Charles King Hall (1845–1895), often credited as King Hall, was an English composer and church organist in Victorian London. He favored sentimental ballads, dance music, organ and piano pieces, and "much church music." He also specialized in arranging for the keyboard and voice the works of famous composers such as

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

. Active in the London theatre, he contributed regularly to the

German Reed Entertainment The German Reed Entertainments were founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla German Reed (née Horton) (1818–1895). At a time when the theatre in London was seen as a disreput ...

s at St. George's Hall, Langham Place. King Hall's entry in ''A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' calls his German Reed operettas "his most popular works." __TOC__

Early life and family

Charles King Hall was born 17 August 1845,

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

. His father, Charles Frederick Hall (1815–1874), was a violinist who was the musical director of the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

in London. King Hall's mother, Eleanor Eliza Jane Vining, came from a family of well-known dramatic and comedic actors. King Hall's cousins included the English actor and stage manager George Vining (1824–1875) as well as the American actors

Fanny Vining Davenport Fanny Elizabeth Davenport ( Vining; 17 July 1829 – 20 July 1891) was an English actress who emigrated to America. After her marriage to American tragedian Edward Loomis Davenport, she was known as Mrs. E. L. Davenport. Their children included a ...

and her son,

Harry Davenport Harry Davenport may refer to: * Harry Davenport (actor) (1866–1949), American film and stage actor * Harry Davenport (footballer) (1900–1984), Australian footballer * Harry J. Davenport (1902–1977), Democratic Party member of the U.S. House ...

. In 1876, King Hall married Isabel Maud Penton (1852–1932) at All Saints Church, Gordon Square. King Hall's widow, Isabel, and youngest daughter, Grace, circa 1900

King Hall's widow, Isabel, and youngest daughter, Grace, circa 1900

They had five children. The eldest, Edith Jane Gertrude King-Hall (1877–1963), is sometimes confused with the Edith King Hall (1864-1933) who wrote children's books. (That author was the daughter of naval officer Sir William King Hall.) The composer's younger son, Ernest Vincent King-Hall (1885–1941) was a Royal Navy officer who married Hylda May Shallard, a chorister in the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

from 1907 to 1909; he died during the Second World War. King Hall's remaining three children were Lucy Harriet Greenfield King-Hall (1879–1900), Frederick Charles William King-Hall (1880–1963) and Grace Isabel King-Hall (1881–1960).

Career and later years

King Hall composed both sacred and secular music, especially sentimental ballads and organ voluntaries. He contributed regularly to the popular

s at St. George's Hall, Langham Place. His obituary in ''The Musical Times'' called his German Reed music "his most popular works".

Kurt Gänzl Kurt-Friedrich Gänzl (born 15 February 1946) is a New Zealand writer, historian and former casting director and singer best known for his books about musical theatre. After a decade-long playwriting, acting and singing career, and a second ca ...

wrote that King Hall's music was "pretty ndforgettable." Yet, it gave steady, reliable satisfaction over the course of nearly twenty years with the Reeds. King Hall collaborated with such librettists as Arthur Law,

F. C. Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Cox and Box''. The son of ...

Gilbert Arthur à Beckett Gilbert Arthur à Beckett (April 7, 1837 – October 15, 1891) was an English writer. Biography Beckett was born at Portland House Hammersmith, on 7 April 1837, the eldest son of the civil servant and humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and t ...

, Walter Frith and

J. Comyns Carr Joseph William Comyns Carr (1 March 1849 – 12 December 1916), often referred to as J. Comyns Carr, was an English drama and art critic, gallery director, author, poet, playwright and theatre manager. Beginning his career as an art critic, Car ...

