George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) 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 ...

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 ...

who was best known for the orchestral idyll '' The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

from ''

A Shropshire Lad ''A Shropshire Lad'' is a collection of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman, published in 1896. Selling slowly at first, it then rapidly grew in popularity, particularly among young readers. Composers began setting th ...

''.

Early years

Butterworth was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

, London. Soon after his birth, his family moved to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

so that his father Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth could take up an appointment as general manager of the North Eastern Railway, which was based there. Their home was at Riseholme, a house on Driffield Terrace, which later became part of the Mount School. In 2016, the centenary year of his death on the Somme, biographer Anthony Murphy unveiled on behalf of the York Civic Trust a blue plaque to his memory at College House, Driffield Terrace, part of the Mount School. George received his first

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

lessons from his mother, who was a singer, and he began composing at an early age. As a young boy, he played the organ for services in the chapel of his preparatory school, Aysgarth School, before gaining a scholarship to

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. He showed early musical promise at Eton, a "Barcarolle" for orchestra being played during his time there (it is long since lost).Barlow, Michael, preface to three volumes of Butterworth's music, Musikproduktion Jürgen Höflich, Munich 2006 & 2007 Butterworth then went up to

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, where he became more focused on music, becoming President of the University Music Club. He also made friends with the

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

collector

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...

; the composer and folk song enthusiast

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 ...

; the future Director of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

, Hugh Allen; and a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

and future conductor,

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 ...

. Butterworth and Vaughan Williams made several trips into the English countryside to collect folk songs (Butterworth collected over 450 himself, many in

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 Englis ...

in 1907, and sometimes using a

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

) and the compositions of both were strongly influenced by what they collected. Butterworth was also an expert folk dancer, being particularly keen in the art of

morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...

. He was employed for a while by the

English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

(of which he was a founder member in 1906) as a professional morris dancer, and was a member of the Demonstration Team. Upon leaving Oxford, Butterworth began a career in music, writing criticism for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', composing, and teaching at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

. He also briefly studied

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

at the

, where he worked with

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 be ...

among others, though he stayed less than a year as the academic life was not for him. Vaughan Williams and Butterworth became close friends. It was Butterworth who suggested to Vaughan Williams that he turn a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

he was working on into his '' London Symphony''. Vaughan Williams recalled:

We were talking together one day when he said in his gruff, abrupt manner: ‘You know, you ought to write a symphony’. I answered...that I’d never written a symphony and never intended to...I suppose Butterworth’s words stung me and, anyhow, I looked out some sketches I had made for...a symphonic poem about London and decided to throw it into symphonic form...From that moment, the idea of a symphony dominated my mind. I showed the sketches to George bit by bit as they were finished, and it was then that I realised that he possessed in common with very few composers a wonderful power of criticism of other men’s work and insight into their ideas and motives. I can never feel too grateful to him for all he did for me over this work and his help did not stop short at criticism.Lloyd, Stephen, in ''Ralph Vaughan Williams in Perspective'', ed. Lewis Foreman, Albion Music Ltd, 1998; the quoted text is a portmanteau of two originals, the bulk being from a letter to Sir Alexander Butterworth, father of the composer

When the manuscript for that piece was lost (having been sent to Germany, either to the conductor Fritz Busch or for engraving, just before the outbreak of war), Butterworth, together with

Geoffrey Toye Edward Geoffrey Toye (17 February 1889 – 11 June 1942), known as Geoffrey Toye, was an English conductor, composer and opera producer. He is best remembered as a musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and for his association with ...

and the critic Edward J. Dent, helped Vaughan Williams reconstruct the work. Vaughan Williams dedicated the piece to Butterworth's memory after his death.

First World War

Stèle à la mémoire de George Butterworrth 5

At the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Butterworth, together with several of his friends, including Geoffrey Toye and

R. O. Morris Reginald Owen Morris (3 March 1886 – 15 December 1948), known professionally and by his friends by his initials, as R.O. Morris, was a British composer and teacher. Teacher and author Morris was born in York, son of Army officer Reginal ...

, joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in the

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Ligh ...

