Walter Willson Cobbett (11 July 184722 January 1937) was an English businessman and amateur violinist, and editor/author of ''Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music''. He also endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. Walter Cobbett was born in 1847 in

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He became an active supporter of music, and commissioned numerous works of

from emerging and leading British composers of his time, including chamber works by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...

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 ...

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

, and Eugene Goossens. His two-volume encyclopedia of chamber music, published in 1929, is still considered the most comprehensive work on the subject today. His insightful, wry and occasionally caustic style makes for enlightening and delightful reading. An innovative industrialist and astute businessman, Cobbett was cofounder of Scandinavia Belting Ltd (toda
BBA Aviation Ltd.
, which manufactured a new type of woven belting for machinery. But Cobbett's heart was in music. "It has been humorously remarked that he has given to commerce what time he could spare from music," said an article in a contemporary edition of '' Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. Cobbett played weekly in a number of amateur string quartets, was concertmaster of two amateur orchestras, and was a prolific writer and publicist for chamber music. In 1905, Cobbett endowed a competition, under the auspices of 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 ...

, for chamber music composers. The Cobbett Competition was instrumental in advancing the careers of leading composers of the time. In this first competition Frank Bridge won a Special Prize of £10 for his Phantasie String Quartet; to clarify past inaccuracies published widely about the names of the other winners of this competition, the following information is taken from the Court Minute Books of the Worshipful Company. First:

William Hurlstone William Yeates Hurlstone (7 January 1876 – 30 May 1906) was an English composer. Showing brilliant musical talent from an early age, he died young, before his full potential could be realized. Nevertheless, he left behind an exquisite, albeit s ...

(£50 prize). Second:

Haydn Wood Haydn Wood (25 March 1882 – 11 March 1959) was a 20th-century English composer and concert violinist, best known for his 200 or so ballad style songs, including the popular ''Roses of Picardy''. Life Haydn Wood was born in the West Riding ...

(£10). Special Prize: Frank Bridge (£10). Three Extra Prizes:

James Friskin James Friskin (3 March 1886, in Glasgow – 16 March 1967, in New York City) was a Scottish-born pianist, composer and music teacher who relocated to the United States in 1914. Biography Friskin studied in Glasgow with local organist Alfred ...

Harry Waldo Warner Harry Waldo Warner (4 January 1874 - 1 June 1945) was an English viola player and composer, one of the founding members of the London String Quartet and a several times Cobbett Award winner for his chamber music. Early life Born in Northampton ...

and

Josef Holbrooke Joseph Charles Holbrooke (5 July 18785 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Life Early years Joseph Holbrooke was born Joseph Charles Holbrook in Croydon, Surrey. His father, also named Joseph, was a music hall mus ...

(£5.5.00) each. Other winners in later years included Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition to granting prizes, Cobbett commissioned works from these and other composers. Cobbett established other prizes as well. In 1920 he started granting annual prizes for chamber music performance for students of 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 ...

. The Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music was established in 1924 - the first recipient was

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, '' ...

- and continues to be awarded annually by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He also encouraged British luthiers by granting prizes for outstanding instruments. Cobbett started a periodical on Chamber music, called the ''Chamber Music Supplement''. He established a free library of chamber music and started chamber music concert series in working-class neighborhoods of British cities. ''Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music'' was the result of four years of labor. In addition to Cobbett's own extensive contributions, the two-volume survey includes articles by leading musicians and musicologists of the time, including

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...

and others. Cobbett wrote of his own devotion to chamber music that "there opened out before me an enchanted world... I became a humble devotee of this infinitely beautiful art, and so began for me the chamber music life.""Chamber Music Life" in ''Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1929). Cobbett died in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England in 1937. His legacy is continued by the

Cobbett Association The Cobbett Association for Chamber Music Research was founded in 1990, with the objective of disseminating information about lesser known chamber music of merit. It was named after Walter Willson Cobbett, an amateur violinist and author/editor of ...

, an organization devoted to rediscovering forgotten works of chamber music.

References

External links

Four Cobbett Prizes
awarded to Frank Bridge (archive copy)
The Cobbett Phantasy Prize 1905

The Cobbett Phantasy Prize 1907

Winners of the Cobbett Medal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobbett, Walter Willson English writers about music 1847 births 1937 deaths Deaths from influenza Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Blackheath, London

See also

References

External links