'' for clarinet (or viola, or cello) and piano (1918)
Piano
* ''Aubade'' (1907)
* ''Sun and Shade'' (1928)
Choral
* ''The Fair Maids of February'' (words by May Gillington)
* ''John-a-Dreams'', cantata (words by A Ross) (1911)
*''Nocturn'', for SATB choir (words by D. Donaldson)
* ''Ode to a Nightingale'', cantata (1897)
* ''The Pied Piper of Hamlin'', cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1893)[
* ''There sits a bird on yonder tree'' (words by Thomas Ingoldsby).' Described as "a tasteful little anachronism".
]
Vocal
* ''Eight Songs of Richard Smekal'', op 12
* ''Eldorado'', song (setting Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
) (performed at the Proms, 1902 and 1930)
*''An Album of Twelve Songs'' (including ''Mistress Mine'')
*''The Gleaner's Slumber Song'' (performed at the Proms, 1896, 1899 and 1902)
*''Hey Ho, the wind and the rain''
*''May Day''
*''St Agnes's Eve''
Literary
* ''Musical Amateurs'', London: Musical opinion and music trade review (1904)
*''The Development of Chamber Music'', London: Boosey & Co. (1909)
*''String Quartets'' London: Royal Musical Association (1915/16)
* eethoven's''Chamber Music,'' London: Music and Letters
''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fi ...
(1927)
References
External links
Classical Archives
- synthesised versions of various works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walthew, Richardhenry
1872 births
1951 deaths
English composers
English classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
People from Highbury
People from Islington (district)
Musicians from London
Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society
People from East Preston, West Sussex
People educated at Islington Proprietary School