, but he soon accepted a commission as a subaltern (2nd Lieutenant) in the 13th Battalion

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

, and he was later temporarily promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. He was known as G. S. Kaye-Butterworth in the Army. Butterworth's letters are full of admiration for the ordinary

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...

s of

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

who served in his

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

. As part of 23rd Division, the 13th DLI was sent into action to capture the western approaches of the village of

Contalmaison Contalmaison () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Contalmaison is situated on the D147 and D20 crossroads, some northeast of Amiens. History As with many towns in this part of France, Conta ...

on The Somme. Butterworth and his men succeeded in capturing a series of trenches near

Pozières Pozières (; ) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated on the D929 road, northeast of Amiens between Albert and Bapaume, on the Pozières ridge. Southwest of the village ...

on 16–17 July 1916, the traces of which can still be found within a small wood. Butterworth was slightly wounded in the action. For his action Temporary Lt. George Butterworth, aged 31, was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

, gazetted 25 August 1916, though he did not live to receive it. The

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

was now entering its most intense phase. On 4 August, 23rd Division was ordered to attack a communications trench known as Munster Alley that was in German hands. The soldiers dug an assault trench and named it 'Butterworth Trench' in their officer's honour. In desperate fighting during the night of 4–5 August, and despite

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while en ...

from Australian artillery, Butterworth and his miners captured and held on to Munster Alley, albeit with heavy losses. At 04:45 on 5 August, amid frantic German attempts to recapture the position, Butterworth was shot through the head by a

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

. His body was hastily buried by his men in the side of the trench, but was never recovered for formal reburial following the fierce bombardments of the final two years of conflict. When his brigade commander, Brigadier General Page Croft, wrote to Butterworth's father to inform him of his death, it transpired that he had not known that his son had been awarded the Military Cross. Similarly, the brigadier was astonished to learn that Butterworth had been one of the most promising English composers of his generation. Brigadier Croft wrote that Butterworth was "A brilliant musician in times of peace, and an equally brilliant soldier in times of stress." There is confusion about exactly what award(s) Butterworth received. It is said that he won the MC twice, but this is incorrect. This misunderstanding may have arisen because Butterworth's bravery was regularly in evidence during the Somme campaign. Firstly, he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

early in July, and was then recommended for the MC "for conspicuous gallantry in action" on 9 July at Bailiff Wood, then again – successfully – "for commanding his company with great ability and coolness" when wounded on 16–17 July. Brigadier Page-Croft also mentioned to Butterworth's father that he had 'won' the medal again on the night he died. However, the Military Cross was not awarded posthumously at the time, and so he could never have been awarded it twice. Butterworth's body was never recovered (although his unidentified remains may well lie at nearby Pozières Memorial, a

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

cemetery), and his name appears on the

Thiepval Memorial The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

. George Butterworth's ''The Banks of Green Willow'' has become synonymous for some with the sacrifice of his generation and has been seen by some as an anthem for all 'Unknown Soldiers'. Sir Alexander Butterworth erected a plaque at

St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, is the Church of England parish church of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England. Much of the church is Anglo-Saxon. It was built in the 8th century, when Deerhurst was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. ...

, Gloucestershire in memory of his son and of his nephew, Hugh, who died at Loos in 1915. (The Rev. George Butterworth, the composer's grandfather, had been vicar of St Mary's in the previous century.) Sir Alexander also arranged the printing in 1918 of a memorial volume in his son's memory. Almost all Butterworth's manuscripts were left to Vaughan Williams, after whose death

Ursula Vaughan Williams Joan Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams (née Lock, formerly Wood; 15 March 1911 – 23 October 2007) was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Biography Born in Valletta, Malta, th ...

lodged the original works in the

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

, Oxford, and the folk song collection with the EFDSS.

''A Shropshire Lad'', and other compositions

Butterworth did not write a great deal of music, and before and during the war he destroyed many works he did not care for, lest he should not return and have the chance to revise them. Of those that survive, his works based on A. E. Housman's collection of poems ''

'' are among the best known. Many English composers of Butterworth's time set Housman's poetry, including