, composing the scores for ''Foster Brothers'' (1877), ''A Happy Bungalow'' (1877), ''Doubleday's Will'' (1878), ''A Tremendous Mystery'' (1878), ''The Artful Automaton'' (1878), ''Grimstone Grange'' (1879), ''A Christmas Stocking'' (1879–1880), ''A Merry Christmas'' (1880–1881), ''A Strange Host'' (1882–1883), ''The Naturalist'' (1887), ''The Verger'' (1889–1890) and ''Missing'' (1894). Most of these entertainments were accompanied by piano and harmonium only. King Hall began to compose musical theatre early on. His father was also a composer, and it is unclear which of them supplied the

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

for

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

's ''The Streets of London'', a play performed first at the

Princess's Theatre The Princess's Theatre or Princess Theatre was a theatre in Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europ ...

in 1864 when King Hall was 19. A contemporary review of the first production said that the composer won "the goodwill of the audience" by incorporating "the street tunes of the times". From 1867 ("Golden Moments Gallop for the Pianoforte") to the year of his death ("An Emblem of Life; A Duet for Female Voices"), his work appeared regularly in both England and America. Examples of King Hall's original compositions include his score for Edward Oxenford's humorous cantata ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1890), published by the London firm of Hutchings & Romer, and his series of six "society dances" published by Joseph Williams in the 1890s. King-hall charles music 3

King Hall also supported his family as an organist, teacher, composer, and consultant to Chappell & Co., who published much of King Hall's sheet music. In the 1890s Chappell's Vocal Library numbered quite a few of King Hall's vocal arrangements and organ transcriptions, including "On Angels' Wings" (from Viviani's ''Silver Trumpets''), "Mighty Lord" (from Gounod's ''Marche Religieuse''), and "Soft and Low" (from Gounod's ''Mock Doctor''). He specialized in arranging for piano and voice the theatre scores of other British composers, such as

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

's ''

Haddon Hall Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, a former seat of the Dukes of Rutland. It is the home of Lord Edward Manners (brother of the incumbent Duke) and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it ...

'' and

Ernest Ford Albert Ernest Alsor Clair Ford (17 February 1858 – 2 June 1919) was an English composer of operas and ballet music and a conductor. Life and career Ford was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, England, the son of Edward Ford, the vestry clerk a ...

's ''

Jane Annie ''Jane Annie, or The Good Conduct Prize'' is a comic opera written in 1893 by J. M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle, with music by Ernest Ford, a conductor and occasional composer. When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership disbanded after the p ...

''. Examples of his adaptations were

Alfred Cellier Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing th ...

's "Andante Pastorale", which King Hall arranged for the organ in 1892 and Arthur Sullivan's ''Imperial March'', which King Hall transcribed for the organ in 1893. King Hall also wrote two primers for

Estey Organ Estey Organ Company was an organ manufacturer based in Brattleboro, Vermont. The company was founded in 1852 by Jacob Estey, who bought out another Brattleboro manufacturing business. At its peak, the company was one of the world's largest organ ...

, the American maker of reed organs and harmoniums. Both were published in 1880. He included in the organ primer his own testimonial for the instrument, saying "The tone of the Stops individually is mellow and sweet, and entirely free from the harshness which so frequently characterizes Reed Instruments; while the ensemble stresses solidity and fulness, and resembles very closely that of a thoroughly good Pipe Organ." That same year, King Hall wrote a short piece for a popular girls' magazine about the challenge of playing the harmonium, urging frustrated novices to persevere and "not let your disappointment keep you from trying again." King Hall was one of the few English composers writing specifically for the harmonium at the time. As church organist, King Hall served the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parishes of St. Paul's, Camden Square, badly damaged in the Second World War; St. Luke's, Kentish Town, declared redundant in 1991 but reopened in 2011; and Christ Church, Brondesbury, now Christ Church with Saint Laurence Brondesbury. A newspaper review of one of King Hall's organ concerts in December 1884, in which the organist "gave evident delight to his audience," refers to him as the organist and choir director of St Clement Danes on the Strand in the city of Westminster, London, as well as "of the Royal Albert Hall." On 1 September 1895, King Hall died of throat cancer at the age of 50 at his home 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 ...

. He was buried in

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. A notice of his death in a Scottish newspaper recalled King Hall's "connection with the old German Reeds’ entertainment, to which he contributed a large number of operettas and musical sketches."''Dundee Advertiser'', 5 Sep. 1895, Dundee, Scotland. The British Newspaper Archive, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Charles King 1845 births 1895 deaths English composers People from St Pancras, London 19th-century British composers 19th-century English musicians