. In 1911 and 1912, Butterworth wrote eleven settings of Housman's poems from ''A Shropshire Lad''. The poems are # "Loveliest of Trees" # "When I Was One and Twenty" # "Look Not in My Eyes" # "Think No More, Lad" # "The Lads in Their Hundreds" # "Is My Team Ploughing?" # "Bredon Hill" # "Oh Fair Enough Are Sky and Plain" # "When the Lad for Longing Sighs" # "On the Idle Hill of Summer" # "With Rue My Heart Is Laden" He used no known folk tunes in the songs, although one ("When I Was One and Twenty") was said to be based on a folk tune that has defied identification. The songs were dedicated to Victor Annesley Barrington-Kennett, a friend from Eton and Oxford, who was also to die in France in 1916. They were eventually published in two sets, '' Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad'' (1–6 above) and '' Bredon Hill and Other Songs'' (7–11), although the composer never settled on a preferred order. Nine of the songs were first performed by James Campbell McInnes (baritone) and the composer (piano) on 16 May 1911 at a meeting of the Oxford University Musical Club, organized by Boult,. The singer was James Campbell McInnes, with the composer at the piano. Shortly thereafter Boult sang several of the songs at a private function. At this stage, Butterworth still had not completed "On the idle hill of summer" and did not do so until he was living at Cheyne Gardens in London. It is unusual for the songs to be given publicly in full, although each of the published sets is often performed separately and recorded regularly – in fact, they can be said to be among the most frequently performed English art songs.Hall, George, booklet notes to Deutsche Grammophon CD 445946-2 ''Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad'' is the more popular set, with "Is My Team Ploughing?" being the most famous song. Another, "Loveliest of Trees", is the basis for his 1912

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l rhapsody, also called ''A Shropshire Lad'', which quotes two songs from the whole – "Loveliest of Trees" and "With Rue My Heart Is Laden". The parallel is regularly madeStone, Mark, booklet notes to Stone Records CD 5060192780024 between the often gloomy and death-obsessed subject matter of ''A Shropshire Lad'', written in the shadow of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

, and Butterworth's subsequent death during the Great War. In particular, the song "The lads in their hundreds" tells of young men who leave their homeland to 'die in their glory and never be old'. The ''Rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad'' – a sort of postlude to the songs – employs a normal sized symphony orchestra, and was first performed on 2 October 1913 at the Leeds Festival, conducted by

Arthur Nikisch Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of B ...

. It was influential upon Vaughan Williams ( A Pastoral Symphony),

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

(A Severn Rhapsody) and Ernest Moeran (First Rhapsody). Butterworth's other orchestral works are short and based on folksongs he had collected in Sussex in 1907: ''Two English Idylls'' (1911) and ''The Banks of Green Willow'' (1913). They are often performed and recorded, ''Banks'' particularly so. The latter work was premiered by the 24-year-old

on 27 February 1914, at West Kirby, Wirral, (this was in fact Boult's very first professional concert). ''Love Blows As the Wind Blows'' is a setting of poems by

W. E. Henley William Ernest Henley (23 August 184911 July 1903) was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the o ...

. It exists in three forms: for voice and string quartet, voice and piano and voice and small orchestra. The orchestral version differs from the others quite markedly, not least in having only three songs: "In the Year That's Come and Gone", "Life in Her Creaking Shoes", and "On the Way to Kew" (the other versions include "Fill a Glass with Golden Wine"). The orchestral version was in fact the last music Butterworth worked on before leaving for France, and shows the composer's familiarity with Vaughan Williams' style, as well as with the music 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 ...

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 ...

and

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

. Butterworth showed real talent that might have flourished but for his early death. The ''Two English Idylls'' and ''The Banks of Green Willow'' show an ability to handle folk song in a way that eluded many other composers – as the true building blocks of larger forms. His original music (especially the ''Rhapsody: A Shropshire Lad'' and the orchestral song cycle ''Love Blows As The Wind Blows'') have a delicacy that brings to mind Debussy or

Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his firs ...

. However, there is reasonable evidence that he had put composition behind him by the time he went to France, and it is by no means certain that he would have resumed it had he returned. It is certainly likely that he would have faced considerable pressure from friends to compose again, since his orchestral works (particularly the ''Rhapsody: A Shropshire Lad'') had made a great impression, but he was a single-minded man who was unlikely to bow easily to such pressure. He remains perhaps the most obvious case of "what if...?" that is left to us from the battlefields of northern France, and he joins the Frenchman Albéric Magnard, the Spaniard

Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enric Granados in Catalan or Enrique Granados in Spanish, was a composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. ...

, and the German

Rudi Stephan Rudi Stephan (29 July 1887 – 29 September 1915) was a German composer of great promise who was considered one of the leading talents among his generation. He was killed in action during World War I. Life Stephan was born at Worms, Grand Duc ...

as possibly the greatest losses to music from the First World War. The great conductor Carlos Kleiber saw in Butterworth a special gift. In his 1978 appearance with the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

he programmed, to the surprise of many, Butterworth's ''English Idyll No. 1''.

List of compositions

Butterworth's complete extant works are: *''Two English Idylls'' for orchestra (1910–1911) *''A Shropshire Lad'', Rhapsody for orchestra (1911) *'' The Banks of Green Willow'' for orchestra (1913) *'' Love Blows As the Wind Blows'', a song cycle for voice and piano (or string quartet) (both 191112) or small orchestra (1914) ords_William_Ernest_Henley.html" ;"title="William_Ernest_Henley.html" ;"title="ords William Ernest Henley">ords William Ernest Henley">William_Ernest_Henley.html" ;"title="ords William Ernest Henley">ords William Ernest Henley*Suite for String Quartet (1910) *Eleven Songs from ''A Shropshire Lad'' (i.e., '' Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad'', and '' Bredon Hill and Other Songs'') (1910–1911) [words A. E. Housman] *Folk Songs From Sussex (1912) *''Haste On, My Joys!'', song (date unknown, probably pre-1906) [words Robert Bridges] *''I Will Make You Brooches'' (date unknown) [words Robert Louis Stevenson] *''I Fear Thy Kisses'' (1909) ords_Percy_Bysshe_Shelley.html" ;"title="Percy_Bysshe_Shelley.html" ;"title="ords Percy Bysshe Shelley">ords Percy Bysshe Shelley">Percy_Bysshe_Shelley.html" ;"title="ords Percy Bysshe Shelley">ords Percy Bysshe Shelley*''Requiescat'', song (1911) [words Oscar Wilde] *''In The Highlands'', for female voices and piano (poss. 1912) [words R. L. Stevenson] *''On Christmas Night'', for male chorus (poss. 1912) olksong*''We Get Up In The Morn'', for male chorus (poss. 1912) olksong*''Morris Dance Tunes'' Books 8 & 9 (1914)

Arrangements of Butterworth's compositions

*''Fantasia for Orchestra'' (1914), edited and completed by

Martin Yates Martin Yates (born 1 July 1958, London) is a British conductor. After attending Kimbolton School (1969–1974), he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducti ...

*''Fantasia for Orchestra'' (1914), edited and completed by Kriss Russman *''Two English Idylls'' (arranged for piano duet by John Mitchell) (1999) *''A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody'' (arranged for piano by John Mitchell) (2011) *''Suite for Small Orchestra'' (arrangement of the ''Suite for String Quartet'' by Phillip Brookes) (2012) * '' Suite for String Quartette '' (arranged for String Orchestra by Kriss Russman) (2015) *Eleven Songs from ''A Shropshire Lad'' (with accompaniment for small orchestra, arranged by Phillip Brookes) (2006) * Six Songs from '' A Shropshire Lad '' (with accompaniment for orchestra by Kriss Russman) (2015)

Other writings

The Country Dance Book, parts 3 (1912) and 4 (1916) with Cecil Sharp

Recordings

;All three orchestral works (Two English Idylls, A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody. and The Banks of Green Willow) :Boult/LPO (rec. 1973); Lyrita SRCD 245 :Marriner/ASMF (rec. 1976); Decca 468 802-2 :Boughton/English String Orchestra (rec. 1986); Nimbus NI 5068 :Llewellyn/RLPO (rec. 1991); Decca 436 401-2 :Elder/Hallé Orchestra (rec. 2002); Hallé CD HLL 7503 :Russman/BBC National Orchestra of Wales (rec. 2015); BIS Records BIS-2195 ;Two English Idylls only :Boult/British Symphony Orch. (No. 1 only, rec. 1922); HMV Cc1129 :Dilkes/English Sinfonia (rec. 1971); HMV ESD 7101 :Carlos Kleiber/Chicago SO (No. 1 only, rec. 2 June 1983); Memories CD :Tate/English Chamber Orchestra (rec. 1987); EMI CDC7 47945-2 :Horvay/Prague Radio SO (No. 2 only, date unknown); Artist’s Rifles CD41 :Wilson/Royal Liverpool PO (rec. 2011) Avie ;A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody only :Boult/British Symphony Orch. (rec. 1920); HMV 4618AF :Boult/Hallé Orchestra (rec. 1942); VAI Audio VAIA 1067-2 :Stokowski/NBC SO (rec. 1944); Cala CACD 0528 :Goossens/Sydney SO (rec 1952); HMV DB 9792-3 :Boult/LPO (rec. 1954); Belart CD 461354-2 :Barbirolli/ Hallé Orchestra (rec. 1956); Barbirolli Society SJB 1022 :Barbirolli/ Hallé Orchestra; EMI 4577672 :Dilkes/English Sinfonia (rec. 1971); HMV CSD 3696 :Elder/Halle Orchestra (rec. 2002); BBC MM 289 ;The Banks of Green Willow :See the separate page Fantasia for Orchestra (completed by Kriss Russman) :Russman/BBC National Orchestra of Wales (rec.2015) BIS Records BIS 2195 ;Songs (complete): :The Complete Butterworth Songbook: Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 (All Butterworth’s songs, including the voice/piano version of Love Blows. It also includes a short silent film of Butterworth morris dancing. The tracks from this disc are included among the details below.) ;All eleven Shropshire Lad songs ('Six Songs' and 'Bredon Hill and Other Songs') :Cameron/Moore; Dutton :Luxon/Willison (rec. 1976); Decca 468 802-2 :Luxon/Willison (rec. 1990); Chandos CHAN 8831 :Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426 :Rolfe-Johnson/Johnson; Hyperion CDD22044 :Terfel/Martineau(rec. 1995); DG 445946 :Allen/Parsons (rec. 2001) EMI 67428 :Maltman/Vignoles; Hyperion CDA 67378 :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 :Keenlyside/Martineau; Sony Classical 88697 94424-2 :Rutherford/Asti (rec. 2012); BIS SACD 1610 ;Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad only :Henderson/Moore (rec. 1941); Dutton CDLX 7038 :Shirley-Quirk/Isepp (rec. 1966); Saga STXID5260 :Rayner Cook/Benson; Unicorn :Gehrman/Farmer; Nimbus NI 5033 :Rolfe-Johnson/Willinson; EMI :Lemalu/Burnside (rec. 2003); BBC MM298 :Allen/Martineau; Wigmore Hall Live WHLIVE0002 :Polegato/Burnside CBC Records :Trew/Vignoles; Meridian CDE84185 :Varcoe/Hickox/City of London Sinfonia (orch. Lance Baker) (rec. 1989); Chandos CHAN 8743 ;I will Make You Brooches :Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426 :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 ;I Fear Thy Kisses :Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426 :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 ;Requiescat :Varcoe/Benson; Hyperion CDA 6621/2 :Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426 :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 ;Love Blows as the Wind Blows ;(Voice and piano) :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 ;(Voice and string quartet) :Oxenham/Bingham String Quartet; Meridian DUOCD 89026 :Lemalu/Belcea Quartet (rec. 2005); EMI 5 58050 ;(Voice and orchestra) :Rutherford/Russman/BBC NOW (rec.2015) BIS Records BIS 2195 :Tear/Handley/CBSO; EMI CDM7 64731-2 :Varcoe/Hickox/City of London Sinfonia (rec. 1989); Chandos CHAN 8743 ;Folk Songs from Sussex :Williams/Burnside; Naxos 8.572426 :Stone/Barlow; Stone Records 5060192780024 ;Folk songs collected by Butterworth :Triple Echo by Coope, Boyes and Simpson contains songs from the Butterworth collection. The Banks of Green Willow, The Cuckoo and The Turtle Dove are given with all verses. There are also songs collected by Vaughan Williams and Grainger. (Rec 2005); No Masters NMCD22

Roads

Three roads are named after Butterworth: *Butterworth Road, Trichirappali, Tamil Nadu, India (). *Butterworth Close in Newport, south Wales (), one of several named after composers. * (George Butterworth Lane; ), at

on the Somme battlefield.

Bibliography

* George Butterworth Memorial Volume, privately printed, 1918 * * * Barlow, Michael and Brookes, Phillip: Prefaces to 3 volumes of the works of George Butterworth, Musikproduktion Jürgen Höflich, Munich, 2006 and 2007 * Murphy, Anthony: Banks of Green Willow: The Life and Times of George Butterworth, Cappella Archive, Malvern, 2012. 2nd revised and updated edition, 2015.

References

External links

*
''Artists Rifles'' WW1 audio CD featuring ButterworthYork Civic Trust Blue PlaqueSheet music edition of Suite for String Quartet published by Artaria Editions

''All MY Life's Buried Here: The Story of George Butterworth''
Film directed by Stewart Hajdukiewicz (2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Butterworth, George 1885 births 1916 deaths People from Paddington 20th-century classical composers English classical composers English Romantic composers English folk-song collectors Musicians from London Durham Light Infantry officers British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme People educated at Aysgarth School People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal College of Music Pupils of Charles Villiers Stanford English male classical composers 20th-century English composers 19th-century English musicians 20th-century British male musicians 19th-century British male musicians Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry soldiers Deaths by firearm in France Military personnel from London